། est example. The ceaseless excitement, not only of continually springing beauties that each flashes upon the hearer before his attention is released from that which precedes, but also in the intrinsic passion of the music itself that characterizes these movements, produces an effect more irresistibly captivating than anything that can be compared with it in the whole treasury of the art, and more completely carries one out of oneself, out of the world scurity and prejudice of the schools to the truth of nature, and by his most successful practice to lay the foundation of a theory which in intelligence, in usefulness, in comprehension, and in what constitutes true philosophy, surpasses all that had ever before been advanced in musical and (so far as connected with music) acoustical science-a theory which translates the province of music from art to nature, and so dignifies its investigation in the scale of human study and research from the learn-around, out of the cares, the thoughts, the ing by rote of the arbitrary trammels of bygone times and obsolete schools, to the examination and comprehension of a subject the principles of which are as deeply rooted as those of perspective or of light itself. Mendelssohn is again remarkable for great originality of construction; and this, while he preserves the general outline, or certainly its chief features, to which in what has been said of Haydn and his influence on the art allusion has already been made, manifests itself in the novelty of detail with which this classical outline is filled up. The Intermezzo or Scherzo of Mendelssohn is a form and style of movement entirely his own. To illustrate that his originality was identical with his genius, and not, as was the case with Beethoven, a gradual modification of the style of others, we find an example of this novel conception in his very first published work, the set of Pianoforte Quartets dedicated to Goethe, that were composed and printed at a very early age while he was yet in his pupilage to Zelter, whose correspondence respecting him with Goethe contains such highly interesting particulars of the development of his extraordinary mind. Those who are acquainted with Mendelssohn's music will recognize the originality alluded to in the Scherzo of the Ottetto for string instruments, which, when he produced his symphony in C minor for the first time in London, he arranged for the orchestra, and introduced in the place of the original minuet and trio; the first of his instrumental movements in his dramatic music for A Midsummer Night's Dream; in the third movement of his symphony in A minor, and in the Scherzos of both his pianoforte trios; of all which it would be difficult, if not impossible, to point out the happi very passions of the inward heart, identifying one's whole consciousness with the feeling it engenders, in a that only a work of highest genius can affect the human sympathies-more completely and unanimously unites an audience with the author than perhaps any one course of thought, or habit of thinking, how variously developed soever, that has ever found expression in musical composi tion. Another brilliant originality of Mendelssohn is the purely poetical overture, the intention of which is to achieve more a musical than a dramatic effect, and to convey an impression more comprehensive than the critic can receive from the notes alone, without the will so far to meet the author in his meaning as to incline his mind to the suggestiveness which constitutes the chief feature of the work Something to the same purpose had previously been accomplished in that mar vellous masterpiece, the Pastoral Sympho ny of Beethoven, at least in so far as ths: purpose is to convey the musical expres sion, without words, of the influence upc the mind of actual things, and act characters; but in the manner of effecting that object, and in their method of a7 pealing to the sympathy of their heares the overtures to A Midsummer Night Dream, the Isles of Fingal, and the Scho Melusine, may be said to stand qu alone. Mendelssohn again exhibits an orig style in his oratorios, which is mand in the generally more dramatic charact they possess than the previous work that class, in the effect of contrast to other pieces, and solemn repose in t selves, which he produces by the introd tion of his chorales; and more particul in Elijah, in his avoiding all the cuar ional, and one may almost say, the, in | to the last than an entirely developed, these days, pedantic parade of fugue- self-interesting portion of the composition, writing, which, by long acceptance, had begun to be recognized as an essential and anexceptional part of the constitution of in oratorio; retaining all of contrapuntal elaboration and ingenious and effective mitation that were necessary to show the earnestness of intention by giving solidity of character to the work, to produce the nassive and imposing effect that the subect required, and to give that important nusical interest to the composition which was to rank it with the grandest things of ts class, rejecting all the mere forms of school-learning that fetter the genius of a composer and encumber the effect of his work. In lighter music Mendelssohn has originated a great source of delight, to all who have true musical feeling, in his Songs without Words, for the pianoforte, which as elegant, nay more, often highly impassioned and always exquisitely melodious trifles, have nothing to exceed, and scarcely to parallel them; their form is quite their own, and their matter wholly their author's. To the Concerto Mendelssohn has given an entirely original character; in the first place by the omission of the first Tutti, which, albeit in a great number of instances of the previous Concertos of some of the best writers for their various instruments, the most interesting portion of the composition, and always the most important, as containing the proposition or announcement of the subjects of which the remainder of the movement was constituted, was still always felt to be a somewhat anomalous delay of the commencement of the Solo, in which, and in the performer, : must rest the chief attention and interest of the audience; and in the next place by the joining together of the three movements, reserving the only complete and satisfactory termination of the work until the entire conclusion. This second feature of Mendelssohn's Concertos, which belongs also to his Symphony in A minor, was partially anticipated by the occasional union of the Adagio and Rondo in the works of the same class of other composers; but in these instances the slow movement may generally be said to form rather a somewhat extended introduction | as is the case in the Concertos of Mendelssohn, and in the separated movements of his predecessors: there is closer example for it in the Symphony in C minor and the Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven, and in several of this composer's chamber works, where the Scherzo and the Finale, each being in itself complete as a separate movement, are so connected, the one so entirely growing out of the other, that they cannot be detached in performance. This is the sort of connection that Mendelssohn makes between his different movements; but what Beethoven does with the two last, Mendelssohn does with the whole work. To Beethoven may also be traced the idea of opening the Concerto with the introduction of the solo-player, of which we find examples in his pianoforte Concertos in E flat and in G; but only in so far as the idea was to draw at once the attention of the audience to the principal executant, can it be referred to this original, for in the examples alluded to, the introductory Solo for the pianoforte is purely preludial, and leads to the usual Tutti, which is of the length and importance to the rest of the movements as a sort of proem or argument to the whole, that it was and always had been the custom to make it, whereas in Mendelssohn's Concertos the solo instrument at once announces the chief subject of the movement, and so not only awakens the attention, but excites the interest of the audience at the very outset. Before quitting this branch of our subject, particular mention must be made of the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture; which, as an example of originality, must always be a perfect marvel of the human mind. A careful examination of all its features, and a comparison of them with all that had previously existed in the writings of other composers, must establish the conviction that there is more that is new in this one work than in any other one that has ever been produced. In the first place, it is a complete epitome of its author's style, containing the type of all the peculiarities of idea, character, phrase, harmony, construction, instrumentation, and every particular of outline and detail for which his style is remarkable; in the second place it presents many novelties, more In fine, Mendelssohn wrote in every class of musical composition, and with equal success in each; and by the peculiar coloring of his mind, no less than by the novelties of form and detail he employed, he imparted an original novelty to all. than are contained in any other one work, | into separate movements, not only the of harmonious combination and progres- greatest skill and judgment, but the highsion, and of orchestral arrangement and est epic powers are evinced. Without paeffect. In the last place, the first thought, rade or preparation, or any sort of introthe idea, the intention of the work, is as duction, the Oratorio begins by Elijah dewholly novel as the manner in which it is nouncing the terrible curse, "There shall carried out; and to sum up all, these many not be rain nor dew upon this land for and daring novelties are not introduced three years;" and thus the person of Elijah, with the speculative hesitation of an un- his character of a prophet, the great event certain experimentalist, but with the con- which is the precursor and the immediate fidence in result of one who had gath- occasion of all the events, natural and ered them from the study of a lifetime of supernatural, that constitute the history of the experience of ages. And yet Men- the chief instrument of God's wrath and delssohn was but sixteen when he pro- mercy, and form the subject-matter of duced this marvellous masterpiece! Thus this delineation, are at once introduced. does genius leap at once to the long-sought Then follows the instrumental overture, and carefully digested conclusions of phi- which depicts the sufferings of the afflicted losophy. people; and so on, throughout the work, not a movement, a phrase, a note, is introduced, that is not intended to and does not successfully bear upon and aid in the development of the great design of the whole. The recurrence in a subsequent portion of the work to the musical phrase upon which the words of the curse are attered, in a place where the effect and the consequence of this awful denunciation described, and which is then elaborated into an extensive and complicated chorus, is one of the many instances throughout the work in which the musical expression is made in a wonderful manner to bring out enforce and even elevate the dramatic interest. The stupendous chorus in E flat. at the end of the first act, when, after the great trial of power between the prophet of the Lord and the Baalim priests, the rush of waters comes to quench the scorching drought, to relieve the repentant multitude and to declare the omnipe tence of the Most High, "Thanks bet God," is one of the grandest, most pow erful and impressive, and in all that imar nation can suppose or criticism descrit. most beautiful compositions, that ent the art. In this Oratorio the most surpre ing musical effect and the most profoun poetical justice go hand in hand throug out, in the powerful contrast of characte that is everywhere preserved between b different personages of the story: thus have the majestic, awful dignity of Elijah which in various phases still manifests self, whether in his curse, in his resurce tion, in his command, or in his prayer, pure devotion of Obadiah; the incens Enough has been said to illustrate the originality of Mendelssohn as a composer; to prove his greatness is less in the power of words to accomplish, and to this end it would be vain to offer more than a general list of his principal works in the various branches of composition, with only such remarks upon each, as the writer's interest in the subject renders it difficult to forbear, since an analysis of the whole would necessarily much exceed the limits of the present article, and without the opportunity for copious extracts would be not only tedious, but unintelligible to any who might not have at hand for reference, either in their memory or their library, all the works upon which remarks should be made. To commence, then, with the most important, there is his Oratorio of Elijah, which exhibits all the profound skill of the accomplished musician, all the brilliant imagination of the enlightened poet, and all the earnest solemnity of one imbued with the sublime dignity of the subject. The text is selected from Scripture, with merely such modifications of the narrative to the dramatic manner of relation as the occasional alteration of a single word effects; and in its selection, its disposition arrangement, and in distribution and violent fury of Jezebel; the sufferings of the afflicted people, and their exultant rejoicing on the removal of the curse; the fanatic madness of the priests of Baal, and the beatific serenity of the choir of angels. Volumes might be written in praise of this extraordinary creation, which would leave still volumes more to be written, and all would but convey this obvious truth: the more we understand the greatness of his work, the less can we understand, but the more must we reverence the greatness of the author. The next, perhaps, in importance, of his sacred works, is Mendelssohn's Lobgesang, the Hymn of Praise of the English version. This is somewhat on the plan of the grand Choral Symphony of Beethoven, inasmuch as it is a combination to a certain extent of the essentials of instrumental and of vocal music, but differs from this work in the vocal portion being by far the more important of it. There is also a more earnest, since a decidedly religious, character in the work of Mendelssohn than of Beethoven, and the three instrumental movements are more in accordance with, and more decidedly a prelude to the song of laudation which they introduce, than are the first three movements of Beethoven's Symphony; from the gloomy grandeur and pensive melancholy of which the Ode to Joy bursts as a powerful contrast, as the upheaving of a depressed spirit in the exultant dilation of a confined heart. The ancient chorale with which the Lobgesang opens displays at once the solemn intention and sacred character of the whole, and these are throughout never lost sight of; but the "praise" is that of a great mind, which feels that the pouring out of its best feelings and its noblest, is the devoutest homage: thus we find all conventionalities are eschewed completely; no form or style because it has the name of sacred is employed to impose a false character of de Mendelssohn's other Oratorio, "St. Paul," is only second in the scale of this composer's works, because Elijah is before it; no other mind could have produced another work to stand beside it. In this the devotional solemnity of the Chorales is eminently true to the subject, which is mainly to depict the calm and fervent zeal of the early teachers, whose simplicity was the decoration, by the display of which they held such influence upon the minds of men as to lay the seeds of a faith that has since grown and spread over so large a portion of the earth. Contrasted with these are the lighter music of the heathen people, who worship Paul and Barnabas as incarnate deities; the choruses of the multitude, sometimes wondering, sometimes accusing, sometimes in busy whispers eagerly inquiring among themselves of the truth of the things they see, of the person-votion upon the hearers, and the effect of ality of him that does them, sometimes devoutly praying; the impressive music of Paul, which, from the great penitential song, "O Lord, have mercy," to the most unimportant passage that he has to utter, is quite in keeping with the character of the great apostle; and the great scene of The Conversion, the highest praise of which can only be that it truly embodies the extraordinary scene it is designed to depict. In comparing the two, it may be suggested that St. Paul is more of a historical, Elijah more of a poetical work; this more of an imaginative, that more of a religious creation; and yet it must be felt that the truth, the devotion, the imaginative refinement and the poetical comprehension that characterize so much the author's mind, as displayed in his writings, all give a great and a varied coloring to both of these, the largest and grandest efforts of his genius. the whole is grand and impressive, because of its beauty, and not because of any accepted form of technical treatment. Next may be named his psalm, "As the hart pants for the water-brooks,”—a work more or less in the form of the English Anthem or Motet, consisting of choruses and solos, which, as in a whole and in all its parts, is a composition of exquisite beauty, comprising passages of the greatest supplication, the tenderest pathos, and the most exciting grandeur. There are also the psalm, " As Israel out of Egypt came," and another, neither of which entirely equals in interest the first mentioned; and there is also one as yet unpublished, which was written by his request to the new English version of Dr. Broadley, by whose permission it was lately given at one of the benefit concerts in London; on which occasion the most accomplished musicians spoke of it in terms of the warmest inte ture. The next in order of his Concert Overtures is Die schöne Melusine, founded on one of the legends of Germany, which tells of the loves of a knight and a waternymph, and which has suggested to the poet-musician such a series of lovely phrases and picturesque ideas as exalt the simple fairy-tale into a work of the most glowing imagination. The last in order of these beautiful conceptions is the Overture The Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, illustrative of one of the very short poems of Goethe, which, possessing certainly less musical beauty than either of the others, is not less remarkable than the best of them for its truth and power of description. To this list may perhaps be added the Overture to Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas in C major, which was written at the command of the King of Prussia for a performance of the play in Berlin, so that it cannot be strictly classed as a work for the concert-room; and being unpublished, and having never been played since the occasion for which it was written, it is impossible to give an account of it. There is also an Overture for a military band, but little known. His orchestral compositions for the concert-room are his first symphony in C minor, which, notwithstanding the many beauties it possesses, has much the air of an early work; his Symphony in A major, which is still in manuscript. This work was composed for the Philharmonic Society of London some fifteen or twenty years ago, played with success, and but once repeated in all these years, until the present season, when, as a tribute of respect to his memory, it was revived, to the great astonishment of all musicians, who were surprised to find in a work that had been so long hidden, one of the happiest efforts of its author; and the excitement it created was so great as to cause its repetition at a second concert during the same series. There is the Symphony in A minor, which work of exquisite beauty is in itself sufficient to place its composer on a level with his three immortal predecessors in this class of writing. His Overture, A Midsummer Night's Dream, though since appropriated to theatrical performance, was originally written for and performed in the concert-room, which is perhaps its fitter sphere, for its unusual length would, were it not for its more than unusual beauty, and probably also for its being so generally well known and appreciated, render it unsuitable to a theatre audience. His Over-are-for the pianoforte, the Concerto in G ture, The Isles of Fingal, was written on minor, and the Concerto in D minor, bethe occasion of his visit to the Hebrides in tween which absolute inspirations it is im1830, and expresses the emotions excited possible to choose for excellence; the Anin him by the extraordinary, wild, pictur- dante and Rondo in B minor, and another esque, and terrific scenery of this remark- work of the same form in E flat, which are able cluster of islands: they could not fail both, especially the former, highly effective to create a strong impression upon the for the player and interesting to the musician: most obtuse mind; in Mendelssohn they and, for the violin, the Concerto in E miseem to have stimulated the very highest nor, which is not only one of the best compowers of his imagination, and the result positions of its author, but one of the first is a work teeming with excessive beauty, solo pieces for the instrument extant. This and perhaps the most romantic in its char- was written for Ferdinand David, the Conacter and effect of anything the world pos- cert-meister of Leipzig, a particular friend sesses; in it the true spirit of poetry of Mendelssohn, and an eminent violinist, speaks with the tongue of music the ad- and it was introduced in London at a conmiration of an inspired mind, in contem-cert of the Philharmonic Society, where it plating the wonders of a scene that presents, as it were, the supernatural of na His compositions for solo instruments with orchestral accompaniment, as they are all written with an idea no less of musical excellence than of executive display, must be classed, like those of Mozart and Beethoven, in that very high branch of writing to which the importance given them by their length and construction, supported by their great beauty, ranks them. These was played by Sivori with prodigious success. The originality of plan in the |