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Music from the South. 111
The excellent manner in which these national peculiarities have been turned to account by the composers of France, must strike every one familiar with their music.
Successively such remarkable men as Rameau, Boieldieu, Herold, Auber, and Halevy, while availing themselves of every contemporary discovery with great readiness, have, either from instinct or predilection, kept close to the style of their country.
You will rarely meet with a slow movement by them which possesses that relishing or sweet freshness that belongs to similar German or Italian specimens by men of merit.
You will as rarely come on a sprightly measure in which some unforeseen turn of interval or rhythm does not redeem the tune from commonplace, if even at the price of added affectation.
This fact will repay the most minute examination by the student of melody—a branch of musical education, let me say, which is far too largely neglected. It is far too much forgotten, that a touch judiciously applied, a note withdrawn or changed, may transform that which is valueless into that which is attractive—a barren phrase into a suggestive idea. |
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