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TOC
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Signor Pasquale Pisari, who had with
him the original score of a mass in 16
real parts, which was full of canons,
fugues, and imitations: I never saw a
more learned or ingenious composition
of the kind. Palestrina never wrote in
more than eight real parts, and few
have succeeded in so many as those; but
to double the number is infinitely more
than doubling the difficulties. After
three parts, the addition of another
becomes more and more difficult; all
that can be done on these occasion, is
to adhere to a simple melody and modu-
lation, and to keep the parts as much as
possible in contrary, or at least, dissimilar
motion.
In the composition of Signor Pisari,
every species of contrivance is success-
fully used. Sometimes the parts answer
or imitate each other, by two and two;
sometimes the subjects are inverted in
some of the parts, while their original
order is preserved in others. A century
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