hearer, until the attention is forcibly arrested. The seriousness of life is reflected in his music gradually the single forms start into concrete existence, the waving thoughts unite, the author combines them more largely with brilliant colours, until at last the Promethean spark ignites, and the whole grand idea rises before the enraptured hearer in a full burst of glorious harmony. The wrapt artist, revelling in the beauties of his creation, then descends from his lofty height, and selecting single gems from the diamond wreath, brings forth from each the dazzling flash, and now with ease displays their separate charms, revealing, as it were, the magic process by which he wields the mighty power of tone. By turns he pleases with simple national airs, melts with the most touching pathos, or exalts with seraphic strains of joy. Without derogating from his illustrious compeers, or entering upon a comparison alike useless and impossible, Beethoven must be exalted upon the highest pinnacle, and if there is room for others to stand beside him on the narrow base, let them ascend and welcome.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born December 17th, 1770, at Bonn, where his father was tenor in the chapel of the Elector. From this circumstance, his attention was early directed to music, and after receiving instruction from Van Eden, organist to the court, and from the composer Neefe, his eminent talent soon became the subject of conversation in the musical circles of his native city. Like most of the modern masters of German music who have attained celebrity, the works of that profound composer, Sebastian Bach, became the objects of his diligent study; and when eleven years of age, young Beethoven gained great applause by his performance of Bach's difficult exercises (Wohltemperirtes Clarier, le Clarecin bien temperé) containing his fugues and preludes in every key.

In 1783, in his thirteenth year, Beethoven published his first songs and sonatas. The Prince Elector of Cologne was a steady patron of the youthful composer, and conferred upon him the title of organist to the court. By the advice of this prelate he went to Vienna in 1792, in order to perfect himself in composition under Haydn and Albrechtberger; but the former, in consequence of his engagement with Mr. Salomon, soon left for England; and the latter, who was celebrated for his knowledge of theory, had the merit of completing his musical education. In the Austrian capital, his extempore performances, or free fantasies, excited general admiration. His compositions, although they did not always escape without severe criticism, proclaimed his future eminence. Vienna became his favourite place of residence; and after the death of his patron, the Elector of Cologne, he seldom left it, except to make occasionally some short excursion in the neighbourhood. As he advanced in life, he sometimes exchanged his residence in the capital for a few months' repose in a country-house in the vicinity. His fame was now spreading widely; he was offered an engagement in England, which, however, he declined; and when he was

subsequently invited to accept the place of Westphalian Kapellmeister, the enthusiasm of some his admirers, at the head of whom were the Archduke Rudolf, and the princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky, induced them to offer him an annual income of about four hundred pounds, until he should be appointed to an adequate situation in the Austrian empire. The calamities of war deprived him of two of his generous patrons, Prince Kinsky being soon after killed, and Prince Lobkowitz himself involved in pecuniary difficulties. It is probable, therefore, that Beethoven derived but little assistance from this well-meant offer, as he soon afterwards expressed a desire to travel. The first Societies of Europe were eager to secure the services of so great a master, and the London Philharmonic Society offered him a liberal engagement. But at the last moment he suddenly gave up the idea of visiting this country, and remained to the end of his life stationary at Vienna.

Thus he enjoyed a freedom of existence the most favourable to an artist, and was at liberty to pursue without fetters the workings of his genius. He had but little intercourse with the world, which he but little understood, and he became still more isolated and driven back upon himself, by a hardness of hearing, which at length gradually increased to almost total deafness. The peculiarities of his mind were thus fostered undisturbed, and display themselves in his sublime symphonies, his quartetts, full of profound speculation and mysterious revelations, in his opera of Fidelio, with its glorious overtures, the admiration alike of the learned and the simple, and in the sonatas for the pianoforte, which express the various results of life, the most manifold series of human feelings, combined with reflections which indicate the isolated character of the composer. The history of the opera of Fidelio is very interesting, as displaying the seriousness and perseverance which form an integral part of the mental nature of men of genius.

These excellent and varied compositions, to appreciate which attentive study and an intelligent and susceptible mind are essential requisites, filled the musical world with astonishment, and have effected a complete revolution in the science. They were hailed with enthusiasm by the more highly gifted; but it was not until the master-spirits, who directed at the different German concerts, had, by repeated performances, forced them upon public notice, that they received that homage to which they are so justly entitled.

Beethoven did not in his first works display that vastness and originality of idea which afterwards so eminently distinguished him; on the contrary, he leaned on those who had preceded him, and followed in the paths traced out by Haydn and Mozart. In the chronological series of his works the student will easily perceive the gradual progress and rapid advance which they display. Next to the symphonies, we may perhaps name his music to Goethe's Egmont, and above all, the four overtures to Fidelio, of which only the shortest and least difficult is gene

VOL. II.

I

rally performed. In his vocal music, to which some of his greatest compositions belong, the influence of his deafness is occasionally observable, and to this may perhaps be attributed certain peculiarities which sometimes disturb the full enjoyment of the hearer. His "Gellert's Songs" and "Cycle of Songs to a distant Mistress" are not sufficiently known.

Beethoven enjoyed an uninterrupted state of good health, the only illness which he underwent being that which terminated in his death. From his isolated mode of life he had contracted many eccentricities: his character was kind and affectionate, until rendered more stern by ungrateful conduct. In his later years he was supposed to have been in indigent circumstances, and the Philharmonic Society sent him one hundred pounds, with a promise of more, if he should be in need of it; but this sum with others, to the amount of one thousand pounds, were found in an old chest after his death. Mr. Russell, in his Travels in Germany, gives an affecting description of his playing on the piano-forte, at a period when his deafness had rendered him incapable of hearing his own performance. He died March 26th, 1827.

THE LACE-WORKER.

GABRIEL METZU, or Metsu, one of the most distinguished Dutch painters, was born at Leyden in the year 1615. Little or nothing is known of his early years or of his first instructors, but it is probable that the works of Gerhard Douw and of Terburg gave the first impulse to his youthful genius. He soon obtained a high reputation among his contemporaries. The year of his death has not been clearly ascertained. D'Argenville, Descamps, and others relate that he died in his forty-third year, in consequence of a surgical operation, but this cannot be correct, as he was still alive in 1664, whilst their account would give 1658, as the year in which he died.

In the colouring of this artist's pictures a diligent study, or perhaps rather imita tation of Van Dyck, is discernible, and in the softness and harmony which he displayed in this most important branch of the art few have excelled him. In the choice of his subjects he resembled many of the best painters among his countrymen; his heads are graceful, his figures drawn with great taste, and the attitudes easy and unconstrained. In the management of his pencil he was accurate and studious, but more free, and less painfully minute than Gerhard Douw. One great merit in the works of Metzu consists in the finer shading of his colours, which too often in this school become harsh and staring, but in him are beautifully softened, and gra