[59] Some writers speak of Mara as a violinist, others as a violoncellist.
[60] Banti was born at Crema, in 1757.
[61] Nasolini, a composer of great promise, died at a very early age.
[62] All three sopranists.
[63] It will be remembered that Berton, the director of the French Academy, entertained Gluck and Piccinni in a similar manner. (See vol. I.)
[64] We sometimes hear complaints of the want of munificence shown by modern constitutional sovereigns, in their dealings with artists and musicians. At least, however, they pay them. Louis XV. and Louis XVI. not only did not pay their daughters' music-masters, but allowed the royal young ladies to sponge upon them for what music they required.
[65] In chronicling the material changes that have taken place at the French Opera, I must not forgot the story of the new curtain, displayed for the first time, in 1753, or rather the admirable inscription suggested for it by Diderot—Hic Marsias Apollinem. Pergolese's Servante Maitresse (La Serva padrona) had just been "écorchée" by the orchestra of the Académie.
[66] Mémoires Secrètes, vol. xxi., page 121.
[67] This prevented me, when I was in Warsaw, from hearing M. Moniuszko's Polish opera of Halka.
[68] To say that a theatre is "full" in the present day, means very little. The play-bills and even the newspapers speak of "a full house" when it is half empty. If a theatre is tolerably full, it is said to be "crowded" or "crammed;" if quite full, "crammed to suffocation." And that even in the coldest weather!