MUSIC. 
3SS 
fully fenfible of their imperfe£lions. Their grand and 
impofing eft'eds are when they are formed into entire 
(military) bands, without the mixture of more perfect 
inftruments. The moll agreeable keys for the clarionet, 
are thole which have flats. It is naturally a very power¬ 
ful inftrument, and was originally appropriated to mili¬ 
tary bands ; wherein two kinds are ufed ; that juft de- 
fcribed, which is called the Bb or C clarionet; and a 
fmaller one, called the F clarionet, which goes up to F 
in altiflimo. Thus, then, this is an inftrument of full 
three odlaves in extent. 
The Bassoon. —This, like the two preceding inftru¬ 
ments, is played with a reed, and is a continuation of the 
fcale down wards. It is compofed of four different pieces or 
tubes, which are bound together like a faggot; hence by 
the Italians called fagotto. It has three keys of commu¬ 
nication to open and Unit the ventages, which, from the 
length of the inftrument, are out of the reach of the 
fingers. It has a crook, or mouth-piece, to which the 
reed is fixed. (See fig. 4.) The whole length of the in¬ 
ftrument is eight feet; but reduced to four, by being 
doubled up like a trumpet for convenience in perform¬ 
ance and carriage. Its compafs is three o6laves, from 
double AA in the bafs to A in the lecond fpace of the 
treble ; of which the tones and femitones are as complete 
as on an organ, or any other keyed inftrument. Every 
performer is not able to produce a lower found than 
BBb in the bafs, or a higher than G in the treble; and 
indeed this is now generally confidered as the fcale. As 
this inftrument can play equally well in all the ufual 
keys, it may be ufed not only as a bafs to the hautbois 
and other wind-inftruments, but in the tuttis it may play 
in unifon with the bafs ftringed inftruments. 
In the laft age, Miller was the molt efteemed performer 
on the bafloon at all public places in England. At pre- 
fent, Holmes is the favourite. 
Alexander and Jerome Bezozzi, in the fervice of the 
king of Sardinia, at Turin, were the moll celebrated per¬ 
formers of their time; the one on the hautbois, and the 
other on the bafloon. Thefe kindred inftruments were 
rendered famous all over Italy during the middle of the 
laft century, not only by the exquifite performance, but 
by the amiably-fingular character, of thefe two brothers. 
Their long and uninterrupted affe&ion and refidence to¬ 
gether, were as remarkable as their performance. They 
were brothers: the eldeft, when Dr. Burney firft heard 
them in 1770, was feventy, and the youngeft fixty. The 
idem t telle et idem nolle were as perfectly in tune as their 
inftruments ; fo that they had always lived together in the 
utmoft harmony, carrying their fimilarity of tafte to their 
very drefs, which was the fame in every particular, even 
to buckles and buttons. They had lived fo long and in 
fuch a cordial manner together, that it was thought, 
whenever one of them died, the other would not long 
furvive him; which was exaftly the cafe, both dying in 
17X0, within a few months of each other. 
The compofitions of thefe exquifite performers gene¬ 
rally confilted of lele6l and detached paflages, yet fo 
highly polilhed, that, like apophthegms or maxims in lite¬ 
rature, each was not a fragment, but a whole ; their pieces 
being in a peculiar manner contrived to difplay the 
genius of their feveral inftruments and pow'ers of perform¬ 
ance. The eldeft played the hautbois, and the youngeft 
the bafloon ; but it is difficult to defcribe their peculiari¬ 
ties of expreflion. Their compofitions, when printed, 
gave but an imperfect idea of its fweetnefs and delicacy : 
fuch a perfett acquielcence and agreement together, that 
many of the paflages feemed heart-felt fighs breathed 
through the fame reed. No brilliancy of execution was 
aimed at; all were notes of meaning. The imitations 
were exa£t; the melody equally divided between the two 
inftruments ; each forte, piano, crrfcendo, diminuendo, and 
appngiatnra, was obferved with a minute exaftnefs that 
could be attained only by a long refidence and ftudy to¬ 
gether. The eldelt brother had loft his under front-teeth, 
and complained of age; and it was natural to fuppofe 
that the performance of each had been better; however, 
to me, (fays Dr. B.) who heard them now for the firft 
time, it was delightful! If there was any thing to lament 
in fo exquifite performance, it arofe from the equal per¬ 
fection of the two parts; which, diftrafted the attention, 
except when in dialogue, fo much as to render it impofll- 
ble to liften to both, when both had diflimilar melodies 
equally pleafing. They were born at Parma, and had 
been upwards of forty years in the fervice of his Sardinian 
majefty, without ever quitting Italy, (except one Ihort 
excursion to Paris, in 1755,) or even Turin, but for that 
journey, and another to vifit the place of their nativity. 
They were men of a fober, regular, and moral, character; 
in ealy circumftances; had a town and country houfe, and 
in the former many good piftures by the firft mailers. 
The Bezozzi family has furnilhed many admirable mu- 
ficians to Italy, and other parts of Europe. Gaetano 
Bezozzi, a celebrated performer on the hautbois in the 
king of France’s fervice, was born at Parma in 1727, 
entered into the fervice of the king of Naples in 1736, 
and into that of the king of France in 1765. Dr. Burney 
heard him perform a concerto at Paris in 1770, and 
thought him fuperior to all he had then heard on the 
hautbois, except Fifcher. His father, Jofeph Bezozzi, 
had taught the celebrated brothers at Turin to play on 
the hautbois and bafloon. “ M. Bezozzi of Paris,” fays 
Laborde, “ in 1780, had during twenty-five years merited 
and enjoyed the liigheft reputation, as well as the efteem 
of all who knew him. His fon was then lately received 
into the king’s band; and his brother, Anthony Bezozzi, 
attached to the court of the king of Poland, had alfo a 
fon in the fervice of that of Drefden, where we heard him 
perform in 1772, and found him a truly great performer. 
His Nvell was prodigious; indeed he continued to aug- 
memt the force of a tone fo much, and fo long, that it 
was hardly poflible not to fear for his lungs. His tafte 
and ear were exceedingly delicate and refined; and he 
feemed to poflefs a happy and peculiar faculty of temper¬ 
ing a continued tone to different baffes, according to 
their feveral relations : upon the whole, his performance 
was fo capital, that a hearer mull be extremely faftidious 
not to receive from it a great degree of pleafure.” 
The Serpent. —The ferpent is an inftrument of the 
bafloon-kind, blown by a mouth-piece. It has its name 
from its ferpentine figure; and is compofed of two pieces 
of walnut-tree wood, and covered with thin leather or 
lhagreen. This inftrument has fix holes, which give it 
a compafs of two oftaves, of which the middle C of the 
piano is the liigheft note. The mouth-piece is fixed in a 
locket of copper or filver. Its neck is curved, and its 
mouth-piece is of wood or ivory. 
The abbe de Bceuf, in his Hillory of Auxerre, tom. i. 
p. 643, fays that, about the year 1590, Edmond Guillaume, 
a canon of Auxerre, found the means of boring and turn¬ 
ing a cornet in the form of a ferpent, which was ufed in 
concerts at his houfe; and the inftrument, having.been 
perfected, became common in the great churches. In 
France, the lerpent was formerly confined to the mili¬ 
tary bands; at prefent, fays M. Laborde, it is confined to 
the church and proceflions. In cathedrals there is one on 
each fide the choir. 
Merfennus, who had ftudied this inftrument, fays, that 
if unfolded and ftraight, it would be more than fix feet 
long. Laborde fays eight feet. Merfennus alfo men¬ 
tions fome peculiar properties of it; e. g. that the found 
of it is ftrong enough to drown twenty robuft voices, 
being animated merely by the breath of a boy, and yet 
that the found may be attempered to the foftnefs of the 
fweeteft voice. Another peculiarity of this inftrument 
is, that, great as the dillance between the third and fourth 
holes appears, yet, whether the third hole be open or lliut, 
the difference is but a tone. 
Of Horns. — The French horn, which the French 
themfelves ftyle cor de chafe, and the Italians corno de 
3 cacciq, 
