Charles Burney

The Present State of Music in France and Italy (2nd, corrected edition)

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Paris

changed throughout the rest of Europe;
yet the French, commonly accused
of more levity and caprice than their
neighbours, have stood still in music
for thirty or forty years: nay, one may
go still further, and assert boldly, that it
has undergone few changes at the great
opera since Lulli's time, that is to say, in
one hundred years. In short, notwith-
standing they can both talk and write so
well, and so much about it, music in
France, with respect to the two great
essentials of melody and expression *, may
still be said to be in its infancy.

But to return to Mr. Royer's opera of
Zaide, which, in point of melody, of
light and shade, or contrast, and of effect,
is miserable, and below all criticism: but
at the same time it must be allowed that
the theatre is elegant and noble; that