{"id":1188,"date":"2019-04-09T16:14:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T16:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cantataeditions.co.uk\/clone\/?page_id=1188"},"modified":"2019-04-19T12:33:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T12:33:14","slug":"domenico-scarlatti-cantate-da-camera","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cantataeditions.co.uk\/clone\/articles\/domenico-scarlatti-cantate-da-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenico Scarlatti: Cantate da Camera"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018Before his time, the eye was made the sovereign judge of music, but Scarlatti swore allegiance only to the ear.’
Contributor: Kate Eckersley<\/em>
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With this statement, the 18th century music historian Charles Burney expressed one of the principal differences between the traditionalists and the progressives of the musical world, and claimed for Scarlatti a position of great importance in the emergence of new modes of musical expression. The quarrel of the ancients and modems, that perennial conflict between old and new musical styles, was finding full expression in mid-18th century England, whereScarlatti enjoyed his widest popularity. Here, they exchanged arguments and insults with vigour and abandon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ancients held to the safety of music which had pleased their ancestors, and convinced of the timeless excellence of their taste, they elevated their chosen music into ‘a True Sublime which cannot vary as the humour of the world does, but is founded in Nature and Reason and has the sanction of experience\u2019 [Jones of Nayland]. Sobriety, balanced judgment and an emphasis on learning were the virtues upheld by the ancients, against what they saw as the destruction of the dignity and craft of music by the modern hoards. And at the root of the conflict was the argument of ‘eye\u2019 versus \u2018ear’ music. If, as the modems claimed, \u2018the Knowledge of the Nature of all Sounds depend upon the Sense of Hearing\u2019<\/em> [Lampel and ‘the Ear, not the Eye, must distinguish its [music\u2019s] Beauties\u2019<\/em> [Burney), then the whole practice and appreciation of music was thrown wide open, and anyone with ears was qualified to pass judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n