composers as by the players, that it is difficult to say which are worse, the instruments or those who play on them."—The art of the organist had been better preserved since old Frescobaldi's day. But in spite of way in which Burney and Grosley have praised the Italian organists, we may accept as correct the verdict of Rust, who says that "the Italians seemed to think it impossible to give real pleasure by playing on instruments actuated by a keyboard." Here we recognise their expressive genius, which found its favourite instruments in the voice and the violin.[1]
But what was of more importance than the great virtuosi, so numerous in Northern Italy, was the general taste for symphonic music. The Lombard and Piedmontese orchestras were famous. The most celebrated was that of Turin, which included Pugnani, Veracini, Sernis and the Besozzi. There was "symphonic music" in the Chapel Royal every morning, from eleven o'clock to noon; the king's orchestra was divided into three groups which were distributed in these galleries at some distance one from another. The understanding between them was so excellent that they had no need of anyone to beat time. This custom, which was general in Italy, naturally struck foreign travellers. "The composer" says Grosley "applies himself
- ↑ Wind instruments were to some extent neglected. Alessandro Scarlatti, who was with difficulty persuaded by Hasse to grant an interview to the famous flautist Quantz, in 1725, said to him: "My son, you are aware of my antipathy for wind instruments; they are never in tune." (Quantz himself repeats this remark to Burney).—In 1771 Mozart discovered that for the great festival of San Petronio at Bologna it was necessary to send to Lucca for the trumpets, and that they were detestable.—Good wind-instruments were hardly to be found save in Venice and the north of Italy. Turin boasted of the two brothers Besozzi, one of whom played the oboe and the other the bassoon; they were known all over Europe.
