Charles Burney

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

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Naples

nuptials of Creusa and Cherinto, cha-
racters of the opera. The six principal
dancers, among the men are i Signori
Onocuto Vigano, Giuseppe Trafieri, Fran-
cesco Rafetti; and among the women, le
Signore Colomba Beccari, Anna Torselli,
and Caterina Ricci; the first man has
great force and neatness, and seems to
equal Slingsby in his à plomb, or neatness
of keeping time; and the Beccari's many
twinkling feet are not inferior in agility
to those of Radicati.

Monday 5. This morning I went to
the Conservatorio of St. Onofrio, to see
the boys take their lessons, and to hear
some of the best of them play; they were
all hard at work, and a noble clangor
they made, not to be equalled by

A hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
A hundred pair of iron lungs,
Ten speaking trumpets, &c.

However, the ears of both master and
scholar are respected when lessons in sing-