interrupt the conversation.

In 1708, according to Dubourg, Corelli accepted a royal invitation
from Naples, and took with him his second violin, Matteo, and a
violoncellist, in case he should not be well accompanied by the
Neapolitan orchestra. He had no sooner arrived than he was asked to play
some of his concertos before the king. This he refused, as the whole of
his orchestra was not with him, and there was no time for a rehearsal.
However, he soon found that the Neapolitan musicians played the
orchestral parts of his concertos as well as his own accompanists did
after some practice; for, having at length consented to play the first
of his concertos before the court, the accompaniment was so good
that Corelli is said to have exclaimed to Matteo: "_Si suona a
Napoli!_"--"They _do_ play at Naples!" This performance being quite
successful, he was presented to the king, who afterward requested him
to perform one of his sonatas; but his Majesty found the adagio "so
long and so dry that he got up and _left the room_ (!), to the great
mortification of the eminent virtuoso." As the king had commanded the
piece, the least he could have done would have been to have waited
till it was finished. "If they play at Naples, they are not very polite
there," poor Corelli must have thought! Another unfortunate mishap also
occurred to him there, if we are to believe the dictum of Geminiani,
one of Corelli's pupils, who had preceded him at Naples. It would appear
that he was appointed to lead a composition of Scarlatti's, and on
arriving at an air in C minor he led off in C major, which mistake he
twice repeated, till Scarlatti came on the stage and showed him the
difference. This anecdote, however, is so intrinsically improbable
that it must be taken with several "grains of salt." In 1712 Corelli's
concertos were beautifully engraved at Amsterdam, but the composer only
survived the publication a few weeks. A beautiful statue, bearing the