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180 THE FINE ARTS. 
opera was written by Vecchi. From Italy music in its cultivated form was 
transplanted in the beginning of the sixteenth century to the Netherlands, 
where the monk Hucbald, of Flanders, who lived as early as 930, was 
acquainted with four-part singing, and Ockerheim taught music theo- 
retically in 1450. In Germany, England, and France, cultivated music was 
still a prerogative of the court, and the people were acquainted only with 
the music of songs and dances. Luther introduced the present practice of 
church singing in German, which had previously been in Latin. In the 
year 1628, Henry Schiitz or, as he is sometimes called, Sagittarius, attempted 
to compose German operas, but with little success. 
D. Recent Times. 
Even in recent times, Italian music has unfortunately remained the oracle 
of composers and audiences, and but few German and French masters have 
been successful in competing with it. The older music of the present 
period, beginning with the last quarter of the seventeenth century, was dis- 
tinguished by a very thin instrumentation, excellent melodies, and beautiful 
harmonies ; whereas the newer and very latest music is often characterized 
by excessively powerful instrumentation, and by the introduction of many 
bold, unmotived, and striking melodies. If we now turn to Italian music, 
we find in the earlier part of this period church music predominating in 
the works of Scarlatti, Durante, Pergolese, Piccini, Jomelli, Paesiello, 
Traetta, Terradeglia, &c., who however also wrote fof the opera, and espe- 
cially comic pieces. In instrumentation were especially distinguished 
Corelli, Vivaldini, and Geminiani; and in chamber-music, Scarlatti, Tar- 
tini, Nandini, and Pugnani, who still for a while maintained the old strict 
style. But in the next ensuing period music sank more and more; its true 
essence, the carrying out of the theme, the harmony, and the proper choice 
of instrumental accompaniments, were neglected ; all was made to depend 
on the skill and taste of the performer, and hence arose a rage for bravuras 
with trills, runs, and other difficulties, in which the real music appeared as 
a secondary matter. In the latest times this perverse taste also invaded the 
province of church-music ; airs were written to suit the voices of singers, 
even Durante’s pupils fell into an excess of instrumentation, and the Italian 
Sarti introduced in St. Petersburgh hunting-horns, and at last the firing of 
cannon into the accompaniment of his church-pieces, and in particular of a 
Te Deum. Only the works of Righini, Salieri, Cherubini, Spontini, and 
Paer, are comparatively free from traces ofa national character; though much 
of it is yet perceptible in Spontini. Of the masters who composed in Italy 
the best are Caraffa, Nicolim, Fioravanti, Cimarosa, Zingarelli, Morlacchi, 
especially Bellini, and in a less degree Pucitta, Donizetti, Mercadante, and 
Coppola. Rossini appears as the representative of the latest Italian music, 
and unites in himself all the above-mentioned faults together with surpassing 
talent. His operas address themselves to and seduce the ear, even though 
his treatment of the text, numerous repetitions, cadenzas of the same stamp, 
&c., displease the judgment. Italy is especially rich in musical artists of every 
kind ; among instrumentalists there are such names as Scarlatti, Tartini, 
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