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Scan 130
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1916
14 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 102. See the scan on archive.org.
1first performance in England. On the resignation of Mr. Weist Hill he became conductor of that establishment, which post he held until 1880. He was also conductor (1878-80) of the Glasgow Select Choir, and director of a provincial opera company. In 1881 he became organist at the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church at Brooklyn, U.S.A., and later of the Church of the Incarnation, New York. He founded and edited the Keynote in 1885; in 1887 became conductor of the Boston Oratorio Society, and conducted the Pittsburg Orchestra in 1895-98. Mr. Archer is an excellent organist, and has composed many works for that instrument, pianoforte pieces, songs, etc., besides a cantata, 'King Witlaf's Drinking-Horn,' two works, 'The Organ,' a theoretical and practical treatise (Novello & Co.), and 'The College Organist' (Weekes & Co.). A. C.
3ARCHLUTE (Fr. Archiluth, Ital. Arciliuto) a large theorbo or double-neck lute, large especially in the dimensions of the body, and more than 4 feet high; that in the figure being 4 feet 5 inches. The double neck contains two sets of tuning-peggs, the lower—in the subjoined example shown in the Royal Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington—holding fourteen, the upper ten. The lower pegbox is for catgut, or sometimes wire, strings in pairs stretched over the fretted fingerboard, and tuned, according to Praetorius ('Syntagma Musicum,' 1618).
5The upper pegbox is for single strings, open notes, or diapasons (read an octave lower),
7Prætorius gives eight notes for the diapasons, ending at the low D, which leaves eight double or single strings upon the fingerboard. This notation is for his Cammerton, which he says was usual; for his Chorton, rather lower than the modern French pitch, the notation must be transposed a whole tone higher. He calls this variety of bass lute, the Paduan Theorbo, the longer chitarrone being identical with the Roman. There are references to the Archlute in Mersenne ('Harmonie Universelle,' 1636) and Kircher ('Musurgia,' 1650), but not being named in Luscinius (1536) it may be assumed to be of later introduction than that date. It was used in the 17th century in common with the chitarrone and violone (bass viol) for the lowest part in instrumental music and accompaniments, particularly in combination with the clavicembalo for the support of the recitative. Early editions of Corelli's Sonatas had for the bass the violone or arciliuto, and Handel also employed the archlute in 'Giulio Cesare,' 1723. The sound-board, pierced with from one to three ornamental sound-holes, was of spruce, and the vaulted back was built up of strips of spruce or cedar glued together. The frets adjusted along the neck to fix the intervals were of wire or catgut, examples differing. A wealth of ornament was bestowed upon the necks and backs of these beautiful instruments, in common with other varieties of the lute and cither. The chitarrone had a smaller body and much longer neck, and differs so much as to require separate description. In the photographs published by the Liceo Comunale di Musica of Bologna, the application of the names archlute and chitarrone is reversed (see CHITARRONE, LUTE, THEORBO). A. J. H.
9ARCO, Italian for 'bow.' As a musical term 'arco' or 'col arco' is employed whenever after a pizzicato passage the bow is to be used again.
11P. D.
13ARDITI, LUIGI, born at Crescentino in Piedmont, July 16, 1822; studied music at the Conservatorio at Milan, and began his career as a violin player. In 1840 he produced an overture, and in the Carnival of 1841 an opera 'I Briganti,' at the Conservatorio. In 1842 he followed these by a second Overture and a 'Sovvenir di Donizetti.' He made his début as director of the opera at Vercelli in 1843, and was made honorary member of the Accademia Filarmonica there. In 1846 he left Italy with Bottesini for the Havannah, where he composed and produced an opera 'Il Corsaro.' He made frequent visits to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and amongst other things conducted the opera at the opening of the Academy of Music in New York, and produced a new opera of his own 'La Spia' (1856). The same year he left America for Constantinople, and finally settled in London in 1858 as conductor to Her Majesty's Theatre, under the successive managements of Lumley, E. T. Smith, and Mapleson. Mr. Lumley has left on record his verdict of Signor Arditi, 'than whom, taking all qualities into account, a more able conductor never reigned in this country' (Reminiscences, p. 447 note). Arditi took an
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