The
noblest charm of music, then, though real and affecting, seems too
confused and fluid to be collected into a distinct idea.
Harmony is always understood by the crowd, and almost always mistaken by
musicians. The present Italian taste for music is exactly correspondent
to the taste for tragi-comedy, that about a century ago gained ground
upon the stage. The musicians of the present day are charmed at the
union they form between the grave and the fantastic, and at the
surprising transitions they make between extremes, while every hearer
who has the least remainder of the taste of nature left, is shocked at
the strange jargon. If the same taste should prevail in painting, we
must soon expect to see the woman's head, a horse's body, and a fish's
tail, united by soft gradations, greatly admired at our public
exhibitions. Musical gentlemen should take particular care to preserve
in its full vigour and sensibility their original natural taste, which
alone feels and discovers the true beauty of music.
If Milton, Shakspeare, or Dryden had been born with the same genius and
inspiration for music as for poetry, and had passed through the
practical part without corrupting the natural taste, or blending with it
any prepossession in favour of sleights and dexterities of hand, then
would their notes be tuned to passions and to sentiments as natural and
expressive as the tones and modulations of the voice in discourse.
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