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In response to Stephen Jablonsky's comments on the seemingly inverse proportion between the length of a harmony textbook and its efficiency in providing practical training, it might be interesting to note that Nicola Porpora, the principal teacher of Farinelli and Haydn, used a single page as the basis for five or six years' of training in singing and bel canto improvisation. The thoroughbass manuals that formed the cornerstone of musical education in the 17th and 18th centuries usually contained around 50 pages or less. The 55 pages of Fenaroli (1775) would fit onto approximately 15 pages of a modern textbook.</div>
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Less is more?</div>
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Nicholas Baragwanath</div>
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University of Nottingham</div>
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nicholas.baragwanath@nottingham.ac.uk</div>
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