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Show 522 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. prevails in the very indifferent productions of the herd of scribblers, who are ambitious of adorning their pieces with all sorts of low and wearisome jokes, peculiarly adapted to the audience of a fair. The true value of music may be judged of from the sensations with which it inspires persons of good sense and delicate feeling. Such alone have a right to give an opinion upon the art. The music of the grand ballet, like that of the grand opera, should be energetic, majestic, and exalted; its style must be sustained throughout, and well adapted to express the meaning of the subject. Here is no need of noise or false colouring; it is only necessary to express the passions with that strength and simplicity in which they naturally appear. W e might suppose that the same soul inhabited the bodies of Virgil, Raphael, and Pergolese; for the samestyle of genius prevails through the iEneid, the Transfiguration, and the Stabat. Perhaps the art of music never produced a more perfect piece than the last named chef-d'oeuvre. Let the professors of the other arts endeavour to imitate Pergolese, whose compositions are simple, regular, elegant, exalted, and sublime. This great master has succeeded in every species of composition, and given to each its appropriate character and expression. He adored the beauties of nature, and his copies of them are inimitable. O n no occasion can an able musician display so fully the imitative powers of his art as in the composition of an overture. Then it is that melody and harmony present to him a treasure of sounds, which he may turn to the greatest advantage. The sounds of which musical expression is composed may be compared to the pallet of a painter which presents a store of bright colours, from the disposition of which, the genius of the artist is to be estimated. Overtures are well adapted for the dance, which |
