Haydn, though sometimes ambitious of achieving by means more than the art eau accomplish, was often most happy in indirect imitation by instrumental accompaniments; witness the magnificent burst of sound in the first chorus—to which we have just alluded—in The Creation,' at the words, "and there was light." Witness also his musical picture, in the same oratorio, of the rising sun, the slow swell of the instruments in ascending notes describing the gradual progress of the luminary towards the horizon, and the full power of the band depicting its refulgent splendour. And how beautifully the composer contrasts with the solar blaze, the soft, serene beams of the compara tively small orb which reflects its borrowed light ! Music, which is both a science and an art, is divided into Speculative or theoretical, and Practical. Speculative Music explains the nature of musical sounds ; shows, by demonstrating their ratios, how they are related to each other ; and investigates their physical and moral effects when in a simple or in a combined state : it is, in few words, the phi losophy of the art. Practical Music is the application of theoretical
principles,—the proper conduct of sounds as to their progression, duration, union, and adaptation to words, voices, and instrument, and is the art of composition. The performer, who merely executes, stands in the same relation to music as the actor does to the drama, or the reciter to the poem : though he requires, in order to excel, consider able knowledge of the subject and superior taste, yet he is but an operator—a singer or a player, and not, strictly speaking, a musician.
Speculative Music is subdivided into Acoustical, Mathematical, and Metaphysical. ACOUSTICS; HARMONICS ; SOUND; TEMPERAMENT.) Practical Music into Vocal and Instrumental, the several kinds of which are noticed under their respective heads. The chief component parts of practical music are, 3Isionv, IIAaMoer, and RHYTHM, to which we refer. See likewise ACCENT, AIR, CHORD, COMPOSITION, COUNTERPOINT, MODULATION, THOROU011-BASE, TIME, &C.