Observations on the Florid Song; Or, Sentiments on the Ancient and Modern Singers

by Pier Francesco Tosi

§ 15. Let him avoid all those Abuses which have overspread and established themselves in the Airs, if he will preserve Musick in its Chastity.

§ 16. Not only a Scholar, but every Singer ought to forbear Caricatura's, or mimicking others, from the very bad Consequences that attend them. To make others laugh, hardly gains any one Esteem, but certainly gives Offence; for no-body likes to appear ridiculous or ignorant. This Mimicking arises for the most part from a concealed Ambition to shew their own Merit, at another's Expence; not without a Mixture of Envy and Spight. Examples shew us but too plainly the great Injury they are apt to do, and that it well deserves Reproof; for Mimickry has ruin'd more than one Singer.

§ 17. I cannot sufficiently recommend to a Student the exact keeping of Time; and if I repeat the same in more than one place, there is more than one Occasion that moves me to it; because, even among the Professors of the first Rank there are few, but what are almost insensibly deceived into an Irregularity, or hastening of Time, and often of both; which though in the Beginning is hardly perceptible, yet in the Progress of the Air becomes more and more so, and at the last the Variation, and the Error is discovered.

§ 18. If I do not advise a Student to imitate several of the Moderns in their Manner of singing Airs, it is from their Neglect of keeping Time, which ought to be inviolable, and not sacrificed to their beloved Passages and Divisions.

§ 19. The Presumption of some Singers is not to be borne with, who expect that an whole Orchestre should stop in the midst of a well-regulated Movement, to wait for their ill-grounded Caprices, learned by Heart, carried from one Theatre to another, and perhaps stolen from some applauded female Singer, who had better Luck than Skill, and whose Errors were excused in regard to her Sex.——Softly, softly with your Criticism, says one; this, if you do not know it, is called Singing after the Mode——Singing after the Mode?——I say, you are mistaken. The stopping in the Airs at every second and fourth, and on all the sevenths and sixths of the Bass, was a bad Practice of the ancient Masters, disapproved fifty Years ago by Rivani, called Ciecolino,[61] who with invincible Reasons shewed the proper Places for Embellishments, without begging Pauses. This Percept was approved by several eminent Persons, among whom was Signer Pistochi,[62] the most famous of our, and all preceding Times, who has made himself immortal, by shewing the way of introducing Graces without transgressing against Time. This Example alone, which is worth a Thousand (O my rever'd Moderns!) should be sufficient to undeceive you. But if this does not satisfy you, I will add, that Sifacio[63] with his mellifluous Voice embrac'd this Rule; that Buzzolini[64] of incomparable Judgment highly esteemed it: After them Luigino[65] with his soft and amorous Stile followed their Steps; likewise Signora Boschi[66] who, to the Glory of her Sex, has made it appear, that Women, who study, may instruct even Men of some Note. That Signora Lotti,[67] strictly keeping to the same Rules, with a penetrating Sweetness of Voice, gained the Hearts of all her Hearers. If Persons of this Rank, and others at present celebrated all over Europe, whom I forbear to name; if all these have not Authority enough to convince you, that you have no Right to alter the Time by making Pauses, consider at least, that by this Error in respect of Time, you often fall into a greater, which is, that the Voice remains unaccompanied, and deprived of Harmony; and thereby becomes flat and tiresome to the best Judges. You will perhaps say in Excuse, that few Auditors have this Discernment, and that there are Numbers of the others, who blindly applaud every thing that has an Appearance of Novelty. But whose fault is this? An Audience that applauds what is blameable, cannot justify your Faults by their Ignorance; it is your Part to set them right, and, laying aside your ill-grounded Practice, you should own, that the Liberties you take are against Reason, and an insult upon all those instrumental Performers that are waiting for you, who are upon a Level with you, and ought to be subservient only to the Time. In short, I would have you reflect, that the abovementioned Precept will always be of Advantage to you; for though under the neglecting of it, you have a Chance to gain Applause of the Ignorant only; by observing it, you will justly merit that of the Judicious, and the Applause will become universal.

§ 20. Besides the Errors in keeping Time, there are other Reasons, why a Student should not imitate the modern Gentlemen in singing Airs, since it plainly appears that all their Application now is to divide and subdivide in such a Manner, that it is impossible to understand either Words, Thoughts, or Modulation, or to distinguish one Air from another, they singing them all so much alike, that, in hearing of one, you hear a Thousand.——And must the Mode triumph? It was thought, not many Years since, that in an Opera, one rumbling Air, full of Divisions was sufficient for the most gurgling Singer to spend his Fire[68]; but the Singers of the present Time are not of that Mind, but rather, as if they were not satisfied with transforming them all with a horrible Metamorphosis into so many Divisions, they, like Racers, run full Speed, with redoubled Violence to their final Cadences, to make Reparation for the Time they think they have lost during the Course of the Air. In the following Chapter, on the tormented and tortured Cadences, we shall shortly see the good Taste of the Mode; in the mean while I return to the Abuses and Defects in Airs.

§ 21. I cannot positively tell, who that Modern Composer, or that ungrateful Singer was, that had the Heart to banish the delightful, soothing, Pathetick from Airs, as if no longer worthy of their Commands, after having done them so long and pleasing Service. Whoever he was, it is certain, he has deprived the Profession of its most valuable Excellence. Ask all the Musicians in general, what their Thoughts are of the Pathetick, they all agree in the same Opinion, (a thing that seldom happens) and answer, that the Pathetick is what is most delicious to the Ear, what most sweetly affects the Soul, and is the strongest Basis of Harmony. And must we be deprived of these Charms, without knowing the Reason why? Oh! I understand you: I ought not to ask the Masters, but the Audience, those capricious Protectors of the Mode, that cannot endure this; and herein lies my Mistake. Alas! the Mode and the Multitude flow like Torrents, which, when at their Height, having spent their Violence, quickly disappear. The Mischief is in the Spring itself; the Fault is in the Singers. They praise the Pathetick, yet sing the Allegro. He must want common Sense that does not see through them. They know the first to be the most Excellent, but they lay it aside, knowing it to be the most difficult.

§ 22. In former times divers Airs were heard in the Theatre in this delightful Manner, preceded and accompanied with harmonious and well-modulated Instruments, that ravished the Senses of those who comprehended the Contrivance and the Melody; and if sung by one of those five or six eminent Persons abovementioned, it was then impossible for a human Soul, not to melt into Tenderness and Tears from the violent Motion of the Affections. Oh! powerful Proof to confound the idoliz'd Mode! Are there in these Times any, who are moved with Tenderness, or Sorrow?——No, (say all the Auditors) no; for, the continual singing of the Moderns in the Allegro Stile, though when in Perfection That deserves Admiration, yet touches very slightly one that hath a delicate Ear. The Taste of the Ancients was a Mixture of the Lively and the Cantabile the Variety of which could not fail giving Delight; but the Moderns are so pre-possessed with Taste in Mode, that, rather than comply with the former, they are contented to lose the greatest Part of its Beauty. The Study of the Pathetick was the Darling of the former; and Application to the most difficult Divisions is the only Drift of the latter. Those perform'd with more Judgment; and These execute with greater Boldness. But since I have presum'd to compare the most celebrated Singers in both Stiles, pardon me if I conclude with saying, that the Moderns are arrived at the highest Degree of Perfection in singing to the Ear; and that the Ancients are inimitable in singing to the Heart.

§ 23. However, it ought not to be denied, but that the best Singers of these times have in some Particulars refined the preceding Taste, with some Productions worthy to be imitated; and as an evident Mark of Esteem, we must publicly own, that if they were but a little more Friends to the Pathetick and the Expressive, and a little less to the Divisions, they might boast of having brought the Art to the highest Degree of Perfection.

§ 24. It may also possibly be, that the extravagant Ideas in the present Compositions, have deprived the abovementioned Singers of the Opportunity of shewing their Ability in the Cantabile; in as much as the Airs at present in vogue go Whip and Spur with such violent Motions, as take away their Breath, far from giving them an Opportunity of shewing the Exquisiteness of their Taste. But, good God! since there are so many modern Composers, among whom are some of Genius equal, and perhaps greater than the best Ancients, for what Reason or Motive do they always exclude from their Compositions, the so-much-longed-for Adagio? Can its gentle Nature ever be guilty of a Crime? If it cannot gallop with the Airs that are always running Post, why not reserve it for those that require Repose, or at least for a compassionate one, which is to assist an unfortunate Hero, when he is to shed Tears, or die on the Stage?——No, Sir, No; the grand Mode demands that he be quick, and ready to burst himself in his Lamentations, and weep with Liveliness. But what can one say? The Resentment of the modern Taste is not appeased with the Sacrifice of the Pathetick and the Adagio only, two inseparable Friends, but goes so far, as to prescribe those Airs, as Confederates, that have not the Sharp third. Can any thing be more absurd? Gentlemen Composers, (I do not speak to the eminent, but with all due Respect) Musick in my Time has chang'd its Stile three times: The first which pleased on the Stage, and in the Chamber, was that of Pier. Simone[69], and of Stradella[70]; the second is of the best that now living[71]; and I leave others to judge whether they are Modern. But of your Stile, which is not quite established yet in Italy, and which has yet gained no Credit at all beyond the Alps, those that come after us will soon give their Opinion; for Modes last not long. But if the Profession is to continue, and end with the World, either you yourselves will see your Mistake, or your Successors will reform it. Wou'd you know how? By banishing the Abuses, and recalling the first, second, and third Mood[72], to relieve the fifth, sixth, and eighth, which are quite jaded. They will revive the fourth and seventh now dead to you, and buried in Churches, for the final Closes. To oblige the Taste of the Singers and the Hearers, the Allegro will now and then be mixed with the Pathetick. The Airs will not always be drowned with the Indiscretion of the Instruments, that hide the artful Delicacy of the Piano, and the soft Voices, nay, even all Voices which will not bawl: They will no longer bear being teased with Unisons[73], the Invention of Ignorance, to hide from the Vulgar the Insufficiency and Inability of many Men and Women Singers: They will recover the instrumental Harmony now lost: They will compose more for the Voice than the Instruments: The part for the Voice will no more have the Mortification to resign its Place to the Violins: The Soprano's and Contr'Alto's will no more sing the Airs in the Manner of the Bass, in Spight of a thousand Octaves: And, finally, their Airs will be more affecting, and less alike; more studied, and less painful to the Singer; and so much the more grand, as they are remote from the Vulgar. But, methinks, I hear it said, that the theatrical Licence is great, and that the Mode pleases, and that I grow too bold. And may I not reply, that the Abuse is greater, that the Invention is pernicious, and that my Opinion is not singular. Am I the only Professor who knows that the best Compositions are the Cause of singing well, and the worst very prejudicial? Have we not more than once heard that the Quality of the Compositions has been capable, with a few Songs, of establishing the Reputation of a middling Singer, and destroying That of one who had acquired one by Merit? That Musick, which is composed by one of Judgment and Taste, instructs the Scholar, perfects the Skilful, and delights the Hearer. But since we have opened the Ball, let us dance.