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TOC
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and polished manner. He made two or
three excellent closes, though they were
rather too long: this fault is general
throughout Rome and Naples, where
such a long-winded licentiousness pre-
vails in the cadences of every singer, as is
always tiresome, and often disgusting;
even those of great performers need com-
pression, and those made by performers
of an inferior class not only want curtail-
ing, but correction. A few select notes
with a great deal of meaning and ex-
pression given to them, is the only expe-
dient that can render a cadence desirable,
as it should consist of something superior
to what has been heard in the air, or it
becomes impertinent. This abuse in
making closes is not of very ancient stand-
ing, for in a serious opera of old Scarlatti,
composed in 1717, there is not a single
place for a cadence ad libitum to be
found.
Between the two parts of this oratorio,
there was a sermon by a Jesuit, delivered
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