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Scan 47
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
14 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.
1simplicity, and pure harmony, and says that 'the subjects of imitation in it are as modern, and that the parts sing as well, as if it were a production of the 18th century.' Festa, according to Baini, fell in his motets into a fashion too prevalent in his day, of setting distinct words to each voice. The Abbé (Life of Palestrina, vol. i. pp. 95-103) explains in great detail the lengths to which this absurd and undignified affectation was carried, and quotes with obvious and well-merited approval a rebuke administered by the Cardinal Capranica, in the pontificate of Niccolo V., to some singer who had asked him to admire the caprice. 'Mi pare,' said the Cardinal, 'di udir una mandra di porcelli, che grugniscono a tutta forza senza profferire però un suono articolato, non che una parola.'
3The principal repertories for Festa's music are the collections which flowed from the presses of Gardano and of Scotto at Venice in the middle of the 16th century, and for which the curious inquirer must be referred to the Bibliographie of Eitner, or the Quellen-Lexikon. [His first book of madrigals for three voices was published in 1537, and various editions appeared down to 1568. Two masses are in the Sistine Chapel, a four-part Magnificat was published in 1554, and a book of Litanies for double choir in 1583.] The archives of the Pontifical chapel are rich in his MSS., and a celebrated Te Deum of his (published 1596) is still sung by the Pontifical choir at the election of a new Pope. Burney, in his History (iii. 245, 6), prints a motet and a madrigal of Festa's; and a Te Deum and motet are given in Bock's collection (vi. 31, 40). His madrigal 'Down in a flow'ry vale' ('Quando ritrovo la mia pastorella') long enjoyed the distinction of being the most popular piece of this description in England.
5E. H. P.
7FESTING, MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, an eminent performer on, and composer for the violin, was the son of a flautist of the same name, who was a member of the orchestra of the King's Theatre, in the Haymarket about 1727. Festing was at first a pupil of Richard Jones, leader of the band at Drury Lane, but subsequently studied under Geminiani. He first appeared in public about 1724. He became a member of the king's private band in 1735 and first violin at an amateur association which met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, under the name of the Philharmonic Society. [In 1737 he was appointed director of the Italian Opera.] On the opening of Ranelagh Gardens in 1742 he was appointed director of the music as well as leader of the band.
9Festing was one of the originators of the Society of Musicians. Being seated one day at the window of the Orange Coffee-house in the Haymarket in company with Weidemann, the flautist, and Vincent, the oboist, they observed two very intelligent-looking boys driving milch asses. On inquiry they found them to be the orphans of Kyth, an eminent but imprudent German oboist, who had settled in London and then recently died, literally in the streets, from sheer want. Shocked by this discovery Festing consulted with Dr. Greene, his intimate friend, and other eminent musicians, and the result was the establishment of the Society of Musicians for the support and maintenance of decayed musicians and their families. [See ROYAL SOCIETY OF MUSICIANS.] Festing for many years performed gratuitously the duties of secretary to this institution. He died July 24, 1752. In September of that year his goods, books, and instruments were sold at his house in Warwick Street, Golden Square. He left an only son, the Rev. Michael Festing, rector of Wyke Regis, Dorset, who married the only child of his father's friend, Dr. Greene. From this union sprang many descendants to perpetuate the name of Festing, and not many years since an Hertfordshire innkeeper, bearing the names of Maurice Greene Festing, was living. Festing's compositions consist of several sets of solos for the violin; sonatas, concertos, and symphonies for stringed and other instruments; part of the third chapter of Habakkuk, paraphrased; Addison's Ode for St. Cecilia's day; Milton's Song on May morning; an Ode on the return of the Duke of Cumberland from Scotland in 1745; an Ode 'For thee how I do mourn'; and many cantatas and songs for Ranelagh. Sir John Hawkins says that 'as a performer on the violin Festing was inferior to many of his time, but as a composer, particularly of solos for that instrument, the nature and genius whereof he perfectly understood, he had but few equals.' Festing had a brother of the name of John, an oboist and teacher of the flute, whose success in his profession was such that he died in 1772 worth £8000, acquired chiefly by teaching.
11W. H. H.
13FESTIVALS, MUSICAL. The earliest musical festivals of which any trustworthy record exists were held in Italy. At an interview between Francis I., King of France, and Pope Leo X. at Bologna in 1515, the musicians attached to their respective courts combined and gave a performance, but no details of the programme have been preserved. In the early part of the 17th century there was a thanksgiving festival at St. Peter's at Rome on the cessation of the Plague, when a mass by Benevoli for six choirs was sung by more than 200 voices with organ accompaniment, the sixth choir occupying the highest part of the cupola. In France the first festival recorded is that which took place as a thanksgiving, for the recovery of the eldest son of Louis XIV., when Lulli's 'Te Deum' (written to celebrate a similar happy event in His Majesty's own life in 1686) was performed by 300 musicians. In Bohemia the earliest festival was held at Prague in honour of the coronation of the Emperor Charles VI. as King
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