AN ACCOUNT OF THE ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC.

THE Academy of Ancient Muſic, at the Crown and Anchor-Tavern, in the Strand, was inſtituted about the year 1710, by a number of Gen⯑tlemen, performers on different inſtruments, in conjunction with ſome of the moſt eminent maſters of the time. The deſign of this eſtabliſhment was to promote the ſtudy and practice of vocal and in⯑ſtrumental [4] harmony; in order to which, the foundation of a library was laid, conſiſting of the moſt celebrated compoſitions, as well in manuſcript as in print, that could be procured, either at home or abroad.

Under the direction of the late Dr. John Chriſtopher Pepuſch, whoſe memory will be ever revered by all lovers of muſic, and with the aſſiſtance of Mr. Galliard, Dr. Maurice Greene, Mr. Bernard Gates, and the gentlemen and boys of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Chapel Royal, the Academy continued in a very flouriſhing ſtate, till about the year 1728, when Dr. Greene thought proper to leave it, and ſet up an Academy at the Devil-Tavern, Temple-bar, which ſub⯑ſiſted but a few years.

[5]The ſeceſſion of Dr. Greene and his dependents was not ſuch an injury to the Academy, as it was feared it would prove: they left it, it is true, but they left it in peace, and the members of which it was compoſed, in conſequence of the loſs they had ſuſtained, became emulous to excel each other in their endeavours to promote its in⯑tereſts, and to diſſeminate the love of harmony throughout the king⯑dom.

With theſe aſſiſtances, and that which the Academy derived from the performance of the amiable Henry Needler, Eſq who for many years led the orcheſtra, the late Earl of Abercorn, Mr. Mulſo, Mr. Millan, Mr. Dobſon, and many other gentlemen, who were excel⯑lent performers, it continued to [6] flouriſh until the year 1734, when Mr. Gates retired, and drew off with him the children of the Chapel Royal.

In the interval between the ſe⯑ceſſion of Dr. Greene and Mr. Gates, viz. in the Month of February 1731-2, the Academy had given a ſignal proof of the advantages ariſing from its inſtitution: the Oratorio of Eſther, originally com⯑poſed for the duke of Chandois, was performed in character by the members of the Academy, and the children of the Chapel Royal, and the applauſe with which it was received, ſuggeſted to Mr. Handel, the thought of exhibiting that ſpecies of compoſition at Covent-Garden theatre; and to this event it may be ſaid to be owing, that the public have not only been de⯑lighted [7] with the hearing, but are now in poſſeſſion of, ſome of the moſt valuable works of that great maſter.

The loſs which the Academy ſuſtained by the ſeceſſion of ſome members, the death of others, and above all by the want of boys, laid them under great difficulties, and drove them to the neceſſity of try⯑ing what could be done without the aſſiſtance of treble voices; but the experience of one ſeaſon drove them to the alternative of an en⯑creaſed expence, or annihilation. In this predicament they reſolved upon an expedient that ſhould not only make good the loſs they had ſuſtained, but convey a benefit to poſterity. In ſhort, they deter⯑mined upon ſuch an eſtabliſhment, [...]nd ſuch a ſubſcription, as would [8] render the Academy at once a ſo⯑ciety for the entertainment of its members, and a ſeminary for the inſtruction of youth in the prin⯑ciples of muſic, and the laws of harmony. Invitations to parents, and offers of ſuch an education for their children, as would fit them as well for trades and buſineſſes, as the profeſſion of muſic, were given by advertiſements in the public papers: theſe brought in a great number of children, and ſuch of them as were likely to be made capable of performing the Soprano part in vocal compoſitions, were retained; Dr. Pepuſch generouſly undertook the care of their inſtruc⯑tion for a ſtipend, the largeſt the Academy could afford, tho' greatly diſproportionate to his merit, and ſucceeded ſo well in his endeavours to improve them, that ſome of the [9] moſt eminent profeſſors of the ſcience owe their ſkill and reputation to his maſterly method of tuition.

A ſubſcription of two guineas, and a reſolution to admit auditors as members, enabled the managers to carry this their benevolent de⯑ſign into execution: they enriched their collection with ſuch a variety of compoſitions as rendered it even then, perhaps, the moſt valuable repoſitory of muſical treaſure in Europe. Abbate Steffani tranſmit⯑ted to them from Hanover, the moſt valuable of his works from time to time, as they were compoſed. Mr. Handel and Signor Geminiani, lent the Academy their countenance, the latter frequently honouring it with his own exquiſite perform⯑ance, and it continued to flouriſh till the year 1752, when it ſuſtained [10] a loſs which will be long deplored in the death of Dr. Pepuſch, and which was far from being repaired by his generous benefaction to it of the moſt valuable part of his library.

Soon after this melancholy event, ſome of the members of the Aca⯑demy, reflecting on the great en⯑couragement given to Concerts, thought it might tend to the in⯑tereſt of the Society, to give it a new form, and by engaging ſome of the moſt excellent performers on particular inſtruments, derive aſſiſtance to it as a Concert, from perſons who might be apt to diſ⯑regard it as an Academy. But here they were involved in a new diffi⯑culty: the great increaſe of late years in the number of places of public diverſion, and the conſe⯑quent [11] increaſe in the demands of eminent performers, made it im⯑poſſible, even with a ſubſcription of two guineas and a half, to con⯑tinue a competition againſt greater reſources than private contribution, and they now find, that theſe latter are not adequate to the expence of the plan which they laſt adopted.

The members of the Academy therefore find themſelves reduced to the neceſſity of recurring to the principles of its firſt inſtitution, and they deſire, if poſſible, to per⯑petuate the exiſtence of a Society calculated for the improvement of one of the nobleſt of the ſciences, and the communication of rational and ſocial delight, to which end they wiſh for the aſſiſtance of thoſe, who profeſs to love and admire muſic; ſuch as are ſuſceptible of its powers, [12] ſuch in ſhort as are capable of diſtin⯑guiſhing between the feeble efforts of ſimple melody, and the irre⯑ſiſtible charms of elegant modula⯑tion and well-ſtudied harmony.

The friends of this inſtitution are ſenſible of the prejudices which its very name, The Academy of Ancient Muſic, may excite; and that thoſe perſons, who think no muſic can be good which is not new, will hardly be induced to join in the ſupport of an eſtabliſhment, pro⯑feſſedly intended for the ſtudy and practice of that which is old.

To obviate prejudices of this kind, little more is neceſſary than barely to ſtate them: thoſe now under conſideration are reducible to the following two poſitions:

[13] ‘Nothing in muſic is eſtimable, that is not new. No muſic tolerable, which has been heard before.’

In anſwer to which it may be ſaid, that this kind of reaſoning is never applied to other intellectual gratifications; for no man was ever yet ſo weak as to object to the works of Virgil or Raffaëlle, that the one wrote ſeventeen hundred, or that the other painted two hundred and fifty years ago.

But, perhaps, nothing more is meant by the objection, than that ‘the efficacy of muſic is abated by repetition.’

Not to enquire what kind of mu⯑ſic that muſt be, the merit where⯑of evaporates in the performance, let it be aſked, does any man for⯑bear [14] the peruſal of an Epic Poem, merely becauſe he has read it be⯑fore? or does any admirer of Paint⯑ing or Sculpture withdraw his eye from a fine Picture or Statue, be⯑cauſe it has once ſurveyed them? Nay, rather, does he not employ all his attention to explore their ſeveral beauties, and in the exerciſe of a learned curioſity find continual de⯑light?

Again, let it be aſked, are theſe objections to the beſt muſic of the beſt times, founded in truth and experience, or are they the reſult of a vicious taſte and a depraved judgment? Much of the muſic now in the poſſeſſion of the Academy is as new to us as it was to our fathers; and will any one in his ſober ſenſes aſſert, that they had not ears and rational ſouls as well as ourſelves? [15] or that thoſe ſweet interchanges of melody, thoſe artful combinations of concordant ſounds, which in⯑ſpired ſuch men as Shakeſpeare and Milton, with the praiſes of this divine ſcience, can at any time be heard with indifference by a nice and unprejudiced ear? If this be the caſe, muſic, the principles where⯑of ſeem interwoven in the very con⯑ſtitution of the univerſe, is mere deluſion, and the pleaſure ariſing from it, reſolvable into caprice, faſhion, into any thing but reaſon and philoſophy.

Farther, let it be enquired, how far the love of novelty has contri⯑buted to the variety of muſic, and it will be found to have excluded ſome of the moſt valuable kinds of compoſition, and thereby pro⯑duced uniformity inſtead of variety. [16] Every judge of muſic is aware of the effects of compoſitions in the minor third of the ſeveral keys, and that by the hearing of ſuch the ſweeteſt ſenſations are excited; and the artful contexture of fugue and canon are the admiration of all who are ſkilled in the ſcience: Theſe two kinds of muſic are in danger of being loſt; for the compoſitions of this day are almoſt ſolely in the major third, and their ſtructure little better than divided counter⯑point, and what is ſtill worſe, on a monotonic baſs; nor are the com⯑poſitions, which ſome affect to ad⯑mire, leſs liable to the objection of uniformity in reſpect to their ſeveral diviſions or ſtrains: For reaſons, which no one is willing to avow, Adagio-Muſic is exploded, and we are con⯑tent to forego the Majeſty and Dig⯑nity of the Largo and Andant [...] [17] movements, with all the variety ariſing from the interchange of dif⯑ferent airs and meaſures, for the noiſe and rattle of an uniſonus Allegro, to which no name can be given, or the intoxicating ſoftneſs of that too oft iterated air, the Minuet.

He that reflects on ſuch inſtances of modern Levity as theſe, and that the effect of new productions is ſuch as that no one pretends, or even wiſhes, to remember the muſic that pleaſed him a month ago, may very reaſonably demand, who are the com⯑petitors with the compoſers of the laſt century, and the former half of the preſent? or of which of them can it be ſaid, that his crudities are leſs evaneſcent than the form of a cloud, or that his moſt laboured ſtudies have ſurvived the fate of an almanac?

[18]But leſt it ſhould be imagined, that an unwarrantable fondneſs for antiquity is the motive with the Academy for the cultivation of ancient muſic, they deſire it may be underſtood, that they apply the epithet ancient to the compoſitions of the ſixteenth century ^*, and that [19] they carry their reſearches no far⯑ther back than the time when Paleſtrina and his contempora⯑ries, thoſe glorious luminaries of the muſical world, attracted the admiration of the ableſt judges, and that they have ever paid a ſe⯑dulous attention to ſuch productions as their intrinſic merit has at any period rendered worthy of regard.

After ſo much care and pains taken to enrich it, it will hardly be objected to the Academy col⯑lection of muſic, that it is deficient in variety: and when it is known [20] that the countries of Italy, Germa⯑ny, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England, have ſeverally contri⯑buted, and that very largely, to the forming it, very little dread will re⯑main of that ſatiety or indifference which attends the hearing of mu⯑ſic calculated for the preſent hour, and not intended for poſterity. For not to mention the great num⯑ber of compoſitions which the Aca⯑demy are poſſeſſed of, even ſo great as that the youngeſt perſon now living might hope in vain to hear them all, nor that variety of ſtile obſervable in them, which is the characteriſtic of different maſters, every ſpecies of vocal and inſtru⯑mental muſic is in its turn exhi⯑bited by the Academy in the enter⯑tainment of its members: the ge⯑neral arrangement of theſe is into compoſitions for the church, the [21] theatre, and the chamber; the firſt head includes Maſſes, Motets, An⯑thems, Hymns, and Pſalms: the ſecond, Oratorio's, Maſques, Serena⯑tas, Overtures, and Concerto's; and the third, Madrigals, Trio's, Duet⯑to's, and Cantata's; to the true and juſt performance whereof the Aca⯑demy have hitherto been, and with the aſſiſtance which they now ſoli⯑cit, truſt they ſhall yet be, equal.

The hopes of ſucceſs in theſe their endeavours ariſe from that propenſity which they obſerve in people of this country to the cul⯑tivation of the politer arts, and the general encouragement it affords to laudable purſuits. They behold, with pleaſure, perſons of the firſt rank in this kingdom aſſociated for the improvement of a particular ſpecies of vocal harmony, and with [22] exemplary munificence diſpenſing rewards proportioned to the merit of ſuch, as are emulous to excel in it. Farther, they repoſe great confidence in the good ſenſe of this nation, of which they have a con⯑vincing proof in the reſpect, which, for a ſucceſſion of ages, has been paid to the works of our great Dramatic Poet of Elizabeth's days, whoſe beſt compoſitions, by the way, are as liable to reproach on the ſcore of their antiquity, as any of thoſe which the Academy have long laboured to recommend. In ſhort, they flatter themſelves, that the ſtudies of ſuch men as Pale⯑ſtrina, Tallis, Bird, Cariſſmi, Co⯑lonna, Stradella, Purcell, Baſſani, Gaſparini, Lotti, Steffani, Marcello, Buononcini, Pergoleſi, Handel, Perez, and many others, abounding in evidences of the deepeſt ſkill and [23] fineſt invention, when duly attended to, will be thought worthy the ad⯑miration of every muſical ear, and afford a manly and rational de⯑light to all the votaries of this noble ſcience.

A ſociety founded on principles like theſe, can hardly fail of prov⯑ing an inexhauſtible fund of bene⯑fit and entertainment. Here the ſtudent in the muſical faculty will find the means of forming his ſtile after the moſt perfect models. Here the timid and modeſt performer may acquire that degree of firmneſs [...]nd confidence which is neceſſary for diſplaying his excellencies in public. Here the ingenuous youth, who prefers the innocent pleaſures [...]f muſic to riot and intemperance, may taſte of that mirth which draws [...]o repentance after it; and hither [24] may thoſe repair to whom the ſtu⯑dies or labours of a day muſt ne⯑ceſſarily endear the elegant delights of a muſical evening.

Padre Paolo Sarpi, reſigned his breath with a prayer for the Re⯑public of Venice, which it is to be hoped every friend of the Muſes, applying it to the Academy of Ancient Muſic, will adopt; and in the words of that excellent man cry out,