EVENINGS IN GREECE, the Poetry by THOMAS MOORE, Esq., the Music composed and selected by HENRY R. BISHOP and Mr. MOORE. 2 vols. large 4to. (Power.)
THE design of the present work is as praiseworthy as new: it is to connect together, Mr. Moore tells us, ‘a series of songs by a thread of poetical narrative,’ the object being ‘to combine recitation with music, so as to enable a greater number of persons to take a share in the performance, by enlisting, as readers, those who may not feel themselves competent as singers.’
We have often reflected with some surprise on the little effort made to vary the pleasures of domestic society. In a great, wealthy metropolis, where so many thousands congregate daily, who have only to enjoy themselves,—whose sole occupation is to devise means for passing time agreeably,—it might be imagined that some ingenuity would be exerted to so diversify the character of social amusement as to prevent that ennui which is less frequently complained of than felt. Music, no doubt, is a great resource; but those not actually engaged in it, who are not either singing or playing, who are mere listeners, feel a long evening rather heavy when filled up by a constant succession of song, or even an alternation of song and sonata, more especially if such pieces are, as too commonly happens, of the fashionable kind. Dancing is exclusively for the young; though really the quadrille, solemnly as it is walked—the countenances of the promenaders denoting the votaries of Melpomene rather than of Terpsichore—is quite as well calculated to exercise the aged as to divert the youthful. Cards almost universally shut out the young, females particularly, and are inimical to conversation. What then remains? we shall be asked. Why, among other things, that sort of mixture which is to be found in the volumes under notice—reading and music, in which every one in a small party may assist; and we are now only speaking of such parties, not of what till lately were called ‘at homes’—not of crowded assemblies. A couple of dozen persons might occasionally pass two or three hours very agreeably,—nay, advantageously,—over a poem, partly read, partly sung, every one present taking a share, a pause now and then being afforded for a critical or explanatory remark, or some little sally of wit or humour.
But possibly we shall be called visionaries; we therefore quit our speculations for the improvement of society, and proceed to inquire how far the work before us is likely to answer its proposed end. And first we will briefly describe it.
ZIA, where the scene of these evenings is laid, ‘was called by the ancients CEOS, and was the birth-place of Simonides, and other eminent persons.’ The poem opens with the embarkation of the young men of the island, who are proceeding to fight for the liberties of Greece. They sing a farewell hymn to the Zian nymphs, who, after the departure of their lovers, their relatives, and friends, resolve to meet every evening—
‘And try if sound of lute and song,
If wandering mid the moonlight[41] flowers
In various talk, could charm along,
With lighter step, the lingering hours.
Till tidings of that bark should come,