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Scan 451
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
14 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 401. See the scan on archive.org.
1Majesty's Theatre. In 1878-79 he was conductor of Mme. Viard-Louis's orchestral concerts, and gained much reputation for himself and his orchestra during the short term of their existence. Among the novelties produced were Svendsen's first Symphony; Salvayre's Stabat Mater, and 'Fandango' Ballet; Cherubini's 'Ali Baba' Ballet; Davenport's 'Twelfth Night' Overture; 'The Rivulet,' by Corder; Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns; Berlioz-selections and works by Bourgault-Ducoudray and Gevaert. Massenet also conducted his orchestral suite, called 'Shakespeare,' April 30, 1878, on his first appearance in England, and again on Dec. 17, 1878. Goetz was first introduced to the British public by his only Symphony. In 1880 Mr. Weist-Hill was conductor of the Promenade Concerts, Covent Garden, where, on Oct. 20, he introduced Bizet's 'Roma' to an English audience. It was played at the Crystal Palace on the following Saturday, Oct. 23. In the same year he was appointed Principal of the Guildhall School of Music. In this post, which he retained until his death on Dec. 25, 1891, he was very successful; under his energetic direction the number of pupils rose to upwards of 2500.
3A. C.
5HILL, W., & SON are organ-builders in London. The house was founded by John Snetzler about 1755, who was succeeded in 1780 by his foreman, Ohrmann. [SNETZLER.] The latter had a partner, W. Nutt, in 1790, who was afterwards joined by Thomas Elliott about 1803. After Elliott had done business for some time alone, he took as partner, in 1825, William Hill, a Lincolnshire man, who had married his daughter, and died in 1832, Hill remaining alone until 1837, when he was joined by Frederic Davison. After 1838 Davison left to become a partner of John Gray, and the firm became W. Hill & Son. [GRAY & DAVISON.] Hill died Dec. 18, 1870. He deserves the gratitude of English organists for having, in conjunction with Gauntlett, introduced the CC compass into this country.
7Elliott & Hill built the present organ in York Minster, since which the Hills have built, amongst many others, the organs of Ely, Worcester, and Manchester Cathedrals; Birmingham Town Hall; St. Peter's, Cornhill; and All Saints', Margaret Street, London; Melbourne Town Hall, etc. Mr. Arthur George Hill, one of the partners in the firm, is the author of a valuable book on Organ-cases and Organs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, etc., 1883.
9V. DE P.
11HILL, W. E., & SONS; a London firm of violin makers, dealers and repairers, carrying on business at 140 New Bond Street, and holding in the musical world a position of recognised authority on all matters relating to the violin. Most of the famous instruments by Stradivari and other makers have passed from time to time through their hands. The firm, which consists at the present time of four brothers, Arthur Frederick Alfred Ebsworth, William Henry, and Walter Edgar Hill, and which is connected traditionally with the 'Mr. Hill, the instrument maker' mentioned in Pepys's Diary (1660), was founded by Joseph Hill (1715-84, see above), who was apprenticed to Peter Wamsley, and afterwards carried on business at the sign of the 'Violin' in Holborn in 1762, and later at the sign of the 'Harp and Flute' in the Haymarket. He turned out, in his time, many good instruments, and his violoncellos are to this day in good repute both here and on the continent. His five sons, William, Joseph, Lockey, Benjamin, and John, were all violin-makers and musicians, the names of three of them appearing in the orchestra at the first Handel Commemoration in 1784. As much may be said of many other members of the family. One of them belonged to Queen Anne's Band; others appeared late in the 18th century in the Minute Books of the Royal Society of Musicians, and in the records of the Musicians Company. The connection between the art and the craft has always been maintained, and Henry Hill (see above) ranked as the leading English viola player of his day, and was one of the founders of the Beethoven Quartet Society. His brother, William Ebsworth Hill (died 1895), father of the present members of the firm, was one of the worthies of the violin world, a genuine craftsman, whose judgment could be relied upon where the authenticity of old instruments was concerned. He was gifted, it may be added, with a keen sense of humour. Alfred Ebsworth Hill and Walter Edgar Hill both learned their craft of luthier in the old French violin-making town of Mirecourt, the former being the first Englishman to do so. William Henry Hill began life as a professor of the viola. The firm has established workshops near London, and although the number of instruments produced has not been large (about a hundred and fifty), some good results have been attained. All the brothers have co-operated in the editing of various pamphlets dealing with the violin, of which the Life and Work of Maggini, from the pen of Lady Huggins, is the most important; and in writing a Life of Stradivari, which has been welcomed by every lover of the violin at home and abroad, being not only a compendium of all that is known of the master, but containing, in addition, the results of independent research extending over a series of years. W. W. C.
13HILLEMACHER, two brothers whose works, written in collaboration, have attained a high position in French music. Both were born in Paris; PAUL, on Nov. 25, 1852, and LUCIEN, on June 10, 1860; both studied at the Conservatoire; the elder obtained a second accessit in harmony and accompaniment in 1870, a first accessit in counterpoint and fugue in 1872, a second prize in 1873, the second grand prix de Rome in 1873, and the first in 1876. The younger brother gained a first accessit in harmony
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