consisted of a string of airs connected by recitative, with an
occasional duet, and a chorus to bring down the curtain at the end of
the work. The airs were, as a rule, fully accompanied. Strings,
hautboys, and bassoons formed the groundwork of the orchestra. If
distinctive colouring or sonority were required, the composer used
flutes, horns, harps, and trumpets, while to gain an effect of a special
nature, he would call in the assistance of lutes and mandolins, or
archaic instruments such as the viola da gamba, violetta marina,
cornetto and theorbo. The _recitativo secco_ was accompanied by the
harpsichord, at which the composer himself presided. The _recitativo
stromentato_, or accompanied recitative, was only used to emphasise
situations of special importance. Handel's incomparable genius infused
so much dramatic power into this meagre form, that even now the truth
and sincerity of his songs charm us no less than their extraordinary
melodic beauty. But it is easy to see that in the hands of composers
less richly endowed, this form was fated to degenerate into a mere
concert upon the stage. The science of vocalisation was cultivated to
such a pitch of perfection that composers were tempted, and even
compelled, to consult the tastes of singers rather than dramatic truth.
Handel's successors, such as Porpora and Hasse, without a tithe of his
genius, used such talent as they possessed merely to exhibit the vocal
dexterity of popular singers in the most agreeable light. The favourite
form of entertainment in these degraded times was the pasticcio, a
hybrid production composed of a selection of songs from various popular
operas, often by three or four different composers, strung together
regardless of rhyme or reason. Even in Handel's lifetime the older
school of opera was tottering to its fall. Only the man was needed who
should sweep the mass of insincerity from the stage and replace it by
the purer ideal which had been the guiding spirit of Peri and
Monteverde.