Musick as much as may grace and soften it, but never entirely to annihilate and destroy it. Let the Infusion be as strong as you please, but still let the Subject Matter of it be
English
.
A Composer should fit his Musick to the Genius of the People, and consider that the Delicacy of Hearing, and Taste of Harmony, has been formed upon those Sounds which every Country abounds with: In short, that Musick is of a Relative Nature, and what is Harmony to one Ear, may be Dissonance to another.
The same Observations which I have made upon the Recitative part of Musick may be applied to all our Songs and Airs in general.
Baptist Lully
acted like a Man of Sense in this Particular. He found the
French