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Scan 40
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
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1so that both these bars are exactly the same; the last two bars, however, have a little chromatic cadence leading into the second subject. The direction over the first two bars is 'poco ritenuto,' and over the last two 'rallentando,' by which we may be quite sure that the composer intended the repeated fragment to be played at the same speed in each bar, and the chromatic cadence to be slackened gradually.
3Ritenente is used by Beethoven in the PF. Sonata, op. 110, about the middle of the first movement, and again in the Sonata, op. 111, in the first movement, in the seventh and fifteenth bars from the beginning of the Allegro con brio. It would seem that the same effect is intended as if 'ritenuto' were employed; in each case, the words 'meno mosso' might have been used. Beethoven prefers Ritardando to Rallentando, which latter is common only in his earlier works.
5RAMANN, LINA, musical writer and educationist, was born at Mainstockheim, near Kitzingen, in Bavaria, June 24, 1833. Her turn for music and her determination to succeed were evident from a very early age. It was not, however, till her seventeenth year that she had any instruction in music. At that time her parents removed to Leipzig, and from 1850 to 1853 she there enjoyed the advantage of pianoforte lessons from the wife of Dr. F. Brendel, herself formerly a scholar of Field's. From this period she adopted the career of a teacher of music, and studied assiduously, though without help, for that end. After a period of activity in America, she opened (in 1858) an institute in Glückstadt (Holstein) for the special training of music-mistresses, and maintained it till 1865, in which year she founded a more important establishment, the Music School at Nuremberg, in conjunction with Frau Ida Volkmann of Tilsit, and assisted by a staff of superior teachers, under Frl. Ramann's own superintendence. The school was transferred to Aug. Göllerich in 1890, when Frl. Ramann moved to Munich. With a view to the special object of her life she has published two works—Die Musik als Gegenstand der Erziehung (Leipzig: Merseburger, 1868), and Allgemeine Erzieh- und Unterrichts-lehre der Jugend (Leipzig: H. Schmidt, 1869; 2nd ed. 1873), which were both received with favour by the German press. From 1860 she was musical correspondent of the Hamburg Jahreszeiten. A volume of her essays contributed to that paper has been collected and published, under the title of Aus der Gegenwart (Nuremberg: Schmid, 1868). In the early part of 1880 she published a study of Liszt's 'Christus' (Leipzig, Kahnt), and later in the year the first volume of a Life of Liszt, completed in two volumes in 1894 (Leipzig, Breitkopf). The first portion was translated by Mrs. S. H. Eddy, Chicago, and by Miss E. Cowdery, and published in two vols. in 1882. This is an important work. It suffers somewhat from over-enthusiasm, but it is done with great care, minuteness, and intelligence, and obviously profited largely by direct information from Liszt himself. She also edited Liszt's writings (1880-83, in six volumes). Her cousin,
7BRUNO RAMANN, was born April 17, 1832, at Erfurt, and was brought up to commerce, but his desire and talent for music were so strong, that in 1857 or 1858 he succeeded in getting rid of his business and put himself under Dr. F. Brendel and Riedel, for regular instruction. He then for five years studied under Hauptmann at Leipzig, and was a teacher and composer at Dresden from 1867 until his death, March 13, 1897. His works are numerous, but they consist almost entirely of songs for one or more voices, and of small and more or less sentimental pieces for the pianoforte. He also wrote poetry, and some dramatic pieces. G.
9RAMEAU, JEAN PHILIPPE, eminent composer, and writer on the theory of music, born at Dijon, Oct. 23, 1683,1 in the house now No. 5 Rue St. Michel. His father,2 Jean, was a musician, and organist of Dijon cathedral, in easy circumstances. He intended Jean Philippe, the eldest of his three sons, to be a magistrate, but his strong vocation for music and obstinacy of character frustrated these views. According to his biographers he played the harpsichord at seven, and read at sight any piece of music put before him: music indeed absorbed him to such an extent when at the Jesuit College that he neglected his classical studies, and was altogether so refractory that his parents were requested to remove him. Henceforth he never opened a book, unless it were a musical treatise. He quickly mastered the harpsichord, and studied the organ and violin with success, but there was no master in Dijon capable of teaching him to write music, and he was left to discover for himself the laws of harmony and composition.
11At the age of seventeen he fell in love with a young widow in the neighbourhood, who indirectly did him good service, since the shame which he felt at the bad spelling of his letters drove him to write correctly. To break off this acquaintance his father sent him, in 1701, to Italy, where, however, he did not remain long, a mistake which, in after life, he regretted. He liked Milan, and indeed the attractions of so great a centre of music must have been great; but for some unknown reason he soon left with a theatrical manager whom he accompanied as first violin to Marseilles, Lyons, Nîmes, Montpellier, and other places in the south of France. How long the tour lasted it is impossible to ascertain, as no letters belonging to this period are to be found. From his 'Premier Livre de
131 [The date of birth is taken from the composer's monument at Dijon: the first edition of this Dictionary gives the more usual date, Sept. 25, 1683.]
142 His mother's name was Claudine Demartinécourt.
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