Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/188

176 the emulation of the pupils. Each conservatoire had five or six assistant masters for singing and instrumental music; and the elder girls, in turn, taught the youngest. The pupils learned not only to sing but to play all instruments; the violin, the harpsichord, even the horn and the bass viol. Burney says that they were able, as a rule, to play several instruments and that they changed from one to another with facility. These women's orchestras gave public concerts every Saturday and Sunday evening. They were one of the principal attractions of Venice; and no foreign traveller who visited the city has failed to describe them for us. They were as pleasant to look at as to hear. "Nothing could be more delightful" says President de Brosses, "than to see a young and pretty nun in a white habit, with a bunch of pomegranate-flowers over one ear, conduct the orchestra and beat time with all the grace and accuracy imaginable." He adds that "for fine execution and as conductor of an orchestra the daughter of Venice is second to none." Some of these fair musicians were famed all over Italy; and Venice used to be split into hostile camps in support of this or that singer.

But the somewhat fantastic tales of galant travellers might give us a false impression of the serious nature of the musical training given in these conservatoires. Burney, who carefully inspected them, speaks of their learning with admiration. The best of the schools was the Incurabili, which was directed by Galuppi. Galuppi was then seventy years of age; but he was still lively and alert, and the fire in him burned even brighter as he grew older. He was very slender, with small face full of