The title of this album is a little misleading. In England as in France, there was resistance to the charms of Italian opera in the early eighteenth century; the phrase "foreign insult" comes from a screed bewailing the "Italian squalling tribe" and combining anti-Catholicism with misogyny as it goes on to condemn the "Popery in wit" and "unadorn'd Efffeminacy" of imported operas and plays. But there was little if any resistance to the hugely successful instrumental music penned by foreign composers, Handel being the most ...
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The title of this album is a little misleading. In England as in France, there was resistance to the charms of Italian opera in the early eighteenth century; the phrase "foreign insult" comes from a screed bewailing the "Italian squalling tribe" and combining anti-Catholicism with misogyny as it goes on to condemn the "Popery in wit" and "unadorn'd Efffeminacy" of imported operas and plays. But there was little if any resistance to the hugely successful instrumental music penned by foreign composers, Handel being the most famous, who followed the money to prosperous London. Other editorial errors are on view in the booklet; the deathdate of Francesco Barsanti, for example, is given as 1722 rather than 1772.No matter. Accurately titled or not, this is a superb recording of English Baroque music. It captures the crackling commercial energy that united the music of the Germans and Italians at work in the English capital. Most interesting of all are the four short selections from A Collection of Old Scots...
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