Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > British minstrel, and musical and literary miscellany

MUSICAL AND LITERARY MISCELLANY.
125
Oner, and after him other writers, have asserted,
that in the infirmary of the seraglio there is a
concert of vocal and instrumental music from
morning to night, for the purpose of soothing the
sufferings and exhilarating the spirits of the sick
and valetudinarian. But this is absolutely false, as
the Abat^ Toderini was assured, by a person who
had been twenty years a physician of the seraglio.
The musical instruments used by the Turks are j
1. The Keman, resembling our violin.
2. The AjaUi-keman, a sort of bass viol.
3. The Sine-heman, or the viol d'amour.
4. The liebab, a two-stringed bow-instrument,
almost in the form of a sphere; but now little used.
5. The Tambour, an eight-stringed instrument,
with a long handle, on which the scale of times is
marked. It is played upon with a small flexible
plate of tortoiseshell.
6. The AW, which isakind of flute made of cane,
the sound of which approaches to that of the
German flute, and sometimes to that of the human
voice. This is the fashionable instrument among
persons of rank.
7. I'he Ghtrif, a flute of smaller size.
8. The Mescal is composed of twenty-three cane
pipes of unequal length, each of which gives three
different sounds from the difl'erent manner of blow-
ing it.
9. The Santur, or psaltery, is the same with ours,
and played upon in the same manner.
10. The Canun, or psaltery with catgut strings,
on which the ladies of the seraglio play, with a sort
of tortoiseshell instrument.
These are all chamber instruments. The fol-
lowing are military ones: —
1. The Zurmt, a soct of oboe.
2. The Kaba Zurna, a smaller species of the
same.
3. The Boru, a tin trumpet.
4. The Zil, a Moorish instrument; what we call
the cymbal.
5. The Daul, a large kind of drum, beaten with
two wooden sticks.
6. The Tombalek, a small tympanum or drum, of
which the diameter is little more than half a foot.
7. The Kios, a large copper drum, commonly
carried on a camel.
8. The Triangle.
9. An instrument formed of several small bells
liung on an inverted crescent, which is fixed on the
top of a staS about six feet in height.
The band of the Sultan is truly grand, composed
of all the best musicians in Constantinople. They
play in unison or in octaves, which practice, though
hostile to harmony in the musical senseof the word,
is productive of grand martial eflect, and is very
imposing. — Critic.
ORGAN IN THE MUSIC HALL,
EDINBURGH.
The alterations which have been lately making
on this noble instrument under the superintendence
of Mr. Hill, of London, its talented builder, having
been completed, a considerable number of profes-
sionals and amateurs assembled in the Music Hall
on Saturday (30th Sept., 1844) to hear the eftect of
the improvements. The interior of the instrument
having been inspected, and its complicated me-
chanism as far as possible explained, Mr. Blewitt
took his seat at the keys; and after showing the
quality of the different stops (some of which are
extremely beautiful), and the endless variety of
effect which a judicious combination of them can
produce, delighted his auditors by performing a
grand fugue in his own masterly style. Apropos of
organs, we are reminded of the folhiwing anecdote:
On the occasion of a charity sermon being preached
in London some few years ago, a well-known
musical professor was presiding at the organ. The
admirable manner in which the musical portion of
the service was conducted attracted the attention of
a gentleman present, who anxious to ascertain the
name of the organist, applied to the pew-opener for
the requisite information. Unable, however, to
obtain it from that quarter, he thought of applying
to the organ-blower. On ascending to the organ-
gallery, he found that important functionary re-
posing after his labours, and addressed him with
" Pray, my good fellow, can you tell me who played
the organ to-day ?" " / bleiv it," was the reply.
Apprehensive lest his question might have been
misunderstood, he repeated it, when " / blew if was
again the reply. " I am quite aware of that fact,"
said the gentleman, but I want to know who jdaxjcd
it." " Sir," answered the tormenting rogue, " I
have told you twice already it was I blew it, and I
shan't tell you any more." Annoyed at the fellow's
seeming impertinence, the gentleman took his de-
parture. As he was leaving the church, he met the
beadle, to whom he put the same question. " Mr;
I. Blewitt" was the beadle's answer. — Scotsman.
LINES FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.
Again ye come, again ye throng around me.
Dim, shadowy beings of my boyhood's dream !
Still shall I bless, as then, your spell that bound me?
Still bend to mists and vapours, as ye seem ?
Nearer ye come — I yield me as ye found me
In youth, your woishipper, and as the stream
Of air that foms you in its magic wreaths.
Flows by my lips, youth's joy my bosom breathes.
Lost forms, and loved ones, ye are with you bringing,
And dearest images of happier days ;
First- Love and Friendship in your path up springing,
Like old Tradition's half-remembered lays;
And long slept sorrows waked, whose dirge-like
singing
Recalls my life's strange labyrinthine maze,
And names the heart mourned many a stern doom,
Ele their year's summer summoned to the tomb.
They hear not these my last sons, they whosegreeting
Gladdened my first, — my spring time friends have
gone.
And gone, fast journeying from that place of meeting
The echoes of their welcome, one by one.
Though slrauger-crowds, my listeners since, are
beating
Time to my music, their applauding tune
More grieves than glads me, while the tried and Irnc^
If yet on earth, are wandering far and few.
A longing long unfelt, a deep-drawn sighing.
For the dark spirit land o'erpowers me now;
My song's faint voice sinks fainter, like the dying
Tones of the wind-harp swinging from the bough.
And my changed heart throbs warm — no more
denying
Tears to my eyes, or sadness to my brow.
The near afar off seems, the distant nigh,
The now a dream, the past reality.
Filz Greene Hallcck.