SINGING SINKING FUND. 



273 



songs, particularly martial songs, which were trans- 

 mitted from mouth to mouth. With the introduc- 

 tion of Christianity, the singing schools acquired a 

 higher and nobler character. The first Christians, 

 particularly the Therapeutae, in Palestine and 

 Egypt, sang hymns in alternate choirs, during their 

 religious ceremonies. Clemens Romanus, a com- 

 panion of the apostle Paul, was the first to establish 

 the head singer, to begin the psalm, and lead the 

 assembly ; the elders of the church were also the 

 directors of the singing. Ambrose and Chrysostom 

 warmly promoted it. As early as the first centuries, 

 particular singing schools were established. Cyril 

 relates that St Theodosius was head singer at the 

 church, in his native place, from his earliest child- 

 hood, and St Nicetius, archbishop of Treves, in the 

 first half of the sixth century, resolved to have all 

 the boys, born in his diocese, instructed in singing 

 as soon as they could talk. Proper seminaries for 

 spreading the knowledge of singing were first estab- 

 lished in Rome by pope Sylvester, between 314 

 and 335. A singing school, belonging jointly to all 

 the churches in the city, was instituted, and was 

 obliged to furnish choirs for all the sacred masses 

 and religious ceremonies conducted by the pope or 

 presbyter. The director of this singing school, 

 called Primicerius, instructed select youths in sing- 

 ing, reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in good 

 manners ; these scholars were called ministrales and 

 clerici. Pope Gregory the Great (590 604} 

 greatly extended and improved the singing schools. 

 In the school of the Lateran, the couch was still to 

 be seen, in the ninth century, on which Gregory 

 reposed while he instructed the singers, as also the 

 rod with which he threatened the boys, and his 

 Antiphonarium. (See Antiphony.) The boys who 

 sang well were maintained by the school, and after- 

 wards made chamberlains to the pope. Most of 

 the scholars were taken from the Roman orphan 

 asylum, whence the singing school was also called 

 orphanotrophium. The same pope sent Augustin 

 or Austin as a missionary to England, accompanied 

 by many assistants and singers. Augustus and 

 king Alfred, at the end of the ninth century, spread 

 the art of singing in Great Britain. Charlemagne 

 introduced it into France and Germany. He sent 

 singers to Rome, who were there instructed, and, on 

 their return, founded singing schools, first at Metz 

 and Soissons, afterwards in many other towns. 

 Charlemagne often presided in his principal school, 

 and directed the instruction ; his daughters practised 

 music three hours daily. All the music masters 

 were taken from the clergy. From the time of 

 Pepin, a royal chapel was always connected with 

 the royal palace, under the inspection of a music 

 master, called menestrel. The so called gay science 

 of the Provencals embraced music as well as poetry. 

 The troubadours diffused it from the eleventh to 

 the fourteenth century: the schools of the minne- 

 singers originated from them ; the most flourishing 

 period of the German minnesingers was in the thir- 

 teenth century ; among them were emperors, kings, 

 princes, and counts; but when, at a later period, 

 the use of court fools prevailed, these noble singers 

 became extinct at court, and the art fell into the 

 hands of common mastersingers. In the middle of 

 the fifteenth century, figurate music was already 

 taught in the singing schools at Augsburg. French 

 and German compositions were principally sung. 

 The principal singing choirs of the north of Ger- 

 many, sprung from the religious zeal of Luther, 

 who advised the study of music, and the cultivation 



VI. 



of it, as a part of the religious service. In those 

 early times, when the custom prevailed of perform- 

 ing mysteries, and celebrating many other religious 

 festivals, singing choirs often assisted in these per- 

 formances. Another kind of singing school, which 

 existed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 

 must also be mentioned. In Italy, princes and 

 states, in the middle ages, had in their service whole 

 companies of singers and players, who appeared in 

 numbers at all the chief festivals. Guido of Arezzo, 

 at the beginning of the thirteenth century, did much 

 for the improvement of singing, and founded new 

 schools. In the sixteenth century, a higher and 

 purer taste for music was awakened, chiefly by Pa- 

 lestrina (q. v.), the famous master, of the old Ro- 

 man school. The same powerful influence which he 

 exercised over the ancient Italian school of singing, 

 Francesco Durante had over the modern. At the 

 end of the seventeenth century, the singing school 

 of Francesco Antonio Pistochi, in Bologna, was 

 distinguished, which was continued by his famous 

 scholars, Ant. Bernachi and Ant. Pasi. In the 

 eighteenth century, the following schools were cele- 

 brated: that of Brivio, in Milan; Franc. Peli, in 

 Modena; Redi, in Florence; Amadori, in Rome; 

 but, particularly, those of Nic. Porpora, Leonardo 

 Leo, and Franc. Feo, in Naples. (See Italian 

 Music.) These conservatories, or public singing 

 and music schools, had the greatest influence, both 

 in Italy and France, in perfecting music. 



SINIGAGLIA, in the papal delegation ofUrbino, 

 between Rimini and Ancona : a small fortified place 

 with 6200 inhabitants, celebrated for its annual 

 fair, which lasts from July 20 to August 10. Dur- 

 ing this time, loggie or booths are erected along the 

 canal, which are crowded with foreign and native 

 traders, and the place, thronged with jugglers, dan- 

 cers, &c., exhibits a panorama of Italy in miniature. 



SINKING FUND. The term sinking fund is 

 applied to a fund appropriated by a government to 

 the purchase or extinguishment of its own debts. 

 Where a government merely directs its treasurer to 

 apply monies, accruing from permanent sources of 

 revenue, to the payment of the public debt, the 

 term sinking fund can only signify the excess of the 

 current revenues over the current expenditures. 

 But the term is not ordinarily applied in such a 

 case. In England, as early as 1716, Sir Robert 

 Walpole projected the sinking fund system, which 

 was partially applied at that time, but brought into 

 operation more fully in 1786, by Mr Pitt. New 

 taxes were imposed to such an amount as, upon 

 estimation, would leave a surplus revenue of 

 900,000 beyond the current annual expenditure, 

 and the payment of interest on the public debt. 

 Assuming that, for a given number of years, the 

 expenditure of the government would not exceed 

 the estimated amount, and that the resources would 

 yield this surplus, it followed, of course, that the 

 public debt would eventually be extinguished by 

 the application of this surplus to this purpose. And 

 if the revenues, and expenditures for other purposes 

 than the payment of the interest and principal of 

 the public debt were kept at the same amount, it 

 would follow that a greater amount could annually 

 be applied to the payment of the principal of the 

 debt, since a smaller amount would be requisite for 

 the payment of the interest, in consequence of the 

 constant reduction of the debt. All this is quite 

 plain, and it would be equally true whether the 

 payments were the extinguishment of a certain por- 

 tion of the debt, or the purchase of it by the com- 



