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Stendhal's Rome, Naples, And Florence

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Rome, Naples, and Florence is a book that details the French author Stendhal’s journey through Italy. Visiting Rome, Stendhal attends papal mass at the Sistine Chapel. And during the mass, he is provided an opportunity to listen to the famous castrati of Sistine choir. He is disturbed by what he hears. Stendhal describes it as demonic howling. “No, forsooth! Never did I, in all my days, endure so demonic caterwauling.”(450)The only thing that distracts him from the terrible choir is the beautiful ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This theme of criticizing Roman music recurrences throughout the book. At one point, he mentions that German musicians are more skillful than the Roman musician. Another example of his distaste for Roman music is during

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