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band than the day before. The whole
Conservatorio of the Pietà, consisting of
a hundred and twenty boys, all dressed in
a blue uniform, attended. The Sinfonia
was just begun when I arrived; it was
very brilliant, and well executed: then
followed a pretty good chorus; after
which, an air by a tenor voice, one by a
soprano, one by a contralto, and another
by a different tenor; but worse singing I
never heard before, in Italy; all was un-
finished and scholar-like; the closes stiff,
studied, and ill executed; and nothing
like a shake could be mustered out of the
whole band of singers. The soprano forced
the high notes in a false direction, till
they penetrated the brain of every hearer;
and the base singer was as rough as a mas-
tiff, whose barking he seemed to imitate.
A young man played a solo concerto on
the bassoon, in the same incorrect and
unmasterly manner, which drove me out
of the church before the vespers were
finished.
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