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If we compare the music of Handel's
first oratorios with the operas he com-
posed about the same time, it will ap-
pear that the airs of the one are often as
gay as those of the other. And as to the
chorusses of an opera, which are all to be
in action, and performed by memory,
they must of course be shorter and less la-
boured than those of an oratorio, where
every singer has his part before him, and
where a composer is allowed sufficient
time to display his abilities in every species
of what is called by musicians good writing.
From the Incurabili I had the honour
to be carried by his Excellency Signor
Marin Giorgi, to an Accademia, at the
Casa Grimani, where I first had the
pleasure to hear Signora Bassa, a noble
Venetian lady. She has long been rec-
koned the best performer on the harpsi-
chord of all the ladies of Venice; and I
found that she played very neatly, and
with much taste and judgment. The
company consisted of the chief nobility
of Venice, the three persons whom I
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