A Sketch of the History of -Printing, from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century ( Continued) Author(s): Friedrich Chrysander Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 18, No. 416 (Oct. 1, 1877), pp. 470-475

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This content downloaded from 132.174.254.159 on Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:47:55 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.- OCTOBERI, I877. 47o use (I believe Mr. Charles Halle played it some years of absolute novelty; but in his best works even the since at one of his Recitals), is at the same time not passage-writing cannot at this day be called anti- too difficult for fairly advanced pupils. I have often quated. And as to the charge of dulness, I am taught it myself, and have always found it an especial almost inclined to call it an outrage upon common favourite. sense. Trivial at times, nay, even commonplace, '"Le Retour a Paris," in A flat, Op. 70 (usually Dussek may be; but he certainly is never dull. If called in this country " Plus Ultra ") is so well known ever a man possessed an unfailing fountain of melody, to musicians here that, as this paper has already that man was Dussek. Even in his least important far exceeded its intended limits, I shall pass very and interesting Sonatas, the txne flows on continually, hastily over it. To this Sonata more than to any sometimes in a jog-trot sort of way, it is true, but it other, unless it be " L'Invocation," apply the remarks never stops. We never feel, as we do sometimes with made above as to the technical development observ- Clementi, that the man has got to the end of his ideas, able in Dussek's later works. Many of the passages and is forced to eke out inrention with science. It is are quite in Hummel's style, while one (page 6, lSrst probable that those who speak disparagingly of line, B. and H. edition) is remarkably like Weber. Dussek have so accustomed their musical palates to Next to Op. 44, this Sonata is the longest of all its the highly spiced viands of Liszt and the school of Bcomposer's;its beauties are so svell known that it is " higher development " as to have lost their taste for needless to enlarge further upon them. simple and natural food. It is not risking much to Far otherwise is it with the next work, the Sonata predict that the best of Dussek's Sonatas will live as in E; flat, Op. 75, which is one of the most unjustly long as those of Mozart, with which in melodic charm neglected of the whole series. Though decidedly less they are quite on a par, while technically they are even d;fficult, it is hardly less brilliant than " lLe Retour a more advanced. I trust that this article may do some- Paris," and in the charm of its melodies it is almost thing towards calling the attention of musicians and more beautiful. The passage-writing in the first of teachers to the writing of one who, though not a Allegro is very new and elegant; the slow movement star of the first magnitude in the musical heavens, has some slight resemblance in character to the was nevertheless a man of real genius, and, within author's well-known Andante " La Consolation," to the comparatively limited range of pianoforte music sTllich,however, it is superior, and the ISnal Rondo to which he almost exclusively conEne(1his attention, is one of the most perfect that Dussek has left us. a true " tone-poet." Aladame Goddard introduced this beautiful work once at the Monday Popular Concerts; it is much to be regretted that hardly any one seems to think it worth A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC- while to imitate her example. PRINTING, FROM THE FIFTEENTH TO The Sonata " L'Invocation," in F minor, Op. 77, THE NINETEENTH CENTURY appears to have been Dusseks last work; at all events no " Op. 78 " exists. It is a worthy companion BY FRIEDRICHCHRYSANDER. to the two last noticed. I have been unable to meet (Contingedfro11; page 378.) with any explanation of the title; can any of my readers supply the information ? The lSrst Allegro SECOND PERIOD (contit«ued). of this Sonata is distinguished by the dignified grace BEFOREwe advance further, the final words in the of its melodies, and by the brilliance of its passage- previous number, pages 377 and 378, require an expla- writing, in which it approaches very near to Op. 70. nation. The result of type-printing during the nearly The second movement is a Minuet and Trio, of which 400 years of its existence, which is described there the former is svritten in canon throughout. It is is expressed far too briefly to be safe against all mis- marked " canone alla seconda," but, though indicated understanding, or to be an accurate statement of the c;seconda grave," it is not really in the second below, present usage of all countries. The words, " Of late as might be inferred, but in the seve1tthbelow, which years type-printing has been given up again, even for of course is the inversion of the second. Towards publications which have a large sale," and " it is now the close we find the actual canon in the second above. almost entirely confined to theoretical, historical, and The use of this form was a favourite with Clementi, instruction books on music," strictly describe only in svhose Sonatas many specimens are to be found; what is usual on the Continent. The obligation of Oussek's canon seems to flow more naturally, and to an historical description is to pay especial attention to have less pedantic stiffness about it than is frequently those countries which at the present time give the the case in those of his great contemporary The tone, and to regard their practice as that which is 1rio of this movement is in charming contrast with most sure of having a future before it. It should, in- the Minuet- here science is abandoned and melody deed, have been added to the above words that music resumes her sway. The following Adagio non troppo is still brought out by means of typography in a ma solenne, in D flat, iS one of our composer's most quantity perhaps greater than fhat issued from the beautiful slow movements- and the final Rondo is in combined presses Orthe engravers and lithographers. no way inferior to the rest of the work. England and the United States, the dominions of the At the end of the series of Sonatas is printed one Anglo-Saxon tongue, are the countries where the called " La Chasse." It is not really a Sonata, but leading musical firms bring out the majority of their only an Allegro in 6 time, preceded by seven bars of publications by type-printing. A gentleman who is introduction. It is very pretty, but in no way great, practically engaged in the business, and who brings nor does it require more than a word of mention for great knowledge and interest to bear on everything the sake of completeness. connected with music-printing, declares his opinion It is the fashion with some musicians of the present that type-printing will be found the more suited to day to depreciate Dussek, and to speak of his music rocal music-the combination of music and speech- as old-fashioned and dull. To a very limited extent and engraving the best for instrumental. Although the truth of the former epithet may be admitted as this view harmonises with what I remarked on regards some of his works. Many of the passages page 377 on " the same system," which would come to which he invented have been so frequently used and be employed in printing letters of the alphabet and imitated since that they no longer possess the charm musical notes, still I think there is no need to draw so

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.159 on Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:47:55 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.- OCTOBERI, I877. 4y I sharp a line in order to separate the two chief Recent writers on this subject usually assert that domains of music-printing. Indeed,on considering the tablatureof those days was identical itll what the questionmore closely, we findthat these different we nowcall " score,"but this is incorrect. I1Znvol- methods of printing are employedquite peacefully tllra (the Italianword for " talDlature") is, as late as side by side on the same ISeld,that of vocal music. the seventeenthcentury, clearly distinguishedfrom All new compositionswhich come out as independent partitlb1oa(score). Pieces of music xvere iStavolczZi, opeYa of their author are eolgraved,whatever they when all tIle harmonicparts urerecrowded tot,ether may be, whether full scores or vocal scores, part- on a single system of generallymore than five lines, songs or single songs. The value of the single copy, or on a small complication of lines, letters, and fromwhich the publisherhas to determinethe price, numbers,or of 1etters,numbers, and notes without and the uncertaintyof the sale of large quantities,re- lines; they werestartitz hen the severalparts were commendthis course. But wherethe chief attention assigned to a correspondingnumber of lines, as has is given to the circulationof works whose copyright alxvaysbeen the case in scores. is extinct,and whose popularitywill secure them a The significance *shich the ancierlt large sale, type-printingis the easiest and safest possessed in the history of musical art will bc method. Countrieswhich have onlya scantyproduc- readily comprehendedfrom this description. In tiveness of new compositionsof their own to set the position of the notation of musicalworks at thz againstwhat they reprintfrom foreign composers or end of the Efteentllcentury it was impossible,with- old masters,yet have the widestpossible field for the out great troubleand expenditure of space, to put on sale of their publications-like the United States- paper simple harmonic phrases by means of the must naturally use typographyby prererence. In ordinarrnotation. Those signs of noteswere desrised musical productivenessEngland of course stands for the artistic contrapuntalmusic, in which each on a very diderent level from the United States, voice or part took its independentcourse; but in yet here also the powers of productionand of their then imperfectform were quite insufficientfor reproductionare at the present time by no means players on the organ, lute, theorbo, and cembalo. evenly balanced; the scale which favourstype-print- The natureof these instrumentsdemands a free and ing being the heavier, musical typographylEnds a not strictly contrapuntalstyle of music, and ac- very advantageousfield. Moreover,it is employed cordinglythe performanceon them must lze free- here xvithgood reason,because England has for a improvisedas it were-and the notationis limited to considerableperiod surpassed all other countriesin short and general illdications. These instruments the reEllementof taste shownin herstyle of letterpress have always been, and still are, the properfieldlfor and is therebyenabled to give solidityand elegance free improvisation,or for the " voluntary,"as tlle old of style to works of musical typographyalso. It is Englishterm expressi-elynames it. To providethz very differenton the Continent,especially in Ger- most Ettingnotation in the earliestage for the abose many. Althoughtype-printing is executedbeautifully mentionedkeyed and stringedinstruments of manx there, yet even cheap editions,which are undertakentones was the objectof the tablature* andit preserses solely with the view of an immensesale, are nowpro- therefore the organ, lute, and clavier mus.c of the ducedby engravingand lithographyrather than by time. It mustthen be obviousthat Tablaturecannot typography,which in my opinion would be much be synonymouswith score. It appearsfurther that better. there are three kinds of tablature: for the organ The discussionof these questionsinvolves the chief the lute, and the clavier. I shall treat the subjectin points on the entire domainof music-printing,and I these three divisions. shall thereforerecur to it at the end of this sketch. I The specific mark and peculiarityof talJlatureis now proceedto Tablature-printing. that it is a mixtureof possiblemeans of desit,nating notes. It employsletters, numbers, some featuresof PERIOD: TABLATURE. the ordinarymusical notation,and other arbitrarnr It cannot be said that the ordinaryconception of signs as well. Lettershave generally the precedence a labyrinth is that of a very clearly and simply and form the foundation,and numbersare the nex-t plannederection, although it may appearso to those in importance. But there are also tablatureswith- who have once foundthe clue to it, and they may be out letters, in which the numbersoccupy the {irst surprisedto hear others complainingof diiculties place. The ordinary musical notes always serve obscurity,and confusion. The case is similarwith merelyto help out the deficienciesof the othersigns. an ancient,and now quite obsolete, mode of nota- This is the threadof Ariadnein the labyrinthwhich tion andprinting, the adherentsof whichin their day we see beforeus. wereso enamouredof it as the best possiblesystem that the ultimate abandonmentof it in the most I. OrgaJ-Tablatxte. influentialmusical circles turned them almost into This is also called the German; and should misanthropes. properlybe styled the AlphabeticalTablature. The The word Tablaturecomes fromthe Latin tablfla Germanswere distinguishedfrom all other nations " table " and had its originin the circlesof the organ at the end of the WIiddleAges by employingletters and lute playersof the Efteenth century. It is not for the designationof musical notes. Tlley thus foundin any lexiconof MediGevalLatinity, not elrerl acquireda musicalalphabet for the notationof organ in Tinctor's " Diffinitorium" (i.c. definition of compositions,which greatly facilitated the practiceof musical terms), printed at Naples in I495. The that instrument. But this svasnot the onlyadvantage playerof keyedor stringedinstruments of manytones they gained. The alphabeticalnotation, far from being compressedhis compositionsinto the form of this concoctedfrom letters arbitrarilyselected, was based kind of table, on a single page of paper or parch- on a musical foundation,on the most distinctEgure xment,so that in playinghe couldsurrrey all the parts knownto music, the . It consequentlyem- at a glance. Externally therefore " tablature" ployedonly the seven letters alreadyused by Guido signifies "table-notation." The real importanceof of Arezzo,A B C D E F G, tot,etllerwith the inter- the tablaturelies in the possibilitywhich it gives mediatetones, and by the applicationof these to tize of delineatingall compositionsfor instrumentsof entire gamut formed a simple, short, and disti:rct manytonos with the greatestbrevity and clearness. system, which is undoubtedlymore perftect tlaan the

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2 THE MUSICAL TIMES. OCTOBERI, I877.

Italian, adoptedalso in France and England, and LeipzigCity Library. It is entitled, " Talbulaturerl basednot on letters,but on the vocal syllablesgt, re etlicher lobgesang und liedlein uff die orgeln und ni,fa,sol, la, si. A force which in the end proves lauten.... von ArnoltSchlicken." ArnoldSchliclo, very great often starts from a very humbleorigin; of Heidelberg,was a notedmaster of the ort,anand and itS importanceremains long unrecognised. It is lute, andthis bookof his containsthe best instruction wellknown that the musicaleminence of the Germans that the age had to offer. He was incited to printit was first exhibitedby organistsand their scholars. by a book,full of faults,published a year beforeby a VVell, the formationof this alphabeticalnotation was Swiss priest, named Sebastian Virdung, entitled the earliestact of those organ-schools,and prepared" Musica getutscht" (Basle, I5II). In this work the groundfor all their later achievements,and its the instructionwas as defectiveas the impressionof th.e ultimate importancefar exceeds the use that was noteson woodenblocks. Music-printingwithmovable made of it for tablatureduring two centuries. I types was eventhen called " the trueart of printing* " callnot here enter more deeply into this subject, for Schlick says contemptuouslyof Virdung'sbook althoughit deservesinvestigation, but must content that it was not made by this true printer'sart, but myseif with a briefaccount of some impressionsof only by woodenplates, without rule or art, and witho , out the possibilityof correctingerrors once admittedO In I 5I X was published at the press of Peter Schlick's collectionconsists mainlyof organpieces, SchoeSerat Mainz a small book in oblongquarto almostexclusively on sacred texts. As an exampleI give ille only extant copy of which is possessedby the the beginningofpage 37, on the hymn " Mariazart: "-

¢aPrehSart

rpw={SlrFt .1

1 rrrr 1rfff T a mab ssbct 111 1 rr rr rrrrtrr 1

_ o b e t¢t e feft fefs af

Written in our notes according to their then value, this piece would appear as follows:-

(e-i-(sj J>lwCjol 14 S.!IO}&JO I I-J

I

For an explanationof the separatesigns used in retrogression, to be accounted for lzy the one-sided tabIaturesI must refer the reader to dictionariespreJudice of the Germans in favour of this mode of arldspecial treatises on the subject. We have here sriting. It never made any way in other countries - onIy to consider the general importanceot that and this fact may be regarded as a just indication of notationand the modeof printingit. In the second itS value, in reference to the permanent usefulness of half of the sixteenthcentury several extensive collec- tablature for . The only element tions of organ-tablatureswere printedin Germany of the system which had a lasting value was the use the largest of which is one by Jacob Paix: " Ein of the alphabet in the arrangement of musical tones,. schonnutzlich und gebrauchlich Orgel-Tabulaturbuch On which it was based. darlnn etlich der beruhmtestenComponisten beste z. Ll4te-Tabl.atre. Alotettenmit IX bis 4 Stimmenauserlesen..... suletzt auch allerhandder schonsten Lieder und For this instrument, which was once xrerypopular 5'cinze," &c. (Augsburg,I583, folio). But the larger and is called by Mace in his " Music's Monument' portionwas neverprinted at all. Till the end of the " the best of instruments," the notation was the most seventeenthcentury every scholar learned this tabla-peculiar, and at the same time fully justified. Indeed ture-notationfor organ-and clavier-music,although it seems as if tablature was invented on purpose for Iongbefore that date it had becomepractically use- the lute. The notation in this case was determined less. Even music for single-tonedinstruments, and solely by the construction of the instrument, and was songs, were noted thus; but this was a manifestaccordingly mechanical rather than strstematical.

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THE MUSICAL TIMES.-OCTOBER I, I877. 473

This pictorial character imparted method to the arbi- nGamely,from the fifteenth century to the middIeof trary employment of letters, numbers fragments of the eighteenth. notes, and lines. It is as if we were to write piano- However, this mode of writing was not Exed at the forte music by a representation of the keys them- very outset, but was developed by stages. We have selves and an indication of the notes by means of to distinguish three kinds of lute-tablatures, German numbers, chosen from the fingers that are to be used. Italian, and Mixed. With the lute this method was very natural, because (a) Of the German Lute-Tablature s -e End the in the Efteenth century it was very difficult to deli- earliest printed examples-svhich are, however not neate music in several parts in any other way. The quite trustworthy executed on blocks by Virdung in lute-playertherefore gained two ends by this tabla- ISII, and the best of that age produced by Arnold ture, a notation for several simultaneous parts Schlick a year later. Lute-music was printed in ts -o and a pictorial guide to the use of his instru- differentways, according as it was used in connection ment. Thus it becomes intelligible how it was with the voice or alone. that no other notation was ever employed for Here is an example of a song for one voice, with a the lute during the whole period of its existence; lute accompaniment in two parts, from Sclllick:- ber4Webliv#X

rrr rPrr irrr rrl rrrrrrl rg lFr rt! 22§4 sggl 2l ftg {t4^ tf fl fi2 l 2 a 24, l2ff In modernnotation it wouldread thus:-

| &e 1---84691--16 C-nJtJoq a _ ! 0 ,, a -r3-'--i l I i i / 21lG+# g -) G>--SC 63 r --- <) ----4-- ; N ! g b(,t'fjr:Ct°fif'l -l °v-il5-fZl, !rl fRltl-fCj°l9---l lf-S °g-- -- g t s l i ; l l l l l l l l l l L * l S Here the voice-partis written in the notationusual the fingers,as Schlickexpresses it, arequite differellt, in most vocal compositionsof the time, and printed as is obvious. OnPetrucci's system. The notes which fell to the This is shown still more clearly in the following share of the lute and were " nipped" (gezwickt) by facsimilefor the lute withoutthe voice:-

2flLiFitrabt>icfenmttbwk"*

tr lnrr rrFr rirFr rrFrr rrrrrr vrTr rFrrr 9rg g2q ftoq asq+$ fxfnS ecy2f oqzf ¢y 8

There are here neither the five lines nor the (b) The Italian IXute-Tabl-aturewas more perEect lEgurednotes with their time-value indicated, so than the German. PetruccipublishedfourcollectLans that the very fundamentalelements of the modern as earlyas the years I507 and I508, entitled" Intabu- notationare absent. Nothing is left but fragments laturade Lauto,"which must be regardedas the flrst of notegs,numbers, strokes, and other signs. The printed lute-books. The Italians used liness and use of letters of the alphabetis characteristicof the avoidedletters of the alphabet. But the lines were &ermanlute-notation. taken, not fromthe notationof floridsongs but from

* " Zwicken mit dreien" *.e.in three-part harmonyfor the lute. " All ding mit rath " is the begirlningof a German50ng.

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.159 on Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:47:55 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 'rHE MUSI(:AL TIMES. OCTOBERI, IS77. 474 the six strings of the lute; therewere thereforesix partwas printedin five lines, as irl Schlick,and the lines,notfive. Intheselinesthetone3wereinserted, accompanimentput beneath it in six, which must but neither by letters, as was the practice of the certainlybe pronounceda complicatedand hetero- Germanlutists, nor by musical notes, but by the geneousmode of writing. numberso, I, X, 3, 4, 5; so that they were denoted As a short but significantexample of this tabla- very similarlyto the presentmode of ISngeringpiano- ture I select that which Kiesewettergave in No. g of forte music inEngland(x I,2,3,4). Inpiecesfor the Allgemet1rcMxs«kalische Zcitxng for I83I; it the voice with a lute accompaniment,which Petrucci is takenfrom a bookon dancing,printed at Venicein f1rst printed in the work scTenori e contrabassi I58I: 4; I1 Ballarino di M. Fabrizio Caroso da intabulaticol sopranin canto" in I509, the soice- Sermoneta."

. |-t Z 4 e-|-=t | 1 1 | b |--+ | ° | ° |- 2- 3 o- 2 o- 3 o e o a ffi 4} ¢ ¢ 3 3 2 o= ;5 2

Translatiotl

Jla tb{ ! 1>-U$ 1uAx G 1 X 4 3 4X q-iL4i N I

t [t)>>(.'' -4° 1 to to ° T° ° S sS > N ¢ > I

2 Z | 0 3 z ff 1 a z O i O | 4 i | 0 3 a 1 1 ° 1-

(c) The MixedTablature was a system of writing backs to this " best of instruments @'were the changes for the lute formedout of the two precedingones by and the complication of its mechanism and the un- a combinationof the best elements of both. The certainty of its tone; for, as a writer about the year Italian six lines wereretained, but not the numbers I720 says, if a lutist lived to be eighty years old, and the places of the strings on which the player forty years of his life must have been spent in tuning. had to put the finger of his left handwere indicated However, the time when the instrument and music by letters, accordingto the Germansystem. This printed for it went out of existence has no interest to system of lute-writingwas used in the Netherlands us. The historical importance of the lute- and organ- and in France, where books were printed in it as tablatures belongs to the sixteenth century, which carly as I540. The Germans wavered in their must be regarded as the proper period of that species adoption of it till I600, first employingit occa- of notation. sionally, and subsequentlyreturning to the system svithoutlines in their largest collections but after 3. Italtan Tablatvse (). 1600 they wrotelute-music lilie their neighbours,with Figured Bass is also a species of tablature, and letters on six lines. The Italians,on the otherhand is called Italian because it ISrstcame in use in Italy. continuedto hold to their numbersand avoid the Inasmuch as its object is the insertion of harmonious letters. This practicewas fundamentallythe same chords, it must be regarded as a substitute for the as the numbershad no musical meaning,but were organ-tablature. The practice of indicating the quite arbitrary,and might have had any othersigns chords by numbers above the bass appears to have that could be agreed upon-such as those of the arisen not earlier than the last quarter of the sixteenth zodiacor the pharmacopceiasubstituted for them. century. These numbers are found in the printed The lute-bookswere printedin all the ways that editions of the earliest operas and simiIar works came into use in the course of time. Virdung's commencing with the year ISgo. They soon became music OI I5II was engravedon wood, though that common in all countries, especially in pieces for many style had even then come into disrepute. All voices, which the organist or clavecinist had to else, commencingfrom Petrucci's earliest book in accompany in harmony from a single bass-part with 1507,was printedwith movabletypes. Towardsthe appended numbers, instead of the now abandoned middle of the seventeenthcentury copperplateen- tablature. gravlng was introducedand employedin printing By this means they evaded the difficultyof printing rnusicfor the lute untii about I760, after which it music in several parts on one stave, which indeed disappearsxvith the instrument itself. The draw- they were unable to do with the means therl at their

This content downloaded from 132.174.254.159 on Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:47:55 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-OCTOBERI, I877. 475 disposal. The ernployment of the numbers has been specting incidents in the private lives of eminent retained down to the present day, and will be kept in artists. How, for example,the marriageof a cele- permanence in musical art? the sole relic of the bratedvocalist was announced,and even the church most peculiar and remarkable mode of notation for mentioned at xvhich the ceremony took place harmonic music called Tablature. althoughit is now generallybelieved that she is stili This is the single point of view from which this single. How it was stated that dissensions had subject concerns us in this connection. It has, how- arisen between two personswho are well known to ever, great importance of a diSerent kind in its bear- be aboutthe happiest marriedcouple in the artistic ing on music; and should this article not have tired world. Neithershall we do morethan allude to the the patience of my readers, I should be glad to claim personal attacks which have recently been made their attention once more to a fuller exposition of the upon men fulfilling to the best of their abilities further signiEcance of the Egured bass, especially as positionsof trust andresponsibility, because all these its value has long been far too little recognised, to matters are best answered if answeredat all by the inJury of the art. the personsassailed. But in the reportswe are about (Srticle4 oB Cofteelate Engraving will ntteat wx {Ac to call attentionto, the public interestis awakened xext lmber.) ttfor both have referenceto the future of bro of our greatestsingers, and both are untrue. NVhenMdlle. Titiens, after undergoingan opera- SENSATIONAL PARAGRAPHS. tion, was lying in an enfeebledstate at Worthing,it BY HENRYC. LUNN. was stated(with all the authorityof an advertisement, WE recollect once hearing a story of an editor althoughin a paragraph)that on a certain evening who, whenever he was at a loss for news, inserted a she wouldsing at Her Majesty'sTheatre, and that a paragraph in his journal respecting some artist upon few days afterwardsshe wouldappear at her BeneSt whom public attention was for the time concentrated Concertat the RoyalAlbert Hall. Now we care Ilot announcing that he or she was about to retire from to inquirewith whomthis announcementoriginated; the profession, and in the following number decis;vely but can most positivelyaffirm that those who knew contradicted it; so that it became generally imagined anythingof the prxmadonna's state at that time must that he possessed exclusive information upon the have been perfectly awarethat, whatevermight be subject, although in truth he knew no more about it hoped in the future, her singing on the days men- than any of his readers. It is scarcely fair, certainly, tionedwas an utter impossibility;and we can only that those who come prominently before the public wonder thereforethat so wide a circulationshould should be subjected to the effect of the circulation of have been given to such a statement. such reports; but, as with Royal personages, we fear But the next is a still more glaring instance of that the glass houses in which they reside can never paragraph-making;for in this we are told that, by a be suiciently protected from the gaze of idlers and voluntaryact of one of our favouritevocalists the it is perhaps, therefore, the penalty they must neces- operatic world is to lose her services for ever. sarily pay for their popularity. It has often been Madame Patti, a " well-informed" correspondent said that when a person wishes for a minute know- asserts,as exclusivenews, is aboutto quit the scenes ledge of what is passing in his own home he calls of hermany triumphs, and to becomehenceforth a nun. upon his friends, most of whom he Ends have later '; Tired of the world,"he adds, warmingwith his information upon his dotnestic arrangements than he theme,;' wearied of the worryand turmoil of mundane has himself; and on the same principle we imagine strife, and wishing for the peace and tranquillityof that those who have attained a prominent public completewithdrawal from public life, she has retired position must be in the habit of consulting the daily to the Conventofthe SacredHeart, withthe objectof newspapers to find whom they are about to marry preparingherself to takethe veil." Nothinglike beint, if aiready married, whether happiness has blessed circumstantialwhen you are desirousof impressing their union; and whether it is or is not their intention people with the truth of your information-a fact to abandon the exercise of an art which they have happily illustrated by Sheridanin the "School for for so many years adorned. On referring to old Scandal,"where Crabtree, in describinga duel which musical periodicals now in our possession, we Enz nesrertook place, says that a ballfrom Sir Peter Teazle's little, if any, of these personal matters debated- and pistol" struckagainst a little bronzeShakespeare that are led therefore to believe that the recent estailish- stood over the fireplace,grased out of the windowat ment of journals, an especial feature in which is the a right angleSand wounded the postman,who was just discussion of those private petty scandals with which comingto the doorwith a double letter fromNorth- we should think but few people could feel interested, amptonshire"-and so the author of the paragraph has led to the adoption of a similar prineiple when to which we alludetakes care to tell us that Madame speaking of those public persons whose movements Patti on her way to Brittany7from Ilfracombe, where must necessarily have an imp0rtant bearing upon the she was stopping," stayed one night in Paris," and progress of art. Inundated as we are with these then departedto her future home, " accompaniedby professedly truth-telling and semi-comic sheets of a memberof her household." It is needless to say news many paragraphs in which, strangely enough, that this affectingpiece of intelligence, which was we see copied into the daily and weekly newspapers- duly transferredinto many newspapers,caused the it behoves us to be additionally cautious as to what utmost consternationwith those who had so long we receive in evidence. Rumours, of course, there regardedthe performancesof this artist as amongst have always been as to the actions of the public's the most powerfulattractions of the Londonseason. favourites; but when we read, as we have lately Strange to say, however,a very short time elapsed done statements most conISdentlymade which have before we were informedthat Madame Patti had not the slightest foundation, it should be a lesson to contractedto " sing in sixty representationsof opera us for the future not to credit announcements which in Europe before the end of next month," and are unendorsed by some recogrwisedauthority. that she will appear at Manchester on the I2th Coming at once to facts, in conlSrmation of our and at Liverpoolon the I7th inst. It may perhaps remarks, we will not dwell long upon the many para- be said that some gossip had given a colour of graphs which have appeared from time to time re- truth to this report; but if it had been alluded to

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