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Show CONCLUSION. 519 bears us to the deepest abyss of woe by the same art. The prodigious fecundity of this extraordinary poet supplies a treasure for selection; in this particular, he is, in fact, without an equal. It is true that Eschylus composed ninety-seven pieces ; Sophocles one hundred and twenty, and Euripides seventy-five ; but the plan, characters and execution of one of the good plays of Shakspeare appear to me, to have required more labour than three entire tragedies of ancient Greece. Music being an imitative art, she should never lose her propriety : nature is her guide, and sentiment her judge. Music, without expression, and in which we cannot in a moment recognize character, cannot be esteemed good. O f what use is it for a musician to display his ability in certain mathematical calculations and harmonic combinations, if his music wants melody and expression?-The drama offers the finest field for the composer of music. It presents opportunities of producing the most astonishing effects of which the art is capable. It is in the opera that the enchanting powers of music are felt most perfectly. Here it is that music should paint every circumstance ; that those sensations produced in us by its sweet sounds should be perfectly analogous to the objects before our eyes, which are thus imitated by the musical art. And in order that such imitations be perfect, and produce a true effect, the poet and the musician should understand each other completely; so that what was formed in the imagination of one, may, by the art of the other, be exactly rendered to us in melody. They are dependant one upon the other, and the same feeling should guide both. W h e n the poetry is weak and inexpressive, the accompanying music also must be wanting in meaning and energy. It is very difficult to obtain this most desirable union of talent; consequently,' when the 33* |
