establishment in a smaller theatre, was compelled by ruin to retire for
ever from the direction of the Italian stage. The opera then passed into
other hands, and was continued, with various success and few
intermissions, down to the present time. It has been the means of
introducing to our countrymen the works of an almost innumerable host of
foreign composers. Bach, the first composer who observed the laws of
contrast as a principle, Pergolisi, Gluck, Piccini, Paesiello, Cimarosa,
Mozart, Rossini, and Bellini, are the principal names, among a long list
of masters, of whom we might otherwise have remained in utter ignorance.
Performers of every kind, singers of the highest excellence, have come
among us; the powers and performances of Farinelli, Caffarelli,
Pachierotti, Gabrielli, Mara, and others, are handed down by tradition,
while all remember the great artists of still later times. These have
been our preceptors in the art of song, and to them, and them alone, are
we indebted for our knowledge of the singer's, powers; and but for their
guidance and instruction, our native home-taught professors would have
been centuries instead of years behind. It may, however, be some
consolation to reflect, that we have not been alone in our pupilage; for
Italy, herself the pupil of ancient Greece, has in her turn become the
preceptress of the modern world in music, as well as the other branches
of the fine arts, in all of which her supremacy has been universally
acknowledged. Besides the native musicians whose names we have
enumerated, many _ephemeræ_ of the genus have fluttered their short
hour, and been forgotten. On turning over the popular music of the early
years of the present century, or the music which may, perhaps, have
formed the delight and amusement of the last generation, the musician
will marvel that such productions should have been ever tolerated.
Native skill has undoubtedly advanced since this period; and however
worthless much of our present music may be considered, it is
nevertheless superior to most of the like productions of our immediate