Charles Burney

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

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Florence

their way, to sing a stanza in three parts;
and when they arrived at their own
church, into which I gained admission,
there was a band of instruments to receive
them, who, between each stanza that they
sung, played a symphony. They per-
formed vespers in Canto Fermo, assisted
by their chaplain: the whole was con-
ducted with great decorum, and was cer-
tainly a very innocent amusement. Some
of the companies of Laudisti, in Florence,
have subsisted near five hundred years. I
found a folio MS. of Laudi Spirituali, with
the notes, in the Magliabecchi library,
composed for the company of friars of
the order of the Umiliati, and sung at the
church of All Saints, Florence, 1336.

Monday, Sept. 10. This afternoon, I
had the pleasure of hearing Signor Nar-
dini, and his little scholar Linley, at a
great concert, at the house of Mr. Hemp-