en ce qui regarde la musique et les opera' (1704), one of a considerable number of essays which assisted in preparing the way for a new style, should a composer present himself of sufficient genius, culture and courage, to introduce it. Such an one at length did present himself in JEAN PHILIPPE RAMEAU, whose arrival in Paris in 1721, at the somewhat mature age of fortytwo, forms an epoch in the history not merely of French opera but of European music. In the face of much opposition this sturdy Burgundian succeeded first in obtaining a hearing from and eventually in winning the favour-though never to the same extent as Lully the affections-of the French people. Between 1737 and 1760, irrespective of other work, he set to music no less than twenty-four dramas, the majority of them grand operas. The production of these at the Académie he personally superintended; and some idea of his activity and influence as a director may be gathered from the fact that in 1750, fourteen years before the close of his career, the number of performers engaged at the Académie had risen to 149; a number doubtless to some extent rendered necessary by the increased craving of the public ear for intensity, but more by the varieties of musical effect of which he himself had been the inventor. In 1763 the theatre of the Palais Royal, built by Lemercier, so long resonant with the strains of Lully and Rameau, was destroyed by fire. The ten years which connected the death of Rameau with the arrival in Paris of GLUCK were marked by the production of no work of more than secondary rank. On April 19, 1774, the Iphigénie en Aulide' of this master was heard for the first time. The production of this work was followed by that of a series of others from the same hand, one and all characterised by a direct application of musical form and colour to dramatic expression before unknown to the French or any other theatre. The arrival in Paris shortly after of the admirable PICCINNI brought Gluck into relation with a master who, while not unworthy to cope with him as a musician, was undoubtedly his inferior as a diplomatist. Between these two great composers the parts of the typical 'rusé Italian' and the 'simple-minded German' were interchanged. The latter left no means untried to mar the success of the former, for whose genius he openly professed, and probably felt, high admiration; and in the famous war of the Gluckists and Piccinnists-whose musical knowledge for the most part was in inverse ratio to their literary skill-the victory which fell eventually to the former was the result no less of every species of chicanery on the part of Gluck than of genius especially adapted to captivate a people always more competent to appreciate dramatic than musical genius. In 1781 the second Palais Royal theatre, like its predecessor, was burnt to the ground. The Académie, for many weeks without a home, at length took temporary refuge in the Salles des Menus Plaisirs. Meanwhile the architect Lenoir completed the Salle de la Porte Saint-Martin in the short space of three

months. The result of this extravagant speed was that, after the first performance, said to have been attended (gratis) by 10,000 persons, the walls were found to have 'settled' two inches to the right and fifteen lignes to the left. In 1784 an Ecole Royale de Chant et de Declamation, afterwards developed into the Conservatoire, was grafted on to the Académie. In 1787 the Académie troupe is said to have consisted of 250 persons-an increase of 100 on that of Rameau. The unfortunate Louis XVI took great interest in the Académie, and even gave much personal attention to its regulation. He reduced the working expenses by nearly one-half; not at the cost of the working members, but by the abolition of sinecures and other incumbrances on its income. In 1784 he established prizes for libretti, and in 1787 issued several wellconsidered ordonnances for the regulation of the establishment. But from 1789 the thoughts of the ill-starred king were exclusively occupied by more weighty and more difficult subjects. On April 20, 1791, the royal family attended the Académie for the last time. The opera was the 'Castor et Pollux' of Rameau. Shortly after this the 'protection,' or exclusive right of performance of grand opera, was withdrawn from the Académie and the liberté des théatres proclaimed. Hitherto the names of the artists concerned in the Académie performances had never been published. This rule was violated for the first time in the affiche announcing 'L'Offrande à la Liberté,' an opera-ballet by Gardel and Gossec. The history of the Académie during the next few years is a part of the history of the French Revolution, and could only be made intelligible by details out of all proportion with our space. The sociétaires, as public officers, were largely occupied in lending the charms of their voices and instruments-the only charms of which they were receptive-to 'Fêtes de la Raison,' 'Sans - Culottides,' and more lately

Hymnes à l'Etre Suprème,' alike unmeaning, indecent, or blasphemous. In many of these the talents of the illustrious Cherubini, who had taken up his residence in Paris in 1788, were employed. The chronological Notice' of his compositions, which he himself drew up (Paris, 1845), contains the titles of a large number of productions of this class-'Hymne à la Fraternité,' 'Chant pour le Dix Août,' 'Le Salpêtre Républicain,' and the like. In 1794 the Académie was transferred to the Rue de Richelieu, a locality (the site of the Hôtel Louvois) chosen it was said by Henriot, convinced of the inutility of books,' in the hope that an establishment so liable to conflagration as a theatre might lead to the destruction of the Bibliothèque Nationale contiguous to it! In its new abode the Académie took a new name-Théatre des Arts. Here for the first time the pit was provided with seats. In the four or five years following this removal, the habitués of the Académie became weary of a repertoire having constant ultimate reference to liberté, fraternité, or egalité. The old operas, subjected always to

democratic purification, were again heard. In 1799 Gluck's 'Armide' was revived. During the consulate no new works of importance were brought forward at the Théatre des Arts, eventu ally the scene of two conspiracies against the First Consul, which, had they been successful, would have altered seriously the subsequent history of Europe. On the occasion of the first of these the Horaces' of Porta, and on that of the second the Creation' of Haydn were performed, the latter for the first time in Paris. During the ten years which follow 1804 French opera was much developed through the labours both of foreign and of native composers; among the former, Spontini, Rodolphe Kreutzer, and Cherubini; among the latter Lesueur and Catel. Among the most important of their works were 'Les Bardes' of Lesueur and 'La Vestale' of Spontini-the latter an enormous success won despite bitter and long-continued opposition. To Spontini, on account of it, was awarded the prize of 10,000 francs, decreed at Aix-la-Chapelle by Napoleon for the best opera produced at the Académie (now) Imperiale. In 1814 the allies occupied Paris, and the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia assisted at a performance of 'La Vestale' on April 1. On May 17 following "Edipe à Colone' and a Ballet de Circonstance were played before Louis XVIII. On April 18, 1815, Napoleon witnessed another performance of La Vestale,' and on July 9 of the same year the same opera was again performed before Louis XVIII, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia. The assassination of the Duc de Berri on the evening of Feb. 13, 1820, interrupted for several months the performances of the Académie. The act and its consequences were attended by every conceivable circumstance that could add to their ghastliness. The dying victim, who could not be removed from the theatre, lay, surrounded by his weeping family, separated only by a thin partition from an audience, unconscious of course of the tragedy in progress behind the scenes, convulsed with laughter at the antics of Polichinelle! The last sacraments of the church were administered to the duke on condition-exacted, it may be presumed, by the clergy in attendance that the building in which these horrors were being enacted should be forthwith demolished. On May 3, 1821, the Académie troupe resumed | its performances in the Salle Favart, with an Opéra de Circonstance, the combined work of Berton, Boieldieu, Kreutzer, Cherubini, and Paer, in honour of the infant Duc de Bourdeaux. In the next year the Académie was again transferred-this time to the Rue Le Peletier, the salle of which was destined to be for many succeeding years its home, and the scene of even greater glories than any it had yet known. About this time a change of taste in music, mainly attributable to a well-known critic, Castil-Blaze, showed itself among the opera habitués of Paris. French adaptations of the German and Italian operas of Mozart, Rossini, Meyerbeer, and even Weber, were produced

Not

in rapid succession and received with great favour. The Freischütz' of the last great master was performed at the Odéon 387 times in succession. The inevitable result soon followed. The foreign composers who had so effectually served the Académie indirectly, were called upon to serve it directly. The career of Mozart, alas! had many years before come to an untimely end, and that of Weber was about to prove scarcely more extended. But Rossini and Meyerbeer, though already renowned and experienced, had not yet reached the age when it is impossible or even very difficult to enter on a new career. They became and remained French composers. Meanwhile HEROLD, AUBER, and other native musicians, had made themselves known by works of more than promise; and the services of a body of operatic composers, foreign and French, unprecedented in number and ability, were made to contribute at the same time to the pleasure of a single city and the prosperity of a single institution. By a fortunate coincidence too, there flourished during this period a playwright, Augustin Eugène Scribe, who, despite his style impossible, must be regarded as the greatest master the theatre has known of that most difficult and thankless of literary products, the libretto. The two years immediately preceding and the eighteen following the revolution of July form the period during which the Académie attained its highest excellence and success. to speak of a large number of works which in other times might have deserved special mention, this period includes the composition and production of the 'Comte Ory' and the 'Guillaume Tell' of Rossini, the Muette' of Auber, the 'Robert le Diable' and 'Huguenots' of Meyerbeer, the 'Juive' and 'Charles VI' of Halévy, the 'Favorite' of Donizetti, and the 'Benvenuto Cellini' of Berlioz. These works were performed almost exclusively by native artists, whose excellence has especial claims on our admiration from the fact that, fifty years before, singing as an art can scarcely be said to have existed in France. Writing from Paris in 1778, Mozart says-'And then the singers!-but they do not deserve the name; for they do not sing, but scream and bawl with all their might through their noses and their throats.' With the times, like many other things, French singing had certainly changed in 1830. Transitory as is the reputation of the average vocalist, the names of Cinti-Damoureau, Falcon, Nourrit, Levasseur, and the later Duprez, are as little likely to be forgotten as those of the admirable masters of whose works they were the first interpreters. Since 1848 the lyric dramas pro. duced at the Académie hold no place besides those of earlier date. Few of them-this is the best of tests – have been performed with any success, or even at all, out of France. The

Prophète' of Meyerbeer and the Vêpres Siciliennes' of Verdi present all but the only exceptions; and the composition of the former of these belongs to an earlier epoch. In 1861, when the second empire was, or seemed to be,

nous work but little beyond the names and mottoes of these institutions, the dates of their foundation, and their general objects can be ascertained. A detailed history of their endowments and separate objects would require an examination into the archives of each particular city, and it is doubtful whether such an examination would supply full information or repay it when supplied. Nor is it an easy task to separate those institutions which had music for their especial object.

The Accademie,' even those especially devoted to music, do not come under the same category as the CONSERVATORIOS. The latter were schools founded and endowed for the sole purpose of giving instruction in music. The Academies were either public institutions maintained by the state, or private societies founded by individuals to further the general movement in favour of science, literature, and the fine arts. This they did in various ways, either by public instructions and criticisms, facilitating the printing of standard works on music, illustrating them with fresh notes, or by composing new ones; and every week the Academicians would assemble to compare their studies and show proofs of their industry. The study of one science or art would often help to illustrate the other. By the end of the 16th century poetry had become so closely allied to music in the drama that an academy could hardly have one of these arts for its object without including the others also, while many, like the Alterati' at Florence, the Intrepidi' at Ferrara, the Intronati' and the 'Rozzi' at Siena, devoted their energies to promoting the successful combination of the two arts in theatrical representation.

As far as regards science, the study of mathematical proportions was found to throw light upon the theory and the practice of music, when the Greek writers upon music came to be translated and studied in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Take for example the mathematical demonstrations of Galileo in his "Trattato del Suon,' the writings of the great Florentine theorist, Giambattista Doni (a member of the literary academy Della Crusca'), and Tartini's Trattato di Musica.' From the 15th to the 18th century the passion for academical institutions was so vehement in Italy that there was scarcely a town which could not boast at least one, while the larger cities contained several. At first they went by the name of their founder, as that of 'Pomponio Leto' at Rome, or Del Pontano' at Naples. But as they increased and multiplied this did not suffice, and each chose a special name either with reference to its particular object or from mere caprice. Hence arose a number of elaborate designations indicative either of praise or blame, Degli Infiammati,' 'Dei Solleciti,' 'Degl' Intrepidi,' etc. Each of these societies had moreover a device bearing a metaphorical relation to its name and object. These were looked upon as important, and were as highly esteemed as the crests and coats of arms of the old nobility.

Selecting, as far as possible, the academies which had the cultivation of music for their special object, we find that the earliest in Italy were those of Bologna and Milan, founded, the former in 1482, the latter in 1484. In the 16th and 17th centuries Bologna had no less than six societies for public instruction in music, Cesena and Ferrara one each, Florence five, Padua and Salerno one each, Siena four, entirely for musical dramatic representations, Verona one, founded by Alberto Lavezzola-a combination of two rival institutions which in 1543 became unitedVicenza two, also founded entirely for musical representation.

At this period there appear to have been no particular academy for music either at Milan, Rome, Naples, or Venice, though the science was probably included in the general studies of the various academies which flourished in those cities, while it could be specially and closely studied in the famous Neapolitan and Venetian Conservatorios (see CONSERVATORIO) or under the great masters of the Pontifical and other Chapels at Rome.

The Accademie' were all more or less shortlived, and that of the Filarmonici' (at Bologna) is the only one which Burney ('Musical Tour,' 1773), mentions as still extant. According to the 'Report on Musical Education' of 1866, the only institutions for public and gratuitous instruction now existing in Italy are:

(1) The Royal Musical Institute of Florence, founded 1860,

(2) The Reale Conservatorio di Musica' at Milan, founded by Napoleon, 1808, and still flourishing, according to the latest report of 1873.

(3) The Royal Neapolitan College, which has taken the place of her four Conser

vatorios.

It is difficult to determine how far the musical life of Italy was affected by these Accademie and Conservatorios; certainly the genius of Palestrina, Stradella, or Cherubini, can no more be attributed to them than that of Dante to the Schools; while the Accademia della Crusca might lacerate the heart of Tasso by picking to pieces a poem which not one of her Academicians could have produced. Yet, on the other hand, it may be urged that lovers of music owe much to such institutions when their members are capable of discerning the bright light of genius and cheering it during its existence, besides being ready to impart the information which is required for the general purposes of musical science. (See BOLOGNA, CONSERVATORIO, FERRARA, FLORENCE, LOMBARDY, MILAN, NAPLES, PADUA, ROME, SALERNO, SIENA, VENICE, VERONA, VICENZA).

The name 'Accademia' is, or was, also given in Italy to a private concert. Burney says in his Musical Tour': The first I went to was composed entirely of dilettanti. Il Padrone, or the master of the house, played the first violin, and had a very powerful band; there were

twelve or fourteen performers, among whom were several good violins; there were likewise two German flutes, a violoncello, and small double bass; they executed, reasonably well, several of our [J. C.] Bach's symphonies, different from those printed in England: all the music here is in MS. Upon the whole, this concert was much upon a level with our own private concerts among gentlemen in England.' ('Tour,' ii. 94-95). From Italy the use of the word spread to Germany. 'Besuche er mich nicht mehr,' said Beethoven on a memorable occasion, 'keine Akademie !' [C. M. P.]

...

ACCELERANDO (Ital.). Gradually quicken. ing the time. In the finale to his quartett in A minor (op. 132) Beethoven is not satisfied

I. 100th Psalm.

All peo - ple that on earth do dwell

2. BEETHOVEN, Eroica Symphony (Scherzo). Allegro vivace.

etc.

[E. P.]

ACCENT. As in spoken language certain words and syllables receive more emphasis than others, so in music there are always some notes which are to be rendered comparatively prominent; and this prominence is termed 'accent.' In order that music may produce a satisfactory effect upon the mind, it is necessary that this accent (as in poetry) should for the most part recur at regular intervals. Again, as in poetry we find different varieties of metre, so in music we meet with various kinds of time; i. e. the accent may occur either on every second beat, or isochronous period, or on every third beat. The former is called common time, and corresponds to the iambic or trochaic metres; e. g.

or

'Away! nor let me loiter in my song,'

'Fare thee well! and if for ever.'

When the accent recurs on every third beat, the time is called triple, and is analogous to the anapaestic metre; e. g.

'The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold.'

As a general rule the position of the accent is indicated by bars drawn across the stave. Since the accents recur at regular intervals it follows of course that each bar contains either the same number of notes or the same total value, and occupies exactly the same time in performance, unless some express direction is given to the contrary. In every bar the first note is that on which (unless otherwise indicated) the strongest accent is to be placed. By the older theorists the accented part of the bar was called by the Greek word thesis, i. e. the putting down, or 'down beat,' and the unaccented part was similarly named arsis, i. e. the lifting, or 'up beat.' In quick common and triple time there is but one accent in a bar; but in slower time, whether common or triple, there are two-a stronger accent on the first beat of the bar, and a weaker one on the third. This will be seen from the following examples, in which the strong accents are marked by a thick stroke (-) over the notes, and the weak ones by a thinner (−).

4.

Presto.

The above seven examples show the position of the accents in the varieties of time most commonly in use. The first, having only two notes in each bar, can contain but one accent. In the second and third the time is too rapid to allow of the subsidiary accent; but in the remaining four both strong and weak accents will be plainly distinguishable when the music is performed.

It will be observed that in all these examples the strong accent is on the first note of the bar. It has been already said that this is its regular position; still it is by no means invariable. Just as in poetry the accent is sometimes thrown