§04 M U g 
meafure, without deviating however from the true thea¬ 
trical ftyle; on which account it plealed extremely, as 
was manifeft from the prodigious concourfe of people it 
drew after it, who, fo far from being tired, heard it per¬ 
formed five or fix feveral times 5 there were fome even 
who continued to follow our cart to ten or twelve different 
places where it ftopt, and who never quitted us as long as 
we remained in the ftreet, which was from four o’clock in 
in the evening till after midnight.” 
This narration feems to furniih a curious circumftance 
to the hiftory of the ftage, which is, that the firfl opera, 
or mufical drama, performed in modern Rome, like the 
flrft tragedy in ancient Greece, was exhibited in a carl. It 
has been imagined by many of the learned, that the reci¬ 
tative in modern operas is a revival of that fpecies of 
melos in which ancient dramas werefung; and here the 
moveableftage on which it was performed, like that ufed by 
Thefpis at Athens, furnifhes another refemblance. 
What follows is extremely curious and fatisfaftory con¬ 
cerning a delicate point of mufical hiftory; which is the 
firft eftablifhment of evirati in the pope’s chapel, and the 
ule of them in early operas. 
It was about the year 1600, or little earlier, that 
eunuchs were firft employed for finging in Italy. There 
feem to have been no Jingivg eunuchs in ancient 
times, unlefs the galli or archigalli, priefts of Cybele, 
were fuch. Caftration has, however, at all times been 
praftifed in eaftern countries for the purpofe of furnifhing 
to tyrannic jealoufy guards of female chaftity ; but never, 
fo far as modern writers on the fubjeft have difc.overed, 
merely to preferve the voice, till about the end of the 
fixteenth century. 
At Rome, the firft public theatre opened for the exhi¬ 
bition of mufical ( dramas, in modern times, was the 
Torrade Nona, where in 1671 Giafone was performed. In 
3679, the opera of Due Amore, fet by the famous organift 
Bernardo Pafquini, was reprefented at the Sala de Signori 
Capranica; a theatre which ftill fubfills. In the year 
3680, L’Onefta negl’Amore was exhibited; the firft dra¬ 
matic compofition of the elegant, profound, and ori¬ 
ginal, Aleflandro Scarlatti. 
The inhabitants of Venice cultivated and encou¬ 
raged the mufical drama with more zeal and diligence 
than the reft of Italy, during the end of the feventeenth 
and beginning of the eighteenth century; yet the opera 
was not eftablilhed at Venice before the year 1637. In 
that year the firft regular drama was performed. It was 
Andromeda. 
Tn 1680 the opera of Berenice was exhited at Padua 
with fuch aftonifhing fplendour as to merit notice. There 
were chorufes of 100 virgins, too foldiers, 100 horfemen 
in iron armour, 40 cornets of liorfe, 6 trumpeters on 
horfeback, 6 drummers, 6 enfigns, 6 fackbuts, 6 great 
flutes, 6 minftrels playing on Turkifti inftruments, 6 
others on oftave flutes, 6 pages, 3 fergeants, 6 cymbalifts. 
The were 12. huntfmen, 12 grooms, 6 coachmen for the tri¬ 
umph, 6 others for the proceflion, 2 lions led by two Turks, 
2 elephants by two others, Berenice’s triumphal car drawn 
by 4 horfes, 6 other cars with prifoners and fpoils drawn 
by 12 horfes, 6 coaches. Among the fcenes and reprefenta- 
tions in the firft aft were, a vaft plain with two triumphal 
arches, another plain with pavillions and tents, and a 
foreft for the chafe. In aft third, the royal drefling-room 
completely furnilhed, ftabies with 100 live liorles, the 
portico adorned with tapeftry, and a ftupendous palace in 
perfpedtive. At the end of the firft aft were reprefenta- 
tions of every kind of chafe, wild boar, flag, deer, bears. 
At the end of the third aft, an enormous globe, defcend- 
ing as from the fky, divided itfelf into other globes fuf- 
pended in the air, and ornamented with emblematical 
figures of time, fame, honour, &c. 
Thus we may perceive that, in the firft operas, mufic 
was the principal objeft, with mythological charafters in 
the fable ; and that machinery next took the lead, with 
jerfpeftive and decoration. 
I C. 
It was near fifty years, from the time of Della-Valle, 
before regular airs had admiflion in thefe early mufical 
dramas. At firft they were generally accompanied by the 
finger himfelf on the violin, harp, or violoncello ; but, 
during the mythological paftion, and the rage for ma¬ 
chinery, the only with of the imprefario was to dazzle the 
eyes and ftun the ears of the audience. Gods and devils, 
heroes and heroines, and at length men and women as hif¬ 
tory reprefents them, were brought on the ftage. Thefe fe- 
’veral reforms and changes of tafte in the public, led at 
length to ApoftoloZeno and Metaftafio; when the exqui- 
fite airs of Leo, Vinci, and Pergolefi, with the great vocal 
talents of Piftocci, Nicolini, Farinelli, Fauftina, and Cuz- 
zoni, exalted the lyric ftage to its higheft degree of pub¬ 
lic favour. 
The vocal compofitions of Vinci form an era in dramatic 
mufic, as he was the firft among his countrymen who, after 
the invention of recitative, feems to have occafioned any 
confiderable revolution in the mufical drama. The airs 
in the firft operas were few and fimple ; but, as finging 
improved, and orcheftras became more crowded, the 
voice-parts were more laboured, and the accompani¬ 
ments more complicated. In procefs of time, however, 
poetry feems to have fuffered as much, as ever from the 
pedantry of muficians, who forgot that the true cha- 
rafteriftic of dramatic mufic is clearnefs; and that, found 
being the vehicle of poetry and colouring of paf- 
fion, the inftant the bufinefs of the drama is forgotten, 
and the words are unintelligible, mufic is fo totally fepa- 
rated from poetry, that it becomes merely inftrumental, 
and the voice-part may as well be performed by a flute or 
violin, in the orcheftra, as by one of the charafters of the 
piece on the ftage. Vinci feems to have been the firft 
opera-compofer who faw this abfurdity, and, without de¬ 
grading his art, rendered it the friend, though not the 
flave, to poetry, by Amplifying and polifliing melody, and 
calling the attention of the audience chiefly to the voice- 
part, by difentangling it from fugue, complication, and 
laboured contrivance. In 1726, he fet Metaftalio’s Didone 
Abandonata, which eftablilhed his reputation ; for in 
this exquifite drama, not only the airs were greatly 
applauded, but the recitative, particularly in the lalt 
aft, which, being chiefly accompanied, had fuch an effeft, 
that, according to count Algarotti, “ Virgil himfelf would 
have been pleafed to hear a compofition fo animated and 
fo terrible, in which the heart and foul were at once 
aflailed by all the powers of mufic.” Saggio fopra l’Opera 
in Mufica. 
We fliall mention the reft of this pleafing and intelli¬ 
gent compofer’s operas, the airs of which long ferved as 
models to other mafters, and are not yet become either 
ungraceful or ineleganr. In 1727, he compofed Gif- 
mondo, Re di Polonia ; in 1728, Catone in Utica ; in 1729, 
Semiramide Riconofciuta ; and in 1730, Aleflandro neli’ 
Indie, and Artaferfe; all for the theatres in Rome. The 
celebrated air at the end of the firft aft of Artaferfe, 
Vo J'olcando un mar cnulele, originally compofed for Caref- 
tini, is well known, and is perhaps the only produftion of 
Vinci by which his merits have been favourably eftimated 
in England. In the printed book of the words, Vinci is 
called “ Pro-vice maeftro della Real Capella di Napoli.” 
We have been able to find no more of his works after this 
period; fo that he mult either have begun late, or been 
cut off early in life, as his great and durable renown feems 
to have been acquired in the fliort fpace of fix years of his 
exiftence ; namely, from 1724 to 1730. 
The word opera feems to have been familiar to Engliflt 
poets from the beginning of the laft century. Stilo reci- 
tativo, a recent innovation even in Italy, is mentioned by 
Ben Johnfon fo early as 1617. See Laniere, vol. xi. p. 208. 
From this time it was ufed in mafques, occafionally in 
plays, and in cantatas, before a regular drama wholly fet 
to mufic was attempted. By the united abilities of Qui- 
nault and Lulli, the opera in France had arifen to high 
favour. This circumftance afforded encouragement to 
feverai 
