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Scan 292
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
36 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 250. See the scan on archive.org.
1Subject) of a canon is to be taken up by the several voices.
3The following are the forms most frequently adopted:
5·S· :S: ·S· + ✚
7In the famous 'Enimme,' or enigmatical canons, of the 15th and 16th centuries an INSCRIPTION (q.v.) is usually substituted for the Presa, though in many cases even this is wanting, and the singer is left without assistance.
9W. S. R.
11PRESSENDA, JOHANNES FRANCISCUS (b. Lequio-Berria, Alba, Jan. 6, 1777; d. Turin, Sept. 11, 1854), a Turin violin-maker of local repute.
13When a lad of 12 he begged and fiddled his way to Cremona, where he arrived after an eventful and arduous journey, and in due course became a pupil of Lorenzo Storioni. On the completion of his studies at Cremona he returned to his native town in the same manner in which he came, and in 1814 set up a business of his own at Alba. Meeting with but little encouragement he removed to Carmagnola in 1817, and finally drifted to Turin in 1820. Here success at last attended his efforts, owing to the patronage of Giambattista Polledro. This pupil of Pugnani was appointed conductor of the royal band by King Charles Felix in 1824, and in the reorganisation which ensued, Polledro, together with Ghebart (his successor), adopted the use of Pressenda's violins in the royal band and the orchestras of the theatres. Tarisio bought a considerable number of his violins, predicting an auspicious future for them, and diplomas and silver medals were awarded Pressenda by various Philharmonic Societies. Beyond Italy Pressenda's name is comparatively unknown, but his work was brought before the notice of the musical public in this country in 1882, in connexion with the Hodges v. Chanot case. The violin—a remarkably handsome instrument bearing a Bergonzi label—which was the cause of the suit, brought to light the very doubtful practices of violin-dealers, and their methods of inserting false labels. Von Lütgendorff (Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher) highly commends Pressenda's work, especially praising his varnish, and the individuality displayed in the scrolls.
15BIBL.—B.-G. RINALDI, Classica fabricazione di violini in Piemonte (Turin, 1873), followed by a German translation, Von LÜTGENDORFF, Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher; CHANOT, Hodges v. Chanot, Criticisms and Remarks on the great Violin Case; Times, Standard, Daily Telegraph and contemporary papers between Feb. and June 1882; HERON-ALLEN, Hodges against Chanot, being the History of a Celebrated Case (London, 1883).
17E. H.-A.
19PRESSER, THEODORE (b. Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1848; d. Philadelphia, Nov. 1925), American publisher and musical philanthropist. He was an early student at the New England Conservatory; later he spent two years in Leipzig. In 1883 he founded, at Lynchburg, Virginia, The Étude (moved a few months later to Philadelphia), a monthly magazine devoted to the interests of music teachers and students, which has a large circulation; three years later he established a music-publishing business which, as the Theo. Presser Co., is now an important firm. In 1906 he opened, in Philadelphia, the Presser Home for Retired Music Teachers, the only one in America. In 1916 the Presser Foundation was established, with funds of over $1,000,000, which supports, besides the Home, a Department of Scholarships, given directly to institutions and not to individuals, and a Department for the Relief of Deserving Musicians.
21W. S. S.
23PRESTISSIMO, 'very quickly,' indicates the highest rate of speed used in music.
25PRESTO, 'fast,' indicates a rate of speed quicker than allegro, or any other sign except prestissimo. When the time becomes faster in the middle of a movement, 'Più presto' is used, as for instance in Beethoven's Quartet in E♭ (op. 74), third movement (Presto), where the direction for the part of the movement that serves as the trio is 'Più presto quasi prestissimo.' A curious misuse of this direction is in the pianoforte sonata of Schumann, op. 22, where the first movement is headed 'Il più presto possibile,' and in German below 'So rasch wie möglich.' At forty-one bars from the end of the movement comes 'Più mosso,' translated 'Schneller,' and again, twenty-five bars from the end, 'Ancora più mosso,' 'Noch schneller.'
27PRESTON, (1) THOMAS (late 15th or early 16th cent.), English composer of church music. B.M. Add. MSS. 29,996 contains an early 16th-century collection of 91 motets arranged for organ (or possibly virginal), written on two staves of 5, 6 or 8 lines each. Nos. 1-50 are in the hand of John REDFORD (q.v.), who is composer of most, if not all, of these. Preston is similarly the composer of most, if not all, of Nos. 51-69: the remainder are anonymous. They are mostly composed on plain-songs, and were probably reductions of motets originally written for voices, and used to support the voices. A motet by Preston, 'O Lux,' is in the Commonplace Book of John BALDWIN (q.v.).
29(2) THOMAS (b. 1662), English organist and composer. He was organist of Ripon Minster from 1690 to 1730 and was buried in the South Transept (West's Cath. Org.). He is the composer of a piece, 'Tho. Preston's Jig,' which appears in B.M. Add. MSS. 17,853/20b, a miscellaneous collection of tunes for violin (or flute).
31(3) THOMAS, son of the above, succeeded his father as organist of Ripon in 1731, and held this post until 1748 (West's Cath. Org.).
33J. M.K.
35PRESTON & SON, a family of London music publishers during the latter part of the 18th and the early portion of the 19th centuries.
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