CHAP. VIII.
Of Cadences.[78]
he Cadences, that terminate the Airs, are of two Sorts. The Composers call the one Superior, and the other Inferior. To make myself better understood by a Scholar, I mean, if a Cadence were in C natural, the Notes of the first would be La, Sol, Fa; and those of the second Fa, Mi, Fa. In Airs for a single Voice, or in Recitatives, a Singer may chuse which of these Closes or Cadences pleases him best; but if in Concert with other Voices, or accompanied with Instruments, he must not change the Superior for the Inferior, nor this with the other.[79]
§ 2. It would be superfluous to speak of the broken Cadences, they being become familiar even to those who are not Professors of Musick, and which serve at most but in Recitatives.[80]
§ 3. As for those Cadences that fall a fifth, they were never composed in the old Stile for a Soprano, in an Air for a single Voice, or with Instruments, unless the Imitation of some Words had obliged the Composer thereto. Yet these, having no other Merit, but of being the easiest of all, as well for the Composer as for the Singer, are at present the most prevailing.[81]
§ 4. In the Chapter on Airs, I have exhorted the Student to avoid that Torrent of Passages and Divisions, so much in the Mode, and did engage myself also, to give my weak Sentiments on the Cadences that are now current; and I am now ready: But, however, with the usual Protestation of submitting them, with all my other Opinions, to the Tribunal of the Judicious, and those of Taste, from whence there is no Appeal; that they, as sovereign Judges of the Profession, may condemn the Abuses of the modern Cadences, or the Errors of my Opinion.
§ 5. Every Air has (at least) three Cadences, that are all three final. Generally speaking, the Study of the Singers of the present Times consists in terminating the Cadence of the first Part with an overflowing of Passages and Divisions at Pleasure, and the Orchestre waits; in that of the second[82] the Dose is encreased, and the Orchestre grows tired; but on the last Cadence, the Throat is set a going, like a Weather-cock in a Whirlwind, and the Orchestre yawns. But why must the World be thus continually deafened with so many Divisions? I must (with your leave, Gentlemen Moderns) say in Favour of the Profession, that good Taste does not consist in a continual Velocity of the Voice, which goes thus rambling on, without a Guide, and without Foundation; but rather, in the Cantabile, in the putting forth the Voice agreeably, in Appoggiatura's, in Art, and in the true Notion of Graces, going from one Note to another with singular and unexpected Surprizes, and stealing the Time exactly on the true Motion of the Bass. These are the principal and indispensible Qualities which are most essential to the singing well, and which no musical Ear can find in your capricious Cadences. I must still add, that very anciently the Stile of the Singers was insupportable, (as I have been informed by the Master who taught me to Sol-fa) by reason of the Number of Passages and Divisions in their Cadences, that never were at an end, as they are now; and that they were always the same, just as they are now. They became at last so odious, that, as a Nusance to the Sense of Hearing, they were banished without so much as attempting their Correction. Thus will it also happen to These, at the first Example given by a Singer whose Credit is established, and who will not be seduced by a vain popular Applause. This Reformation the succeeding Professors of Eminence prescribed to themselves as a Law, which perhaps would not have been abolished, were they in a Condition to be heard; but the Opulency of some, Loss of the Voice, Age and Death of others, has deprived the Living from hearing what was truly worthy our Admiration in Singing. Now the Singers laugh at the Reformers, and their Reformation of the Passages in the Cadences; and on the contrary, having recalled them from their Banishment, and brought them on the Stage, with some little Caricatura to boot, they impose them on the Ignorant for rare Inventions, and gain themselves immense Sums; it giving them no Concern that they have been abhorr'd and detested for fifty or sixty Years, or for an hundred Ages. But who can blame them? However, if Reason should make this Demand of them, with what unjust Pretence can you usurp the Name of Moderns, if you sing in a most Ancient Stile? Perhaps, you think that these overflowings of your Throat are what procure you Riches and Praises? Undeceive yourselves, and thank the great Number of Theatres, the Scarcity of excellent Performers, and the Stupidity of your Auditors. What could they answer? I know not. But let us call them to a stricter Account.