Part 14

§ 59. He will nauseate the new-invented Stile of those who provoke the innocent Notes with coarse Startings of the Voice. A disagreeable Defect; however, being brought from beyond the Alps, it passes for a modern Rarity.

§ 60. He will be astonished at this bewitched Age, in which so many are paid so well for singing ill. The Moderns would not be pleas'd to be put in Mind, that, twenty Years ago, indifferent Singers had but mean Parts allotted them, even in the second-rate Theatres; whereas at present, those, who are taught like Parrots, heap up Treasures beyond what the Singers of the first Degree then did.

§ 61. He will condemn the Ignorance of the Men most, they being more obliged to study than the Women.

§ 62. He will not bear with one who imitates the Women, even in sacrificing the Time, in order to acquire the Title of Modern.

§ 63. He will marvel at that Singer, who, having a good Knowledge of Time, yet does not make use of it, for want of having apply'd himself to the Study of Composition, or to accompany himself. His Mistake makes him think that, to be eminent, it suffices to sing at Sight; and does not perceive that the greatest Difficulty, and the whole Beauty of the Profession consists in what he is ignorant of; he wants that Art which teaches to anticipate the Time, knowing where to lose it again; and, which is still more charming, to know how to lose it, in order to recover it again; which are the Advantages of such as understand Composition, and have the best Taste.

§ 64. He will be displeased at the Presumption of a Singer who gets the Words of the most wanton Airs of the Theatre rendered into Latin, that he may sing them with Applause in the Church; as if there were no Manner of Difference between the Stile of the one and the other; and, as if the Scraps of the Stage were fit to offer to the Deity.

§ 65. What will he not say of him who has found out the prodigious Art of Singing like a Cricket? Who could have ever imagin'd, before the Introduction of the Mode, that ten or a dozen Quavers in a Row could be trundled along one after the other, with a Sort of Tremor, of the Voice, which for some time past has gone under the name of Mordente Fresco?

§ 66. He will have a still greater Detestation for the Invention of Laughing in Singing, or that screaming like a Hen when she is laying her Egg. Will there not be some other little Animal worth their Imitation, in order to make the Profession more and more ridiculous?

§ 67. He will disapprove the malicious Custom of a Singer in Repute, who talks and laughs on the Stage with his Companions, to induce the Publick to believe that such a Singer, who appears the first time on the Stage, does not deserve his Attention; when in reality he is afraid of, or envies, his gaining Applause.

§ 68. He cannot endure the Vanity of that Singer, who, full of himself from the little he has learned, is so taken with his own Performance, that he seems falling into an Extasy; pretending to impose Silence and create Wonder, as if his first Note said to the Audience, Hear and Die: But they, unwilling to die, chuse not to hear him, talk loud, and perhaps not much to his Advantage. At his second Air the Noise encreases, and still encreasing, he looks upon it as a manifest Injury done him; and, instead of correcting his conceited Pride by Study, he curses the deprav'd Taste of that Nation that does not esteem him, menacing never to return again; and thus the vain Wretch comforts himself.

§ 69. He will laugh at one who will not act unless he has the Choice of the Drama, and a Composer to his liking; with this additional Condition, not to sing in Company with such a Man, or without such a Woman.

§ 70. With the like Derision, he will observe some others, who with an Humility worse than Pride, go from one Box to another, gathering Praises from the most illustrious Persons, under a Pretence of a most profound Obsequiousness, and become in every Representation more and more familiar. Humility and Modesty are most beautiful Virtues; but if they are not accompanied with a little Decorum, they have some Resemblance to Hypocrisy.

§ 71. He will have no great Opinion of one, who is not satisfied with his Part, and never learns it; of one, who never sings in an Opera without thrusting in one Air which he always carries in his Pocket; of one, who bribes the Composer to give him an Air that was intended for another; of one, who takes Pains about Trifles, and neglects Things of Importance; of one, who, by procuring undeserved Recommendations, makes himself and his Patron ridiculous; of one, who does not sustain his Voice, out of Aversion to the Pathetick; of one, who gallops to follow the Mode; and of all the bad Singers, who, not knowing what's good, court the Mode to learn its Defects.

§ 72. To sum up all, he will call none a Singer of Merit, but him who is correct; and who executes with a Variety of Graces of his own, which his Skill inspires him with unpremeditately; knowing, that a Professor of Eminence cannot, if he would, continually repeat an Air with the self-same Passages and Graces. He who sings premeditately, shews he has learn'd his Lesson at Home.

§ 73. After having corrected several other Abuses and Defects, to the Advantage of the Singer, he will return with stronger Reasons to persuade him to have Recourse to the fundamental Rules, which will teach him to proceed on the Bass from one Interval to another, with sure Steps, and without Danger of erring. If then the Singer should say, Sir, you trouble yourself in vain; for the bare Knowledge of the Errors is not sufficient; I have need of other Help than Words, and I know not where to find it, since it seems that there is at present such a Scarcity of good Examples in Italy: Then, shrugging his Shoulders, he will answer him, rather with Sighs than Words; that he must endeavour to learn of the best Singers that there are; particularly by observing two of the fair Sex, of a Merit superior to all Praise; who with equal Force, in a different Stile, help to keep up the tottering Profession from immediately falling into Ruin. The one is inimitable for a privileg'd Gift of Singing, and for enchanting the World with a prodigious Felicity in executing, and with a singular Brilliant (I know not whether from Nature or Art) which pleases to Excess. The delightful, soothing Cantabile of the other, joined with the Sweetness of a fine Voice, a perfect Intonation, Strictness of Time, and the rarest Productions of a Genius, are Qualifications as particular and uncommon, as they are difficult to be imitated. The Pathetick of the one, and the Allegro of the other, are the Qualities the most to be admired respectively in each of them. What a beautiful Mixture would it be, if the Excellence of these two angelick Creatures could be united in one single Person! But let us not lose Sight of the Master.

§ 74. He will also convince the Scholar, that the Artifice of a Professor is never more pleasing, than when he deceives the Audience with agreeable Surprizes; for which reason he will advise him to have Recourse to a seeming Plainness, as if he aim'd at nothing else.

§ 75. But when the Audience is in no farther Expectation, and (as I may say) grows indolent, he will direct him to rouse them that Instant with a Grace.

§ 76. When they are again awake, he will direct him to return to his feigned Simplicity, though it will no more be in his power to delude those that hear him, for with an impatient Curiosity they already expect a second, and so on.

§ 77. He will give him ample Instructions concerning Graces of all sorts, and furnish him with Rules and profitable Documents.

§ 78. Here should I inveigh (though I could not enough) against the Treachery of my Memory, that has not preserved, as it ought, all those peculiar Excellencies which a great Man did once communicate to me, concerning Passages and Graces; and to my great Sorrow, and perhaps to the Loss of others, it will not serve me to publish any more than these few poor Remains, the Impressions of which are still left, and which I am now going to mention.

CHAP. X.

Of Passages or Graces.

Passages or Graces being the principal Ornaments in Singing, and the most favourite Delight of the Judicious, it is proper that the Singer be very attentive to learn this Art.

§ 2. Therefore, let him know, that there are five principal Qualifications, which being united, will bring him to admirable Perfection, viz. Judgment, Invention, Time, Art, and Taste.

§ 3. There are likewise five subaltern Embellishments viz. the Appoggiatura, the Shake, the putting forth of the Voice, the Gliding, and Dragging.

The principal Qualifications teach,

§ 4. That the Passages and Graces cannot be form'd but from a profound Judgment.

§ 5. That they are produced by a singular and beautiful Invention, remote from all that is vulgar and common.