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Scan 353
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1928
20 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 309. See the scan on archive.org.
11642-44, and by his editorship of other collections of sacred and secular music of the 16th and 17th centuries.
3TESCHNER, MELCHIOR, Lutheran cantor at Fraustadt, in Silesia, at the beginning of the 17th century. His name chiefly appears in connexion with the Choral-tune to an acrostic hymn, 'Valet will ich dir geben,' written by Valerius Herberger, Lutheran pastor at Fraustadt, and a famous preacher of the time. The hymn, written in 1613, during a time of pestilence in Silesia, appeared in a publication of Herberger's in 1614, accompanied by two simple musical settings, a 5, by Teschner. Both melodies are given in Zahn's Collection, but only one has survived in modern use. Hymn and tune were received into the Gotha Cantionale Sacrum of 1648, and have thence passed into most modern Choral-books. Teschner's original setting, a 5, appears in Schöberlein's 'Schatz' to Paul Gerhardt's hymn, 'Wie soll ich dich empfangen,' with which the tune is also now associated. With some alteration the tune has been adopted into English hymn-books to the Palm Sunday hymn, 'All glory, laud, and honour.' Two other works of Teschner are mentioned in Q.-L.
5TESI-TRAMONTINI, VITTORIA (b. Florence, Feb. 13, 1700¹; d. Vienna, May 9, 1775²), a celebrated singer. Her first instructor was Francesco Redi, and at a later date she studied under Campeggi, at Bologna, but it is evident that she sang on the public stage long before her years of study were over. She was singing in Italy in 1716, when she appeared with Cuzzoni, in a pastoral called 'Dafni'; in 1718 she was at Venice, and went in 1719 to Dresden, just at the time when Handel arrived there in quest of singers for the newly established Royal Academy of Music in London. The story of her singing in Handel's 'Rodrigo,' in 1707, and of her falling in love with the master, is due to a mistake of Chrysander.³ Her voice was of brilliant quality and unusual compass. Quantz, who heard her at Dresden, defines it as 'a contralto of masculine strength,' but adds that she could sing high or low with equally little effort. Fire, force and dramatic expression were her strong points, and she succeeded best in men's parts; in florid execution she did not greatly excel. Her fame and success were at their zenith in 1719, but it does not appear that Handel made any effort to secure her for England. At some time or other, possibly at this period, she visited Poland with her father, where she attracted the admiration of the king. From 1721-47 there are traces of her singing each year in Italy. She married a barber named Tramontini and appeared as 'Tesi-Tramontini, virtuosa di Camera della Granduchessa di Toscana,' from 1743. In the autumn of 1739 she was at Madrid. In 1747 or 1748 she went to Vienna, and opened a school for vocal instruction. In 1749 she played in Jommelli's 'Didone.' The book was by Metastasio, who wrote of this occasion, 'The Tesi has grown younger by twenty years.' She was then 49. Burney met her at Vienna in 1772, and speaks of her as more than 80. This mistake, and various statements by other historians, are settled by the discovery of the baptismal register.
7Her nature was vivacious and emporté to a degree, and many tales were told of her freaks and escapades. Perhaps most wonderful of all is the story of her marriage, as told by Burney in his Present State (Germany), i. 318; in which, to avoid marrying a certain nobleman, she went into the street, and addressing herself to a poor labouring man, said she would give him fifty ducats if he would marry her, not with a view to their living together, but to serve a purpose. The poor man readily consented to become her nominal husband, and they were formally married; and when the Count renewed his solicitations, she told him that she was already the wife of another. This may be a version of her marriage with Tramontini, for as he was living in 1753, there would be no reason for her to make a marriage of convenience before that date, and after it, it is unlikely that such a marriage would be required. Among the pupils of La Tesi were the 'Teuberinn,' and Signora de Amicis, who took a friendly interest in the boy Mozart, and sang in his earliest operatic efforts in Italy.
9F. A. M., with addns.
11TESS, opera in 4 acts, founded on Hardy's novel by Luigi Illica; music by F. D'Erlanger. Produced San Carlo Theatre, Naples, Apr. 10, 1906; Covent Garden, July 14, 1909.
13TESSARINI, CARLO (b. Rimini, 1690), an eminent violinist, probably a pupil of Corelli. He was violinist at St. Mark's, Venice, 1729; afterwards at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, and finally in the service of the Cardinal Wolfgang Hannibal at Brünn. Gerber (1) relates that in 1762 he appeared, still a vigorous old man, as a soloist at Amsterdam. Tessarini, who left a considerable number of violin sonatas and concerti grossi, played an important part in the evolution of the sonata and the instrumental concerto. (See A. Schering, Geschichte des Instrumentalkonzerts, p. 107; Q.-L.; Riemann.)
15TESSIER, CHARLES (or CARLES), composer and lutenist, was born, according to Fétis, at Pézénas (Dep. Hérault) about 1550. He visited England some time before 1597, for in that year his Le Premier Livre de chansons et airs de court, tant en françois qu'en italien et en gascon à 4 et 5 parties was printed in London by
17¹ The baptismal register, of Feb. 15, is copied in A. Ademollo's articles on the singer, in the Nuova antologia, xxii. 308, and the Gazzetta musicale, 1889, p. 283, etc.
18² Riemann.
19³ The documents referred to in note 1 correct Chrysander's error. See also Streitfeld, Handel, p. 30 et seq.
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