Gioacchino Antonio Rossini wrote in a letter to Leopoldo Cicognara, Feb, 1817.
Here are my ideas on the present state of music. Ever since the five notes were added to the harpsichord (after 1750),
I have maintained that a dire revolution was brewing in our art which at that time, had reached perfection: for experience has shown that when we wish perforce to achieve the best, we fall into the worst.
Haydn had already begun to corrupt purity of taste by introducing strange chords, artificial passages and daring novelties into his compositions, but he still preserved a sublimity and traditional beauty which would seem to excuse his deviations..
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