T 1 R 



T I R 



learning as aftonifhed his readers ; but the public in general 

 was dill more aftonifhed at his finifhing the whole work 

 in eleven years, confiding of thirteen large volumes in 4to. ; 

 a work which, by its immcnfe erudition, profound critical 

 liifcufTions, and judgment in every kind of literature, ac- 

 quired him tlK- praife of the whole republic of letters. 



Befides this threat work, he produced during the fame 

 period the life of St. Olympia ; ? letter on the comparative 

 excellence of Italian and Spanilh literature ; the life of Ful- 

 vio Tello ; the two firft volumes of the Biblioteca Modenefe ; 

 and all the articles which he furniflied to the twenty-three 

 iirft volumes of the Giornale di Modena, a kind of review 

 and hiftory of new books and difcoveries in arts and fciences 

 within the year. 



He was knighted by the duke of Modena, though a re- 

 ■j;ular ecclcfiaftic, and ennobled by his fellow-citizens at 

 Bergamo. To enable him to proceed in his great work 

 with more convenience, his patron augmented his appoint- 

 ment, and gave him an alTiftant in the library. 



His correfpondence with the learned throughout Europe 

 mull have occupied much of his time : as at his deceafe, among 

 Iiis papers were found materials for twenty-eiglit volumes of 

 original letters addrelTcd to him as author of the Literary 

 Hiftory of Italy, and editor of the Giornale di Modena. 

 In his numerous minor produftions, as well as in thofe of 

 greater volume and importance, he difcovers himfelf to have 

 been gifted with a quick penetration, and poffefFed of great 

 facility in writing, as well as a clear conception of the 

 works of others, which to have acquired, muft have been 

 ftudied with conftant application. 



This admirable writer died at the age of fixty-two, of a 

 bloody flux, in 1794. 



From this celebrated work, we expefted to acquire new 

 and authentic information concerning the rife and progrefs 

 of mufic previous to the fevcnteenth century, in a country 

 which has taught every other part of Europe all the refine- 

 ments of the art, a country in which we fought in vain, by 

 travelling, converfation, and the perufal of all the books 

 written by the natives which we could procure on the fub- 

 jeft, to trace the origin of Italian melody. Dull and pe- 

 dantic elementary books we procured in abundance ; but 

 fcarcely any that we could read with pleafure, previous to 

 the eftablilhment of the opera at the beginning of the feven- 

 teenth century. Quadrio's heavy volumes are filled without 

 tafte, feleftion, or folicitude concerning the authenticity 

 of fafts. Padre Martini, unfortunately for modern mufical 

 hiftory, did not live to finilh his plan ; having advanced no 

 farther than the ancient mufic of the Greeks. 



Tirabofchi is copious on all other parts of literature, 

 arts, and fciences. It is only on mufic, and mufical writers, 

 our peculiar refearch, that we have ever found him unfatis- 

 fadlory : we never confulted him on any other fubjeft 

 unprofitably. The little he tells us of Pythagoras, Arif- 

 toxenus, the Etrufcans, and Guido, we had often previoufly 

 read in innumerable books in various languages. 



He fpeaks of the Lyric poetry of the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans ; but that of the Italians has not furniftied an ar- 

 ticle. We did hope to be informed what kind of melodies 

 were fet to the fongs of Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio. 

 We could not reafonably expeft fpecimens of this melody 

 in notation, any more than prints of piftures and buildings 

 that are mentioned in his work ; but when a capital work 

 of Raphael, Michael Angelo, or Palladio is mentioned, we 

 are generally told where it is to be feen, or at leaft where 

 it has been feen. Had Tirabofchi told his readers where 

 the original melodies to the fongs of the old Italian poets 



6 



were to be found, it would have been a grpat '..tikfadtion 

 to thofe who confult books for ufcful and lolid information, 

 or feek in them for any thing but mere ainufement. 



Of the laft century he fays nothing, as his plan went 

 no farther than the end of the fevcnteenth century. And, 

 indeed, of that period, his information is very fcanty ; 

 neither Cariffimi nor Stradella, the two bell compofers 

 which Italy had then produced ; nor among contemporary 

 theorifts, or writers on harmonics, is any notice taken of 

 Lemme Rofli, or Daniel Bartoli, authors of two books, 

 which in a general hiftory of literature ought to have been 

 mentioned. See Bartoli, and Rossi. 



TIRACHEA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Judea, 

 in the Decapolis, on the coail of the fea of Galilee. 



TIRADE, in French Mufic, formerly implied what the 

 Greeks meant by aywyw, agogo, Huflus, the filling up a wide 

 interval by the intermediate diatonic notes. (See Greek 

 Miijic.) But, at prefent, /;V(7(/c feems nearly equivalent to 

 •volata in Italian ; a divifion, a flight. 



TIRAGPIT, in Geography, an ifland in the Atlantic, 

 near the W. coaft of Ireland ; 8 miles S.W. of Dunmore- 

 Head. 



TIRAMANGALUM, a town of Hindooftan, in Ma- 

 dura ; 10 miles S.W. of Madura. 



TIRAMANY-MUTOO, a river of Hindooftan, which 

 runs into the Cauvcry ; 8 miles N. of Carroor. 



TIRAN. See Tyran. 



TIRANADUM, or Tirinadum, in Ancient Geogra- 

 phy, a town of Africa, in Mauritania Caefariana, on the 

 route from Carthage to Cjefarea, between Rapidum and 

 Caput-Cillanum. Anton. Itin. 



TIRANDURG, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in Myfore ; 12 miles S.S.E. of Ouflbor. 



TIRANO, a town of Italy, in the department of the 

 Lano, late belonging to the Grifons, the capital of the 

 Upper Terzero, and refidence of a governor called Podefta, 

 on the Adda, which divides it into two parts, conncfted by a 

 ftone bridge of a fingle arch : formerly furrounded with walls 

 by Ludovico Sforza, as a defence againft the Grifons, who de- 

 ftroyed the fortifications when they gained poftelfion of the 

 Valtehne. The chief trade is in wine and filk, which is not 

 confiderable. The wine is fent into the country of the Grifons, 

 to Bormio, and into the territories of Venice ; the filk, which 

 is drawn from this diftrift of the Valteline, is not of the befl: 

 quality, nor very abundant ; part is forwarded to Venice, 

 and the remainder, through Chiavenna, to Germany. About 

 half a mile from the town, on the other fide of the Adda, 

 is the church of the Madonna, or Virgin, much vifited by 

 Catholic pilgrims ; the modern building annexed to what re- 

 mains of the old edifice is in an elegant ftyle of architeAure, 

 and the era of it is 1533, the ancient part having been 

 erefted in 1 206. In the area before the church is hold the 

 fair of Tirano, remarkable for the number of cattle brought 

 hither for fale ; they are fed upon the higheft Alps, where 

 they continue until the fnow begins to fall, and are chiefly 

 fent from hence into Italy. The fair is in Oftober, and 

 lafts three days, during which time the authority of the 

 podefta is fufpended, and the governor of the Valteline hag 

 abfolute jurifdiAion over the town and the diftrift ; 24 

 miles E.N.E. of Morbegno. 



TIRANY, a town of Hindooftan, in the Carnatic ; 

 3 miles N. of Ootatore. 



TIRATA, in old Italian Mujic, implied a regular af- 

 cent or defcent of notes of the fame kind ; but, at prefent, 

 the term has a more extenfive acceptation than its original 

 import, draivn out: as when a fubjeft is weU treated, pro- 



dudive 



