li E C 



R E C 



in dramatic reprefcn tat ions, at all times, either in tlie form 

 of intermezzi (interludes), between the afts ; or, occa- 

 fionally, in tlie body and bufinefs of the piece. But it is 

 flill frefii in the memory of every one, when the whole drama 

 was firft fet to mulic, and fung from the beginning to the 

 end." 



The revival of theatrical mufic was brought about by the 

 invention of recitative, as we have already ilatcd in our ar- 

 ticle Opera. 



" The beginning of this century (1600) was the era of 

 niuiical recitation on the public ilage at Florence, though 

 it had been ufed there in feveral private exhibitions before. 

 There refided in that city, during thefe times, fignor Gio. 

 Bardi de' Conti di Vernio, who was afterwards called to the 

 fervice of pope Clement VIIT., by whom he was tenderly 

 beloved, and made his maeftro di camera. This moll ac- 

 complifhed nobleman was particularly attached to the lludy 

 of antiquity, and to the theory and praftice of mufic, to 

 which he had applied himfelf for many years fo clofely, that 

 he became, for the time in which he lived, a correft and 

 good compofer. His houfe was the conilant rendezvous of 

 all perfons of genius, and a kind of flourifliing academy, 

 where the young nobilitv often aflembled to pafs their leifure 

 hours in laudable excrcifes and learned difcourlc ; but par- 

 ticularly on mufical fubjecls, when it was the wifh of all the 

 company to recover that art of which the ancients related 

 I'uch wonders, as well as other noble inventions, which had 

 been ruined by the irruptions of barbarians. 



" During thefe difcuflions, it was univerfally allowed that 

 as modern mufic was extremely deficient in grace, and the 

 exprefiion of words, it became ncceffary, in order to obviate 

 thefe objeftions, that fonie other fpecies of cantilena, or 

 melody, (hould be tried, by which the words fhould not be 

 rendered unintelligible, nor the verfe deftroyed." 



Euridice was the firft mufical drama after the invention 

 of recitative. It was written by Ottavio Rinuccini, fet by 

 Jacopo Peri, and performed at Florence in 1600, on occa- 

 fion of the marriage of Mary of Medicis with Henry IV. 

 of France. The poem and the mufic were publifhed fepa- 

 rately the fame year. The poet, in his dedication to the 

 queen of France, fays, " It is generally imagined that the 

 tragedies of the ancient Greeks and Romans were entirely 

 fung ; but this noble kind of finging had not till now been 

 revived, or even attempted, to my knowledge, by any one ; 

 and I ufed to think, tliat the inferiority of our mufic to that 

 of the ancient was the caufe ; till heai-ing the compofitions 

 of Jacopo Peri to the fable of Daphne, I wholly changed 

 my opinion. This drama, written merely as an experiment, 

 pleafed fo much, that I was encouraged to produce Euri- 

 dice, which was honoured with ftill more applaufe, when 

 fung to the mufic of the fame compofer Jacopo Peri, who 

 with wonderful art, unknown before, had merited the 

 favour and proteflion of the grand duke our fovereign, it 

 was exhibited in a ,moft magnificent manner at the nuptials 

 of your majefty, in the prefence of the cardinal legate, and 

 innumerable princes and nobles of Italy and France." 



Such is the abridged hiilory of recitative. The only 

 printed copy of the mufic to this primitive opera was in the 

 library of the marchefe Rinuccini, a defcendant of the poet 

 at Florence : in examining and making extrafts from which, 

 we obferved that it was printed in fcore, and barred ; two 

 very uncommon circumftances at the time of its publication ; 

 that the recitative feemed to have been not only the model 

 of fubfequent compofers of early Italian operas, but of the 

 French operas compofed by Lulli, a native of Florence ; 

 and that the time was as frequently changed as in the old 

 French operas. 



The confufion arifing from all the parts finging different 

 words at the fame time, together with fome other circum- 

 ftances, mentioned under Oi-F.RA, account for the neceffitv 

 of a recitative, or a niiijica parlante, a fpeaking mufic, and 

 for folo finging in general on the (tage : befides, poetry was 

 injured, and rendered unintelhgible m fugues, canons, and 

 in chorufes, full of imitations and contrivances, all unfit for 

 narration and dialogue. 



To defcribe the chara£leriftic difference of recitative from 

 air, and common fpeech : it is not air, as no time is kept ; it is 

 not fpeech, as every inflexion of voice is in tune with fome one 

 note of the iuftrument by which it is accompanied ; and as 

 to the length or (hortnefs of the notes that are written, the 

 accompanier watches for the accents or termination of 

 phrafes, or lines in the verfe, to give the chord to which the 

 note that is fung belongs. 



It is fometimes accompanied by the orcheftra with rilor- 

 nelli, or iuterftitial fymphonies ; but then a regular time 

 muft be kept. This only happens in folemn fcenes of dig- 

 nity or diftrels, and in foliloquies. 



No flats or fharps are placed at the clef in recitative t 

 thefe are all regarded as accidental ; nor is Italian recitative 

 ever confined to any one key. 



After recitative was found, it was long ere any thing like 

 an air appeared in thefe mufical dramas. (See Opera, 

 Air, Motivo, and Measure.) Roufl'eau has treated the 

 article recitative at large, with great intelligence and good 

 tafte. 



Recitative Slyk, is the way of writing accommodated 

 to this fort of mufic. 



RECIV, La, in Geography,, a well-fortified town of 

 Brafil, in the jurifdidtion of Fernambuco. 



RECKENITZ, a river which feparates the ,duchy of 

 Mecklenburg from Pomcrania, and runs into a lake, which 

 communicates with the Baltic near Ribnitz. 



RECKHEIM, or Rekum, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Lower Meufe, which gives name to a 

 county, fituated on the W. fide of the Meufe, and fur- 

 rounded by the biftiopric of Liege ; 7 miles N. of Maef- 

 tricht. 



RECKLING, in Rural Economy, a provincial word, 

 fignifying the laft of the farrow or brood of pigs, poultry, 

 or other forts of domeftic birds. 



RECKLINGHAUSEN, in Geography, a town of 

 Germany, fortified by a caftle, and capital of a county of 

 the fame name, which is fituated between the bifhopric of 

 Munfter, the duchy of Cleves, and the county of Mark ; 

 16 miles S.S.W. of Munfter. 



RECKON, in Rural Economy, a term fometimes applied 

 to a pair of pot-hooks of a certain make, occalionally em- 

 ployed in dragging wells, ponds, &c. 



RECKONING, in Navigation, th? aft of eftimating the 

 quantity of a ftiip's way ; or of the diftance run between one 

 place and another. 



Or, more generally, a fliip's reckoning is that account, 

 by which at any time it may be known where the fhip is, 

 and on what courfe or courfes flie is to fteer to gain her 

 port. See l^oG-Board, LoG-Booi, and Journal. 



This is ufually performed by means of the log-line ; the 

 manner of applying which, fee under its proper airticle, 

 L.OG-Line. 



Yet this is liable to great irregularities. Vitruvius ad- 

 vifes an axis to be pafted through the fides of the ftiip, with 

 t>wo large heads piojefting out of the fiiip, in which are 

 to be included wheels touching the water, by whofe revolu- 

 tion the fpace pafted over in any given time may be mea- 

 fured. The fame has fince been recommended by Snellius ; 



but 



