Faustina Bordoni Applauds Jan Alensoon: A Dutch Music-Lover in Italy and France in 1723-4

Author(s): Kees Vlaardingerbroek

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Nov., 1991), pp. 536-551
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/737003
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 FAUSTINA BORDONI APPLAUDS JAN ALENSOON:
A DUTCH MUSIC-LOVER IN ITALY AND
FRANCE IN 1723-4
BY KEES VLAARDINGERBROEK

IN ITS SECTION devoted to old and rare books Amsterdam University Library
houses, at the shelfmark XV-E-25, a voluminous manuscript whose title-page
reads:
Dag-register/ van een korte Reijs door / eenige gedeeltens van / Vrankrijk, Italie,
Switserland/ ende / Duijtschland, / door mij / Mr Jan Alensoon / gedaan in de jaaren /
1723 en 1724
Surprisingly, Anna Frank-van Westrienen does not mention this source in her
dissertation De Groote Tour.' Hitherto it appears to have been mentioned in secon-
dary literature only by Roland de Leeuw, who cites a few significant passages from
it that illustrate the custom of spitting and talking aloud in Italian theatres.2
Alensoon's diary must be one of the most informative Dutch travel journals touching
on musical life in Italy in the first half of the eighteenth century, and it deserves to
be ranked with the far better-known accounts of Charles de Brosses and Johann
Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach.3
The author of these pages, numbering almost 500, was the Leiden lawyer Jan
Alensoon (1683-1769), son of the merchant Caspar Alensoon (1657-1714). The
Alensoons were one of the few new families to succeed during the eighteenth century
in gaining access to the vroedschap (city council), which had become more or less
barred to newcomers in 1702, when the notorious contract of correspondence
between the older families was drawn Up.4 Jan's younger brother Abraham (1687-
1758), in particular, embodied the family's short-lived membership of the Leiden
patriciate, acting as one of the four (annually elected) burgomasters in 1742, 1745,
1751 and 1754. Despite this and other high political offices, Abraham left at his
death the comparatively small sum of 16,300 guilders, hardly impressive when com-
pared with the 585,975 guilders left by Cornelis van Tol or the 462,606 guilders
bequeathed by Pieter de la Court Allardszn.5
Jan seems to have harboured few of Abraham's ambitions. He never became a
member of the vroedschap and contented himself with the politically irrelevant but

The present article is merely an introduction to Alensoon's valuable travel journal, which I hope to present in its
entirety in the original language with an English translation and commentary.
' Anna Frank-van Westrienen, De Groote Tour: tekening van de educatiereis der Nederlanders in de
zeventiende eeuw, University of Amsterdam, 1983.
2 Roland de Leeuw, 'Nederlanders op Grand Tour', Herinneringen uit Italie, ed. idem, Zwolle, 1984, p. 17.
See Charles de Brosses, Lettres historiques et critiques sur lItalie, Paris, 1799; Eberhard Preussner, Die
musikalischen Reisen des Herrn von Uffenbach, Kassel & Basle, 1949.
4 Maarten Roy Prak, Gezeten burgers: de elite in een Hollandse stad, Leiden 1700-1780, n.p., n.d. [1985],
pp. 62 ff., 129, 316 n. 96.
Ibid., pp. 277-8.

536
well-rewarded office of ontvanger extra-ordinaris verponding ('collector of the ex-
traordinary tax on realty') from 1729 until his death. He was also one of the regents
of the local orphanage and appears in that capacity in the painting (1730) of a
plenary meeting of those gentlemen by Frans van Mieris the younger.6
It was obviously his cultural interests rather than a desire to make a peregrinatio
academica that prompted Alensoon, then in his forties, to tour abroad between
5 September 1723 and 20 September 1724. His travels took him through the
Southern Netherlands and France to the south of Italy and back across Switzerland
and Germany. Almost every page of his diary attests to his knowledge of the arts and
to his open-mindedness (not to say insatiable curiosity). His notes reveal that music
was his first love, followed closely by architecture, painting and sculpture; only in
Rome did his interest in inscriptions become dominant. Here he adds that he has
improved on earlier writers with regard to the accuracy of his transcriptions. This
streak of vanity clearly characterizes the man but hardly detracts from the fact that
he is full of genuine enthusiasm and is not afraid to form his own opinions. For ex-
ample, he extols the virtues of the cupolas of the controversial architect Guarino
Guarini (1624-83), censuring him only for being too 'extravagant' in the case of the
Palazzo Carignano (pp. 425-6). Alensoon's apparent social ease (as well as many in-
troductory letters) opened all doors to him, and it is no surprise to find him several
times in the company of Filippo Juvarra, whom he calls a 'seer groot architect'
(p. 51).
Pride of place, then, is taken by music, especially Italian vocal music. Alensoon
played the harpsichord but was above all an indefatigable singer. He missed no
opportunity of meeting the greatest virtuosos of his day, often singing with or for
them while accompanying himself on the 'clavercimbel' (sic). He apparently took
with him several Italian cantatas, of which a dialogue by 'Signor Carlo Luigi
Pietragrua' (or Carlo Luigi Pietro Grua, c. 1665-1726) for soprano, bass and con-
tinuo was his particular favourite. His great pride was being able to perform the
piece alone, skipping back and forth between the high and low vocal registers in the
manner of the hilarious aria 'So quel che si dice' from Telemann's Pimpinone (1725),
where the protagonist describes the gossip of two women, whose voices he mimics.
The list of connoisseurs who wished (or were persuaded) to listen to Alensoon's
vocal acrobatics includes such names as Henry Desmarets, Giuseppe Sammartini,
Giovanni Paita (the famous tenor), Benedetto Marcello and the prima donna
assoluta Faustina Bordoni. Alensoon assures us well beyond the point of tedium that
his listeners were astonished by what they heard, not only because of the ease with
which he mastered a compass of three octaves (p. 145: 'van de onderste A van de
clavercimbel tot de boovenste A') but also, and especially, because of the agility this
Dutch dilettante displayed:
Signor Benedetto Marcello accompanied me on the harpsichord; he was very surprisedto
hear me leap with my voice from the soprano down to the bass, and from the bass up to
the soprano, in crotchets and even in quaverswithout rests between them, changing parts
between notes, the cantata being a dialogue between Charon and a little soul. (Venice,
Friday 11 February, pp. 145-6)7

6 It is interesting to note that in the account of his travels Alensoon calls Mieris his 'seer goede vriend' (p. 62).
He even took with him on his journey a drawing by Mieris which he showed at every opportunity. This friendship
may not have been unconnected with the commission for the painting of the board of regents.
' 'de Heer Benedetto Marcello accompagneerde mij met de clavercimbel; hij was seer verwondert mij aldus
hoorende springen met de stem, uijt de Cant in de Bas, en uijt de Bas in de Cant, met vierde parten en ook met

537
 The sheer wealth of material on music, often about composers and singers one
seldom reads about, has prompted me to adopt a somewhat schematic method of
presenting the data. I have chosen to follow in Alensoon's footsteps, singling out
those cities whose musical life he describes in some detail and discussing his remarks
according to the place of performance (i.e., theatre, church or chamber). Locales
which are not described at length but which offer the setting for important meetings
with singers etc. are not dealt with in this way. In these cases I have decided to
respect the chronological sequence whenever possible, creating in this way three
'main blocks' (Turin, Milan and Venice) which are separated and surrounded by
more loosely organized 'episodes'.

THE SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS AND FRANCE

The first time we read about music is on Thursday 9 September 1723, when
Alensoon arrives in Brussels, four days after his departure from Leiden. He visits the
house of a certain 'Monsr Deudon', for whom he sings Grua's 'cantaat'. From this
one may deduce that Alensoon had the piece in his suitcase right from the day he
left home. Deudon made him a gift of some music, but no particulars of it are given.
Did the parcel perhaps include other Italian cantatas that Alensoon mentions sing-
ing on several occasions later in the journal (p. 5)? Apart from a short description of
the organ in the church of Ste. Genevieve at Han, we hear no more about music in
the Southern Netherlands.
It is only after Alensoon's arrival in Paris on Friday 17 September that the first im-
portant observations on music begin to appear. On Sunday 26 September he is im-
pressed by the church music in the chapel at Versailles, noting the presence there of
twelve to fourteen singers 'and no fewer than thirty instruments' (p. 22). The follow-
ing day Alensoon dines and makes music at the house of 'Mr Thelusson': 'Here I
heard Monsr de la Barre and Mr Bernier play the Flcuted'Allemagne (or traversiere)
very artfully and pleasingly' (p. 25). 8 De la Barre must be Michel de la Barre (c. 1675-
1743/4), a member of the royal chamber music and a famous flautist. Bernier is
probably Nicolas Bernier (1665-1734), sous-maitre of the Chapelle Royale from
1723. If this identification is correct, his appearance as a flautist in a private concert
is more surprising than De la Barre's, since no previously known information has
connected him with the flute.
After a visit to Moliere's Tartuffe on Tuesday 28 September, music takes over
again on the following day. At the house of a Baron Nitschke, Alensoon attends 'a
grand concert' at which he himself sings the Grua piece, 'being accompanied by
the famous Monsr Desmarets [the composer Henry Desmarets, 1661-1741] on the
viola da gamba, while I played the harpsichord myself (p. 26).9 On Thursday
30 September Alensoon accompanies Baron Nitschke to the Opera, where he had

doorgaande agtsteparten, noot aan noot van stem veranderende, zijnde de Cantaat een samenspraak van Caron
[sic] met een sieltje.'
I 'hier hoorde ik Monsr de la Barre en M' Bernier seer kunstig en aangenaam de Flute d'Allemagne (of traver-
siere) speelen.'
9 '. . . werdende met de viool de gambe geaccompagneert door de vermaarde Monsr Desmarets, waar bij ik selfs
de clavercimbel speelde.' The many different ways in which Alensoon allowed himself, depending on cir-
cumstances, to be accompanied in his performances of the Grua dialogue deserve to be noted. Here we have,
typically for northern Europe, the 'full' form of accompaniment for a continuo cantata, where the bass is taken
both by a harpsichord and by a string melody instrument.

538
already been on Sunday 19 September to hear 'les fetes Grecques et Romaines'
(p. 10; the work is clearly the ballet herozque with music by Francois Collin de
Blamont given its premiere in 1723). This time no title is given.
Sunday 3 October brings the description of an organ recital given by 'Monsr
Marchand'- none other than the famous Louis Marchand who according to legend
avoided a contest with Bach in Dresden in 1717. Alensoon singles out his ability to
make perfect imitations of several instruments (pp. 30-31):
... sometimes one would truly have said that a person was playing on the flute and on the
viola da gamba, making appropriate ornaments in the way the best masters do; the viola
da gamba he portrayed in such a way that one would have said that it was Monsrdes
Marets himself who was the player; he also imitated the flute so well that it might have
been Monsr de la Barre or Bernier who made themselves heard; in the same way he
imitated the horns, trumpets etc.; and also very artfully the human voice (or vox
humana) . .. when it is known that MonsrMarchand is going to play, the church is filled
to capacity. "
The same evening and the following one Alensoon dines and makes music at the
house of M. Helisant, after which he travels on to Lyons (5 October 1723).
Alensoon arrived in Lyons after five days, on Sunday 10 October. This visit is rich
in musical experiences, certainly, but contrary to his habit later on in Italy,
Alensoon's remarks are seldom very detailed. On Monday 11 October he is present
at an amateur concert where several ladies of rank perform excerpts from the opera
Omphale, presumably the famous work by Andre Destouches (1672-1749) given its
first performance in 1701. Two days later Alensoon visits another musical society,
which counts the Archbishop of Lyons among its members. The programme here
consists solely of 'very fine French music' (p. 38), but this does not prevent Alensoon
from singing several Italian cantatas. He returns the following day to sing and to
hear a young lady of about eleven years, who performs everything given to her at
sight on her viola da gamba. Another setting for making music is the house of
M. Cristain (Tuesday 12 October, loc. cit.)."

TURIN: 23 OCTOBER TO 30 DECEMBER 1723 AND 13 JULY TO 9 AUGUST 1724

Saturday 23 October saw Alensoon arrive in the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
He was to sojourn in this city for more than three months in all, lodging the whole
time in the house of the Dutchman Adrianus Franciscus le Plat, the representative
(interim charge d'affaires, c. 1713-1726) of the Dutch States-General. During this
period Alensoon became thoroughly acquainted with all aspects of Turin's rich
musical life. As I explained above, I am following Berardi's division of music

Io '. . . somtijds
souw men waarlijk gesegt hebben, datter op een dwarsfluijt (of Flute traversiere) en op een Viool
de gambe gespeeld wierd, geevende ieder Instrument de behoorlijke cieraaden (of agrementen) die de beste
meesters onder het speelen gebruijken; de viool de gambe verbeelde hij soo net, dat men souw gesegt hebben, dat
Monsr des Marets selfs speelde; hij deed ook de dwarsfluijt soo wel naa als of Monsr de la Barre, of Bernier gehoort
wierden; soo verbeelde hij ook de waldhoorens, trompetten, &tc: als ook seer kunstig de mensche stem (of [p. 31]
vox humana) ... wanneer men weet, dat Monsr Marchand sal speelen, is de kerk soo vol menschen als sij zijn kan.'
" It is interesting that Alensoon notes that M. Cristain's son plays on a 'very good violin with six strings'. Was this
a pardessus de viole, or might it have been a viola d'amore? Alensoon was probably acquainted with the pardessus
de vzole but had in all likelihood never seen a viola d'amore, since in 1756, when concerts were given in Amsterdam
by a 'Monsr Bianki' (sic) on the viola d'amore, the playbills stated that this was the first time that this instrument
had ever been played in Holland. See Kees Vlaardingerbroek, 'Een Amsterdams schandaal in de concertkamer.
Muziek en politiek in 1753', Mens & Melodie, xxxxv (1990), 95.

539
according to the three main places of performance (theatre, church and chamber)
in order to allow the wealth of facts presented to stand out with greater clarity.

(a) The Chamber

Turin abounded in private music-making. The fzl rouge during this period was a
certain Signora Falletti, wife of the lawyer Falletti (during his second sojourn
Alensoon gives her name consistently as Faletti), whom Alensoon goes to visit almost
every day, dining and making music afterwards. After hearing on Tuesday 9
November another famous dilettante, 'Christina Somis Hardij' (Cristina Antonia
Somis Ardy, 1704-85, a member of the famous Turin family of musicians), who was
later to impress Parisian audiences with the beauty of her voice, 12 he compares the
two singers, finding that Somis's voice is more brilliant but that Falletti 'sings much
more artfully with a very pleasing and soft chamber voice'."3 This artfulness ap-
parently resides above all in her 'agrementen' or 'sang-cieraden', which Alensoon
praises highly on the first day he hears her in her country house outside Turin
(p. 49). He assures us, however, that her purity of intonation and agility are no less
impressive.
It was in the Fallettis' country house that Alensoon met Girolamo Marini, 'com-
poser of cantatas, great singer, harpsichordist and bass player' and 'brother of the
composer of concertos and sonatas Carlo Marini'." Neither MGG nor The New
Grove mentions this brother of Carlo Antonio Marini (Marino) who worked as a
tenor and cellist in the church of S. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, where Carlo
Antonio and another brother, Pietro, were also employed (both as string players). 5
According to Alensoon, Girolamo was at that time employed as a 'kaamerdienaar'
(valet de chambre) by the queen mother. 16
A small chamber concert ('Kamer-concertje') in the house of the English
plenipotentiary John Molesworth on the occasion of the birthday of the Prince of
Wales (Thursday 11 November) features, in addition to Girolamo Marini (on the
'Bas'), Andrea Stefano Fiore (1686-1732) on the harpsichord, Cristina and Lorenzo
Somis (1688-1775) and, perhaps more surprisingly in view of his age, their father
(Lorenzo Francesco Somis; 1662-1736) (p. 54). In the house of the Somis family
Alensoon finally hears on Sunday 14 November its most famous member, Giovanni
Battista (1686-1763). As a true connoisseur, he instantly recognizes the main reason
for Giovanni Battista's fame as a violinist: 'his bowing is wondrously beautiful'
(p. 55). This passage confirms Giovanni Battista's presence in Turin, which means
that at this time he had either returned from, or had not yet departed for, France. 1

12 On Cristina Somis, sister of the better-known Giovanni Battista, see Alberto Basso, 'Notizie biografiche sulle
famiglie Somis e Somis di Chiavrie', in Giovanni Battista Somis, Sonate da camera, opera II, ed. Michelangelo
Abbado ('Monumenti musicali italiani', ii), Milan, 1976, pp. XXVII-XXVIII.
13 Falletti '. . . singt veel kunstiger met een seer aangenaame en sagte kaamerstem' (p. 54).
14'il Signr Girolamo Marini, Cantaat-componist, groot sanger, clavercimbel- [p. 50] en Bas-speelder . . .
broeder van de Concert- en sonaat-componist Carlo Marini' (pp. 49-50).
Is See Robin Bowman, 'Musical Information in the Archives of the Church of S. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo,
1649-1720', Source Materials and the Interpretation of Music: a Memorial Volume to Thurston Dart, ed. Ian
Bent, London, 1981, pp. 333, 339-40. In the payrolls the brothers' surname is given as either Marini or Marino.
16 In Italian courts and noble households, musicians belonging to the 'family' had to be given conventional
descriptions of rank defining their status uis-&-uis their non-musical colleagues. Hence their classification as pages,
aides, valets etc.
'' Cf. Basso, 'Notizie biografiche', p. XVII: 'E probabile che i primi soggiorni parigini di Giovanni Battista
Somis risalgano agli anni intorno al 1720.'

540
 Other musical friends of Alensoon's include the countesses Di Castelengo and Di
Solare (recte Solaro del Borgo?) as well as the Marquise di Saorgio. All three sing
quite well. More important is the note on yet another Somis, who resides in the con-
vent of S. Maria di S. Croce. This must be Eugenia, Giovanni Battista's youngest
sister, who is said by Alberto Basso to have made her home there. Alensoon reveals
that she sang a glorious alto, a fact of which not even Basso seems to be aware."8
Together with Cristina, described by Alensoon as a soprano, she sings two duets for
him in the parlour of the convent. It is noteworthy that he says that both women,
not Eugenia alone, performed for him from behind the grilles which in the Italy of
the time normally formed a barrier between nuns and their visitors. Notwithstand-
ing the grilles, the atmosphere was probably quite relaxed (not to say worldly), and
it did not seem improper to Alensoon to sing Grua's secular dialogue in these sur-
roundings (p. 422).
Finally, the harpsichord playing of 'Monsr Couprin'--clearly Marc-Roger
Normand Couperin (1663-1734), organist to the King of Sardinia and cousin of
Francois Couperin 'le grand'- is admired in the house of the French diplomat De
l'Auseliere (sic) on 23 July 1724 (p. 413). Somewhat unexpected is the presence of
Mlle La Pierre, a singer, who is most likely to have been a member of the well-
known Turinese family of musicians of the same name; Alberto Basso has identified
five members of the family active in Turin between 1662 and 1714.19
(b) The Church
Two locations that Alensoon visits several times in order to enjoy some magnificent
church music are the court chapel and the church of the Jesuits. Andrea Stefano
Fiore was director of the court chapel from 1707 until his death in 1732. Alensoon
soon comes into close contact with this composer, whose name he writes consistently
as Steffano Andrea Fiore. This friendship is confirmed by the fact that he not only
took with him several of Fiore's letters for Milan when he left Turin but also paid a
visit in his company to Signora Falletti on 30 November (p. 56). Moreover, on his
way back to Holland Alensoon did not forget to call on Fiore, who presented him
with a beautiful 'Cantata a voce sola con violino' (Saturday 22 July 1724, p. 413).
Two weeks later, Fiore came to say goodbye and was invited to lunch (p. 422). The
first time Alensoon met Fiore was at the house of the English ambassador (see
above). Thereafter he mentions going three times to hear motets by Fiore 'with
several voices and instruments' in the court chapel, the Cappella della S. Sindone or
del Sudario (Alensoon calls it 'San Sudario'): on 10, 14 and 28 December 1723. On
Wednesday 29 December there is a concert of purely instrumental music in the
chapel, but no names are mentioned. In the cathedral of S. Giovanni itself, to which
the Chapel of the Holy Shroud is attached, there was church music with many voices
and instruments on 26 December. The following day this anonymous 'very grand
music' is repeated. Interestingly, on Monday 13 December Alensoon hears the
rehearsal of a motet for four voices by Fiore in the house of the Marquis de la Pierre,
whom he calls first chamberlain to the king (p. 59). The next day the entire court is
present when this 'very fine' work is sung in the chapel.
No less warm is Alensoon's relationship with that other important composer of
church music in Turin, Giovanni Antonio Giay (1690-1764). According to his
18 Ibid., pp. XXVIII-XXIX.
19 Alberto Basso, 'Osservazioni sulla scuola strumentale piemontese del Settecento', Studi musicali, xiv (1985),
135-56, at p. 140; he states that the La Pierre family originated in Avignon.

541
biographer Marie-The'rese Bouquet, Giay provided music for several churches in
Turin before becoming Fiore's successor as maestro di cappella at court.20 Indeed,
on the Feast of St. Francis Xavier (3 December) our dilettante is greatly impressed
by 'very beautiful church music' by Giay in the church of the Jesuits. The choir con-
sisted of numerous voices, and the orchestra of 'thirty instruments or more'. In the
orchestra the presence of trumpets, horns, oboes and bassoons is noted. There was
instrumental music as well: '. . . the concertos were by Gio: Battista Somis Hardij
[sic]; the composer played the first and his brother Lorenzo the second, but very dif-
ficult, violin part; in the concertos, there were no trumpets or horns' (p. 57).2' This
description leads one to think that these pieces must have been double violin con-
certos of the type we know so well from Vivaldi; in these the solo violins are of almost
equal importance and change positions constantly in a continual dialogue.
Nearly eight months later, on Saturday 29 July 1724, Alensoon revisits the church
of the Jesuits to hear the rehearsals for the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of
the Society of Jesus, on its vigil. He notices that the responsibilities are shared in the
same manner as before between Giay and Giovanni Battista Somis. 'Giaij', too,
receives at least one personal visit from Alensoon (17 July 1724, p. 412).

We do not learn anything about opera in Turin, probably because the operatic
season had only just begun when Alensoon left Turin after his first visit and was
over when he returned there. On his way to Milan he misses the opera at Novara
because he only hears about it at his inn when he is already undressed ('otherwise I
would have gone to see it', p. 65).

MILAN: 1 TO 22 JANUARY 1724

(a) The Theatre

Having arrived in Milan on New Year's Day, Alensoon attended the opera the
following evening. In his journal he gives quite a detailed account of what he saw
and heard. First, he handed over the letter entrusted to him by Andrea Stefano
Fiore to the impresario Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio. If this is the same Brivio as the
Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio who was in charge of the Milanese theatre during the
period 1727-32 (there seems to have been another person of exactly the same name
active in Milan: see The New Grove, iii. 308-9), then this violinist attached to the
ducal theatre was already at the helm in 1723. Again, personal relations are cordial,
for Brivio invites Alensoon to dinner and refuses to accept any entrance payment
from him whenever Brivio himself is present at the theatre.
Alensoon hears the opera La caduta de' decemvzri by Giovanni Porta but then
remarks that it more closely resembles a pasticcio, a fact not previously noted by
musicologists.22 These are his own words (p. 66):
The poetry and the invention of the piece were not considered beautiful at all; however,
the music was good and beautiful, and although it was said to have been composed by

20 Marie-Therese Bouquet, 'Note biografiche sulla famiglia Giay', in Francesco Saverio Giay, Composizioni
sacre ('Monumenti musicali italiani', vi), Milan, 1979, p. XXIV.
21 '. . . de concerten waren van Gio: Battista Somis Hardij, de componist speelde de eerste en zijn broeder
Lorenzo de tweede dog seer moejelijke viool; bij de concerten waaren geen trompetten nog waldhoorns.'
22 Cf. 'Porta, Giovanni', The New Grove, xv. 133, and Reinhard Strohm, Italienische Opernarien desfruhen
Settecento, Cologne, 1976, ii. 211.

542
 Gio: Porta, there was a lot of Tomaso Albinoni and Domenico Sarri in it, so that this
opera can justly be said to be a hotchpotch of pieces and parts by other men: the most im-
portant actors were Sigr Carlo Scalzi, a castrato who sang very beautifully; Signora
Vittoria Tesi, who sang alto and was not pretty but made nice gestures and expressed the
passions very well; and Signora Anna Guglielmina, who was much prettier and more
charming than the former but did not sing so boldly . . . there was beautiful dancing,
too; the scenery was rather beautiful with different perspectives; the orchestra consisted
of no fewer than forty instruments and two harpsichords . .. the theatre is very big; the
curtain rises at six o'clock in the evening, and the performance is not over until ten or half
"
past ten.
About the castrato Scalzi, known for his singing in Handel's operas during the
London season of 1733-4, there will be several occasions to speak later on, for Alen-
soon was soon on friendly terms with him. The following day, in the company of
Count Arconati, he visits Vittoria Tesi, mentioning with approval her use of hair
powder to give her skin a white tint, and of red beet to paint her lips, 'which does no
harm to the skin' (p. 67). That same evening he returns to the theatre, only to
deplore the fact that the audience is laughing and talking all the time or playing
cards 'without the least attention to the music' (loc. cit.).24 Here again, Alensoon's
superior social abilities come to the fore: Brivio and Tesi, to whom he had confessed
his disappointment, later offer him a seat in the singers' box (10 January, p. 86). He
is free to come and go as he pleases, and he assures us that he returned many, many
times.
Tesi and Count Arconati are once more his companions on Saturday 15 January,
when he hears in the palace of the Austrian governor Count (Girolamo di) Colloredo
a rehearsal of Giuseppe Orlandini's Oronta, an opera that impresses him very
favourably. Two days later he and Arconati visit Tesi again and accompany her to
the opera. Alensoon notes the fact that she sang a beautiful 'Cantaat' by Orlandini,
which was not part of the opera. On the evening of the next day she did this
again-according to Alensoon, especially for him.

(b) The Chamber

The influence of Count Arconati is very apparent here. In his house on Wednesday
5 January Alensoon meets and hears Carlo Scalzi, who sings a cantata; more
significantly, he identifies as the harpsichordist 'a young master named Martini,
who plays and composes very beautifully' (p. 69). This can be none other than
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (c. 1700-1775). The count himself seems to have been
a fine violinist; that evening he performed 'drie of vier soloos van sijn eijge com-
positie'. An anonymous count who played the violin very well and a gentleman who
sang a very low bass are also mentioned in passing. Two days before he leaves Milan

23 'De Poesie en de Inventie van het stuk wierd

gansch niet fraaij geagt; dog de musiecq was goed en fraaij, en
schoon de musiecq gesegt wierd van Gio: Porta gecomponeert te zijn, was 'er veel onder van Tomaso Albinoni, en
Domenico Sarri; soodat deese opera met reede kon gesegt worden met stukken en brokken van andere aan
malkander gelapt te zijn: de voornaamste Acteurs waren Signr Carlo Scalzi, een castraat die seer fraaij song; la
Signora Vittoria Tesi, die een Alt song, sij was niet fraaij, dog had goede gesten en drukte seer aardig de Passien
uijt; en la Signora Anna Guglielmina, die veel frajer en bevalliger was als de voorgaande, maar soo stout niet song
... daar wierd ook seer fraaij gedanst; de Theaters waaren vrij fraaij met verscheijde perspectiven; het Orchester
bestont wel uijt veertig instrumenten, en twee clavercimbels ... Het Theater is seer groot; men begint's aavonds
ten ses uuren, en schijd ten tien of half elf uijt.'
24 The 'noise and inattention at the musical exhibitions in Italy' (Burney's phrase) were the subject of comment
by several eighteenth-century visitors. Observations similar to Burney's were made byJoachim Christoph Nemeitz,
Edward Wright, Samuel Sharp and Charles de Brosses.

543
Alensoon hears in Arconati's house a pupil of Gasparo Visconti 'about nineteen
years of age' and named 'Carlo Zuccarini'; this is clearly Carlo Zuccari (1704-92),
who may therefore-contrary to a statement in The New Grove-already have
received his nickname Zuccherino in his youth. That same evening Alensoon hears
Zuccari again in a 'college van liefhebbers' in the neighbourhood of S. Ambrogio,
which Alensoon had visited on a previous occasion (Friday 14 January 'between half
past four and half past six'). Zuccari is again present the next evening during a con-
cert in the house of the Secretary of State Bellini in which Giuseppe Sammartini
plays first oboe (p. 107).
If (as under Turin, above) I may include the parlour of a convent under the
Italian word 'camera', then chamber music indeed flourished in Milan. For in the
convent of S. Radegonda there lived a certain Quinzana, whose singing seems to
have attracted many admirers to the parlour and the church of the convent (see
MGG under 'Mailand'; her full name was Sister Rosalba Quinzana). When Alen-
soon brings her a letter from Fiore on Wednesday 5 January, she immediately invites
him to come and hear her sing in the church the next day and to make music with
her in the parlatorio on 7 January. Alensoon's remarks on the church music appear
below. The concert on 7 January produces some interesting facts about secular
music-making in a convent. First, Alensoon is brought a harpsichord, after which he
sings the Grua dialogue at least five times. In the meantime 'l'Abbate Don Giuseppe
Vignati', first harpsichordist at the ducal theatre, arrives. In The New Grove
nothing is said about Vignati's ecclesiastical status, but Alensoon calls him 'abate'
again on the occasion of yet another concert in the parlour.
Alensoon's description of Quinzana deserves quoting (p. 102):
Sunday 16 January . . . Shortly after dinner I went . . . to hear the famous Signora
Quinzana sing. She sang at least three or four cantatas and accompanied herself on the
harpsichord; she is getting on in years; her voice, which was said to be the most beautiful
in Italy in her best days, is still quite agreeable; I was astonished when I heard that she
could take her voice up to the highest A on the harpsichord [a"] and down to the second
D from the bottom [d], this being two octaves and a half; she sang a beautiful soprano,
alto, and tenor . .. two of the cantatas were of her own composition.25

Other musical nuns whom Alensoon heard and whose names he gives are Rosa
Isabella Palazzi, Paola Teresa Pietra, Regina Francesca Adelasia (recte Adelasio?)
and Angela Maria Doria.

(c) Church Music

On the singing in the church of Quinzana's convent, we find the following passage:
. . .in the church . . . I heard very beautiful singing, by, among others, the famous
Quinzana; these ladies sing pieces for four voices; the Cantus is very high, the Alto like a

25 'Kort naa den eeten ben ik gegaan ... om de vermaarde Signora Quinzana te hooren singen, sij song wel drie
of vier Cantaten, en sij accompagneerde sig selfs met de clavercimbel; sij begint nu al vrij bejaart te worden; haar
stem, die in haar beste tijd de fraaijste van Italie geagt wierd, is nog seer aangenaam; ik stont verstelt, wanneer ik
hoorde, dat sij met haar stem kon klimmen tot de hoogste A van de clavercimbel, en daalen tot de tweede D van
onderen, zijnde twee en een half octaaf; sij song een schoone Cant, Alt, en Tenor ... twee van de Cantaten die sij
song waaren van haare compositie.' It would be interesting to ascertain through detailed study how common it was
for singers (and singer-composers) to accompany themselves on the harpsichord when performing solo cantatas in
public. Besides the example of Quinzana (and of Alensoon himself, of course) those of Domenico Alberti and
Emanuele d'Astorga are documented.

544
 Canto Secondo, the Tenor like an Alto, and the Bass like a Tenor; in Italy I heard several
women sing Tenor.26 (Thursday 6 January, p. 71)
Some 60 years later Mrs Hester Lynch Piozzi (best known as Johnson's correspondent
and friend Mrs Thrale after her first husband) admitted disliking the deep voice of a
woman singing in an oratorio given at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, one of the four
ospedali grandi in Venice that housed and educated foundlings, orphans, the
indigent and (in certain cases) the merely musical.27 In these institutions, too, the
entrusting of uncommonly low parts to female singers seems to have been normal
practice. 2
Alensoon records three other experiences in Milanese churches. On Wednesday
5 January he goes with Scalzi to the church of the Jesuits (probably S. Maria di
Brera) to listen to the rehearsal of the oratorio (in Alensoon's spelling) gli Elementi
in gara nell'ossequio di Giesu' Bambino by Giovanni Maria Marchi. Well informed
as he always is, he mentions Marchi's position as organist at the cathedral (p. 69).
Concerning the music at the cathedral itself, Alensoon remarks on Sunday 9 January
that it is purely vocal; the organ alone sometimes accompanies (p. 83). Very pro-
bably the 'sang- en speel-musiecq' in the church of S. Antonio on 17 January, the
Feast of S. Antony the Great, was more to his liking (p. 102): '. . . among others,
there was someone named Giuseppe Martini [Giuseppe Sammartini; see above] who
played the oboe so miraculously that I do not believe anyone could improve on his
performance'. 29

After Alensoon's departure from Milan on 22 January nothing of musical note

happens until his arrival at Parma on the 28th. Two days later he delivers a letter
from Vittoria Tesi to Count Carlo Baratieri (Barattieri di S. Pietro). In the latter's
company he goes to visit Count Ascanio Garimberti, at whose house he hears a dilet-
tante, Giovanni Battista Ferrari, sing tenor nicely. Later that day Ferrari takes him
to Giovanni Paita, 'who sings the most beautiful tenor known in Italy' (p. 126). Paita
performs several arias requiring a compass running from G to a' and adds 'the most
wonderful ornaments that one can possibly hear'. Alensoon, of course, could not
resist singing his Grua party-piece.
On Tuesday 1 February Alensoon is on his way again. During his lunch at
Mantua he is surprised by the quality of a group of itinerant musicians, just as
Burney would be almost 50 years later in Venice. The three men play violin, bass
and dulcimer ('hakkebord'). The next day Alensoon arrives at Verona. There he
meets Biasio Boschetti, who plays the violin well and whose equally musical brother
and niece he will soon meet in Venice.
26
'... alwaar ik in de kerk . .. seer fraaij hoorden singen, onder andere de vermaarde Quinzana; deese dames
singen stukken met vier stemmen, de Cantus is seer hoog, de Alt als een Canto secondo, de Tenor als een Alt, en de
Bas als een Tenor; verscheijde vrouwen heb ik in Italie een Tenor hooren singen.'
27 Glimpses of Italian Society in the
Eighteenth Century. From thejourney of Mrs. Piozzi, London, 1892, p. 112.
28 It is not out of the question that
at the Pieta, the most populous of the ospedaligrandi, enough true bass voices
were found among the figlie di coro to sing bass parts almost as low as those given elsewhere to male
choristers -unlike at the other three ospedali, where the lowest female voice in choral singing never descended
below the tenor register. Some scholars maintain, however, that the singers of ostensible bass parts at the Pieta
normally transposed their music up an octave, thus conforming in reality to the practice at the other three institu-
tions. See especially Joan M. Whittemore, Retmsion of Music Performed at the Venetian Ospedali in the Eighteenth
Century (unpublished DMA dissertation), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1986.
29 ... onder andere was 'er een, die Giuseppe Martini genaamt was, en soo wonderbaarlijk de Haubois speelde,
dat ik niet geloof, dat iemand dit speelen soude kunnen verbeeteren.'

545
VENICE: 8 FEBRUARY TO 8 MARCH 1724

(a) The Theatre

Alensoon again loses no time when it comes to music. The Teatro S. Moise attracts
him on the very day of his arrival. He hears Li sforzi d'ambitione e d'amore by
Giovanni Porta without much enthusiasm: he finds the music reasonably good, but
the singers nothing out of the ordinary: 'the best was Anna Mangani da Firenza [sic]'
(p. 141). Nor is Alensoon pleased with the fact that only two theatres are staging
opera: S. Moise and S. Giovanni Grisostomo (p. 156); just one theatre is offering
comedy, but this cannot have mattered much to Alensoon because elsewhere he pro-
fesses a dislike of Italian comedies (p. 153).
Two days later it is the turn of the other house, S. Giovanni Grisostomo. Again,
there are some points of criticism. First, the theatre is less imposing than that in
Milan, and second, some of the scenery has considerable defects. The music,
Ipermestra by Geminiano Giacomelli, amply compensates for this, however, though
Alensoon adds that he found it 'very difficult'. Further, he pronounces all the
singers good and proceeds to give their names. They are Faustina Bordoni, 'who is
said to be the greatest female singer now living'; Giovanni Battista Pinazzi (Pinacci),
'a fine tenor' who sang for Handel in 1731-2; Antonio Bernachi (Bernacchi), 'a
castrato with a high alto';30 and Bartolomeo Bartoli, 'a fine high soprano'.
The following day Alensoon goes to see Faustina in order to deliver some letters
(from, among others, John Molesworth, the British ambassador in Turin), and he
offers the following portrait of the young soprano (pp. 144-5):
... I was received very courteously. She is not beautiful, but charming, talkative, sensible
and well educated, although her parents were simple folk; her singing is not wild, nor too
ornamented, but everything she sings is performed meticulously in time, and her
ornaments are artful, natural and not too far-fetched; just before the final cadence of
both the first and the second part of an aria she observes a rallentando and makes very
beautiful ornaments: it is common practice in Italy to add passages or ornaments on the
final cadences, but it is not given to everybody to perform these well.3'
Interestingly, Alensoon affirms that she was of low birth, despite the fact that in
many musicological writings she is described as coming from a well-to-do family;
Winton Dean, in The New Grove, even goes so far as to impute noble origins to
Faustina 'Bordon' (as the original Venetian form of her name reads). Only very
recently, Gastone Vio has pointed out that she was in fact born into a humble family,
her father being a camarier, that is, a domestic servant.32 Her ability to improvise
ornaments very felicitously is mentioned also by Quantz (Dean quotes him, as

30 Strohm (Italienzsche Opernarien, ii. 331) calls Bernacchi a mezzo-soprano.

'. . . ik wierd met veel beleefdheijd ontfangen; sij is niet fraaij van weesen, dog bevallig, spraaksaam, verstan-
dig en wel opgevoed, schoon sij van geringe ouders gebooren is; haar sang is niet [p. 145] wild, nog met alteveel
cieraaden opgecierd, maar alles wat sij singt voert sij uijt net in de maat en haar agrementen zijn kunstig, natuur-
lijk en niet alteverre gesogt; eeven voor de laatste cadents soowel van het eerste als van het tweede deel van een Air
rekt sij de maat en maakt seer heerlijke passagies: het maaken van passages of agrementen bij de laatste cadentsen
is in Italie seer gebruijkelijk, dog het is ieder niet gegeeven de selve wel uijt te voeren.'
32 Gastone Vio, 'Documenti inediti relativi alla biografia di Faustina Bordon Hasse', Venezia arti (Bollettino del
dipartimento distoria e critica delle arti dell'Universit& di Venezia), iii (1989), 170-73, at p. 171. According to Vio,
the misunderstanding about her social background may have arisen from the testimony on her marriageable state
that her father gave to the ecclesiastical authorities on 18 July 1730, two days before her marriage to Hasse was to
take place; in the document in question Paolo Bordon(i) claims to have a private income (mvere del suo). This is all
the more surprising since a document of seventeen years earlier has him living with his family in the extremely
modest surroundings of an attic (soler di sotto), for which he pays a rent of only twelve ducats a year.

546
translated by Burney, in The New Grove) and by Nemeitz, who writes (referring to
the year 1721):
... and I heard at the theatre of San [Giovanni] Grisostomoin Venice among others the
celebrated Faustina, who alwayssang the first part of an aria exactly as the composer had
written it but at the da capo repeat introduced all kinds of doublements and maniere
without taking the smallest liberties with the rhythm of the accompaniment; so that a
composer sometimes finds his arias, in the mouths of their singers, far more beautiful and
pleasing than in his own original conception.33
Alensoon visits Faustina another four or five times, drinking tea or singing with 'ter.
One other reference is remarkable for the fact that is shows that she was apparently
still taking lessons from Michel Angelo Gasparini (p. 150):
Monday 14 February . . . I went to see Faustina, who lives on the Grand Canal at the
corner of the canal of San Paolo, where I found Signor Giminianojacomelli, composer of
the opera mentioned earlier, and Michel Angelo Gaspardini [sic], who was giving instruc-
tion to Faustina.34
Accompanied by Giacomelli on the harpsichord, Alensoon sings for her the dialogue
by Grua, 'with which she and the others were so taken that I was asked to copy the
cantata for Faustina in order to preserve the memory of it' (loc. cit.). Ten days later,
on Thursday 24 February, he reports bringing the copy to her and singing it to her
twice (p. 153).
Saturday 19 February brings a great surprise. That evening Alensoon goes to see
the opera Antigono at the Teatro S. Moise. He states that Antigono is not by one but
by two composers: Tomaso Albinoni (Acts I-IV) and Giovanni Porta (Act V). While
this fact has long been known, the reason for their co-operation, so far as I am
aware, has not. According to Alensoon, Porta had to complete the opera because
Albinoni had become 'mortally ill' ('dood-krank'). Thus what has been referred to
as a collaboration appears to have been a forced co-operation -information that fits
in nicely with the following observation from Michael Talbot's article on Albinoni in
The New Grove (i. 217): 'Albinoni's association with other musicians was
remarkably limited at all times during his career . . Operatic collaborations, in-
cluding one with Gasparini for Engelberta (1709), were probably mediated by
theatre managements.' Alensoon adds that Porta himself played the harpsichord
and that the prima donna Mangani did a fine job (p. 152).

3 Johann Christoph Nemeitz, Nachlese besonderer Nachrichten von Italien, Leipzig, 1726, p. 426: '. . . und
habe ich unter andern zu Venedig in der Opera St. Chrysostomo die beriihmte Faustinam geh6ret, welche den
vordersten Theil von einer Aria zwar allemahl erstlich so, wie sie der Componist gesetzt hatte, weg sang, wenn es
aber da Capo kam, und sie solchen repetirte, so thate sie allehand doublements und manieren, ohne das geringste
von der acuratesse des accompagnemens zu verlieren, hinzu; so, dass ein Componist selbsten seine Arien in der
Kaihle derjenigen, die sie hervor singen, zuweilen viel sch6ner und angenehmer findet, als in seiner eigenen Id6e
selbsten.' A fine example of Faustina's artistry in matters concerning ornamentation is reported in George J.
Buelow, 'A Lesson in Operatic Performance Practice by Madame Faustina Bordoni', A Musical Offering: Essays in
Honour of Martin Bernstein, ed. Edward H. Clinkscale & Claire Brook, New York, 1977, pp. 79-96. Buelow
discusses in detail Giuseppe Vignati's aria 'Sciolta dal lido' 'con li suoi [Faustina's] modi scritti come la cantava. Nel
Carnevale 1720' (from Vignati's A quilio in Siracusa of the same year?), preserved in a manuscript with 23 numbers
from Alessandro Scarlatti's La Griselda as well as arias by Sarri, Porpora and others (Washington, DC, Library of
Congress, Music Division, M1500 S28 G5). The improvised triplets, trills and other figuration in this embellished
version of Vignati's aria are relatively few and without exception prove her buon gusto. Remarkably, the added
notes never sin against the harmony and are frequently modelled after motifs in the accompaniment. I am grateful
to Nigel Fortune for drawing my attention to Buelow's article.
... gegaan naa de Faustina, woonende aan 't Groot Canaal op de hoek van de gragt van San Paolo, alwaar ik
il Signor Giminiano Jacomelli, componist van de opera hier reeds voornoemd, vond, als meede Michel Angelo
Gaspardini [sic] die de Faustina instrueerde.'

547
 Here in Venice we also hear for the first time in the journal about the spitting and
throwing of filthy objects from the boxes on to the heads of the people in the pit, a
Venetian custom lamented by many eighteenth-century travellers. Somewhat more
startling is Alensoon's claim that it was only ladies who followed this time-honoured
practice. To avoid becoming one of the ladies' targets, Alensoon advises visitors to
take a seat towards the middle of the pit (loc. cit.). About the seating he makes the
interesting remark that the seat itself was movable and fastened to the back of the
chair. When a visitor wanted to sit down, an assistant would come to unlock and
lower the seat. 'It was the same in Milan', Alensoon adds. This corresponds with a
similar description from another tourist, John Moore, who adds that one pays the
door-keeper a small sum over and above the normal entrance charge for his unlock-
ing of the seat.35 The reason Alensoon gives for not going to the last night of the
opera (probably the one at the Teatro S. Giovanni Grisostomo) is of some interest:
usually, he says, the last performance is also the most tumultuous, and the quality
of the music-making falls short of the normal standard (p. 159).

(b) The Chamber

For domestic music-making Benedetto Marcello's palace was of prime importance
to Alensoon. How close his relationship to Marcello must have been is shown by the
fact that the two men met at least eight times, on six occasions in Marcello's own
home. Alensoon also mentions three times the presence of 'la Signora Rosanna',
almost certainly Rosana Scalfi, a singing pupil of Marcello's with whom he was to
contract a morganatic marriage six years later.
Alensoon meets Marcello for the first time on Thursday 10 February, when he
comes to deliver two letters, one from the Dutch charge d'affaires in Turin,
Adrianus Franciscus le Plat, and another from 'la Signora Donna Isabella Palazzi',
one of the nuns in the convent of S. Radegonda, Milan, mentioned above. Marcello
receives him 'very politely and amiably' (p. 143). The following day Alensoon has
the good fortune to visit Marcello's house while Rosana is singing one of her
teacher's cantatas, 'ascending with her voice to the highest A of the harpsichord
[a"] and going down to the second D from the bottom [d], so that she sang a
beautiful soprano, alto and tenor, just like the famous Quinzana in Milan' (p. 145).36
Then it is Alensoon's turn, and he sings the Grua piece accompanied by Marcello.
The two occasions on which Marcello takes his Dutch guest to a concert outside his
home are on 16 February during a music party at the house of Marcello's close
friend Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani, a pupil of Tartini and according to Alensoon
a very good violinist (p. 151), and on 6 March, during a concert at which 'three of
[Marcello's] psalms were sung with the Ripieni or doublings, which made a good
effect' (p. 166).3 It does not seem far-fetched to suppose that the concert took place
during a meeting of the Accademia della Cavallerizza, which dedicated itself

3 See John Moore, A View of the Society and Manners in Italy, London, 1783, i. 217. In Venetian opera houses
this form of seating was very old, being mentioned as far back as 1689 by Pierre d'Ortigue de Vaumoriere.
36 '. . . klimmende met haar stem tot de hoogste A van de clavercimbel, en daalende tot de tweede D van ondere,
soo dat sij, gelijk de vermaarde Quinzana te Milano, een schoone Cant, Alt en Tenor song. . .' Rosana Scalfi's ex-
traordinary vocal range is confirmed by Marcello's cantata 'Il Timoteo', in which the part written for her runs from
d (the note on which the work ends) to g". See Michael Talbot, 'The Effects of Music: Benedetto Marcello's Can-
tata II Timoteo', Benedetto Marcello: la sua opera e il suo tempo, ed. Claudio Madricardo & Franco Rossi,
Florence, 1988, pp. 103-25.
3 On Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani, see Pierluigi Petrobelli, Giuseppe Tartini: le fonti biografiche, Florence,
1968, pp. 63-66, and Gastone Vio, 'Note biografiche su Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani', Benedetto Marcello, ed.

548
exclusively to performing Marcello's psalms from about 1724 to 1770 or later.38
However, Alensoon is silent on the matter.
After singing Grua's dialogue probably hundreds of times, Alensoon could hardly
fail to meet the composer (maestro di coro at the Ospedale della Pieta from 1719
until his death in 1726) on several occasions. The first time he goes to Grua's house
the composer lets him have the original score to enable him to correct the underlaid
text in his copy. Naturally, Alensoon then seizes the opportunity to sing the piece in
the presence of the composer himself (p. 146).
Other musical experiences include a music and dance party on Tuesday
15 February at the house of Boschetto Boschetti, with whose brother Alensoon had
become acquainted in Verona. On 5 March Boschetti's daughter, married to a
Signor Minelli and a good alto singer, entertains at her home, where Alensoon
accompanies on the harpsichord a noble lady of the Buonvicino (Bonvicini) family,
who is also an alto. 'Here in Italy one finds very many women and castratos singing
alto', Alensoon adds (p. 165). He had heard Signora Minelli sing twice before: at the
houses of Jan Pommer (probably a Dutch merchant) and of Rosalba Carriera, the
famous portraitist (respectively on 23 and 25 February).39

(c) The Church

Alensoon makes hardly any mention of church music during his stay in Venice and
seems not particularly thrilled by what little he heard. On Saturday 12 February he
visits the church of the Pieta but says of the music only that it was 'pleasing' (p. 149).

On 9 March Alensoon is on the move again. He spends little time in cities such as
Ferrara and Bologna but makes straight for Naples, where he arrives on Saturday
1 April. He stays for eight days, visiting many churches and ancient monuments.
His musical experiences are almost completely confined to the church. On 6 April
he hears in the church 'del monte Oliveto' the requiem for Pope Innocent XIII, who
had died on 7 March. The choir consists of twelve or more voices and the orchestra
of no fewer than 30 instruments. The principal singer here is the bass Antonio
Manna, to whom Alensoon has to deliver a letter (p. 233).4? That same evening
Alensoon hears in the church of the Madonna Solitaria some 'very solemn and
beautiful' music by Francesco Mancini, whom Alensoon identifies as the maestro di
cappella. A work 'a canto solo' (probably a solo motet) is sung by the famous singer
Mattheucci (sic), about whom we learn that he is already rather old, has a very
beautiful voice and improvises wonderful ornaments, but cannot trill ('kan niet
trambleeren', p. 234). This is Matteo Sassano (c. 1667-1737), nicknamed Matteuccio,
apparently the first important castrato trained in Naples (see MGG). Matteuccio
sings again in the same church the next day, and once more Alensoon is present.

Madricardo & Rossi, pp. 61-74. As is well known, Marcello's psalms were based on the Italian paraphrases of the
Latin texts of the first 50 psalms from the Vulgate made by Giustiniani.
3S See Michael Talbot, 'Musical Academies in Eighteenth-Century Venice', Note d'architio per la storia
musicale, new ser., ii (1984), 21-65, at pp. 43-44.
3 Rosalba Carriera's liking for music is well attested, for she played the violin and on her visit to Paris in
1720-21 attended the private concerts at the house of Pierre Crozat. In a letter from Pier Catterino Zeno to Antonio
Francesco Marmi we find the following revealing passage on Rosalba's twin talents: 'Ne' primi anni le sue piu forti
inclinazioni furono la musica e la pittura; ma innoltratasi [sic] poi negli anni, lasci6 la musica, considerandola non
conveniente alla sua condizione [i.e., being a woman] e tutta dandosi alla pittura'. See Lettere artistiche inedite,
ed. G. Campori, Modena, 1866, letter 235.
40 Strohm (Italienische Opermarien, ii. 332) calls Manna a soprano, however.

549
The compositions are again by Mancini, but whether they were the same as those of
the previous day is not clear. After dinner Alensoon goes to visit the famous singer
Nicolini (Nicolo Grimaldi), who is nowadays best remembered for creating the title-
role in the enormously successful first performance of Handel's Rinaldo in London
in 1711. We are told that Nicolini is very polite and friendly and lives quite com-
fortably in the suburb of 'Chaia' (Chiaia; p. 234).
On 12 April we find Alensoon in Rome. As mentioned above, music cedes its
place of honour to inscriptions during this visit, which lasts until 22 May. Alensoon
did, however, attend several of the weekly concerts (on Mondays) in the house of the
nobleman Pietro Ghezzi, unfortunately without giving any details about the music
played or the performers. Ghezzi, who according to Alensoon (p. 258) played the
bass (whether cello or violone is unclear), is the famous painter Pier Leone Ghezzi, to
whom we are indebted for the splendid caricatures of Vivaldi and many other con-
temporary composers and singers. Did Alensoon actually meet Vivaldi -who must
have stayed a while in Rome for the production of his opera II Giustino earlier in
the year-without telling us so? After one has read so many detailed entries in this
journal, it does not seem very likely, and we must assume that Vivaldi had just left or
that Alensoon simply did not come into contact with him.
Not only Ghezzi's but also Faustina Maratti's home was a centre for chamber
music in Rome. This Faustina's late husband, a certain Zappi, had been a lawyer.
Alensoon goes to her house three times: on 21 and 25 April and 19 May. On 25 April
he meets the wife of Giovanni Bononcini, Margherita Balletti, who apparently had
not accompanied her husband to London, and hears a Signora Tibaldi sing wonder-
fully. On his final visit Faustina Maratti presents him with 'a beautiful cantata with
violins by Nicolo Porpora' (p. 355). A few hours earlier another cantata by Porpora
had been given to Alensoon by the composer Giovanni Giorgi, a priest who was also
a good singer. In addition, Giorgi gave him a cantata of his own, having been asked
to do so by another Roman acquaintance of Alensoon, a certain Baron Brettenbach.
Interesting, too, is Alensoon's visit to the Cancelleria, where Cardinal Pietro
Ottoboni resided. He notes at least nine or ten harpsichords in this palace,4" and
meets 'den Heer Canonico Giuseppe Pollaroli'; this was the fourth child of the com-
poser Carlo Francesco Pollarolo (c.1653-1723), who was one of the cardinal's
favourite composers and had written the opera II Costantino Pio in 1710 especially
for his private theatre.42 Alensoon sings excerpts from the opera Leucippo e Teoneo
by Giuseppe's brother Antonio Pollarolo, after which Giuseppe presents him with
the opera (presumably a score).
Just as in Venice, church music in Rome is neglected in the journal. Once, excep-
tionally, we hear of a performance of doleful music in S. Giacomo de' Spagnuoli, on
14 April (p. 236). It is probable, however, that the 'fine music' Alensoon heard in
the chapel of the Venetian embassy on 25 April consisted of sacred vocal works.
On Monday 22 May Alensoon continues his travels. On his way to Florence he is
delighted to listen to the singing of four girls from well-to-do families who sing

4' These harpsichords at the Cancelleria (Ottoboni possessed others at Albano, Ostia, San Cosimato and
Velletri) are described, with reference to the cardinal's own inventory of his keyboard instruments, in Alberto
Cametti, 'I cembali del Cardinale Ottoboni', Musica d'oggi, viii (1920), 339-41.
42 See Olga Asher-Termini, Carlo Francesco Pollarolo: his Lzfe, Time, and Music with Emphasis on the Operas
(unpublished dissertation), University of Southern California, 1970, p. 86. The oratorio II conv7to di Baldassar
seems to have been set by Pollarolo and Ottoboni jointly. Ottoboni is also remembered by Giuseppe Pollarolo in his
will as one of his benefactors (ibid., p. 88).

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(accompanied by a man playing the guitar) for the purpose of collecting money for
the poor. Alensoon learns that in Tuscany this is a normal custom for respectable
girls in the month of May; and sometimes they also dance for travellers (pp. 359-61).
He stays in Florence from 26 May to 2 June. Here he listens to music in S. Maria
della Scala on the occasion of the taking of the veil by several women; a member of
the noble Ricasoli family is mentioned as director of the music. As usual, we en-
counter the names of performers with whom Alensoon made music. They are two
castratos: (Domenico) Tempesti and a singer named Tanfani, probably-despite
the different spelling of the surname-Giuseppe Maria Fanfani (before 1723-after
1757), although there was a violinist Tanfani active in Florence at this period.
In Genoa, Alensoon has the pleasure of seeing again his old friend the singer
Carlo Scalzi (10 June, p. 396). He hears him sing a 'mottetto a voce sola' twice: the
first time in the church of the Dominicans, 'il Castello' (S. Maria di Castello; Sunday
11 June, p. 398), the second time in S. Francesco (Tuesday 13 June, p. 401).
Because of dysentery ('de roode loop') Alensoon does not leave Genoa until Monday
10 July. The previous evening he listens to the two daughters of a French lady, after
which Scalzi, too, sings (p. 409).
Alensoon then travels to Turin, where he meets all his old friends again and has a
variety of musical experiences (see above). After his departure from Turin he aims
to return home as soon as possible. In Geneva he visits the collegium musicum,
which is held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in a large room in the town hall. Gentlemen and
ladies of rank sing and play exclusively French music, with the assistance of profes-
sional musicians (17 August, p. 442). Concerts also took place at the lodgings of the
English nobleman Francis Head, whom Alensoon had already met in Rome; here
Alensoon impresses everybody with his singing of the Grua dialogue.
For completeness' sake (and perhaps to be of some use to local historians) I must
refer to some further short passages concerning music. In Basle, Alensoon is the
guest of a Miss Beijer (sic), who sings French music and Italian arias 'rather well'
(27 August, p. 452). More or less the same description is used for the organ-playing
in St. Peter (of its organist, Dietrich Schwab?). Alensoon even climbs on to the organ
bench, where he sings two Italian cantatas to his own accompaniment. The harp-
sichord of a man called Herff serves the same purpose the next day. Finally, on
Friday 8 September, Alensoon is in Frankfurt at a concert in the house of 'Heer
Behaagel', probably the merchant PhilippJacobus Behagel, a good friend of Johann
Friedrich von Uffenbach, another very musical inhabitant of Frankfurt.43
On Wednesday 20 September Alensoon finally reached Leiden, and his journal
came to an end. Many points arising from this document must remain unanswered,
at least for the time being. In what ways did Alensoon subsequently influence
musical life in Leiden? What happened to the many scores he brought home with
him, and where are the letters he wrote home regularly? Did they perhaps contain
other significant remarks on Italian composers and singers? The journal affords im-
pressive testimony to the deep musical knowledge and interests of a man who, had
this account disappeared, might have remained totally unknown to us as a person, a
destiny common to the overwhelming majority of his fellow patricians. So the
present article will perhaps serve inter alia as a reminder that we should not dismiss
eighteenth-century Dutch regents en masse as an unscrupulous, parsimonious and
prosaic bunch, as has so often happened in Dutch historiography.

43On Behagel, see Preussner, Die musikalischen Reisen des Herrn von Uffenbach, p. 175.

551