to the High Mass of the high Catholic choir, we find they all contemplate the production of the same species of excitement.*

Before we enter upon the qualities which most particularly appertain to this department of art, according to our own division, we must endeavour to impress upon the reader, that the attainments nccessary to vocal excellence are common to all the branches, but they differ in degree, according to their application. Thus, for example, the chamber may require more finish, the theatre more power, the orchestra more science. By enumerating the particulars, we do not except the general gifts or acquirements necessary to constitute a singer.

It must be apparent that dignity, simplicity, and pathos, are the capital perfections in the manner of a church singer. These, however, as will be seen hereafter, are general terms, combining the results of mechanical processes and intellectual powers. + Correct intonation, pure and fine tone, and articulation both of words and notes, ought to be amongst the first and last objects of a church singer. With respect to the first, intonation, the usual accompany

*We cannot fail to remark the curious classification with respect to rank, that the musical services of the several sects appear to imply. In the chapels of the three great denominations of dissenters, we find, universally, a strong and stimulating species of psalmody, calculated to work upon the self-love and enthusiasm of the lower orders, by the participation it gives them. In the psalms of the Church of England, there is only a species of plain song, in which, as among dissenters, the whole congregation may join, but there is little to affect in any way. In truth, this part of the service wants great amendment. In the Cathedral, there is a nearer approach to the splendor of the Roman Catholic worship, and a presupposition of a higher condition of acquirement. In the Masses of the Catholic Chapel, we come at once into the loftiest region. We see the music as well as the religion of greatness and atttainment. All the resources of art are employed; thus presuming that state of high cultivation, which the country where the Catholic faith still centres, and from whence it diverged, hal in reality been the first to reach and continue.

+ I am aware, that in these essays, I have not adopted the most complete order, but it is because as I am giving my thoughts in this shape rather than in a regular treatise, I have chosen that which appears to me most likely to interest the student.

"The effect of all those supplementary graces which really serve to assist musical expression they must diligently study and judiciously apply, either to enforce a single word or give the proper effect to a whole sentence; and though they must do this without sacrificing distinct articulation to delicacy of tone, yet they must endeavour to hit that precise medium in the vocal faculty which pronounces and sings at the same time, and which is at once, in point of sound, melodious, and, in point of speech, articulate-a merit to which only first-rate performers generally attain."-Watson on Church Music.

ing instrument, the organ, instantly betrays by the beating of the pipes, the slightest deviation from tune. There is no friendly band to support the singer or cover his defects. With regard to the second, because his sole dependence is on himself, his performance is assisted by none of the accessories which minister to the theatre or to the orchestra, and moreover, because he is cut off from the exercise of all those blandishments which serve to call off the attention of the hearer in those situations of more various attraction, his practice of sustaining, increasing, and diminishing his tone should be more sedulously matured & kept up. He should study and fix the purest and the finest tones that his voice is or may be made capable of producing, in conjunction with the several powers of elocutory expression, Those varieties which bestow their peculiar characteristics on the passions, he should have at his absolute command. It is not by degrees of loudness and softness only, but also by the quality or kind of tone that certain passages are well and distinctly marked. This idea has been carried so far by some, that they suppose the voice in singing to imitate the tones of passion in speech, and there is undoubtedly some analogy. But not to discuss the precise degree of resemblance, every observer knows, that the tones of certain voices are more expressive of certain passions than others; and the faculty of appropriating these tones should be sharpened and cultivated by minute observation and practice, since in the church this faculty of voicing bestows more undisputed empire over the heart than any other acquirement. The attainment we speak of is not, however, to be understood as direct imitation or mimicry, which is of all others the most distinctive mark of the want of commanding capacity. Every student sets out upon his researches with a given quantity of natural aptitude. His first acquisitions will necessarily be the fruits of imitation. But in proportion as he gathers strength, he will begin to rely upon himself, and to discard, even without perceiving it, the assistance he draws from others. As his knowledge of his own powers and his perceptions of the powers of the art are enlarged, he will grow bolder in varying the application of that knowledge and those perceptions, till at length (if he be gifted with any fertility and vigour more than belongs to mere mediocrity,) he will impart, to whatever he does, that modification of intensity and energy which constitutes what we are accustomed to call originality.

The elocution of church singing must be carefully and severely formed. It admits not of the slightest extravagance. It must be calm and moderate even in the most solemn or forcible passages ; it must temper even the most vehement exclamations of anguish, complaint, or joyfulness, with a chastity and purity that precisely hits the sympathy of the auditor. Here lies the judgment. To rise to fervor without endangering this fine test of execution by turgidity or bombast, is by far the most difficult part of the manner we are now considering. There is scarcely any guide. The eloquenoe of the bar, the senate, the stage, are all of too violent a nature, and that of the pulpit is below the truth of expression. The sensibility of a congregation or an audience, is, in point of fact, the only test. To arrive at the most competent authority, however, we must endeavour to draw our illustrations from real life, from those sentiments and feelings which are ordinarily expressed, or which we ourselves experience, upon occasions which place us in a parity of circumstances with the situation we are called upon to depicture. These, a little heightened in the colouring, will afford us the means of forming a true judgment.

The ornamental parts of church singing must be circumscribed by the same limitations. Uniformity and congruity must be scrupulously preserved. Not a note should be appended that does not conform, with the most significant exactitude, to the entire style of the composition. The singer ought always to remember, that he is addressing himself to his hearers upon the most important subject that can occupy the human heart. He should seek only to advance the duty he is religiously engaged to fulfil. He is no longer an artist only. He has taken upon himself a loftier character. He is employed in the most sacred, the most holy, most awful of all Occupations in the worship of the Creator and Preserver of all mankind-in the celebration of events, or the relations of scenes in which the particular intervention of the Deity is recorded. All the parts of his execution should be decent, sage, and holy. Besides this overruling and strongest influence, there is also another to be drawn from the technical circumstances. Most of the compositions of the church are in parts, which implies a conventional understanding of the united effects of all the voices. The individual effort must be combined with the general results, and each one should study to know and to accommodate his powers to the powers of the rest.

In addition to the circumstances we have enumerated, there is (in the choir more especially,) a greater necessity for the student's regard to the mechanical part of singing in this style, than in any other. The time should be regularly observed, since every relaxation is apt to disturb that fixity of attention which the singer ought to be most studious to preserve in his auditory. In this respect there is a sin-. gular natural and artificial constitution as it were, formed. Every one suffers disturbance from breach of time, after the uniform motion has been regulated and imprinted upon his memory, by the repetition of a few bars; and to persons whose ears have been technically habituated to strict time, it is impossible to describe the uneasiness which any casual breach occasions. I not only speak of the general time affixed to an entire movement, but to those occasional liberties with single passages or notes, which, under the license of tempo rubato, singers are apt to allow themselves. As a general rule, students should carefully abstain from all such indulgencies. It is perfectly true, that there is a period when the education being as it were, finished, a performer can determine the limitations placed upon his acquirements; and when, if ever, he must exercise the right to increase the effect of his singing by such accommodations. But if we yield to any such deviation in the early stage of our practice, a habit of changing passages and of consulting our own ease, to the great injury of the composition and our own attainments, is sure to be contracted. We ought to lay it down as a maxim, that the composer best understands his own intentions; and if we find that we fail to convey the sentiments as they are set down, we should either overcome the difficulty or relinquish the attempt, for something more within the reach of our competency. Such ought to be the rule of every young singer's practice.

We may now speak of the Oratorio, which we have said we consider to hold a sort of middle place between the solemnity of the music used at divine service, and the lighter and more ornamented manner of the orchestra. The Oratorio, we conceive, exhibits the most perfect models of THE GREAT STYLE, and demands the most extensive and elevated powers of any species of vocal excellence. In conjunction with all the dignified expression required by the church, it claims all the elegancies of the art; and in proportion as the materials are more diversified, the taste and the forbearance of the possessor in the use of them is the more indispensible. HANDEL and HAYDN are

almost the only masters from whom English singers have hitherto been much accustomed to draw their illustrations; and we may assert, without fear of contradiction, that the Oratorios of HANDEL, The Messiah in particular, contain music more difficult to execute worthily than any other compositions of any kind, except perhaps certain very complicated and rapid songs of agility. Soprano, tenor, counter-tenor, and bass will there find the most useful as well as the finest exercise for their powers. HAYDN's music will, in a measure, sing itself; none but a really superior performer can attempt HANDEL with the slightest chance of success.

The sacred compositions of this master are, it is true, very various, but there is throughout the whole a majesty that is not to be found in any other. Perhaps it will be maintained, that his subjects are in strictness more deserving the appellation of fine air than those of any other author. Nothing surely can combine grandeur of design with the highest species of elegance, so perfectly as The Messiah. But it is strictly sublime; and, to be at all effective, must be supported by the singer with parallel magnificence-the most difficult of all possible attainments. HAYDN's grace and sweetness, on the contrary, impart a lightness which is nearer the grasp of mind, that is the common property both of performers and of audiences.* HANDEL, in the multitude of his Oratorios, is certainly far more varied than HAYDN, but there is the same presiding distinction over all his works. I have anticipated these remarks in my first letter, and to that I refer the reader, as explaining with sufficient fullness the nature of the intellectual faculties required to give propriety to the exccution of these great and delightful com positions.t

There is only one rule to guide us to the just execution of compositions of this standard excellence. The style of the composer must regulate exactly the manner of the singer. We must consider the elevation at which his mind has fixed the point of attainment, and we must steadfastly and faithfully believe, that the purity of his

* In proof of this opinion, we may quote the almost universal imitation of HAYDN, direct and indirect, which is to be found in the works of later composers. Whereas, the style of IANDEL was so intrinsically his own, so grand and musterly, and so far above the vulgar reach, that no instances of such attempts remain on record, to our knowledge.

See page 39, (No. 1.)