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Scan 349
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1916
14 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 309. See the scan on archive.org.
1Society of Boston (see Boston) from 1852 to 1854, and then went to New York, where he became conductor of the Männergesangverein Arion. In 1855 he began conducting concerts for the Philharmonic Society of New York, alternating for ten years with associates. From 1866 to 1876 he was sole conductor. He died on Aug. 16, 1876. Bergmann was the pioneer in America of the new school of conductors as distinguished from the old class of mere time-beaters. He was strongly individual and assertive in his interpretations, a radical, and an enthusiastic and devoted champion of Liszt and Wagner. Half the numbers in one of his concerts in 1853 were of Wagner's music. Theodore Thomas's tastes and talents were largely developed under Bergmann's influence. H. E. K.
3BERGONZI, CARLO, a celebrated violin-maker of Cremona. Born towards the end of the 17th century, he worked from about 1716 to 1755. He was a pupil of Antonio Stradivari, whom he imitated very closely in his early efforts, while his later instruments show much originality and character. Their form and tone are equally beautiful, and they may justly be ranked immediately after those of Stradivari and Joseph Guarneri. He made not only violins, but also violas and violoncellos, which, however, are now very rare. His son, Michel Angelo, was but an indifferent violin-maker. P. D.
5BERINGER, OSCAR, a distinguished pianist, was born at Furtwangen (Baden), July 14, 1844. In 1849 his father was compelled to fly to England as a political refugee, where he lived in straitened circumstances. Owing to this reason the only musical education Mr. Oscar Beringer received, up to his nineteenth year, was from an elder sister. During the years 1859 and 1860 he gave several series of Pianoforte Recitals at the Crystal Palace, and in 1861 made his first appearance at the Saturday Concerts. Recognising the necessity of going through a course of systematic training, he studied at Leipzig under Moscheles, Richter, Reinecke, Plaidy, etc., from 1864 to 1866, and continued his studies at Berlin under Tausig, Ehlert, Weitzmann, etc. In 1869 he was appointed a professor at Tausig's 'Schule des Höheren Clavierspiels' at Berlin, but in 1871 he returned to England, where he has repeatedly played with great success at the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts, Musical Union, etc. In Jan. 1872 he played at the Gewandhaus Concerts at Leipzig, and on his return to England in the following year he founded in London an 'Academy for the Higher Development of Pianoforte Playing,' an institution which fully bore out the promise of its name until its close in 1897. On Oct. 14, 1882, he played the pianoforte part in Brahms's second Concerto on its first performance in England. In 1885 Mr. Beringer was appointed a professor in the Royal Academy of Music, and joined the committee of management in 1898. He was made a member of the committee of management of the Associated Board of the R.A.M. and the R.C.M. in 1900. His compositions include an Andante and Allegro for pianoforte and orchestra (performed, 1880, at the Crystal Palace and at Mr. Cowen's Orchestral Concerts), Sonatinas for the piano, a number of small instructive pieces, and several songs.
7W. B. S.
9BÉRIOT, CHARLES AUGUSTE DE, celebrated violinist. Born of a noble Belgian family, Feb. 20, 1802, at Louvain. He had his first instruction in the violin from a local teacher, named Tiby, who was his guardian after the death of his parents; and made such rapid progress, that, when only nine years of age, he successfully performed in public a concerto of Viotti. He himself ascribed great influence on the formation of his character and the development of his talent to the well-known scholar and philosopher Jacotot, who, though himself no musician, imbued his young friend with principles of perseverance and self-reliance, which he never lost sight of throughout life, and which, more than anything else, contributed to make him attain that proficiency in his art on which his fame rests.
11When nineteen years of age he went to Paris and pursued his studies there for some time under the advice of Viotti and Baillot, without actually being the pupil of either. After a short time he made his appearance in public with great success. From Paris he repeatedly visited England, where he met with a most brilliant reception. His first appearance at the Philharmonic Society took place on May 1, 1826, when he was announced as 'Violon de la chambre de sa Majesté le Roi de France.' On his return to Belgium he was nominated Solo-Violinist to the King of the Netherlands, which appointment he lost by the Revolution of 1830. For the next five years he travelled and gave concerts in England, France, Belgium, and Italy, together with the famous singer Maria Malibran, whom he married in 1836, ten days after the annuling of her former marriage in the French courts. At this time De Bériot was universally recognised as one of the most eminent of living violinists. After the sudden death of his wife he retired to Brussels in 1836, and appeared only occasionally in public till 1840, when he undertook a tour through Germany, and married Marie Huber, the daughter of a Viennese magistrate. [In 1842, on the death of Baillot, Auber offered de Bériot his place in the Paris Conservatoire; but Brussels suited him better, and] in 1843 he was appointed Professor of violin-playing at Brussels Conservatoire, and remained there till 1852, when the failure of his eyesight caused him to retire. He became totally blind in 1858, and died at Louvain, April 8, 1870.
13De Bériot may justly be considered the founder of the modern Franco-Belgian school of violin-playing, as distinguished from the classical Paris
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