Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 424 - Volume 17, New Series, February 14, 1852 by Various
page 30 of 70 (42%)
page 30 of 70 (42%)
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to himself, while he inculcated peace, order, and every social virtue.
On his revisiting Paris long after, his old pupils serenaded him unmolested; and in 1849, the Institute of France voluntarily placed his name on their list for the membership vacant by the death of Donizetti; yet he would not accept the proposal of a later French government to return and establish his system: he preferred the freedom of action which he enjoyed in Britain. In London, a period of arduous labour commenced. Mainzer arrived without patronage, without the _prestige_ that his name had earned abroad, and, what was a greater drawback, without any knowledge of English! But, nothing daunted, with his usual energy he set about the task of acquiring the language, which he did in an incredibly short time--commencing, like a child, by naming all familiar objects, and going on, until, without perplexing himself with rules or their exceptions, he had acquired facility enough to lecture in public. His work on _Music and Education_ shows with what force and purity of style he could afterwards write in English. It was the same principle--that of commencing with practice and letting theory follow--which he carried out in his system of 'Singing for the Million.' He argued, that as children learn to speak before they can read or construct language grammatically, so they ought to be taught vocal music in such a way as to introduce the rules of harmony gradually, and prepare them for the manipulation of an instrument, if it is intended they should learn one; while for the great masses of both children and adults, _the voice_ is the best and only instrument, and one that can be trained, with _very few exceptions_, to take part in choral, if not in solo singing, and at the same time be made a powerful and pleasing agent in moral culture. On this subject, we shall quote Dr Mainzer's own words, when speaking of the compositions |
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