Music, men and manners in France and Italy, 1770 / Charles Burney

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

170-1

text excerpt

And at night hearing in the street some genuine Neapolitan singing, accompanied by a calascioncina, a mandaline and a violin, I sent for the whole band upstairs – but like other street music, it was best at a distance – in the room it was coarse, out of time, and out of harmony, whereas in the street it seemed the contrary to all of this. However, hear it where one will the modulation and accompaniment are very extraordinary. In the canzone of to night they began in A [natural] and without well knowing how, they got into the most extraneous keys one can imagine without however offending the ear. […] The voice part is very slow, a kind of psalmody, the words of which there are many stanzas, are Neapolitan. It is a very singular species of music, as wild in modulation from that of all the rest of Europe as the Scots and ‘tis perhaps as ancient, being among the common people merely traditional […] They played several other Neapolitan airs, all different from other music.

excerpt from 'Music, men and manners in France and Italy, 1770 / Charles Burney' pp. 170-1 (178 words)

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1444996259232