Scan 146
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Lucrezia Borgia was a famous dancer and, in this connection, it may be mentioned that the Italian dances of the upper classes only attained perfection when they passed into France. Some of these, because of their soft gliding movements, were called Dances Basses and were often performed to the accompaniment of psalms. It is difficult to repress a smile upon learning that of all dance-measures Charles IX. most esteemed Psalm cxxix, but it paves the way for a calmer acceptance of the fact that the Cardinals of Narbonne and St. Severin and Cardinal Hercule d'Este were fond of the diversion, and that all the fathers danced at the Council of Trent in 1526.
3Italy was the home of the modern ballet, whose growth may be traced almost side by side with that of opera. Probably the most famous of the Italian dances is the tarantella, as closely associated with that country as the fandango is with Spain. It is peculiar to Naples and its vicinity. The tarantella is supposed to have originated in the ancient province of Apulia in Southern Italy, where it was thought that a person suffering from the bite of the tarantula could be cured only by dancing until complete exhaustion overtook him. To the traveler, it is still one of the most interesting features of Neapolitan life. It is danced by a man and a woman and sometimes by two or three women and its time is gradually accelerated until the performers are revolving at a high rate of speed. Irregular variations of the major and minor characterize the music, and the time is marked by the dancers, usually by means of the tambourine and the large Neapolitan castanets. It is sometimes accompanied by the violin or the flute and pipe.
5The tarantella has been successfully utilized by many composers, notably Weber in the last movement of his "Sonata in E flat" and Mendelssohn in his "Italian Symphony." Bellini gives a hint of it in the opening chorus of "La Sonnambula." It appears in Auber's "Masaniello" and "Fra Diavolo." Rossini wrote a piquant vocal tarantella entitled "La Danza," and Rosetti employs it in a waltz.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.