CHAP. VII.
Of Airs.
f whoever introduced the Custom of repeating the first Part of the Air (which is called Da Capo) did it out of a Motive to show the Capacity of the Singer, in varying the Repetition, the Invention cannot be blam'd by Lovers of Musick; though in respect of the Words it is sometimes an Impropriety.[56]
§ 2. By the Ancients beforementioned, Airs were sung in three different Manners; for the Theatre, the Stile was lively and various; for the Chamber, delicate and finish'd; and for the Church, moving and grave. This Difference, to very many Moderns, is quite unknown.
§ 3. A Singer is under the greatest Obligation to the Study of the Airs; for by them he gains or loses his Reputation. To the acquiring this valuable, Art, a few verbal Lessons cannot suffice; nor would it be of any great Profit to the Scholar, to have a great Number of Airs, in which a Thousand of the most exquisite Passages of different Sorts were written down: For they would not serve for all Purposes, and there would always be wanting that Spirit which accompanies extempore Performances, and is preferable to all servile Imitations. All (I think) that can be said, is to recommend to him an attentive Observation of the Art, with which the best Singers regulate themselves to the Bass, whereby he will become acquainted with their Perfections, and improve by them. In order to make his Observations with the greater Exactness, let him follow the Example of a Friend of mine, who never went to an Opera without a Copy of all the Songs, and, observing the finest Graces, confin'd to the most exact Time of the Movement of the Bass, he made thereby a great Progress.[57]
§ 4. Among the Things worthy of Consideration, the first to be taken Notice of, is the Manner in which all Airs divided into three Parts are to be sung. In the first they require nothing but the simplest Ornaments, of a good Taste and few, that the Composition may remain simple, plain, and pure; in the second they expect, that to this Purity some artful Graces[58] be added, by which the Judicious may hear, that the Ability of the Singer is greater; and, in, repeating the Air, he that does not vary it for the better, is no great Master.