[ 177 ]
![next](graphics/next.gif)
TOC
|
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
|