BON 



BON 



Iii« majefty George I. in 1731, the year after his arm-allrere, 

 feems the belt. In 1722, liis '< Divertinienti da Camera, 

 tradotti (trar.fpofcd or accommodated) pel Cembalo da 

 quelli compoliti pel Violino e Flauto," were publilhed by 

 liimfelf, and fold at his lodginj^s in Siiffolk-tlreet. In thefe 

 we meet with pleaiing and malierly pali'ages, but they are fo 

 inferior in force, contnvance, and invention, to the leflons of 

 Handel, that even his admirers, on a comparative view, muft 

 have regarded tiicm as frivolous and trivial. The adapos are 

 the bell movenients in them, and have notes of tafte and 

 pafla^es of cxprefTicn, which muft liave been then new to 

 Englifli ears. Bononcini, however, like other compoftrs of 

 his time, is ve.-v fpan.ior of his jiafTagcs, and indidges idlenefs 

 and want of invention by frequent rcfullaj, or repetitions, 

 which Handel lec-ms always to avoid more than any compofer 

 of this period, except tlie Scarlatti's, father and Ion. In 

 feveral of thefe leifons the fubjcd is heard in one part or 

 other throughout a whole movement ; as in the miruet, 

 page 35, the firl^ bar is perpct-ial. 



His funeral anthem for the duke of Marlborough, was fet 

 and performed the fame year, 1722. The fliort lymphony, 

 and whole firll movement are grand, and of a melancholy call. 

 The fecond movement has not much to recommend it. The 

 third is more languid, than pjilionate or pathetic. The 

 fourth is plaintive, but was not new at the time it was written. 

 The fifth and laft movement has mufica! merit, but none of 

 true feeling, or genius ; no " heart-rending fighs," or luch 

 exclamations of iorrow and afflitlion as would naturally be 

 expefted from a man of great abilities, who either felt the 

 words or the lofs of his patron. 



Bononcini wai a celebrated and voluminous compofer long 

 before he arrived in England: his eighth work, confifting 

 of " Duetti da Camera," was dedicated to the emperor 

 Leopold, and publifhed at Bologna in i6yi. The feven 

 operas he compofed during his refidence in England, make 

 but a imall part of his dramatic produftions. He produced 

 two operas at Rome in 1694 ; after this he went to Vienna, 

 where he compofed many operas and oraforios for the im- 

 perial court and chapel. In 1720, he was again in high 

 reputation as a dramatic comnofer at Rome, whence he was 

 invited to London by the dn-fdors of the Royal Academy 

 of Mufic. In 1732, he publiflied " Twelve Sonatas for 

 two Violins and a Bafe." It was about this time that he 

 was accufed of arro'j;ating to himfelf a madrigal compofed by 

 Lotti of Venice, and publiflied in that city in l/c;, in a 

 work entitled " Duetti, Terzetti, e Madrigali a piu Voci," 

 dedicated to the emperor Jofeph. The title of the madrigal 

 is " La vita caduca " and has fur initial line " In una 

 fiepe ombrofa." We are in pofTciru n of the book in which 

 this compofition was printed, and, upon examination, are 

 extremely allonifhcd that Bonocini would riil': the great repu- 

 tation of which lie v.as already in poli'efiion, for a production 

 which could incrcrife it fo little. The counterpoint of this 

 madrigal :s certainly correft, but it is dry, and all the fub 

 jedts of fugue are fuch as hud been ufed by thoufands before 

 Lotti was born. There arc many madrigals 1 y much older 

 mafttia, particularly Luca Marenzio, Stradella, and the 

 elder Scarlatf' ' it are learned and pleafing in modulation, 

 and more fan ii and agreeable in the traits of melodv that are 

 uftd as fubjects of imitation. Indeed, Bononcini's plagiarifm 

 was as v'-.'k as wicked. We ufed to doubt the truth of the 

 charge, irom an idea that ;;is reputation was fo well efta- 

 blilheci. r; -J his genius fu fertile, tha; iie had not the lead oc- 

 cahon to invc recourfe to fuch illicit means of extending it. 

 The cr me ofth.lt is very much aggravated when the thief is 

 not impelled to it by want. Rich men and mifers have, how- 

 ever, been often detefted in illegal appropriation. Yet upon 



a careful and critical examination of the works of John Bo- 

 noncini, we think his wealth did not confift in rich and deep 

 mines of fcience, nor were his refources in learned and elabo- 

 rate compofitiun, either in the ecckfiallical or madrigal ftyle, 

 vcrv orrat. His perfonriance on the violoncello, his can- 

 tatas, and his operas, iiad been admired in every part of 

 Europe ; but not content with partial fame, he aimed at 

 nnivcrfality. In his anthem for the funeral of the duke of 

 Marlborough, he attempted to rival Handel in his grand 

 church flvle ; and finding in how much veneration well 

 written madrigals were held at the Academy of Ancient 

 Mufic in London, where Handel at this time was regarded as 

 a moQern, and an innovator, he was tempted to rifl< the re- 

 p'l" ;'.in he had fiirly acquired, by trying to augment it in an 

 ill, ^: I manner. Traditi^) . had fi'led our minds with ideas of 

 his abilities, which the examination of his works has dimi- 

 nidud ; while a drift fcn'tiny into the produftions of Han- 

 del has grea'ly augmented our vent ation for that compofer. 

 V/e have novv- before us, in a printed pampVdet, all the letters 

 that p-''td between the fecretary ot the Academy of An- 

 cient Mufic and fignor Ant. Lotti on this occafion, with 

 fuch tclhmonies and certificates, from the moll refpefiable 

 proftfTors at Venice and V^ienna, in proof of the madrigal in 

 difpute having been compoled by that mail' r and not by 

 Bononcini, that not li.e icaft doubt remains ot 'he faft. 



Soon after the funeral of .ne duke of M lb; rough, the 

 countefs of Godolphin, who, upon the dec r ■ of her father, 

 became duchels of Marlborough, as fettled in h's patent of 

 creation, received Bononcini into her houfe, in the Stable- 

 yard, St. James's, and fettled on him a penfion of 500I. a 

 year. Here he lived in eafe and .Tffluence, enjoying as an 

 artift the othim cum dign'ilate in its full extent ; the duchefs 

 having concerts twice a week, in which no other mufic was 

 performed to the firll people in 'he kingdom than the com- 

 pofitions of her favourite mafter, executed by the principal 

 fingers of the opera. It is fuppofed that he gained a loool. 

 by the book of cantatas which he publilhed by a two-guinea 

 fubfcription ; many of the nobility fubfcribing for five or ten 

 copies ; the duke and duchefs of Queenfbury for twenty-five 

 books each, and the countefs of Sunderland alone for fifty. 

 After the difpute concerning this madrigal, his importance 

 and reputation diminilhed confiderably ; and about the year 

 17,33, '^^^ quitted the kingdom. After which he refided at 

 Paris for ieveral years, where he compofed mafles and motets 

 for the chapel royal. At the conclufion of the peace of AiK 

 la Chapelle in 1748, he was invited to Vienna by the empe- 

 ror of Germany to compcfe the mufic for that occafion, and 

 is faid to have been prefented with eight hundred ducats for 

 his trouble. After the celebration of the peace was over, 

 qi.itting Vienna in company with Monticelli, he fet off in 

 the fame poft-chaife with this celebrated finger for Venice, 

 where they were both engaged, Bononcini as compofer, and 

 Monticelli as firll man, in the operas for the enfuing Carnaval 

 in that city. Here we lofe fight of this renowned compofer, 

 who if we fuppofe him to have been no more than thirty 

 years of age in i6r;i, when his eighth work was printed at 

 Bologna, and dedicated to the emperor Leopold, he mull 

 at this time have attained his eighty-feventh year ; which 

 will give weight to the general opinion, that his life was ex- 

 tended to near a century ! 



Bononcini, Antonio, brother of John, and an opera 

 compofer, little lefs renowned in Italy, than the author of 

 Cnfelda and AJlyanax. It has always been imagined that 

 the famous opca of Camilla, the fecond attempt at that fpe- 

 cies of drama in England, in 1706, was fet by John Bonon- 

 cini ; but we can find no proof of it in any one of.the nu- 

 merous volumes of operas in our poffeflion, or dramatic 



records 



