imitative style, serious and rather sad, in the old Italian school of Provenzale and Steffani,[1] or in the Lully style, where the two voices mingle together note by note with exactitude.[2] But Atalanta and Poro furnish us also with duets of an alluring freedom and uncommon artistry. And in the duet in the third act of Orlando, Handel attempts to differentiate the characters of the weeping Angelica and the furious Roland.—Similarly with the trios written in the strict style of imitation, like that in Alcina, Act III, the trio in Acis and Galatea carefully defines the couple of lovers from the colossal figure of Polyphemus, the trio in Tamerlano contrasts the exasperated Tamerlano with Bajazet and with Asteria, who aggravated him, and the trio in the judgment of Solomon distinguishes the three diverse characters: the calm power of Solomon, the aggressive cries of the wicked mother, and the sorrowful supplications of the good mother. The trio from Susanna is no less free, but in the humorous style: one of the two old men madrigalises whilst the other menaces. The ensemble forms altogether a most vivid little scene which Mozart himself would not have disowned.[3] Quartets are rare. There are two little ones in the Triumph of
- ↑ Teseo, duet, Addio, mio caro bene; Esther, duet by Esther and Ahasuerus: "Who calls my parting soul?"
- ↑ Arminio (1737), duet from Act III. It is to be noticed that Arminio opens also with a duet, a very exceptional thing.
Other duets are in the Sicilian style, as, for instance, that in Giulio Cesare, or in the popular English style of the hornpipe, as that of Teofane and Otho in Ottone; A' teneri affetti. - ↑ There are to be found also some fine trios in a serious yet virile style in the Passion according to Brockes (trio of the believing souls: O Donnerwort!) and in the Chandos Anthems.
