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In the afternoon of the same day I went to the hospital de' Mendicanti, for orphan girls, who are taught to sing and play, and on Sundays and festivals they sing divine service in chorus. Signor Bertoni is the present Maestro di Capella. There was a hymn performed with solos and chorusses, and a mottetto a voce sola, which last was very well performed, par- ticularly an accompanied recitative, which was pronounced with great force and energy. Upon the whole, the composi- tions had some pretty passages, mixed with others that were not very new. The subjects of the fugues and chorusses were trite, and but slightly put together. The girls here I thought accompanied the voices better than at the PietĖ: as the chorusses are wholly made up of female voices, they are never in more than three parts, often only in two; but these, when re- inforced by the instruments, have such an effect, that the full complement to the chords is not missed, and the melody is
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