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Scan 112
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
40 lines. Read by computer on 4 September 2026. Printed page 66. See the scan on archive.org.
1and musicians flocked to his court from all parts; it is very likely that some of these were Arabs. The theory that the peculiarities of the cantigas are due to Moorish influence has been revived by D. Julián Ribera. It was first suggested in the 18th century by P. Juan Andrés, an exiled Spanish Jesuit, who considered that Alfonso el Sabio had taken his system of musical notation from Arab music. This statement, though probably untrue, seeing that the Arabs never used a practical notation, may be true of the form of the poems, the instruments used (if any were used) to accompany the voice, and the musicians who played them; indeed, there are miniatures in the MSS. showing musicians in Arab dress playing on instruments known to have been of Arab origin. Altogether, the cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio form one of the greatest monuments of mediæval music.
3For the text, see the edition published by the Royal Spanish Academy (1889), with facsimile reproduction of some of the music, and the selection in Alfonso X. El Sabio: Antología de sus obras, vol. i. (Madrid, 1922); also the study by Aubrey F. G. Bell, Mod. Language Review, x. (1915), pp. 338-348. The best accounts of the music are those of Pierre Aubry, Iter Hispanicum, iii., and Henri Collet and P. Villalba, Bulletin hispanique (1911), pp. 270-290, with legible photographic reproductions of many of the cantigas. Ribera's sumptuous volume may also be consulted, though the transcriptions are of doubtful validity. See also J. B. Trend, Alfonso the Sage. London, 1926).
5J. B. T.
7ALFONSO UND ESTRELLA, opera in three acts; libretto by F. von Schober; music by Schubert. Produced Weimar, June 24, 1854. The whole work published in the complete edition of Breitkopf & Härtel, ser. xv. vol. 5.
9Dates on autograph (Musikverein, Vienna): end of first act, Sept. 20, 1821; end of second act, Oct. 20, 1821; end of third act, Feb. 27, 1822; overture (MS. with Spina), Dec. 1823.
11ALFORD, JOHN, a lutenist in London in the 16th century. He published there, in 1568, a translation of the work of Adrien Le Roy (q.v.) on the lute under the title of A Briefe and Easye Instruction to learne the tableture, to conduct and dispose the hande unto the Lute. Englishe by J. A. with a woodcut of the lute.
13W. H. H.
15ALFVÉN, HUGO (b. Stockholm, May 1, 1872), composer, studied at the Stockholm Conservatoire under Lindgren. He began his career as a violinist in the court orchestra, and subsequently devoted himself to composition. In 1910 he became musical director at the University of Upsala, with the Students' Choir of which institution he has undertaken several concert tours.
17Alfvén's works include:
193 Symphonies (F minor, D major and E major), 2 Symphonic Poems, and the Swedish rhapsody, Midsommarvaka (Midsummer Vigil), for orchestra; Sten Sture, for chorus and orchestra; The Bells, for solo voice and orchestra; a Centenary March, a Triumphal March, a Cantata, a Romance for violin, and a number of songs and piano pieces.
21E. B.
23ALGAROTTI, CONTE FRANCESCO (b. Venice, Dec. 11, 1712; d. Pisa, May 3, 1764), a man of varied accomplishments and learning, who studied at the Nazarene College in Rome, and the universities of Bologna and Venice. He travelled to Paris and London, and was for some years in high favour at the court of Berlin; ill-health compelled him to return to Italy about 1749. His place in the history of music is due to an important treatise, Saggio sopra l'opera in musica, first published in 1755, and subsequently translated into French, English and German; he points out the many serious defects in the contemporary presentation of operas, and foresees an ideal theatre for operatic music, the description of which reads like a prophecy of Bayreuth.
25M.
27ALGAROTTI, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO, a 16th-century composer. Two books of his madrigals were published at Venice in 1567 and 1569 (Eitner).
29ALGHISI, PARIS FRANCESCO (b. Brescia, June 19, 1666; d. Mar. 30, 1733), studied music under Orazio Polarolo and was for some time engaged at the Polish court; but returned to Brescia and entered the Order of the Minorites. His operas, 'Amor di Curzio per la patria' and 'Il trionfo della continenza,' were performed at Venice in 1699. Valentini mentions three more which were performed at Bologna between 1703 and 1708. Valentini and Peroni mention also 2 oratorios, 1 cantata, 1 sonata da camera, but without further particulars (Eitner; Fétis).
31ALGREEN, SVEN, a Swedish savant of the 18th century, published in vol. 19 of the Memoirs of the Swedish Academy his Description du clavecin à tangentes du Dr. Brelin, décédé, et des additions qu'y a faites M. Scheffer (Fétis).
33ALI BABA, OU LES QUARANTE VOLEURS, opera by Cherubini. Produced Opéra, Paris, July 22, 1833.
35ALIÓ, FRANCISCO (b. 1862; d. 1908), a Spanish composer, one of the forerunners of the Spanish national school. He composed a large number of songs and pianoforte pieces, which show the 'national idiom' derived from the conventionalised expression of the popular music of various parts of Spain. He was followed by GRANADOS, ALBÉNIZ, to a certain extent by TURINA, and most Spanish composers down to FALLA, who was the first to break away from the convention, and yet to write music which is profoundly Spanish in feeling.
37J. B. T.
39ALIPRANDI. The Kreisarchiv of Munich enumerates several 18th-century violoncellists of that name, but without giving their Christian names, which makes it difficult to distinguish them. The best known were: (1) BERNARDO (b. Milan, 18th cent.), appointed violoncellist in the court chapel at Munich, Jan. 19, 1732; chamber composer, 1737; Konzertmeister, 1750; also Kapellmeister. He wrote 3 operas, a masque, and a Stabat Mater for soprano and contralto with
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