Charles Burney

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

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Naples

as before, and in the same places. The
overture still seemed comic and original,
the airs far from common, though in
general plain and simple. If this com-
poser has any fault, it is in repeating pas-
sages too often, even to five or six times,
which is like driving a nail into a plais-
tered wall; two or three strokes fix it
better than more, for after that number,
it either grows loose, or recoils; thus an
energy is often given by reiterated strokes
on the tympanum; but too often re-
peated, they not only cease to make any
further impression, but seem to obliterate
those already made. I still think this
opera too long for want of the intermezzi
of dancing*.

Tuesday 23. This evening hearing in
the street some genuine Neapolitan sing-
ing, accompanied by a calascioncino, a