Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar02600
In a word , speech is a language of institution , which men have made more distinctly to communicate their ideas : tones and gestures are the dictionary of simple nature ; they contain a language which is born with us , and which we make use of to express everything that relates to the wants and to the preservation of our being ; it is short , lively , and emphatical . What a foundation for arts , whose design is to move the soulis this- language ; the expressions of which are
ra-, ther those of human nature itself than of mankind ! Speech , gesture , and tone of voice , have degrees , or they answer to the three kinds of arts mentioned in the first chapter . In the first degree , they express simple nature , for want alone : this is the genuine picture of our thoughts and sentiments : such is , or ought to be , our conversation . In the second degree , nature is polished by the
help of art to add pleasure to utility : they chuse with some care , but with restraint and modesty , the most proper and agreeable words , tones , and gestures : this is oratory . In the third , they have nothing but pleasure iu view : these three expressions have not only all their natural grace and force , but also all the perfection that art can add tci them , we mean measure , motion ,. modulation , and harmony ; and this is versification , music , and dancing , which are the greatest possible perfection of words , tones of voice , and gestures . ' *
DESIGN AND BULES OF MUSIC . " If I were to own that I could not be pleased at a discourse I did not understand , my confession would have nothing singular in it . But were I to say the same thing of a piece of music , a Musician mig ht ask me , if I thought myself connoisseur enough to enter into the merit of a piece of music that has been worked up with the greatest
care ? and I would venture to reply ; Yes , forthe business of music is to move . I do not pretend to calculate sounds : 1 speak hot of vibration of cords , nor of mathematical proportion . 1 abandon to ' theorists these speculations , which are only like the nice grammatical ' or dialectical parts of a discourse , whose merits I can feel without entering into the discussion . . Music speaks to me in tones : the language is natural to me ; if I don ' t understand it , art has corrupted nature , rather than mended it . Music should be judged in the same manner as a picture . I see strokes and colours in it whose meaning I '
understand ; it strikes , it touches me . What would be said of a ' painter , who should content himself with laying on his canvas a par- ' eel of bold strokes and a heap ofthe most lively colours , without any ' sort of resemblance to any known object . The application is very naturally made to music . There is no sort of disparity , or if there is , it strengthens my proof . The ear , say they , is much more delicate than the eye . Then I am more capable to judge of a piece of
music than of a picture . I appeal to the composer himself , which are the parts he approves of most , which he is most fond of , and to which he is continually recurring with a sort of secret pleasure ? Are they not those where ' his music ( if we may so say ) is speaking , where it has a clear mean = ing , without obscurity , and without equivocation ? VOL . V . Z
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar02600
In a word , speech is a language of institution , which men have made more distinctly to communicate their ideas : tones and gestures are the dictionary of simple nature ; they contain a language which is born with us , and which we make use of to express everything that relates to the wants and to the preservation of our being ; it is short , lively , and emphatical . What a foundation for arts , whose design is to move the soulis this- language ; the expressions of which are
ra-, ther those of human nature itself than of mankind ! Speech , gesture , and tone of voice , have degrees , or they answer to the three kinds of arts mentioned in the first chapter . In the first degree , they express simple nature , for want alone : this is the genuine picture of our thoughts and sentiments : such is , or ought to be , our conversation . In the second degree , nature is polished by the
help of art to add pleasure to utility : they chuse with some care , but with restraint and modesty , the most proper and agreeable words , tones , and gestures : this is oratory . In the third , they have nothing but pleasure iu view : these three expressions have not only all their natural grace and force , but also all the perfection that art can add tci them , we mean measure , motion ,. modulation , and harmony ; and this is versification , music , and dancing , which are the greatest possible perfection of words , tones of voice , and gestures . ' *
DESIGN AND BULES OF MUSIC . " If I were to own that I could not be pleased at a discourse I did not understand , my confession would have nothing singular in it . But were I to say the same thing of a piece of music , a Musician mig ht ask me , if I thought myself connoisseur enough to enter into the merit of a piece of music that has been worked up with the greatest
care ? and I would venture to reply ; Yes , forthe business of music is to move . I do not pretend to calculate sounds : 1 speak hot of vibration of cords , nor of mathematical proportion . 1 abandon to ' theorists these speculations , which are only like the nice grammatical ' or dialectical parts of a discourse , whose merits I can feel without entering into the discussion . . Music speaks to me in tones : the language is natural to me ; if I don ' t understand it , art has corrupted nature , rather than mended it . Music should be judged in the same manner as a picture . I see strokes and colours in it whose meaning I '
understand ; it strikes , it touches me . What would be said of a ' painter , who should content himself with laying on his canvas a par- ' eel of bold strokes and a heap ofthe most lively colours , without any ' sort of resemblance to any known object . The application is very naturally made to music . There is no sort of disparity , or if there is , it strengthens my proof . The ear , say they , is much more delicate than the eye . Then I am more capable to judge of a piece of
music than of a picture . I appeal to the composer himself , which are the parts he approves of most , which he is most fond of , and to which he is continually recurring with a sort of secret pleasure ? Are they not those where ' his music ( if we may so say ) is speaking , where it has a clear mean = ing , without obscurity , and without equivocation ? VOL . V . Z