Scan 39
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904
26 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 28. See the scan on archive.org.
1Quartet in F of op. 59, as the date on which he began it—"Quartetto angefangen am 26ten May 1806."
3In 1808 the Count formed his famous quartet party—Schuppanzigh, first violin; Weiss, viola; Lincke, violoncello; and he himself second violin—which for many years met in the evenings, and performed, among other compositions, Beethoven's pieces, 'hot from the fire,' under his own immediate instructions.
5In April 1809 appeared the C minor and Pastoral Symphonies (Nos. 5 and 6), with a dedication (on the Parts) to Prince Lobkowitz and 'son excellence Monsieur le Comte de Rasoumofsky' (Breitkopf & Härtel). These dedications doubtless imply that Beethoven was largely the recipient of the Count's bounty, but there is no direct evidence of it, and there is a strange absence of reference to the Count in Beethoven's letters. His name is mentioned only once—July 24, 1813—and there is a distant allusion in a letter of a much later date (Nohl, Briefe B. 1865, No. 354). In the autumn of 1814 came the Vienna Congress (Nov. 1, 1814—June 9, 1815), and as the Empress of Russia was in Vienna at the time, the Ambassador's Palace was naturally the scene of special festivities. It was not, however, there that Beethoven was presented to the Empress, but at the Archduke Rodolph's.1 The Count's hospitalities were immense, and, vast as was his palace, a separate wooden annexe had to be constructed capable of dining 700 persons.
7On June 3, 1815, six days before the signature of the final Act of the Congress, the Count was made Prince (Fürst), and on the 31st of the following December the dining-hall just mentioned was burnt down. The Emperor of Russia gave 400,000 silver roubles (£40,000) towards the rebuilding, but the misfortune appears to have been too much for the Prince; he soon after sold the property, pensioned his quartet, and disappears from musical history. The quartet kept together for many years after this date, Sina playing second violin. Beethoven mentions them apropos of the Galitzin Quartets in the letter to his nephew already referred to, about 1825.
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11The three quartets to which Rasoumowsky's name is attached form op. 59, and are in F, E minor, and C respectively. The first of the three, as already mentioned, was begun May 26, 1806, and the whole three were finished and had evidently been played before Feb. 27, 1807, the date of a letter in the Allg. mus. Zeitung describing their characteristics.2 They were published in January 1808 (Vienna Bureau des Arts; Pesth, Schreyvogel), and the dedication (on the Parts) begins 'Trois Quatuors très humblement dédiées à son Excellence Monsieur le Comte,' etc. Beethoven himself mentions them in a letter to Count Brunswick, which he has dated May 11, 1806, but which Thayer (iii. 11) sees reason to date 1807.
13The Quartet in F is the one which Bernard Romberg is said to have thrown on the ground and trampled upon as unplayable.—The slow movement is entitled in the Sketchbook 'Einen Trauerweiden oder Akazienbaum aufs Grab meines Bruders'—'A weeping willow or acacia tree over the grave of my brother.' But which brother? August died in 1783, twenty-three years before, Carl not till ten years after, and Johann not till 1848. Carl's marriage-contract had, however, been signed only on May 25, 1806. Is it possible that this inscription is a Beethovenish joke on the occasion? If so, he began in fun and ended in earnest. The finale has a Russian theme in D minor for its principal subject, and the second of the three has a Russian theme in E major as the Trio of its third movement.
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16[The tunes are given in Köhler's 'Album Russe' as Nos. 188 and 175 respectively; and are also in 'Chants Nationaux Russes,' Nos. 13 and 45.]
18RATAPLAN, like Rub-a-dub, is an imitative word for the sound of the drum, as Tan-ta-ra is for that of the trumpet, and Tootle-tootle for the flute.3 It is hardly necessary to mention its introduction by Donizetti in the 'Fille du Regiment,' or by Meyerbeer in the 'Huguenots'; and every Londoner is familiar with it in Sergeant Bouncer's part in Sullivan's 'Cox and Box.' 'Rataplan, der kleine Tambour' is the title of a Singspiel by Pillwitz, which was produced at Bremen in 1831, and had a considerable run both in North and South Germany between that year and 1836.
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22RAUZZINI, VENANZIO, born 1747, in Rome, where he made his début in 1765, captivating his audience by his fine voice, clever acting, and prepossessing appearance. In 1766 or 1767 he was at Munich, where Burney heard him in 1772, and where four of his operas were performed. He sang at various places during this period. In London he made his first appearance in 1774, in Corri's 'Alessandro nell' Indie.' [His appearance in a pasticcio of 'Armida' in the same year has resulted in the attribution to him of an opera of that name dated 1778, and the error has been copied into most dictionaries from the first edition of this work.] He also distinguished himself as an excellent teacher of singing, Miss Storace, Braham, Miss Poole (afterwards Mrs. Dickons), and Incledon, being among his pupils. In 1778 and 1779 he gave subscription concerts with the violinist Lamotte, when they were assisted by such eminent artists as Miss Harrop, Signor Rovedino,
241 Schindler, i. 233 (quoted by Thayer, iii. 321).
252 They are again alluded to in the number for May 5 as more and more successful, and possibly to be soon published; and then, with astonishing naïveté, follows 'Eberl's newest compositions, too, are anticipated with great pleasure!'
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