[319] This is especially true of the oratorios. In the operas, the ornamentation was much more elaborate and more irrelevant to the expression.
[320] The first, by Mr. Seiffert; the second, by Mr. Goldschmidt.
[321] Teseo, duet, Addio, mio caro bene; Esther, duet by Esther and Ahasuerus: “Who calls my parting soul?”
[322] Arminio (1737), duet from Act III. It is to be noticed that Arminio opens also with a duet, a very exceptional thing.
Other duets are in the Sicilian style, as, for instance, that in Giulio Cesare, or in the popular English style of the hornpipe, as that of Teofane and Otho in Ottone; A’teneri affetti.
[323] There are to be found also some fine trios in a serious yet virile style in the Passion according to Brockes (trio of the believing souls: O Donnerwort!) and in the Chandos Anthems.
[324] See also the quartet in Act I of Semele.
[325] With the exception of the Italian operas played at Venice, in which (thanks to Fux) the tradition of vocal polyphony is maintained—a tradition to be put to such good use later by Hasse and especially Jommelli.
[326] The 5-8 time in Orlando; the 9-8 in Berenice.
[327] The Introduction to Riccardo I represents a vessel wrecked in a tempestuous sea.