I do not agree with this reasoning.
Rossini and Donizetti have revealed enough genius in some of their
sparkling melodies to make it probable that, if they had not so often
stooped to the level of a taste corrupted by the sopranists, they
might have raised the public to a higher standard of musical taste.
Rossini, in fact, _did_ introduce many reforms in Italian opera. He
enriched the orchestral accompaniments, removed some of the
superfluous arias, and for the first time wrote leading solo parts for
the bass--an innovation for which he was violently attacked, on the
ludicrous conservative ground that the bass could only be properly
used as a basis of harmonies. But Rossini's greatest merit lies in
this, that he refused to write for the sopranists, and would not even
let them sing in those of his operas which were brought out under his
own supervision. Furthermore, to prevent the singers from spoiling his
melodies with their florid additions, "he supplied his own
decorations, and made them so elaborate that the most skilled adorner
would have found it difficult to add to them" (Edwards).
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