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Scan 540
Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians, 1919
10 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1dram. rôles; 1898–1900, at the court th. in Weimar; 1900–2, at Wiesbaden; after that she sang as star at the principal German opera houses; 1906 at Bayreuth as Kundry; 1908 at the M. O. H. in the Wagner rôles; since 1912 member of the Berlin R. Opera. She is 'Kgl. Preuss. Kammersängerin,' and has been decorated with many orders by the Emperor and several German princes. Her favorite rôles are Rezia, Selica, Armide, Fidelio, Isolde, and the three Brünnhildes.
3Leginska (recte Leggins), Ethel, concert-pianist; b. Hull, England, 1883. St. 4 years at the Hoch Cons. in Frankfort, and 3 years with Leschetizky in Vienna; début in London, followed by tours of Europe; Amer. début at New York, Jan. 20, 1913, in recital. She leaped into fame with her recital of Nov. 16, 1914, when she played a program consisting of Chopin's Sonata (op. 35) and all the études (op. 10 and 25). Her playing is characterized by masculine vigor, dashing brilliancy and great variety of tonal color; withal, her transcendent technic is too much in evidence, for she does not sufficiently subordinate her own personality to that of the composer.
5Legouix [lū-gwē'], Isidore-Édouard, b. Paris, Apr. 1, 1834; pupil of Reber and Ambr. Thomas at the Cons.; has brought out 4 operas and about 10 operettas without marked popular success.
7Legren'zi, Giovanni, celebrated comp. of sacred and secular music; b. Clusone, n. Bergamo, c. 1625; d. Venice, May 26, 1690. Pupil of Pallavicino; organist at Bergamo; maestro di cappella to the Duke of Ferrara, and prod. his first opera, Achille in Sciro, at Ferrara in 1663; from 1664 in Venice, becoming director of the Cons. de' Mendicanti in 1672, and in 1685 succeeding Natale Montferrato as maestro at San Marco, where he enlarged the orch. to 34 pieces (8 violins, 11 violette [small viols], 2 tenor viols, 3 viole da gamba and bass viols, 4 theorbos, 2 cornette, 1 bassoon, and 3 trombones). His 18 operas show a noteworthy advance over those of his predecessors in the orchestral support of the vocal parts, and he treats the recitative and the melodic phrase with greater freedom. He was one of the first to write for 2 violins and violoncello, and one of the most important composers of chamber-music before Corelli. Also a noted teacher; among his pupils were Gasparini, Lotti and Caldara.—Publ. Concerto di messe e salmi a 3–4 con violini (1654); Mottetti da 2–4 voci (1655); Mottetti a 5 voci (1660); Sacri e festivi concerti, messe e salmi a due cori (1657); Sentimenti devoti (2 e 3 voci, 1660; 2 vols.); Complete con litanie ed antifona della Beata Vergine (a 5; 1662); Cantate e canzonette a voce sola (1674); Idee armoniche (a 2 and 3; 1678); Echi di riverenza (14 cantatas for solo voice; 1679); Mottetti sacri con voce sola con 3 strumenti (1692); Suonate per chiesa (1655); Suonate da chiesa e da camera a tre (1656); Una muta di suonate (1664); Suonate a 2 violini e violone (w. org. continuo; 1667); La Cetra (sonatas for 2–4 instrs.; 1673); Suonate a 2 violini e violoncello (1677); Suonate da chiesa e da camera (1693).—See Q.-Lex.
9Lehár [lā'hahr], Franz, born Komorn (Komárom), Hungary, Apr. 30, 1870. He was first instructed in music by his father, L. Franz (1840–98), a military bandmaster; from 1882–8 he st. at the Prague Cons. under A. Bennewitz (vl.), J. Förster (theory). In 1885 Fibich became interested in the youth, and gave him lessons in comp., although L. continued his regular courses at the Cons. Two years later L. submitted two pf.-sonatas (G, D m.) to Dvořák, whose advice was to the effect that L. should devote himself entirely to composition. After leaving the Cons. L. accepted a position as first violinist in the theatre-orch. at Elberfeld, but as the duties were heavy and left him no time for composition, he left after a year; he then ent. his father's band (50th Infantry) at Vienna as asst.-cond.; from 1890–1902 he was cond. of various bands; in the spring of 1902 he became cond. at the Th. an der Wien, which position he resigned after the pronounced success of his Wiener Frauen there in Nov. of that year. Since then he has been living in Vienna, devoting himself entirely to comp. L. is deservedly one of the most popular composers of light opera; his music, like that of his famous predecessors, Strauss and Suppé, makes an instant appeal through its unaffected simplicity, piquant rhythm and beautiful melody; like theirs, the scores of L. are also well written and orchestrated. His greatest success is still Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow; Vienna, Dec. 30, 1905); in the U. S. alone it has had over 5,000 performances; in Vienna, Berlin, New York, Paris and London the numbers of perfs. exceeds 1,000 in each city; in Buenos Aires it was played simultaneously in five theatres and five languages (1907). Through this one work both composer and publisher have become millionaires. L. is Knight of the Order of Isabella (Spain), of the Sun and of the Lion (Persia), and Officer of Public Instruction (France).—Works: The opera Kukuška (Leipzig, 1896; rewritten as Tatjana, Brünn, 1905); and the operettas (all premières at Vienna) Wiener Frauen (1902; in Berlin as Der Klavierstimmer; rewritten as Der Schlüssel zum Paradiese, Leipzig, 1906), Der Rastelbinder (1902), Die Juxheirat (1904), Der Göttergatte (1904), Die lustige Witwe (1905), Peter und Paul reisen ins Schlaraffenland (1906), Mitislav, der Moderne (1907), Edelweiss und Rosenstock (priv.
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