nels the four principal dancers accompanied them in "a ballet
enlivened with capers," and at the close of the performance stanzas were
sung, alternating with dances to be executed "sedately and
reverentially."

Emilio del Cavaliere was followed by a long line of Italian oratorio
composers who contributed to amplify and enrich this form of composition.
Among the earliest of these writers were Carissimi, Stradella, Scarlatti,
Mazzocchi, Federici, Pistocchi, Caldara, and Colonna. Carissimi perfected
the recitative and invested the music with more importance, giving it
something like equal rank with the dramatic character of the composition.
It was during his time that the personage known as "Historicus" was
introduced, who continued the action with explanatory passages between
the numbers,--a modern illustration of which may be found in the
"Narrator," as used by Gounod in his "Redemption." Carissimi employed
this expedient, and made it very effective. It is also claimed that he
was the first to introduce the cantata as a form of church music, and the
accompaniment of violins in motet performances. His most famous oratorios
are "Jephte," "Abraham et Isaac," "Le Jugement Dernier," and "Judicium
Salomonis." Of the first named, Hawkins says: "It consists of recitative,
airs, and chorus; and for sweetness of melody, artful modulation, and
original harmony, is justly esteemed one of the finest efforts of musical
skill and genius that the world knows of." Stradella, whose romantic
history is familiar to every one, is chiefly remembered by his attachment
for Hortensia, the vengeance of the Venetian lover which followed them so
long, and the song which saved the composer's life from the assassins.
This song was from his own oratorio, "St. John the Baptist," first
performed in the Church of St. John Lateran at Rome. Burney, who examined
the score, says: "The recitative is in general excellent, and there is
scarce a movement among the airs in which genius, skill, and study do not
appear." He also observes that this oratorio is the first work in which
the proper sharps and flats are generally placed at the clef. Scarlatti,
born in 1659, was a composer of great originality, as well as
versatility. He has left, in addition to his numerous operas and
cantatas, several oratorios, the most famous of which are "I Dolori di
Maria sempre Vergine," "Il Sagrifizio d' Abramo," "Il Martirio di Santa
Teodosia," and "La Concezzione della beata Verg