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Scan 241
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
44 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 191. See the scan on archive.org.
1violin the rise of the back is about equal to that of the belly; in a high-modelled one, something less. The earliest Italian violin-makers often painted or elaborately inlaid the backs of their instruments; later ones were content to utilise the opportunity for decoration afforded in the unbroken expanse of the back by displaying the sparkling grain of their finest wood, finishing its curves, both of outline and of section, with mathematical exactness, and covering it with lustrous varnish. Usually the blocks for the back are sawn as wedges radiating from the centre of the tree. Occasionally they are sawn the reverse way, i.e. the tree is squared, as for ordinary use as timber, and the blocks are sawn as planks from the outside; such backs are called 'slab' backs. A 'handsome back' is usually considered a desideratum by purchasers, but some excellent instruments have very plain backs.
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5BACKER – GRÖNDAHL, (1) AGATHE URSULA (b. Holmestrand, Norway, Dec. 1, 1847; d. Ormøen, near Christiania, June 6, 1907), a famous Norwegian pianist and composer.
7After studying with Kjerulf in her own country, she was a pupil of Kullak in Berlin (1866) and of Bülow in Florence (1867). In 1875 she married O. A. GRÖNDAHL (q.v.) of Christiania. She composed many songs and pianoforte pieces; the best known of the former is an exquisitely graceful setting of a translation of Shelley's 'To the Queen of my heart.' She frequently visited England with success.
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11(2) FRIDTJOF (b. Christiania, Oct. 5, 1885), son and pupil of the above, is a first-rate pianist and a composer of piano music. He studied at the Berlin Hochschule, and since 1920 has paid repeated visits to England. While his performances of the classics are admired, he has also made a point of giving prominence in his programmes to the music of Norway, including the compositions of his mother.
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15BACKER-LUNDE, JOHAN (b. Le Havre, July 6, 1874), a Norwegian pianist and composer, who was a pupil first of Agathe BACKER-GRÖNDAHL (q.v.) at Christiania and later of Busoni in Berlin.
17He has travelled, giving successful concerts in various parts of Europe, and in London he has played a sufficient number of his own compositions to give a definite impression of their worth. While they include a number of slight but effective pieces, several of them, and notably a 'Ballade' played by the composer in 1912, and since by others, are of a finely serious type.
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21BACKFALL, see ORNAMENTS: ENGLISH.
23BACKHAUS, WILHELM (b. Leipzig, Mar. 26, 1884), studied at Leipzig Conservatoire under A. Reckendorf until 1899, when he became a pupil of Eugen d'Albert at Frankfort-on-M. He toured in 1900; was a teacher at the Royal College of Music, Manchester, in 1905, when he received the Rubinstein prize; and since then has toured as virtuoso. In 1907 and 1908 he gave holiday master-courses for pianoforte-playing at Sondershausen Conservatoire. E. v. d. s.
25BACON, SIR FRANCIS (LORD VERULAM) (b. York House, London, Jan. 22, 1561; d. London, Mar. 1626), was the first to show the way for the measuring of the velocity of sound-waves in his Silva silvarum, in which he treats also of the phenomenon of sympathetic vibrations and their application to stringed instruments, which led to Farunt's invention of viols with sympathetic strings.
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29BACON, RICHARD MACKENZIE (b. Norwich, May 1, 1776; d. Cossey, near Norwich, Nov. 27, 1844), musical critic.
31Bacon's father was proprietor of the Norwich Mercury, which he inherited, and bequeathed to his son, who began to write for this journal at seventeen; its editorship was the standard occupation of his whole life. He is remembered as the projector, editor and chief writer of the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, which was the first journal (Jan. 1818) devoted to music in England. In 1824 he published The Elements of Vocal Science, a work of considerable merit, the materials of which had previously appeared in the Musical Magazine. He was the author of a Life of Pitt, a Life of the Earl of Suffolk, and of numerous political pamphlets.
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35BACON (Baco), ROGER (b. Ilchester, Somerset, 1214; d. Oxford, 1294), the great English philosopher, D.D. of Paris, and Franciscan monk, has an important treatise De valore musices in his Opus majus (republished by Jebb, London, 1733).
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39BADAJOZ (b. 1460 ?; d. 1526 ?), possibly identical with Garci Sánchez de Badajoz, the Spanish poet. 'Badajoz el músico' is mentioned in various poems of the 16th century; and his name occurs once in conjunction with that of Lope de BAENA (q.v.) as a notable organist and one of the most distinguished Spanish musicians of his day. He was for a time choirmaster to John III. of Portugal. The 'Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y XVI,' edited by Barbieri, includes eight secular compositions by him; for 3 and 4 voices. One of these is sung in Gil Vicente's Portuguese play 'Dom Duardos,' while the villancico, 'Quien te hizo, Juan, pastor,' is said to refer to Juan del ENZINA (q.v.), dramatist and composer, who sometimes took the part of a shepherd in his own plays. This composition was known as early as 1514; it occurs again, in a different form, in the lute-book of Estéban DAZA (q.v.) (1576).
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43BADIA, CARLO AGOSTINO (b. Venice, 1672; d. Vienna, Sept. 23, 1738), appointed composer to the Viennese court, July 1, 1696 (the first to hold that office). He wrote 27 operas and
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