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and as this was different from any other
that I had been at in Italy, I accepted the
invitation, though I wished very much
to be at the Incurabili, where I was sure
of entertainment from Buranello and his
scholars.
Several of Marcello's Psalms were here
very well sung by the Abate Martini and
some other dilettanti, among whom one
had a very good base voice, and, between
the Psalms, sung Marcello's famous can-
tata called Cassandra, where this com-
poser has entirely sacrificed the music to
the poetry, by changing the time or stile
of his movement at every new idea which
occurs in the words; this may, perhaps,
shew a composer to be a very sensible
man, but at the same time it must dis-
cover him to be of a very phlegmatic
turn, and wholly free from the enthusi-
asm of a creative musical genius. And,
indeed, since melody has been allied
to grace and fancy, musical disjointed
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