32G

M. TIIALBERG’S REMARKS OX HAXOFORTES.

[Class Xa.

considering that it lias more power and depth of tonethan is usual in organs of the same size.

f>thly. The trumpet 8' is a free reed-stop, it is tunedby screws, the crutch is fixed, while the plate and thetongue are moveable. The tone of this stop is more likethat of a clarionet or bassoon, which has been attainedby a novel covering of the body of the pipes.

Gthly. The posaune (trombone) 16', is also a free reed-stop ; it has a stronger tone, and speaks quicker than acommon reed-stop.

7thly. Messrs. Schulze’s organ has also a reserve bel-lows, which assists materially the rapid speaking of thepipes, and which is of a peculiar importance, inasmuchas it provides a sure remedy for the unskilfulness of anorgan-blower.

A Prize Medal has also been awarded to—

Messrs. Dccci, Florence, for a beautiful specimen of achamber-organ, respecting which the following is anextract of the opinion of Signor Rossini:—

“ Messrs. A. and M. Ducci, of Florence, have builtan organ of a diminutive size, possessing the same toneas one eight times larger. Its chief peculiarity is theposition of the lower notes, which are placed within thebench on which the player is seated. These lower notesare placed in one single pipe, which gives the lowest Cwith 16 feet, and the successive tones of the chromaticscale by means of eleven holes.” To obtain the tone ofa large organ, the builders, Messrs. Dccci, have alteredthe form and disposition of the pipes, and invented a newspecies of mechanism. The instrument can be easilyremoved as it is, or it may be taken to pieces, packed up,and carried anywhere, just like a piano.

“The builders deserve great praise for this new instru-ment, which not only does honour to their ingenuity, butmust expand the boundaries of art, particularly in thepower it gives of uniting all the lower notes in one singlepipe, which may thus lead to new mechanical improve-ments, and open sources of acoustic phenomena.”

Honourable Mention has been made of an enharmonicorgan, invented by Lieut.-Colonel T. Perroset Thomp-son, M.P., and built by T. J. F. Ronsox, London .

Mr. G. II. Holdjtch has exhibited a small choirorgan, the compass of which is from C C to F in alt.The stops are as follows: open diapason, as far as tenorC, 4 feet ; stop diapason bass, ccelestina, principal,diaocton.

The diaocton stop has the effect of doubling everysingle stop throughout the instrument; the power, there-fore, of the instrument is equivalent to one with twicethe number of stops. This addition was invented byMr. Holditch, who has applied it to church and chamberorgans. The contrivance is very simple, and not liableto derangement. The organ possesses a pneumatic leveror valve, bv which means the wind is made steady;also three composition pedals, with double actions topull in and out the draw-stops. The pallets in thebellows are of peculiar structure, to prevent their castingor turning up from excess of heat or damp, which hasbeen a great inconvenience in the formation of bellowshitherto.

Pianofortes.

The following remarks upon pianofortes have beencontributed by Mr. Thalberg :—

“ Having been invited to contribute towards a Reporton the pianoforte, I proceed to comply, in as short aspace as is consistent with the nature of the subject.

“ It is necessary, in the first place, to notice the factthat music, though, perhaps, of all the fine arts, the firstin the order of cultivation in every country, has beencertainly the very slowest in its development. In all itssister arts we look for the finest productions to the past,and in some cases to very remote periods of Europeancivilization, while the great productions in music belong,as it Mere, to the present time, and are nearly all in-cluded in the last seventy or eighty years, certainly inthe last century. For ages, even amongst the most cul-tivated and polished people, music was confined almostwholly to melody; and its execution was bounded bythe natural powers of the human voice, slightly and

artistically cultivated ; and to instruments, most of whichwere exceedingly imperfect. Hut the pleasure frommusic, even then, was derived from a complication ofseparate effects; from the quality of the tone, from in-tonation or variation in the degrees of gravity and acute-ness, from modulation, or the departure from and returnto the principal key, from rhythm, or divisions intoequal groups, from the modes of expression—staccatoand legato, forte and piano, &c., and from the variousmovements appropriate to different feelings, from thesolemn adagio to the merry presto. This complicationof the elements of pleasure was increased by the employ-ment of instruments in accompaniment to song, at firstin unison with the voice, which gradually led to counter-point, which in its turn immensely increased and variedthe effects of music, caused the science to be far morestudied, induced numerous experiments in musical acous-tics, and gave a new and more elevated character tomusical compositions. New instruments were invented,and old ones improved, accompaniments began to becomposed to vary and heighten the effect of the melody,by using different figures of intonation, and orchestraleffects were produced by appropriating different instai-meuts to particular purposes. Then harmony, properlyso called, began to be cultivated, or the flow of differentmelodies in harmonic agreement. At length came thegreat masters, as Handel, Rach, Haydn, Mozart , Beetho-veu, &c., who gave an entirely new, intellectual, and realartistic character to music, by employing in their com-positions subjects appropriate to the character intendedin the particular piece, and treating the different elementsof musical pleasure in a methodical and artistic manner.

“ These great composers thus elevated music to a levelwith its sister arts, and made the pleasure to be derivedfrom it, like that from painting, complicated and refined,requiring a certain education in the hearer, as in theobserver, to be able to understand and appreciate itshigher productions, so that we may now include musicwith the other fine arts, in so far that the uncultivatedtaste feels only this or that element of pleasure, while thecultivated taste appreciates all the elements employed,and reaps the full enjoyment of the most beautiful pro-ductions of art.

“ In this progress of the art composers found all theaid they desired for the composition of melody in thetruth and flexibility of the voice and the violin; but fortheir orchestral and concerted pieces they could not keepin their studios bands of musicians. To meet thisexigency they employed spinettes, clavichords, and harp-sichords, and afterwards pianofortes, which, thoughfeeble instruments of no great compass, answered thispurpose so well as to become uimersally adopted bycomposers. This use of this class of instruments led tothe peculiar capabilities of the pianoforte being thoroughlystudied and appreciated; and the composers repaid theirobligation to the instalment by writing for it many ofthe very finest productions in music, and by practisingthe execution of these productions to such an extent asto be able to bring them before the public with thegreatest eclat. The importance which the instalmenthad thus gained led from time to time to its improve-ment and enlargement, and this again to still finer com-positions being produced for it, and to the adaptation forthe pianoforte of all the best orchestral compositions; sothat the advance of the art, and the improvement of thepiano, have had a mutual effect upon each other, until itis now beyond all question the first of musical instru-ments, both to the profession and to the cultivated classesof society.

“ More than three centuries back there were in usetwo kinds of small instruments with key-boards; theClavitherium, of a square shape, having strings of catgut,which were vibrated by bits of hard leather about aquarter of an inch long projecting from the side, and atthe upper end of the jack, which was operated on imme-diately by the inner end of the key; and the Clavecin ,of nearly the same form as the present grand piano,having strings, which were vibrated by plectrums of quillor hard leather. These limited instruments, witli othersof kindred forms, such as virginals, spinettes, and harp-