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
inscription "_Corelli princeps musicorum_," was erected to his memory,
adjacent that honoring the memory of Raffaelle in the Pantheon. He
accumulated a considerable fortune, and left a valuable collection of
pictures. The solos of Corelli have been adopted as valuable studies by
the most eminent modern players and teachers.

Francesco Geminiani was the most remarkable of Corelli's pupils. Born at
Lucca in 1680, he finished his studies under Corelli at Rome, and spent
several years with great musical _eclat_ at Naples. In 1714 he went
to England, in which country he spent many years. His execution was of
great excellence, but his compositions only achieved temporary favor.
His life is said to have been full of romance and incident. Geminiani's
connection with Handel has a special musical interest. The king, who
arrived in England in September, 1714, and was crowned at Westminster a
month later, was irritated with Handel for having left Germany, where he
held the position of chapel-master to George, when Elector of Brunswick,
and still more so by his having composed a _Te Deum_ on the Peace of
Utrecht, which was not favorably regarded by the Protestant princes of
Germany. Baron Kilmanseck, a Hanoverian, and a great admire