Charles Burney

The Present State of Music in France and Italy (2nd, corrected edition)

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Florence

they marched through the city, till three
or four o'clock in the morning, singing
songs, ballads, madrigals, catches, or
songs of humour upon subjects then in
vogue, with musical harmony, in four,
eight, twelve, and even fifteen parts,
accompanied with various instruments;
and these, from being performed in Car-
nival time, were called Canti Carnascia-
leschi*.

But even before this period the company
of Laudisti or Psalm-singers, was formed,
which has continued ever since; it is
now called La Compagnia, and the morn-
ing after my arrival in Florence, between
six and seven o'clock, they passed by the
inn where I lodged, in grand procession,
dressed in a whitish uniform, with burn-
ing tapers in their hands. They stopped
at the duomo, or great church, just by, to
sing a chearful hymn, in three parts,