ne!

* * * * *

When the sunbeams, growing bolder.
Sought him in the noon, next day--
Starved to death, New Hampshire's soldier
In the Libby Prison lay.

MUSIC A SCIENCE.

Much has been written concerning music. Volume after volume, shallow or
erudite, sentimental or critical, prejudiced or impartial, has been
issued from the press, but the want (in most instances) of a certain
scientific foundation, and of rational canons of criticism, has greatly
obscured the general treatment of the subject. Truth has usually been
sought everywhere except in the only place where she was likely to be
found, namely, in the realm of _natural law_, and consequently, of
science. Old tomes of Greek and Latin lore, school traditions, the usage
of the best masters, and the verdict of the human ear (a good judge, but
not always unperverted), have been appealed to for decisions upon
questions readily answered by a knowledge and consideration of first
principles resting upon the immutable laws of sound, upon numerical
relations of vibrations. These principles are strictly scientific, and
capable of demonstration.

So long ago as 1828, the American public was told by Philip
Trajetta,[A] that 'if counterpoint be not a science, neither is
astronomy.' For want of proper expounders, this truth has made but
little impression, and, while the Art of Music has advanced considerably
among us, the Science has remained nearly stationary. In Europe,
erudition, research, and collections of rules have not been wanting.
Much has been accomplished, but an exhaustive work, based upon the
simple laws of nature, has (so far as the writer can learn) never yet
appeared. The profoundly learned and truly great Bohemian musician, W.
J. Tomaschek, who died in 1849, taught a system of musical science
founded upon a series of beautiful and easily comprehended natural laws.
His logical training and wide general cultivation gave him advantages
enjoyed by few of his profession. The result of his researches has
unfortunately never been published, and his system of harmony is
_thoroughly_ known only by his more earnest and studious pupils.

[Footnote A: 'An Introduction to the Art and Science of Music,' written
for the American Conservatory of Philadelphia, by Philip Trajetta.
Philadelphia: Printed by I. Ashmead & Co., 1828.

Trajetta was the son of a well-known Italian composer of the same name.
He was a pupil of