Books › Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1904 › scan 105
Scan 105
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1904
25 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 82. See the scan on archive.org.
1nations. The operas, with one exception, were all produced in Prague, where they met with great success. Their titles and dates of production are as follow: 'Die Jungfrau von Orleans,' 1887; 'Satanella,' 1888; 'Emmerich Fortunat,' 1889; 'Donna Diana,' 1894; 'Till Eulenspiegel,' 1901. Of these the most celebrated is 'Donna Diana,' a comic opera, of which the scene is laid in the castle of Don Diego at Barcelona, at the period of the independence of Catalonia; the libretto is by Moreto. 'Till Eulenspiegel' is a 'folk-opera,' dealing with the jokes of the well-known German comical character; it was produced at Carlsruhe, on the date given above, and repeated at Berlin in 1903.
3[His compositions include a Requiem for Schmeykal, for chorus, orchestra, and organ; a Mass in F for the Jubilee of the Emperor Francis Joseph II. (1898); 'Ruhm und Ewigkeit,' a poem of Fr. Nietzsche set for tenor voice and orchestra; a Comedy Overture, a Symphonic Suite in E minor, and another in D major; some songs and piano pieces; a String Quartet in C minor; an Idyllic Overture (Berlin: Nikisch, 1903); a Tragic Symphony in D minor (Berlin: Weingartner, 1904); Three Volkslieder for voice and small orchestra (Kammer-Orchester-Konzerte, 1905); Ironic Symphony, B major (do.); a String Quartet in C# minor (Berlin: Dessau Quartet, 1906); Nachtstück for 'cello, with accompaniment for harp, four horns, and string quartet; a Serenade for strings, and an Introduction and Valse-Caprice for violin and orchestra (Kammer-Orchester-Konzerte, 1906); Fugue in C# minor, originally for strings, and subsequently for full orchestra.]
5D. H.; additions by H. V. H.
7RHAMES, a family of Dublin music-publishers. Benjamin Rhames was established, about the year 1765, at 16 Upper Blind Quay, at the sign of the Sun. Dr. W. H. Grattan Flood informs the writer that the father, Aaron Rhames, was issuing sheet-music in Dublin, circa 1729 to 1732. Benjamin Rhames was in an extensive way of trade, and published great quantities of single sheet songs, mainly of contemporary English music. He was succeeded by his widow, Elizabeth, about 1773 or 1775. In the year 1776 the name Upper Blind Quay was altered into Exchange Street, and the later imprints of Elizabeth Rhames bear the new address with the same number, 16. She remained in business until about the year 1790, when Francis Rhames, her son, took over the concern and greatly increased the output of music sheets. In or near the year 1811 Paul Alday bought the business and remained at the same address until 1823 or 1824, removing then to 10 Dame Street. Elizabeth Rhames and her son published, among other Irish works, pieces by Sir John Stevenson, the copyright of which, after being held by Alday, was transferred to James Power of London. F. K.
9RHAPSODY. The Greek Rhapsodist ('Paψ-ωδος) was a professional reciter or chaunter of epic poetry. 'Paψωδια is the Greek title of each book of the Homeric poems, the first book of the Iliad being 'Paψωδια A, and so forth. The Rhapsody was the song of the Rhapsode; a sequel of Rhapsodies when sung in succession or written down so as to form a series, constituted an epic poem, and when a long poem was chanted in sections at different times and by different singers it was said to be rhapsodised. one of two readings
10RHAPSODY. The Greek Rhapsodist ('Paψωδος) was a professional reciter or chaunter of epic poetry. 'Paψωδια is the Greek title of each book of the Homeric poems, the first book of the Iliad being 'Paψωδια A, and so forth. The Rhapsody was the song of the Rhapsode; a sequel of Rhapsodies when sung in succession or written down so as to form a series, constituted an epic poem, and when a long poem was chanted in sections at different times and by different singers it was said to be rhapsodised. one of two readings
12The usual derivation of 'Paψωδια is ῥάπτω = I sew, and ωδή = song, ode. one of two readings
13The usual derivation of 'Paψωδια is ῥάπτω = I sew, and ψῆν = song, ode. one of two readings
15Musicians might speak, in Hamlet's phrase, of a 'rhapsody of words,' or of tunes—that is to say, of a string of melodies arranged with a view to effective performance in public, but without regular dependence of one part upon another. Such a description would seem to apply pretty closely to Liszt's fifteen Rhapsodies Hongroises, and to his 'Reminiscences d'Espagne' (a fantasia on two Spanish tunes, 'Les Folies d'Espagne' and 'La Jota Aragonesa,' 1844-45) which, in 1863, herepublished as a 'Rhapsodie Espagnole.' The history of the latter piece is similar to that of the Hungarian rhapsodies—portions of which were originally published under the title of 'Mélodies Hongroises—Ungarische Nationalmelodien'—short transcriptions of Hungarian tunes as they are played by the wandering bands of Gipsies, the national musicians of Hungary. The prototype of these 'melodies' in all probability was Schubert's 'Divertissement à la Hongroise,' in G minor, op. 54—a piece Liszt was always fond of, and of which he produced several versions—as of the whole for pianoforte solo, and of the march in C minor for orchestra.1 Liszt's ten sets of 'Mélodies Hongroises' date from 1839 to 1847; the fifteen so-called Rhapsodies Hongroises from 1853 to 1854.
17In 1859 Liszt published a book in French Des Bohémiens et de leur Musique en Hongrie—a late and overgrown preface, as he confesses, to the Rhapsodies. In this brilliant, though at intervals somewhat meretricious work,2 an effort is made to claim for the set of Rhapsodies the dignity of an Hungarian Epic sui generis. Be this as it may, the term 'Rhapsodie' remains as one of Liszt's many happy hits in the way of musical nomenclature.
19Brahms has adopted the term 'Rhapsodie' both in Liszt's sense and in that of the Greek Rhapsodists; and, as usual with him, he has added weight to its significance. His original 'Rhapsodien,' op. 79, for pianoforte solo—in B minor and G minor—are abrupt, impassioned aphoristic pieces of simple and obvious structure, yet solidly put together. The 'Rhapsodie' in C, op. 53, for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra, justifies its title, in the Greek sense, inasmuch as it is a setting—a recitation, a rhapsody—of a portion of Goethe's poem 'Harzreise im Winter'; it, also, is a compact and carefully balanced piece. The last pianoforte piece, in op. 119, is a noble Rhapsody, in which there is perhaps rather more of the quality that is usually called 'rhapsodical' than is to be found in Brahms's other rhapsodies.
21Among later rhapsodies may be named MacKenzie's Scottish Rhapsodies, Stanford's Irish Rhapsodies, German's Welsh Rhapsody, and 'Rhapsody on March Themes.'
231 He played his version of the march in London, April 1886.
242 Like Liszt's Chopin, this book is on good authority reported to be the joint production of himself and certain female friends.
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