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Rh Alessandro Scarlatti, Archangelo Corelli, Bernardo Pasquini, and Benedetto Marcello. A similar élite society was found at the soirées of the Cardinal Ottoboni. Every Monday, in the palace of Ottoboni, as at the meetings of the Arcadia, concerts and poetical recitations were given. The Cardinal Prince, Superintendent of the Pontifical chapel, had in his service the finest orchestra in Italy, and the singers of the Sistine Chapel. At the Arcadia there was also to be heard a numerous orchestra, under the direction of Corelli, of Pasquini, or of Scarlatti. Musical and poetical improvisation was also given there. It was that which provoked the artistic jousts between poets and musicians. It was for the concerts at the palace of Ottoboni that Handel