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Scan 78
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1918
16 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 56. See the scan on archive.org.
1altissimo, and she had two good octaves below: but Mozart himself heard her at Parma in 1770, and says of her¹ that she had 'a lovely voice, a flexible throat, and an incredibly high range. She sang the following notes and passages in my presence':—
3Ten years later, in speaking of Mara, he says, 'She has not the good fortune to please me. She does too little to be compared to a Bastardella—though that is her peculiar style—and too much to touch the heart like an Aloysia Weber.'² Leopold Mozart says of her, 'She is not handsome nor yet ugly, but has at times a wild look in the eyes, like people who are subject to convulsions, and she is lame in one foot. Her conduct formerly was good; she has, consequently, a good name and reputation.'
5Agujari made a great sensation in the carnival of 1774 at Milan in the serious opera of 'Il Tolomeo,' by Colla, and still more in a cantata by the same composer. In 1780 she married Colla, who composed for her most of the music she sang. She sang at the Pantheon Concerts for some years, from 1775, receiving a salary at one time of £100 a night for singing two songs, a price which was then simply enormous. There is an amusing account of her in Mme. D'Arblay's Memoirs of Dr. Burney. She died at Parma, May 18, 1783. J. M.
7AGUS, HENRI, born in 1749, died 1798; composer and professor of solfeggio in the Conservatoire of Paris (1795). The only works attributed with certainty to him, are educational. Another Agus, named JOSEPH, is the author of a number of works, which display more learning than genius, and consist of trios for strings, duets, glees, catches, etc., published in London, where he lived for some time, and six duos concertants for two violins, published by Barbieri (Paris) as the op. 37 of Boccherini.
9AHLE, JOHANN RODOLPH, church composer, born at Mühlhausen in Thuringia, Dec. 24, 1625; educated at Göttingen and Erfurt. In 1646 he became organist at Erfurt, and in 1654 held the same post in the Blasiuskirche at his native place, where in 1656 he was appointed member of the senate and in 1661 burgomaster. He died in full possession of his powers July 8, 1673. His published compositions include Compendium pro tonellis (1648), a treatise on singing which went through three editions; 'Geistlichen Dialogen' (1648), 'Sinphonien, Paduanen, Balletten'; 'Thuringische Lustgarten,' a series of church compositions, which appeared in 1657, 1658, 1663, 1665; 400 'geistliche Arien,' 'geistliche Concerte,' and 'Andachten' on all the Sundays and Festivals, etc. etc. He cultivated the simple style of the choral, avoiding polyphonic counterpoint. His tunes were for long very popular, and are still sung in the Protestant churches of Thuringia—amongst others that known as 'Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier.' A selection of his vocal works, edited by Herr J. Wolf, is in vol. 5 of Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst, in the preface to which is a complete list of Ahle's compositions. See also Sammelbände of the Inter. Mus. Gesellschaft, ii. 393. Ahle left a son, Johann Georg, born 1650, who succeeded to his father's musical honours, and was made poet laureate by the Emperor Leopold I. He died Dec. 2, 1706. His hymn tunes were once popular, but are not now in use. F. G.
11AHLSTROEM, OLOF, born August 14, 1756; a Swedish composer, organist at the church of St. Jakob, Stockholm, and court accompanist; composed sonatas for pianoforte (Stockholm, 1783 and 1786), cantatas, and songs, and edited with Boman Walda svenska Folkdansar och Folkledar, a collection of Swedish popular airs. He was also editor for two years of a Swedish musical periodical Musikalisk Tidsfördrift. He died August 11, 1835. M. C. C.
13AHNA, HEINRICH KARL HERMANN DE, was born, June 22, 1835, at Vienna, where he was trained as a violinist by Mayseder. He also received instruction from Mildner in Prague, and was already at the age of twelve making public appearances in Vienna, London, etc. Two years later he received the appointment of Chamber Virtuoso to the Duke of Coburg Gotha, but in 1851 an entire change came over his manner of life. He forsook the musical for a military career, joined the Austrian army as a cadet, and remained a
15¹ Letter of March 24, 1770. ² Letter of Nov. 13, 1780.
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