Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/178

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166

A Musical Tour

Music. Strongly Italianate in matters of taste, but honest and impartial, he had the good fortune to be personally acquainted with the leading musicians of his day; in Italy, with Jommelli, Galuppi, Piccinni, Father Martini and Sammartini; in Germany, with Gluck, Hasse, Kirnberger, and Philipp-Emmanuel Bach; in France, with Grétry, Rousseau and the philosophers. Certain of the portraits which he has drawn of these men are the most lifelike pictures of them extant.

In the following pages we follow the steps of Burney and many another illustrious traveller who made the pilgrimage to Italy about the middle of the eighteenth century.^[1]

Scarcely had they entered Italy when they became possessed of the musical passion which was devouring a whole nation. This passion was no less ardent among the populace than amidst the elect.

"The violins, the instrumental performers, and the singing stop us in the streets," writes the Abbé Coyer, in 1763. "One

↑ Montesquieu travelled in Italy in 1728–29 (Voyages, Bordeaux, 1894); the President de Brosses in 1739–40 (Lettres familières écrites d'Italie); Grosley, in 1758 (Observations sur Italie); Lalande in 1765–66 (Voyages en Italie, VIII. Vol.: in i2-mo, Venice, 1769); Goethe, in 1786–87 (Italianische Reise); Moratin, in 1793–96 (Obras postumas, Madrid, 1867).

Burney's famous Tour dated from 1770–72, and has been described by him in his two works: The present state of Music in France and Italy (1771) and The present state of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces (1773), almost immediately translated into French.

The reader may also consult the letters of Mozart, who made three journeys through Italy (1769–71, 1771, 1772–73), The Mémoires of Grétry, who spent eight years in Rome, from 1759–1767, the Autobiography of Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, who accompanied Gluck into Italy—to say nothing of the numerous studies of those German musicians who travelled in Italy, such as Ruet, Johann Christian Bach, etc.

I obtained much valuable information from an interesting work by Signer Giuseppe Roberti: La Musica in Italia nel secolo XVIII. secondo le impressioni di viaggiatori stranieri (Rivista musicale Italiana, 1901).

[1] Montesquieu travelled in Italy in 1728–29 (Voyages, Bordeaux, 1894); the President de Brosses in 1739–40 (Lettres familières écrites d'Italie); Grosley, in 1758 (Observations sur Italie); Lalande in 1765–66 (Voyages en Italie, VIII. Vol.: in i2-mo, Venice, 1769); Goethe, in 1786–87 (Italianische Reise); Moratin, in 1793–96 (Obras postumas, Madrid, 1867).

Burney's famous Tour dated from 1770–72, and has been described by him in his two works: The present state of Music in France and Italy (1771) and The present state of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces (1773), almost immediately translated into French.

The reader may also consult the letters of Mozart, who made three journeys through Italy (1769–71, 1771, 1772–73), The Mémoires of Grétry, who spent eight years in Rome, from 1759–1767, the Autobiography of Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, who accompanied Gluck into Italy—to say nothing of the numerous studies of those German musicians who travelled in Italy, such as Ruet, Johann Christian Bach, etc.

I obtained much valuable information from an interesting work by Signer Giuseppe Roberti: La Musica in Italia nel secolo XVIII. secondo le impressioni di viaggiatori stranieri (Rivista musicale Italiana, 1901).

[1]