The Harmonicon. Part the First

by Various

REVIEW OF NEW MUSIC.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HENRY PURCELL, from the best Authorities. 44 pages in folio. (J. A. Novello.) 1832.

THIS is the ‘Prefatory Number’ to a complete collection of Purcell’s Sacred Music, containing considerably more than a hundred of his compositions, which Mr. Novello has been publishing during the last three or four years, the early numbers whereof were sent to us, and noticed in our review as they appeared.

Purcell, take him for all in all, is the greatest musical genius that this country can boast; and our deliberate opinion is, that, from the earliest period in the history of music down to the moment of his death, Europe would in vain be searched to find his equal as a composer of secular vocal music. That he was to some extent indebted to Lulli, can hardly be denied by those who are well acquainted with the dramatic works of both; but that he far surpassed what, perhaps in compliment to our second Charles and to the fashion of the time, he occasionally took as his model, every impartial critic must admit. If, too, his cantatas—‘From rosy bowers,’ and ‘Mad Bess,’ for instance—be compared with compositions in a degree similar by Alessandro Scarlatti, which have been so highly praised and so long were vaunted, the vast superiority of the English musician, whether as relates to air, to harmony, to propriety of expression, or to beauty of effect, will never be disputed by unbiassed judges. Purcell’s great fame is, as we have before remarked, and now fearlessly repeat, founded on his productions for the theatre and the chamber: in his compositions for the church, he met with equals in his own country and superiors abroad; and when his anthems are compared with those of his successors,—those of Clark, Croft, Green, and Boyce,—though the science displayed in many of them, and the study which some have cost, will readily be granted, yet in melody, in pleasing combinations, and above all, in that judgment which dictates how sounds should be adapted to sense, it will be in vain that his admirers attempt to rank him with such of his followers as we have named, and who possessed advantages that seemed to have been denied to composers at the close of the seventeenth century.

Hence we are by no means sure that a collection of all Purcell’s sacred compositions was a publication to be desired, for we feel pretty certain that several of them would never with his concurrence have appeared in print. Composers are liable to be called upon, either in the performance of fixed duties, or to answer some temporary purpose, to write when ‘the muse is not on them,’ and all that can be expected under such circumstances is, that they acquit themselves so as to escape the censure of those immediately concerned with them,—of their contemporaries. It is rather hard for an author to be exposed, at the end of a century and a half, to the chance of being criticised for works on which he most probably set no value, and which he very likely hoped might never be heard of, after the immediate purpose which called them forth had been answered. Still we are most willing to give Mr. Novello every possible credit for research, activity, and zeal, and only wish that he had confined his views within narrower bounds: his collection would then have done still more honour to the author, have been more accessible to many, and not less useful to all. The anthems of Purcell in Boyce’s collection, those published by Goodison, and the six in the Harmonia Sacra printed by Walsh, are in few hands, and without an organ accompaniment: their republication, therefore, was almost called for, and in them are beauties which are as much the object of our admiration, as their defects are of our regret. These, with about half a dozen more, and the services, would have formed a collection that most would have wished to possess. But it is time to look at the biography.

It was not to be expected that any new facts remained to be collected concerning Purcell, and Mr. Novello does not profess to offer any: he has very diligently extracted every thing relating to him that is to be found in Hawkins and Burney, and not only all which is immediately connected with the subject of his memoir, but likewise accounts of those necessarily mentioned in the history of the principal, together with an abundance of other not absolutely necessary matter; thus producing a volume of forty-four very large folio pages, printed closely in small type, which might easily have been swelled out into as many more, or indeed to an unlimited extent, by the same ramifying process. Nevertheless, those who are fond of such discursive biography, and have not read the histories of Hawkins or Burney, will be informed and amused by Mr. Novello’s numerous and copious extracts.

Mr. Novello does not strive to impress us with any very favourable notion of Purcell’s morals: he gives, apparently as his own, Hawkins’s observations on this subject, and, by omitting the usual marks of quotation, makes himself responsible for the slurs cast by another. But as he thus adopts so unfavourable an opinion of the musician’s private character, he should have been more guarded in speaking of Mrs. Purcell, and not have applied to her epithets which no facts that we are acquainted with can at all justify. It was Purcell’s failing, it seems, to associate with objectionable persons, and to pass late hours with a profligate character in haunts of by no means a reputable kind. Sir John Hawkins states this without any reserve; and also relates, on hearsay, that Purcell, coming home late one night, heated with wine, was refused admittance by his wife, and by being kept a considerable time in the street, caught cold, and died in consequence. But the historian does not give credit to this story,—the only one alleged against the, most likely, neglected wife: and even if true, it would hardly authorize such terms as ‘arrogant,’—‘low-minded and termagant woman,’—‘ill-tempered and hypocritical termagant,’ &c. bestowed on her by her husband’s present biographer. Where are we to find any facts to warrant such language,—or, indeed, to warrant any reproaches at all?

Mr. Novello has in this ‘Prefatory Number’ inserted whatever he could find or gather concerning the composer of the works he has edited. He has deemed it advisable to reprint Dr. Burney’s article, ‘Purcell,’ from the Cyclopædia of Rees; extracts from the Encyclopædia Britannica, and from the Encyclopædia Metropolitana; from the Harmonicon; several from the Atlas; from Crotch’s Lectures, &c.; also communications from many of his musical friends, in the nature of commendatory letters. Likewise a statement of the origin of his present publication, with the original prospectus, and an interesting account of a highly talented and learned lady, ‘unknown to fame,’ a Mrs. Hurst, daughter of the late Mr. White, well remembered as the early friend of Mr. Bartleman, and the auctioneer who sold all the fine musical libraries that were brought to the hammer from nearly the end of the last century till about the year 1824. These are followed by seven pages of ‘Preliminary Remarks,’ condensed from the ‘Quarterly Review, and from various other sources of information.’ They contain short biographical notices of all our church composers, with many notes, comprising several curious and entertaining anecdotes. This he concludes with a statement which we, in common with all those who wish his indefatigable zeal and industry had experienced more encouragement, regret having been called for.—He says, ‘The Editor of this work has endeavoured to contribute his share towards these efforts, by bringing forward this collection of sterling compositions for the church service. Hitherto his endeavours have been but very little assisted or encouraged by the clergy who have the control in choirs, where these anthems would be found most useful:—for out of the forty-two cathedral and collegiate establishments in England, which were endowed with funds for the support of no fewer than three hundred and sixty-eight choristers, only three choirs have come forward to give the least support to this collection of Purcell’s sacred music: viz. St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Durham, which have each subscribed to the work, but for one copy only.’

‘The clergy,’ he continues, ‘will probably soon find that it will be for their own interest to alter the system of tasteless apathy, careless indifference, and avaricious meanness, which have so long characterized the behaviour of the generality of them, in what relates to the musical department of the service, as well as their shabby, grasping conduct respecting the funds, which ought to be appropriated to the remuneration of the members of the choirs that have been subjected to their management. The slothful and useless drones amongst the clerical body, who have hitherto been allowed to enjoy such valuable benefices and large incomes for doing little or nothing themselves, will perhaps find it advisable, for their own sakes, to consider whether the public, who have been so much enlightened lately upon certain matters, will consent much longer to pay so high a price, or any price at all, for the meagre and uninteresting musical service which is provided for them by these selfish and niggardly, but impolitic and short-sighted persons. It is not very likely that, after the improvement which has taken place in the general taste for good music, the people will continue to be attracted by such common-place, insipid compositions and performances, as those which are but too frequently heard in our rich church establishments, which have already wasted, and still continue to swallow up annually such large sums of the public money. Unless some decided and extensive change for the better should speedily take place, the probability is, that these enormous funds will not only be considerably reduced, so as to be placed upon a more rational and just footing of proportion between the sum paid, and what is received by the public in return for it; but the funds themselves will most likely be transferred to the hands of other persons, who will make a more conscientious appropriation of them to the purposes for which they were really intended; who will have the sagacity to perceive, and the good sense to act according to the demands of the increased intelligence, the improved taste, and the more liberal spirit of the age.’—p. 43.

ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS, in Prose and Verse, illustrated with Lithographic Drawings, to which is added some VOCAL and INSTRUMENTAL Music. 4to. (Lloyd, Harley Street). 1833.