PREFACE.
The
Design of this Entertainment being to introduce
the Italian manner of Musick on the English Stage,
which has not been before attempted; I was oblig'd
to have an Italian Opera translated: In which the Words,
however mean in several Places, suited much better with
that manner of Musick, than others more Poetical would do.
The Stile of this Musick is to express the Passions, which
is the Soul of Musick: And though the Voices are not equal
to the Italian, yet I have engag'd the Best that were to be
found in England; and I have not been wanting, to the
utmost of my Diligence, in the Instructing of them.
The Musick being Recitative, may not, at first, meet
with that General Acceptation, as is to be hop'd for from
the Audience's being better acquainted with it: But if this
Attempt shall, by pleasing the Nobility and Gentry, be a
Means of bringing this manner of Musick to be us'd in my
Native Country, I shall think all my Study and Pains very
well employ'd.
Your Humble Servant, Thomas Clayton.
