New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-31
MUSICAL COMMENT.
THOMAS GRAY AND HIS MUSIC-THE
GREAT SINGERS OF A CENTURY AND
A HALF AGO, FARINELLI, SENES-
mo, FAUSTINA, CUZZONI.
TEST AND OTHERS
w.

script volumes of music collected by Gray is as
follows: Appianino Amorevoli, Babbi. Ragno-
lesi, Barbieri Bertolli, Carestini. Celestina,
Cuzzoni, Farfallno. Farnelli. Faustna, Gizz-
clio, Lorenzino, Manzuoli Monticello. Scaizi,
Senesino, Strada. TEST, Turootti and Nicontina-
Many of these singers are as completely lost 10
the world as the composers who wrote for them'
but in the list there are half a dozen names
which stand in letters of gold in the history OF
bel canto. Farnelli, have been led to be-
lieve, was the greatest singer that ever lived,
and one Of the things which Gray's music can
teach us is that taking the art for what 1t was
one hundred and fifty years ago. the greatest
operate artists Of to-day are the merest tyros
compared with him. 1t would be Idle TO attempt
comparisons any other basis than mere
technical skill however. In the arrangement vi
the names in the list no regard was had to the
consideration of sex, and it might furnish amuse-
ment for an idle moment il the reader were to
attempt to separate the men from the women.
II would be a fair wager to lay big odds against
one student Of musical history in hundred sue
ceedng in making the division correctly. The
men and women, as a matter Of fact. are about
evenly divided but if sex of voice were to be the
determining factor instead of physical sex,
very different result would be reached. Though
half of the singers were men and half women,
nine-tenths of the voices sopranos ana con-
traltos The normal voices of men were not IN
favor in the days Of the gentle Gray. Ihere
were tenor and bass parts in the operas OF Hasse
and contemporary composers but they teiohseo
to subordinate characters in the play, ana 'he
singers to whom they fell were not considered OF
particular consequence 1t was the DAY OF ar'i-
ficiarty in music as well as manners Handel
whose taste was cast in manlier mould thah
that of his rivals. showed notable respect 1Or
the bass voice in parts written for singers named
Roschi Reimschneider. Reinhold ana waltz
whose names identified with bass songs
which were published at the time. In all prop
ability all four we're Germans The last three
certainly were. and the name OF the hrst SOUNDS
like a characterization from the German
Reimschneider came from Hamburg. and was
thus announced by Handel in the advertisement
of his company in 1923: "A bass voice from
Hamburger; there being none worth engaging
In italy" Yet BASES were more practicable
than tenors who had occupation at time
when operate lovers were all sopranos or con-
traltos. The musico yielded his place to the
tenor before the eighteenth century expired,
though he still had representatives on the stage
in the earliest decades of the nineteenth: and
now a hundred years later, there are Indications
that the monopoly of the tenor is at an end and
that the next generation will accept a bass or
barytone lover as we accept the tenor to-day
and Gray accepted the musico
II is the male soprano cOntralto who fills
the greater part Of the book of song In the
golden age of the Italian opera. Porpora,
Rernacchi and Pistocchi the awgivers in
the vocal art and the pupils who brought them
fame were musicos There famous women,
tlo,, fo ri
wars. like that which divided London into two
CAMPS in the operate consulate OF Handel, they
were never quite the popular idols that Farm
ELI Senesno and their tribe became. OF Gray's
women singers four deserve to be called great
Faustina Cuzzoni, TEST and Strada- The rivalry
between the first two led to one OF the most
famous warfares on record. CuZzoni was the
first on the field in London, whittier she came
in 1923 engaged by Handel She had wonder
fully sweet voice. and though neither pretty OF
face or figure she enchanted the SUBSCRIBERS TO
the opera. Already at her second performance
the directors who had engaged to pay her @,VV
guineas for the season the story was told that
she refused the equivalent OF 4S,OoO for sea-
son i'm Italy) raised the price OF tickets 10 iour
guineas But the salary question was MADE 10
be her undoing. A few years later at the very
,.vdav of her popularity and height of her NV
airy with Faustina soHe Vi i'i ""'f "
the nobility persuaded her to make vow that
she would not take penny less salary IMAM
Faustina received. She had worn out her popu-
Iarity with the directors by this time, ana they
took advantage of her vow to rid themselves Oh
her When il came to a renewal OF contracts they
orered Faustina one guinea more than CuZZoni
and the latter left London. Had Cuzzonis anna
bility been "a great as her musical gifts she
would probably have held out against the riV-
o,rv of Faustina better than she did. At first