[ 370 ]
TOC
|
cuting them, there is an energy and fire,
not to be met with perhaps elsewhere
in the whole universe: it is so ardent as
to border upon fury; and from this im-
petuosity of genius, it is common for
Neapolitan composers, in a movement,
which begins in a mild and sober
manner, to set the orchestra in a blaze
before it is finished. Like high-bred
horses they are impatient of the rein, and
eagerly accelerate their motion to the ut-
most of their speed; as Dr. Johnson says,
that Shakespeare, in tragedy, is always
struggling for an occasion to be comic.
The pathetic and the graceful are seldom
attempted in the conservatorios; and
those refined and studied graces, which
not only change, but improve passages,
and which so few are able to find, are
less sought after by the generality of per-
formers at Naples, than in any other part
of Italy.
|
.jpg)