BON 



BON 



work entitled " II Mufico Praflico," or the Pra£lical Mu- 

 fician, dedicated to the enipsror Leopold, in thin quarto. 

 This treatife contains many ufeful precepts, and examples of 

 compoCtion ; but is neither fo accurate as to be implicitly 

 followed, nor fo ample as to fupply all the wants of a mufical 

 Undent of the prefent times. Page 1 8, he fpeaks of a canon, 

 in his opera terza, for fifteen hundred and ninctv-two voices, 

 or iix hundred and forty-eight choirs ; which, on account 

 of the difficulty of finding fuch a number of fingers affembled 

 together, he has reduced to twenty-two. In the hiftorical 

 part of this tract, his knowledge is not very profound, or 

 reading extenfive ; and the authors he cites, in fupport of 

 hii information, give it no additional weight. 1 he exanipks 

 he has given of the ufe of the fecond, page 64, are, in ninny 

 inilanccs, erroneous, and fuch as can be found in the works 

 of no good contrapuntill of the lad century. The fe- 

 cond is not only confounded with the ninth by this author, 

 page 64, but improperly prepared and reiolved. 



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This difcord of 1 he iecond feems to require one of the parts 

 to remain ftationary, till the fufpendcd harmony is completed ; 

 but Bononcini often puts both parts in motion. In his ex- 

 ample of c imterpoint upon a plain foi!g,.page 76, there are 

 other difall'.nvances. 



liiilli 



Much explanation and inilruiilion are given for the eccle- 

 fiaflic.il moJi.s, but none cf the keys, uled in fecular mufic, 

 are defined or afcertained. 



BosoNciNi, John, the celebrated opera compofer, and 

 rival of Handel, was the fon of Gio. Maria Bononcirii, of Bo- 

 logna, the fubjeciof the preceding article. He firft arrived in 

 Tngland in 1720, on the cllablifliment of our famous 

 " Corporation of the Royal Academy of Mufic," under 

 the aufpices of kmg George I. and the principal nobility and 

 gentry in the kingdom ; for the fupport of which jOjOcol. 

 were fubfcribed. We have now before us the original deed 

 and covenant, with the feal and fign manual of all the fub- 

 fcribcrs, who became academicians, and bound themfelves and 

 their refpeftive executors, adminillrator.s and affigns, to pay 

 all fuch refpeftive fum or fums as fhall from time to time be 

 demanded out of their fubfcription, &c. The king fub- 

 fcribed Tcool. and the reft, to the number of 73, in this ori- 

 ginal lift, 2col. each. 



It is a curious record to be in poffL-fnon of the autography 

 of fuch a number of the heads of our moil ancient and il- 

 luft.rioue faniihes thus preferved. It is not, indeed, equally 



important or honourable with the lift of the barons who 

 figncd the Magna Charta ; but it is fuch a memorial of our 

 profperity, good-humour, patronage of a pf)hte art, and 

 happinefs, that wc would give a fac-fimile of each fignature 

 on a copper-plate, if we had room. 



In order to render this academy as complete as poffible, it 

 was determined by the difeftors not only to engage a lyric 

 poet in their fervice, but the beft vocal performers that could 

 be found in the ftveral parts of Europe where there was a 

 mufical theatre, and the three moft eminent compofers th.en 

 living who could be prevalkd upon to vifit this country. 

 For this purpofe Bononcini was invited from Rome, as he 

 tells us himfelf, in the dedication of his Cantatas and Duets 

 to George 1. (Qiii i>i trovo, chiamata da Roma per lervgio 

 della real Accademia di Mnfica). Attilio Ariofti, from 

 Berlin, was hkewifc engaged as a compcifer on this occafion ; 

 and Handel, who refided at this time with the duke of 

 Chandos, at Cannons, was not only included in the trium- 

 virate, but commiflioned to engage the fingers. 



During the firft year of this eilabhlhment, theie three com- 

 pofers furniftied new operas alternately, till January i~2i, 

 when, for difpatch, an aft of the opera of Muzio Scavola 

 was affigned to each of thefe maftcrs ; the firft act to Attihoj 

 probably from fenicritv, a? Ite was far from voung when he 

 came hither ; the fecond act to Bononcini, at that time 

 about jo ; and the third to Handel, the youngeft of the 

 three. 



As this divifion of the drama feerr.ed to krply a conten- 

 tion and trial of fliill. the pubhc took fides, perhaps Icls from 

 feeling than tl.e fpirit of party ; for party whets our appe- 

 tites for pleafure as well as polities. Many of the nobility 

 and gentry, who had been in Italy, and had witnelTed the 

 applaufe which Bononcini had received there as a compoler, 

 were partial to him here. While otheis who had vifited 

 the court of Hanover before the deceafe of queen .,\.nne, and 

 knew the favour in which Handel had ftocdwith the elector, 

 as a great performer on the organ and iiarpfichord, before 

 his compofitions were much known, and afterwards had 

 heard his pro<iudtions performed in London, were unwilling 

 to be pleafed with the compofitions of his principal rival. 

 Attilio, though a good mufician, feems to have been out of 

 the queftion ; neither his fame nor talents being equally 

 fplendid with tliole of the other two, by whom, and for 

 whom, the conflict continued with as great a rage as between 

 the honfesof York and Laneafter. till the year 1727 ; when 

 Bononcini, after the run of the Ir.ft and beft opera which he 

 had cumpofcd in England, " Aftyanax," quitted the con- 

 tcft with Handel, and ceafed to write for the ftage. But 

 the feuds among the friends of thefe great mufic'ans, which 

 Swift's epigram had rendered fo nfible, did not end here, 

 but continued as long as Bononcini remained in this 

 country. 



Here, as his biographer, it feems our duty to give his 

 real character as a compofer. He was feldom heard on the 

 violoncello in this country, though as a performer on that in- 

 ftrument he was eictremely admired in Italv ; and his melody 

 was, perhaps, more poliflied and vocal, though not fo new as 

 that of his powerful Saxon rival. Having been bornandnurfed 

 in Italy, where finging was fo highly cultivated, he was re- 

 ported by all his countrymen to fing in a molt exqiiifite tafte. 

 His recitative too, both in writing and utterance, was uni- 

 verfally allowed to be the beft of the time, and in the true 

 genius of the Itahan language ; but as a corredt, powerful, 

 and inventive compofer, he was an infant compared withi 

 Handel. 



Of all the works which this celebrated compofer pnblifhed 

 in England, his book of " Cai>tate e Duetti," dedicated to 



bis 



