"The music of this country" writes Burney in Berlin, "is more truly German than that of any other part of the Empire." Frederick the Great had set his heart upon Germanising it; he would allow no operas to be performed in his States other than those of his favourite Graun and the Saxon Agricola and a few—only a few—of Hasse's. But observe how difficult it was for German taste to liberate itself! These operas were Italian operas, and the king could not even imagine that there could be any object in singing in any other language than Italian.
"A German singer!" he used to say. "I would as soon hear my horse neigh!"[1]
And who were these German composers, whose exclusive and intolerant protector he had appointed himself? so that Burney was justified in saying: "The names of Graun and Quantz are sacred in Berlin, and more respected than those of Luther and Calvin. There are many schisms; but the heretics are forced to keep silent. For in this land of universal tolerance in matters of religion, whosoever should dare to profess other musical dogmas than those of Graun and Quantz might count quite certainly on being persecuted …"
J. J. Quantz, who was composer and musician in ordinary to the Royal chamber, and also taught the King to play the flute, "had the taste which people had forty years ago"—that is, the Italian taste. He had travelled extensively in Italy. He was of the school of Vivaldi, Gasparini, Alessandro
- ↑ Frederick the Great had, moreover, a violent antipathy for sacred music. "It was enough," Agricola told Burney, "that a composer should have written an anthem or an oratorio, for the king to regard his taste as debased and out of fashion."
