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Scan 124
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904
4 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 116. See the scan on archive.org.
1return to England, he was active as a teacher and performer in London, being regular accompanist at the 'Wednesday concerts,' where Braham and other eminent singers were to be heard. At this period he wrote his most popular and beautiful song, 'Queen and huntress'; and his pianoforte editions of classical and other operas led the way in popularising that class of music in an available form for the use of those who could not read full scores; and in his indications of the orchestral instruments above the music-staves he did much to point the way towards a general appreciation of orchestral colour. In the early sixties he left London for Torquay on account of his mother's health and his own, and on her death in 1876, he openly became a member of the Roman communion. He had been organist and honorary precentor at All Saints' Church, Babbacombe, from 1867, and won a high position as a teacher. He published, with T. F. Ravenshaw, a 'Festival Psalter, adapted to the Gregorian Tones,' in 1863, and 'Accompanying Harmonies to the Ferial Psalter,' in 1869. These were the first-fruits of his assiduous study of ancient music, on which he became the first authority of his time in England. A couple of valuable textbooks, on harmony (1881) and counterpoint (1882) respectively, had a great success, and in the latter part of the first edition of this Dictionary he wrote a large number of articles on musical archaeology generally. In the present day, musical research has been sedulously carried on in other countries, and it is inevitable that some of his conclusions should have been controverted, if not disproved; but, considering the state of musical education at the time he wrote, the value of his contributions to such subjects as the music of the period which closed in 1600, can hardly be exaggerated. He was too ardent a partisan to be an ideal historian, but his History of Music for Young Students (1879) and his larger work A General History of Music (1886) contain much that is of permanent value. His Life of Handel (1883) and Mendelssohn (1884) are fine examples of eulogistic biography, though they are hardly to be recommended as embodying a calmly critical estimate of either composer. In his larger History he showed that he was, nevertheless, not above owning himself in the wrong, and his recantation of certain excessive opinions expressed by him in the Dictionary against Wagner's later works was due to true moral courage. He conducted a concert of sacred music of the 16th and 17th centuries at the Inventions Exhibition of 1885, and in 1891 gave up Torquay for London, giving lectures at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, and holding a class for counterpoint and plainsong at the latter institution. Here he imparted the true principles of the ancient music with great success to many worthy pupils; and as a singing-master and teacher of the pianoforte his method of imparting instruction was remarkably successful. As a composer, he never quite freed himself from the powerful influences engendered by his studies; the lovely madrigal, 'O too cruel fair,' was judged unworthy of a prize by the Madrigal Society on the ground that it was modelled too closely on Palestrina; and his oratorio, 'The Good Shepherd,' produced at the Gloucester Festival of 1886 under his own direction, was found to bear too many traces of Mendelssohnian influence to deserve success. In 1891, he collaborated with Canon Scott Holland in writing the life of his old friend, Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt; an abbreviated edition came out in 1893, and with Mr. Otto Goldschmidt he wrote a still shorter book, Jenny Lind, her Vocal Art and Culture (partly reprinted from the biography). For many years his health had been bad, and he had many adverse circumstances to contend with. He fought bravely for all that he held best in art, and boundless enthusiasm carried him through. He died in London, July 2, 1895. (Dict. of Nat. Biog. etc.)
3RODE, JACQUES PIERRE JOSEPH, a great violinist, was born at Bordeaux, Feb. 16, 1774. When eight years of age he came under the tuition of Fauvel aîné, a well-known violinist of his native town, and studied under him for six years. In 1788 he was sent to Paris. Here Punto (or Stich), the famous horn-player, heard him, and being struck with the boy's exceptional talent, gave him an introduction to Viotti, who at once accepted him as his pupil. With this great master he studied for two years, and in 1790 made his first public appearance, when he played Viotti's 13th Concerto at the Théâtre de Monsieur with complete success. Although then but sixteen years of age, he was appointed leader of the second violins in the excellent band of the Théâtre Feydeau. In this position, appearing at the same time frequently as soloist, he remained till 1794, and then started for his first tour to Holland and the north of Germany. His success, especially at Berlin and Hamburg, was great. From the latter place he sailed for his native town, but the vessel was compelled by adverse winds to make for the English coast. So Rode came to London; but he only once appeared in public, at a concert for a charitable purpose, and left England again for Holland and Germany. Finally he returned to France and obtained a professorship of the violin at the newly established Conservatoire at Paris. He was solo violin at the Opéra until November 1799. In 1799 he went to Spain, and at Madrid met Boccherini, who is said to have written the orchestration for Rode's earlier concertos, especially for that in B minor. On his return to Paris in 1800 he was appointed solo-violinist to the First Consul, and it was at that period that he
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