but, after the scale and temperament are settled by numerica proportions, the invention of melody and the combination of sounds in harmony form an art, which Mr. K. has very properly expressed in calling his publication an Essay on the Composition of Practical Music. When he adds, however, according to the nature of the science,' he seems to say, 'according to the nature of the art. Nevertheless, in a work of this kind, if the technica, or terms peculiar to the art, be accurately defined, and the readers understand the author's meaning though the words should not be strictly arranged according to the nice idiom of our language, the performance will not be the less useful; because the notation, in the examples given in musical characters, will illustrate and explain the text to a musician, more clearly than the most elegant language.

Mr. Kollmann's plan will be manifested by a period or two from his preface:

With regard to Doctrines, I have endeavoured not to waste much room with descriptions of the mere Forms, which have been hitherto introduced in the different sorts of musical pieces; but rather to teach the Principles on which every remarkable branch of composition depends, and according to which the known forms of a piece may be varied, as well as new forms invented, By this method I have endeavoured to explain sonatas, symphonies, and other pieces of composition, without giving whole pieces of each sort.

With regard to Examples, I have chiefly selected for my purpose such pieces as have either not yet been printed, or as are scarce and not generally known; and only referred to such others as I suppose to be either universally known in this country, or easily to be obtained. But I have taken pains to explain and exemplify every thing in such a manner, as to render it intelligible, without those works to which I refer, or which I only mention; and that consequently the reader will not be under the necessity of procuring them for the sake of understanding this work.'

Having in his former treatise explained intervals, a fundamental base, and the harmonies or combination of sounds built on that structure; having given a kind of etymology of chords of all sorts, whether composed of consonances or dissonances; and having treated of suspension and anticipation; of modulation, rhythm, simple and double counterpoint, imitation, fugue, variation, &c. Mr. K. now proceeds to give plans .nd instructions for every species of composition: as sonatas, symphonies, and concertos: simple and double fugues cañons: vocal music : instrumental music: the compass of instruments of compositions for the organ: particular movements defined national music.

This is such an ample range of discussion, that it must be extremely interesting to a young composer; and we think that the author's promises, however great, have been well performed.

performed. In his introduction, he points out to his readers the most profitable method of studying his treatises; and dwells particularly on the importance of analyzing scores, in much the same manner as boys at a grammar-school parse their exercises.

We do not recollect to have seen a book (at least in our own language) which goes so deeply and methodically into the subject of composition, as the performance before us:-but we are a little at fault in pp. 2, 3, 4, 5, in the author's reference to works which are not in our possession; and we must observe, with respect to frequent references in books of instruction, that professional musical students can afford neither time to read nor money to purchase many expensive publications. As the two folio volumes on Musical Harmony will incur a considerable expenditure of both time and money, it will probably have an interested appearance in the author, if he obliges a poor student to purchase others of his works for the illustration of the doctrines contained in these two volumes; which, considering their size and the number of plates contained in them, might be expected to be complete in themselves, both as to text and illustration. Indeed, the plates to the present volume are not only numerous, but curious; containing examples of composition from scarce and excellent productions by the greatest masters. We only wish that so useful an elementary work should be within the reach of those who are the most likely to grasp at it. Even those who may be in possession of all the extra publications, quoted in this treatise, would perhaps unwillingly be at the trouble of seeking them; and would rather pass, unsatisfied and uninstructed, over the passages in which such illustrations are wanted, than leave the fire-side in order to search for them.

We think that the whole substance of p. 4 might have been expressed in very few lines, by saying that, in Rondeaux and pieces of length, the composer may modulate into all the relative or kindred keys in which the subject begins and ends; as in C major, for example, the 5th and 4th major, and the 6th and 3d minor; even the 2d minor, though not a relative key to C, yet is relative to the 4th and 5th; and, as every sound of its chord appertains to the scale of the original key of C major, the modulation into it, by means of an accidental C sharp and B flat, is always pleasing in the works of able masters.

What the ingenious author means by the word elaboration,. which he so frequently uses technically, will not (we fear) be always understood by English readers in the exact sense intended. In Rondeaux, perhaps episodes, or excursions, would REV. FEB. 1800.

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express

express the different strains which precede the theme itself. As no art nor science is more loaded with technica than music, it is desirable that, if additions must be made to them, they should be translations of words from foreign dialects; or equivalents in more familiar and intelligent words in our own language. The Germans and Spaniards, as well as the Italians, have their own musical technica.

The author's definition and analysis of symphony ate clear and accurate: Concerto is likewise admirably characterized.

Fugue being of a more artificial and complicated construction than sonatas, concertos, and symphonies, it was a more difficult task to define and analyze the term.-At p. 26. § 6. we think that the word Melody should be substituted for that of Harmony. In a regular fugue, (which Dr. Burney somewhere calls a republican.composition, where equality of importance subsists through the movement,) the melody is equally distributed among the several parts, (like land in the Agrarian law,) which parts are mockeries of each other. Each part may be equally interested in the harmony of other movements; but, in a fugue, the subject, of each point being repeated by every voice or instrument in the same intervals, it particularly interests every performer in the melody. Proper and improper fugues had better have been expressed, as is usual in our language, by regular and irregular fugues or imitations.-Thie subject is very ably and amply treated, in three several chapters, v. VI. and vii.

Chapters VIII. and IX. treat of Canon, in a very full and scientific manner. We have had no express treatise on composition, in which fugue and canon have been so extensively discussed, since the time of old Elway Bevin; who, in 1631, published his Briefe Introduction to the Art of Fugue, Canon, and Harmony in general; and which, for the time, was a very learned and ingenious work: but the examples being all Bevin's own, and on very simple and dry subjects, Mr. Kollmann has greatly the advantage of him, not only in his own more pleasing and modern examples, but in the insertion of canons by the greatest composers of the present century, in almost every species of construction.

The French expressions of la difficultée vaincue, and tour de force, are phrases for which we have no equivalents, or they would perhaps be applied to fugue and canon by anti-fughists; which are said by many to have no other merit than the difficulty of composing them :-but that alone is a considerable merit in the course of a young musician's studies. The being able to vanquish the difficulties of fugue and canon, though both may be out of fashion in public, furnishes a tyre with

14

resources

resources of harmony and melody in other compositions, which facilitate the construction and heighten their effects.

After the elaborate chapters on fugue and canon, we have one (the xth) on Vocal Music, in which the different species of composition for the voice,-as airs, recitatives, duets, trios, quartets, &c. and choruses,-are specified and described, with judicious discrimination, and with many useful precepts for composing them.

Chapter XI. contains much information with respect to Instrumental Music: as the compass of the several instruments used in a complete orchestra and military band; and pieces for the organ, with reflections on the genius of that most noble instrument. Lastly, chapter XII. treats of National Music, different styles of composition, and definitions of the names given to movements vocal and instrumental, ineluding songs and dances of every kind in general use.

The plates, of which there are 67, constitute a very valuable part of this publication; and by the study of them, as well as of the letter-press, à learner in composition may furnish his mind with a great portion of musical erudi

tion.

Though Mr. Kollmann is a perfect master of his subject, yet, being less acquainted with the musical language of this country than with that of Germany, he has been guilty of a few misnomers: as calling the keys of an organ or harpsichord, the fingerboard; a term which belongs to the violin, tenor, and violoncello :-the French clavier and the Italian tastatura express the keys of an organ or piano forte in the aggregate, better than we do by a set of keys. Mistakes of this kind, however, as they lead to no error of doctrine, are very ex cusable; and we shall not enter farther into verbal criticism

a work so replete with real knowlege, and with wellfounded precepts on the subject which the author has undertaken to elucidate.

ART. IV. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Argyll; with Observations on the Means of its Improvement. Drawn up for the Consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. By John Smith, D. D. one of the Ministers of Campbelton. 8vo. pp. 322. 8s. Boards (with a Map). Edinburgh, printed, 1798; London, sold by Wright.

ACCORDING to this survey, in which Dr. Smith appears

to have taken considerable pains, Argyleshire forms about one eleventh part of Scotland, and one thirtieth of Great

K 2

Britain;

Britain; containing, by estimation, 2735 square miles, or 1,367,500 Scotch acres, Of these, it is stated,

1,213.500 acres may be heath, hill, and pasture
100,0co ditto arable

30,000 ditto wood

24,000 ditto fresh water lakes and rivers.

The climate over this large district is different as to heat and cold, dryness and moisture. By the sea coast, the atmosphere is mild and temperate; the frost being seldom so intense as to sink the thermometer 8 degrees below Fahrenheit's freezing point.

The continent of Argyleshire is divided among 156 proprietors, and the islands have 25. The valued rent of the continent is 99241. 8s. 1d., and of the islands 25411. 175. 9d.; total for the whole county, 12,4661. 5s. 10d., being a little more than one 25th of the valuation of Scotland, which is 322,7161. 138. 4d.

Under the title of 'Size of Farms, we are informed that those which consist mostly of sheep-walks are large; that one is computed to be 18 or 20 miles in length, and from 3 to 4 in breadth; and that possessions occupying from 2 to 6 square miles are not uncommon. Dr. Smith does not view this mode of occupation with complacency: it evinces a scanty population; and, by the account which he gives of the farm-houses, and hovels called cottages, this evil is not likely to remedy itself. There is a general disposition to fly from rural occupations, and from the solitude of the country, to "crowded cities and the busy haunts of men." Mischief hence arises, which Dr. S. has well pointed out: The degree of preponderance which towns and manufactures have already acquired over agriculture and the population of the country, threatens the kingdom with a scarcity of bread and other serious evils, to which the accumulation of small ones have (has) greatly contributed.' (P. 27.)

The remark which immediately follows places the question respecting large and small farms in as clear and concise a point of view, as we have seen in any of the county reports. 'Some have indeed maintained, (Dr.Smith says,) that great farmers bring more to market than small ones, from the same quantity of land, without considering that the small ones maintain so many families at home, as will make up the difference to the public (if indeed there is a difference), and that these families are

* The Scotch acre contains 6150 square yards, the English acre 4840; so that the proportion between them is nearly 5 to 4. In a statute square mile, there are 500 Scotch, or 640 English acres.

employed