Books › Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910 › scan 23
Scan 23
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
15 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 3. See the scan on archive.org.
1which follows, and concludes the scene, has the broad simplicity of Matthew Locke (Memoirs of the Musical Drama, i. 151). Sir John Hawkins states that Purcell wrote the music to 'Dido and Æneas' 'at the age of nineteen,' and that he composed it for the Mr. Josias Priest, who was concerned in the production of 'Macbeth' with Locke. But Sir John was mistaken as to Purcell's age, and as to 'Dido and Æneas' having been performed at Priest's house in Leicester Fields. [The latest evidence is in favour of some date between 1688 and 1690. See PURCELL.] The study of sacred and of chamber music had so predominated in Purcell's musical education, that with all his genius, when first writing for the stage, he would naturally desire a dramatic model to improve upon. This was easily to be obtained through Mr. Priest, whose connection with the theatre would enable him to borrow Locke's score to be copied. Dr. W.H. Cummings submitted the 'Macbeth' MS. to Mr. Netherclift, the well-known expert, 'who came to the conclusion that it had a certain boyish resemblance to facsimiles of Purcell's after-writings, but not sufficient of itself for him to form a decided judgment as to the identity of authorship.' This 'boyish resemblance' is precisely what might have been expected under the circumstances above detailed. Every young composer requires some model to start upon, just as the early works of Beethoven remind us of his model, Mozart.
3Eccles's music for 'Macbeth' is to be found in score in the British Museum (Add MS. No. 12,219). It was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre in 1696. As this was the year after Purcell's death, the date disposes of the myth of Purcell's having had any hand in after-improving it. As Eccles's music is not the music of 'Macbeth,' it must stand or fall upon its own merits. It was much admired by W. Linley, who edited 'Dramatic Songs' in, or for, Shakespeare's plays; but in the more trustworthy judgment of Dr. Cummings, 'it abounds in wearisome and uninteresting imitative phrases'; and again the same authority says, 'Eccles could not have been the author of the music accredited to Locke; the former is so extremely laboured and diffuse, the latter so much more dramatic and effective in its conciseness and simplicity' (Concordia, Nov. 27, 1875).
5(See also Musical Times, 1882, p. 259, where Dr. W.H. Cummings states the arguments which have brought him to the belief that the 'Macbeth' Music is by Purcell.)
7Of Richard Leveridge's claim, it is sufficient to say that he composed new music for the 2nd act of 'Macbeth' in or about 1708. It has since passed completely into oblivion, and there is no need to say anything more about it. w. c.
9MACBETH, ALLAN, born in Greenock, March 13, 1856, received his musical education chiefly in Germany, studying at the Leipzig Conservatorium under F. Richter, Jadassohn, and Reinecke in 1875-76. In 1880 he was appointed conductor to the Glasgow Choral Union, but resigned the post in 1887. He has been organist of various churches in Edinburgh and Glasgow, being appointed to St. George's-in-the-Fields Established Church in 1884. He was appointed principal of the music school connected with the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1890. Mr. Macbeth, in spite of much occupation of his time in teaching (pianoforte and singing), has found leisure for composition, for which he has a decided gift. He has written a number of pleasing pianoforte pieces, besides two or three orchestral movements played at the Choral Union Concerts, and since transcribed for piano. As a song-writer, Mr. Macbeth has generally been very successful, and he has besides ably arranged for voices several Scots melodies, as well as written some original part-songs. [His cantata, 'The Land of Glory,' won a prize given by the Glasgow Society of Musicians, and was performed in 1890. Some other cantatas, short orchestral pieces, and chamber music, are among his works, as well as incidental music to a play 'Bruce (Lord of the Isles).' He has an operetta in MS., 'The Duke's Doctor.' one of two readings
10MACBETH, ALLAN, born in Greenock, March 13, 1856, received his musical education chiefly in Germany, studying at the Leipzig Conservatorium under F. Richter, Jadassohn, and Reinecke in 1875-76. In 1880 he was appointed conductor to the Glasgow Choral Union, but resigned the post in 1887. He has been organist of various churches in Edinburgh and Glasgow, being appointed to St. George's-in-the-Fields Established Church in 1884. He was appointed principal of the music school connected with the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1890. Mr. Macbeth, in spite of much occupation of his time in teaching (pianoforte and singing), has found leisure for composition, for which he has a decided gift. He has written a number of pleasing pianoforte pieces, besides two or three orchestral movements played at the Choral Union Concerts, and since transcribed for piano. As a song-writer, Mr. Macbeth has generally been very successful, and he has besides ably arranged for voices several Scots melodies, as well as written some original part-songs. [His cantata, 'The Land of Glory,' won a prize given by the Glasgow Society of Musicians, and was performed in 1890. Some other cantatas, short orchestral pieces, and chamber music, are among his works, as well as incidental music to a play 'Bruce (Lord of the Isles).' He has an operetta in MS., 'The Duke's Doctor.'] one of two readings
12MACCARTHY, MAUD, violinist, was born on July 4, 1884, at Clonmel, Ireland. She showed musical proclivities at a very early age, but was not sent to a musical college, her parents preferring to place her under the direction of Señor Arbós. With him she studied from the age of eight to the age of fifteen, and made her début in London in 1894, after which followed two years of further study uninterrupted by a single public performance. Thus leisure was always allowed to her for the maturing of her musical gifts, and a style formed from which the note of feverish effort is absent, and which therefore lends itself well to the interpretation of classical compositions. She plays practically the whole violin repertoire, including the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, and has performed frequently since 1896 at the principal orchestral concerts in London, at the Saturday Concerts at the Crystal Palace, and (during her American tour) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Society, etc. Her hand is so small that her violins have to be specially mounted for her, but she shows no want of power or of technical mastery. She formerly played upon a Peter Guarneri violin, but at present uses a Nicolo Gagliano. w. w. c.
14MACCUNN, HAMISH, son of James MacCunn, shipowner, of Greenock, born there, March 22, 1868, showed an early aptitude for music, and on the opening of the Royal College of Music in 1883, won a scholarship for composition. He was a pupil there of Sir Hubert Parry, and resigned his scholarship in 1886.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.