Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/330

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318
CARTIER.
CASINI.

to have revived the noble traditions of the old Italian school of violin -playing by publishing new editions of the works of Corelli, Tartini, Nardini and other great masters, which at that time were all but unknown in France. He thereby caused not only his own numerous pupils but all the young French violinists of his time to take up the study of these classical works for the violin. In his work 'L'art du violon' (Paris 1798 and 1801) Cartier gives a comprehensive selection from the violin music of the best Italian, French, and German masters, which is rightly regarded as a practical history of violin-literature in the 17th and 18th centuries.

It is much to be regretted that a history of violin-playing, which he wrote, has never been made public. His compositions are of no importance. He published Sonatas in the style of Lolli, Etudes, and Duos for violins. Fétis also mentions two Operas, two Symphonies and Violin-concertos, which have remained in MS.

[ P. D. ]

CARTONI, a barytone engaged at the King's Theatre in 1822, at a salary of £700, on the recommendation of Camporese. For his musical education he was indebted entirely to his wife. He made his first appearance as the King in Pacini's 'Il Barone di Dolsheim,' and, although not possessed of first-rate talents, was a respectable performer.

[ J. M. ]

CARULLI, Ferdinando, an eminent guitarist, born at Naples 1770, died in Paris 1841 [App. p.582 "Feb. 10"]. Though self-taught he attained a perfection of execution hitherto unknown on the guitar, and on his arrival in Paris created a perfect furore. In the space of twelve years he published 300 compositions, including a 'Method' which passed through four editions. He was also the author of 'L'Harmonie appliquée à la Guitare' (Paris, 1825), a treatise on the art of accompanying, which was the first work of its kind.

CARUSO, Luigi, born at Naples 1754 [App. p.582 "Sept. 25"], died at Perugia 1822; son of a musician at Naples, studied under Nicolo Sala, composed in all sixty operas (for list see Fétis) of which the first was 'Il Barone di Trocchia' (Naples, 1773), and the last 'L'Avviso ai Maritati' (Rome, 1810). His 'Artaserse' was performed in London in 1774. He also composed four oratorios, four cantatas, and masses, etc., of a style more dramatic than ecclesiastical. He is said to have lived for some time in Paris and Germany, and to have been conductor at Palermo. He had a brother Emmanuele, also a musician.

CASALI, Giovanni Battista. Chapel-master of St. John Lateran in Rome from 1759 till his death 1792. An opera of his, 'Campaspe,' was produced at Venice 1740. Grétry was his pupil for two years in Rome, but Casali did not detect his talent, and sent him back with a letter of introduction in which he described the great opera writer as 'a nice fellow, but a thorough ass and ignoramus in music.' Casali's works comprise 4 masses, motets, magnificats, and many other pieces for the church. He wrote in a very pure style, though without much invention. A mass and 4 other pieces are given by Lück (Sammlung, 1859), and an 'O quam suavis,' a pretty melodious movement, by Novello, from Choron.

[ G. ]

CASARINI, Signora, sometimes called CASARINA, an Italian soprano engaged in London for Handel's operas in 1748. She appeared in 'Alexander Balus' and 'Joshua.'

[ J. M. ]

CASE, John, M.D., a native of Woodstock, was a chorister, first at New College and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford. [App. p.582 adds that "he became a Scholar of St. John's College in 1564, and that he took the degree of B.A. in 1568, and that of M.A. in 1572. (Dict. of Nat. Biog.)"] He subsequently became a fellow of St. John's College, which he vacated on marriage, when he established himself in Oxford as a lecturer to private pupils on philosophy, for which he enjoyed a high and deserved reputation. In 1586 he published 'The Praise of Musicke,' and in 1588 'Apologia Musices tam vocalis tam instrumentalis et mixtæ.' Thomas Watson wrote a song in his praise, which was set to music by William Byrd. He died Jan. 23, 1599–1600.

CASENTINI, Signora, a good singer in the comic style, appeared at the Pantheon in London in 1791, taking the principal part in Paisiello's 'Locanda,' and other operas. Lord Mount-Edgcumbe describes her as 'a pretty woman and genteel actress.' In 93 she had married Borghi, second violin at the opera, and was singing at the King's Theatre; but she was not in good health, and her voice was too weak for that house. Her later history is not known.

[ J. M. ]

CASINI, Giovanni Maria, was a Florentine priest, and born towards the close of the 17th century. Fétis gives 1675 as the date of his birth, but it is not ascertained. He came to Rome early in life, but not before he had learnt the elements of counterpoint in his native town. At Rome he was successively the pupil of Matteo Simonelli and Bernardo Pasquini, under the last-named of whom he perfected himself as an organ player. The only post which he is known to have held was that of organist in the cathedral of Florence. He was simply a perverse man of talent who elected to join the ranks, and to add one or two more to the absurdities, of those musical reactionists who tried to stop the progress of the art in the 17th century. He followed in the wake of Doni Vicentino and Colonna in endeavouring to revive the three old Greek 'genera' of progression, viz. the diatonic, the chromatic, and the enharmonic. Fétis, indeed, says that, as several enthusiastic pedants of his class had done before him, he constructed a clavecin in which the notes represented by the black keys were subdivided, so as to obtain an exact equalisation of the semitones. Baini does not carry him this length, but only states him to have adopted the views of those who thus wasted their labour and ingenuity. In his account of Casini the last-named biographer tells us that the most celebrated of these instruments was one which he purchased himself from motives of patriotism to prevent such a curiosity being taken out of Italy. It was a cembalo, which had been constructed in 1606 at the ex-