XVI. It was in the Te Deum that Sarti employed fireworks and the discharge of cannon to heighten the martial effect of the music. Among his operas produced at St. Petersburg were 'Armida' (1786), which had an immense success, and was sung to perfection by the celebrated Todi—and 'Olega,' the libretto of which was by the Empress herself. In this opera Sarti endeavoured to imitate the music of the ancient Greeks, and made use of some of their modes. A skilled mathematician and physicist, he was fond of explaining to the Empress his theories of acoustics, which he illustrated by many ingenious experiments. He invented a machine for counting the vibrations of sounds, and fixed 436 vibrations[1] for the A, as the normal pitch for his orchestra. For this invention he was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Science in St. Petersburg. Many other honours were conferred upon him, including those of councillor of the University, chief maître de chapelle to the court, and nobility of the 1st class. Todi's intrigues caused him temporary inconvenience, but he consoled himself for a short period of disgrace by going to a village in the Ukraine, given him by Prince Potemkin, and founding there a school of singing which turned out some remarkable singers. In 1793 the Empress restored him completely to favour, and placed him at the head of a Conservatoire planned after the model of those in Italy. After her death and that of her son Paul I., Sarti determined to revisit his native land, and in the spring of 1802 left Russia, where he had lived for 18 years without a break. At Berlin he formed an intimacy with the Court-capellmeister, Noel Mussini (born at Bergamo, 1765, died at Florence, 1837), who fell in love with his daughter Giuliana, and became his son-in-law.[2] Immediately after the marriage the kind and gentle Sarti, who was as absent as La Fontaine, fell seriously ill of gout, and died July 28, 1802, aged 73. He was buried in the Catholic church of St. Edwige, where his ashes still remain.
From some unexplained cause very few of Sarti's compositions have been engraved. His Te Deum was printed with Russian words at St. Petersburg, and Breitkopf & Härtel have published two of his sacred pieces, one in 8, the other in 6 real parts. A French translation of the 'Nozze di Dorina'—apparently the only opera of his that has been engraved—appeared in Paris, but Ricordi of Milan has copies of 'Armida e Rinaldo'; 'I finti Eredi'; 'Le Gelosie villane'; 'Nitteti,' and 'Vologeso.' These scores, as well as those of 'Adriano in Sciro,' 'Alessandro,' 'Gli Amanti consolati,' 'Castore e Polluce,' 'I Contratempi,' 'Didone abbandonata,' 'Erifile,' 'Fra due Litiganti,' 'Giulio Sabino,' 'Idalide,' 'Ifigenia,' 'Il Medonte,' 'Il Militare bizzarro,' 'Mitridate,' 'Le Nozze di Dorina,' and 'Scipione,' and also of nearly all his sacred works, are in the library of the Paris Conservatoire, from which circumstance the writer is able to pronounce upon his style. The part-writing is eminently vocal, and the most difficult combinations are mastered with ease, but the scientific element is never unduly forced into notice, owing to Sarti's gift of fresh and spontaneous melody. Most of his operas contain numbers well constructed with a view to stage effect, and full of expression and charm; indeed so much of his music might still be heard with pleasure that it seems strange that no great artist has attempted to revive it.
His masses alone retain their hold on public favour, and one was performed on Easter Day 1880 in Milan Cathedral, which still has all the MSS.
Sarti left six sonatas for the Clavier solo (London, 1762). An Allegro from these is included in Pauer's 'Alte Meister.' Cherubini quotes a 'Cum Sancto' à 8 of his in his 'Theory of Counterpoint'; and Fétis a Kyrie from the same mass in his treatise. Breitkopf has published a Fugue for 8 voices, a Hymn and a Miserere, and the overture to 'Ciro riconosciuto.' A Rondo for mezzo soprano will be found in Gevaert's 'Gloires d'Italie,' and a Cavatina from 'Giulio Sabino' in the 'Gemme d'Antichita.'
The Mussini family possess a fine oil painting of the composer, taken in 1786 by Tonci, an Italian painter settled in St. Petersburg. 'Le Chevalier Sarti,' a novel by P. Scudo, appeared first in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes,' and has since been published separately (Paris, Hachette, 1857).
SARTORETTI, a Mantuan lady who deserves to be rescued from oblivion for her conduct to Mozart when he visited Mantua in January 1770 as a boy of not quite 14. She invited him to dinner, sent him a dish containing a garland of choice flowers tied with red ribands, and in the midst of the ribands a medal worth four ducats, and a copy of verses by herself headed Al Signor Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart, Anacreontica. His hands were at the time severely chapped with the cold, and she gave him some pomade which quickly restored them. The verses are printed by Jahn in his Mozart, App. III. A, 6.
SARTORIS, Mrs., actress, singer, and friend of Mendelssohn's. She died Aug. 6 [App. p.780 "4"], 1879. [See Kemble, Adelaide.]
SATANELLA, OR THE POWER OF LOVE. A 'New Original Romantic Opera,' in 4 acts; words by Harris and Falconer, music by Balfe. Produced at the National English Opera, Covent Garden (Pyne and Harrison), Dec. 20, 1858. The story is a version of the Diable boiteux.
SATURDAY CONCERTS, CRYSTAL PALACE. For these see vol. i. p. 422a. They continue on the same footing as there described; and since that date (Oct. 1878) Brahms's Second Symphony, Academic and Tragic Overtures, and Violin Concerto; Raff's 'Im Walde,' 'Frühlingsklänge,' and 'Im Sommer,' Symphonies; Liszt's 'Ideale'; Rubinstein's 'Tower of Babel,'
- ↑ The 'diapason normale' of France at this moment fixes 435 Vibrations for the same note.
- ↑ The articles on Sarti and Mussini in Fétis are full of errors and omissions. We have corrected the most glaring mistakes from family papers kindly furnished by the distinguished painter L. Muscini, director of the Museo at Siena, and grandson of the composer.
