7 Feb., 1821....[L]ast Friday Mr. Niebuhr gave a great fête. My Mother will wonder, as all Rome has wondered, at such an event, and has conjectured in vain what could be the reason. We know it was given in honour of Baron Stein, and not of the princes and ambassadors who were invited besides: a selection of the music of Palestrina, consisting of the celebrated 'Missa di Papa Marcello,' and the Motett - 'Tu es Petrus,' - and afterwards the 'Dies Irae' of Pittoni, were performed by the singers of the Papal Chapel, who were stationed at the further end of the long gallery. The effect of the music is not to be described, - often as I have been in the Papal Chapel, I have never heard anything equal to it, - for the singers not having any reason for hurrying, were induced to give every note its due value; and the complication of sound was of that subduing nature, as to make you draw your breath, or lift up your eyes, lest some other object or sensation should divide your attention, and cause you to lose a particle. Oh thus, thus only can the angels sing! Had my Mother but heard it too! << less