John Weeks Moore

“ When one hears it, he can revel in the full luxury of music ; and to thus enjoy song, one can have no hired minstrel, no crowded benches, no glare of lamps, no bustle. He must have a still, calm eye, in some quiet bower, away from the hum of cities ; with one who needs not ask or be told what string to strike - one who will cling to the merit, not the less precious that we seldom hear it, the pathetic simplicity which nature prompts - whose heart is in the strain breathed forth - carolling in its own created atmosphere of harmony. ”

“ Nothing can give an idea of this voice always united, always equal, which vibrates without effort, and of which each note opens like a rosebud. No cry, no pretended dramatic contortion, to bruise and wound your tympanum under the pretext of moving you to tears ! No doubt the admirable voice of Alboni is not without some imperfections ; it counts several notes that are feeble and slightly dull, as sol, la, si, do, notes which serve as the transition between the chest voice, of an unparalleled beauty, and the register of sounds formed above the larynx, commonly called the head tones. ”

“ Melody demands the expression of its own thoughts, before it attempts to express the idea of the poet - a means exclusively its own, and which acts upon us in a pleasurable way. Its power of calling up ideas of the past, upon which the mind loves to dwell, is often a source of great delight : with music of this kind the singer seldom fails to please ; he trusts to the charm of the melody rather than the force of the words, recollecting that we must first please the ear before we can touch the heart. ”

“ In their still world of dreams, what miracles did the power of art work out from their intense conceptions what skilful choice and marshalling of means for producing their intended effects ! and what patient and intense labor at composition !
The lives of these men are like insulated points in history, only to be well comprehended by those who are somewhat similarly organized. But their influence is wider than we can imagine. A great musical composer is a central power, who radiates a finer sense of beauty, by little and little, into the outmost and least-delicately organized souls. ”

“ Albrechtsberger said of himself', "I have no merit in composing good fugues, for I do not recollect ever having an idea that might not be employed in double counterpoint." It is from Albrechtsberger and Sebastian Bach, and like men, that the materiel of harmony is acquired : they have furnished our musical store-houses and arsenals ; they have equipped our Haydns, Mozarts, and Beethovens for the field; they discovered and laid bare "the chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony." ”

“ It calls in my spirits, composes my thoughts, delights my ear, recreates my mind, and so not only fits me for after business, but fills my heart at the present with pure and useful thoughts ; so that, when the music sounds the sweetliest in my ears, truth commonly flows the clearest in my mind. And hence it is that I find my soul is become more harmonious by being accustomed so much to harmony, and adverse to all manner of discord, that the least jarring sounds, either in notes or words, seem very harsh and unpleasant to me. ”

“ As the instrument is new, so it is also easy to construct and very pleasant. It is the admiration of every one. It is made exactly to tit a window, in which it is placed ; and the harp, while the window remains shut, is silent : but as soon as it is opened, an harmonious sound, though somewhat melancholy, coming from the passing wind, astonishes the hearers; for they are not able to perceive from whence the sound proceeds, nor yet what kind of instrument it is, for it resembles neither the sound of a stringed nor yet of pneumatic instrument, but partakes of both. ”

“ In his music he aspired to the Infinite. In his music he accomplished the great sacrifice of self, and displayed the heroic will by his resolute adherence to the theme, mastering and con-trolling his thronging inspirations. In his music was he always true, as in his life, compromising nothing for effect, for immediate success or comfort, but spending himself to give worthy utterance to holy and deep sentiments. In his music are the tenderest love, and energetic will, and loftiest aspiration, and purity and faith ; as he himself said, "The secret of all true art lies, after all, in the moral." ”

“ As the object of every musical accompaniment is to give effect to the principal part, the accompanist should always aim to support, and by no means to overpower and oppress it. Of all composers, Mozart, even in respect to the accompaniments, claims the first place, for the simplicity and beauty with which he amalgamates the leading and accompanying parts, through his unrivalled knowledge and excellent management of the parts for every individual instrument. The modern German composers excel in accompaniment. ”

“ The chief excellence of that measured strain of music called air resides in the beauty of its melody, the symmetry of which lays hold of our affections in a peculiar way. When addressed to the gentler passions, its tender expressions are more intelligible than words, of which few are necessary to assist its meaning ; and the less it is encumbered with them, the more powerful is its charm. ”

“ To make a harpsichord or piano-forte sing is, indeed, not easily accomplished, as the ear must be tired by too thin a harmony, or stunned by too full and noisy an accompaniment. In his opinion, music ought to touch the heart ; and he never found that this could be effected by running, rattling drumming, or arpeggios. If Haydn ever looked up to any great master as a model, it seems to have been Emmanuel Bach. The bold modulations, rests, pauses, free use of semitones, at d unexpected flights of Haydn, remind us frequently of Emmanuel Bach's early works, more than of any other composer. ”

“ Thousands of invisible harps are pouring their united melody through the depths of air and earth ; millions of archangels touch their heaven-strung lyres and send celestial harmony through the vast halls of the temple of the living God up to the throne of the dread eternal One. It is the air of earth ; it is the atmosphere of heav- en. The unbounded universe is one sleepless lyre, whose chords of love, and hope, and purity, and peace are fanned into a dreamy and mystic melody by the breath of the invisible God. ”

“ Plimpton was a self-taught artist, and from his machine would give forth music from the soft breathings of the Aeolian harp to the swelling majesty of the organ; from the sweet warbling of the canary bird to the hoarse trumpet's inspiring clangor ”