Scan 97
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904
16 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 89. See the scan on archive.org.
1it for ever in the Overture 'Leonore No. 3' (bar 75 of Allegro).
3See too another passage farther on, before the Flute solo. [See TRILL.]
5RIBIBLE, an obsolete instrument played by a bow. It is mentioned by Chaucer and other early writers, and appears to have been either the rebec itself, or a particular form of it. Sometimes it is spelled 'rubible.' It has been suggested that both 'rebec' and 'ribible' are derived from the Moorish word 'rebeb' or 'rebab,' which seems to have been the name of a somewhat similar musical instrument. (See REBEC.)
7RIBS (Fr. Éclisses; Germ. Zarge). The sides of stringed instruments of the violin type, connecting the back and the belly. They consist of six (sometimes only five) pieces of maple, and should be of the same texture as the back, and if possible cut out of the same piece. After being carefully planed to the right thickness, they are bent to the required shape, and then glued together on the mould by means of the corner and top and bottom blocks, the angles being feather-edged. The back, the linings, and the belly are then added, and the body of the violin is then complete. The ribs ought to be slightly increased in depth at the broader end of the instrument, but many makers have neglected this rule. The flatter the model, the deeper the ribs require to be; hence the viol tribe, having perfectly flat backs and bellies of slight elevation, are very deep in the ribs. The oldest violins were often very deep in the ribs, but many of them have been since cut down. Carlo Bergonzi and his contemporaries had a fashion of making shallow ribs, and often cut down the ribs of older instruments, thereby injuring their tone beyond remedy. Instruments made of ill-chosen and unseasoned wood will crack and decay in the ribs sooner than in any other part; but in the best instruments the ribs will generally outlast both belly and back. Some old makers were in the habit of glueing a strip of linen inside the ribs.
9RICCI, LUIGI, born in Naples, June 8, 1805, in 1814 entered the Royal Conservatorio, then under Zingarelli, of which he became in 1819 one of the sub-professors together with Bellini. His first work, 'L'Impresario in angustie,' was performed by the students of the Conservatorio in 1823, and enthusiastically applauded. In the following four years he wrote 'La Cena frastornata,' 'L'Abate Taccarella,' 'Il Diavolo condannato a prender moglie,' and 'La Lucerna d'Epitteto,' all for the Teatro Nuovo. In 1828 his 'Ulisse,' at the San Carlo, was a failure. In 1829 'Il Colombo' in Parma and 'L'Orfanella di Ginevra' in Naples were both successful. The winter of 1829-30 was disastrous for Ricci, his four new operas ('Il Sonnambulo,' 'L'Eroina del Messico,' 'Annibale in Torino,' and 'La Neve') being all unsuccessful. In the autumn of 1831 he produced at the Scala, Milan, 'Chiara di Rosenberg,' and this opera, performed by Grisi, Sacchi, Winter, Badioli, etc., was greatly applauded, and soon became successful in all the theatres of Italy. 'Il nuovo Figaro' failed in Parma in 1832. In it sang Rozer, who afterwards married Balfe. The same fate attended 'I due Sergenti' at the Scala in 1833, where the following year he gave 'Un' Avventura di Scaramuccia,' which was a very great success, and was translated into French by Flotow. The same year 'Gli esposti,' better known as 'Eran due ed or son tre,' was applauded in Turin, whilst 'Chi dura vince,' like Rossini's immortal 'Barbiere,' was hissed at Rome. It was afterwards received enthusiastically at Milan and in many other opera-houses of Europe. In 1835 'Chiara di Montalbano' failed at the Scala, while 'La serva e l'ussero' was applauded in Pavia. Ricci had thus composed twenty operas when only thirty years old; and although many of his works had met with a genuine and well-deserved success, he was still very poor and had to accept the post of musical director of the Trieste Cathedral and conductor of the Opera. In 1838 his 'Nozze di Figaro' was a fiasco in Milan, where Rossini told him that its fall was due to the music being too serious.
11For the next six years Ricci composed nothing. In 1844 he married Lidia Stoltz, by whom he had two children, Adelaide, who in 1867 sang at the Théâtre des Italiens in Paris, but died soon after, and Luigi, who lives in London. 'La Solitaria delle Asturie' was given in Odessa in 1844; 'Il Birraio di Preston' in Florence in 1847; and in 1852 'La Festa di Piedigrotta' was very successful in Naples. His last opera, 'Il Diavolo a quattro,' was performed in Trieste in 1859.
13Luigi Ricci composed in collaboration with his brother FEDERICO 'Il Colonnello,' given in Rome, and 'M. de Chalumeaux,' in Venice, in 1835; in 1836 'Il Disertore per amore' for the San Carlo in Naples, and 'L'Amante di richiamo,' given in Turin in 1846. Of these four operas, 'Il Colonnello' alone had a well-deserved reception. But Ricci's masterpiece, the opera which has placed him in a very high rank among Italian composers, is 'Crispino e la Comare,' written in 1850 for Venice, and to which his brother Federico partly contributed. This opera, one of the best comic operas of Italy, enjoyed a long success all the world over.
15Shortly after the production of 'Il Diavolo a quattro' in 1859, however, symptoms of insanity showed themselves, and the malady soon became violent. He was taken to an asylum at Prague, his wife's birthplace, and died there Dec. 31, 1859. He was much mourned at Trieste; a funeral ceremony was followed by a performance of selections from his principal works, his bust was placed in the lobby of the Opera-house, and a pension was granted to his widow. He
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