| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
46 |
National Music of the World. |
||
|
Phillips, but it was too empirically prepared and imperfectly carried out, to do any justice to a subÂject so wide and peculiar, or to engage the attention of a public so averse to novelty as the public of England. The silence, at first view, seems stranger to those who bear in mind how valuable have been the contributions both to creative and executive art which we owe to the children of Israel. Without hyperbole, they may be said to have inherited the garment of praise and the spirit of melody; but it is, perhaps, a necessary consequence of their position m the world, that while they have been the bondsÂmen of others, they have timidly, or from jealousy, hidden away their own treasures, and clinging close to their faith in private, have been compelled to lend themselves to the works of the Philistines before the world. Splendidly as Braham delivered the final recitatives in Handel's 'Israel,' his greater triumphs were in 'The Messiah' and 'Luther's Hymn.' I cannot call to mind that Pasta, the greatest singer of Hebrew origin who ever drew breath, in any moment of her career, sacred or profane, asserted the individuality of the faith of her ancestors, superbly as she delivered the music of the Romish * Church. So, again, possibly the most powerful and |
|||