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Scan 57
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
18 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026. Printed page 33. See the scan on archive.org.
1REBER
2seems to have been the sole author of a 'Pastorale héroïque' (1730).]
3From 1733 to 1744 Rebel and Francœur were joint leaders of the Académie orchestra, and in 1753 were appointed managers. They soon, however, retired in disgust at the petty vexations they were called upon to endure. Louis XV. made them surintendants of his music, with the Order of St. Michel. In March 1757 these inseparable friends obtained the privilege of the Opéra, and directed it for ten years on their own account, with great administrative ability.
4Rebel died in Paris, Nov. 7, 1775. He composed some cantatas, a Te Deum, and a De Profundis, performed at the Concerts Spirituels, but all his music is now forgotten, excepting a lively air in the first finale of 'Pyrame et Thisbé' which was adapted to a much-admired pas seul of Mlle. de Camargo, thence became a popular contredanse—the first instance of such adaptation—and in this form is preserved in the 'Clé du Caveau,' under the title of 'La Camargo.' [A very interesting account of the family, with detailed notices of the music of G. F. Rebel, appeared in the Sammelbände of the Int. Mus. Ges. vol. vii. p. 253, by M. L. de la Laurencie.]
5G. C.
6REBER, NAPOLÉON-HENRI, born at Müllhausen, Oct. 21, 1807; at twenty entered the Paris Conservatoire, studying counterpoint and fugue under Seuriot and Jelensperger, and composition under Lesueur. Circumstances led him to compose chamber-music, after the success of which he attempted opera. His music to the second act of the charming ballet 'Le Diable amoureux' (Sept. 23, 1840) excited considerable attention, and was followed at the Opéra-Comique by 'La Nuit de Noël,' three acts (Feb. 9, 1848), 'Le Père Gaillard,' three acts (Sept. 7, 1852), 'Les Papillotes de M. Benoît,' one act (Dec. 28, 1853), and 'Les Dames Capitaines,' three acts (June 3, 1857). In these works he strove to counteract the tendency towards noise and bombast then so prevalent both in French and Italian opera, and to show how much may be made out of the simple natural materials of the old French opéra-comique by the judicious use of modern orchestration.
7In 1851 he was appointed Professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, and in 1853 the well-merited success of 'Le Père Gaillard' procured his election to the Institut as Onslow's successor. Soon after this he renounced the theatre, and returned to chamber-music. He also began to write on music, and his Traité d'Harmonie (1862) went through many editions, and is without comparison the best work of its kind in France. The outline is simple and methodical, the classification of the chords easy to follow and well connected, the explanations luminously clear, the exercises practical and well calculated to develop musical taste—in a word, everything combines to make it one of the safest and most valuable of instruction-books. The second part especially, dealing with 'accidental' notes—or, notes foreign to the constitution of chords—contains novel views, and observations throwing light upon points and rules of harmony which before were obscure and confused.
8In 1862 M. Reber succeeded Halévy as Professor of composition at the Conservatoire; since 1871 he was also Inspector of the succursales or branches of the Conservatoire. He died in Paris, after a short illness, Nov. 24, 1880, and was succeeded as Professor by M. Saint-Saëns.
9His compositions comprise four symphonies, a quintet and three quartets for strings, one PF. ditto, seven trios, duets for PF. and violin, and PF. pieces for two and four hands. Portions of his ballet 'Le Diable amoureux' have been published for orchestra, and are performed at concerts. In 1875 he produced a cantata called 'Roland,' but 'Le Ménétrier à la cour,' opéra-comique, and 'Naïm,' grand opera in five acts, have never been performed, though the overtures are engraved. His best vocal works are his melodies for a single voice, but he has composed choruses for three and four men's voices, and some sacred pieces.
10G. C.
11RECITA (Ital.), 'performance.'
12RECITAL, a term which has come into use in England to signify a performance of solo music by one performer. It was probably first used by Liszt at his performance at the Hanover Square Rooms, June 9, 1840, though as applying to the separate pieces and not to the whole performance. The advertisement of the concert says that 'M. Liszt will give Recitals on the Pianoforte of the following pieces.' The name was afterwards adopted by Hallé and others, and is in the present day often applied to concerts when two or more soloists take part.
13The term Opera Recital is used for a concert in which the music of an opera is sung without costume or action.
14G.
15RECITATIVE (Ital. Recitativo; Germ. Recitativ; Fr. Récitatif; from the Latin Recitare). A species of declamatory music, extensively used in those portions of an Opera, an Oratorio, or a Cantata, in which the action of the drama is too rapid, or the sentiment of the poetry too changeful, to adapt itself to the studied rhythm of a regularly constructed Aria.
16The invention of Recitative marks a crisis in the history of music, scarcely less important than that to which we owe the discovery of harmony. Whether the strange conception in which it originated was first clothed in tangible form by Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, or Emilio del Cavalieri, is a question which has never been decided.
17Thus first launched upon the world, for the purpose of giving a new impetus to the progress
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