The musical opinions expressed in your last [letter] do not coincide with Giovanni’s [John Saville’s] and mine, to whom the chorusses of Handel are dearer than any other species of music. The exhilaration and rapture with which they inspire me are extreme; so is the admiration they excite of the genius and skill of that great master, as the “volant fugue” bursts from every part of the orchestra successively; the leading air supplied, in turn, by the various orders of voices, and sustained by the rich fulness of the inner harmonies.

 Every person here and elsewhere, that I have heard mention K–––, except yourself, pronounce him detestable as an oratorio singer; that his coarse tones, flourishing, and gaudy style of expression, outrage the chaste delicacy of Handel’s softer song, nor less the sacred energies of his bolder strains.