Frederick Corder

“ As a boy he desired to become a painter, but in 1840 he was placed by his father in Messrs. Broadwood's piano-forte factory, where he remained all his life. A music-seller in the Strand, named Fenton, gave him a few pianoforte lessons in 1841, and Marcellus Higgs taught him the organ in 1844; in spite of such limited tuition he became a charming performer on the piano, having the unique reputation of rendering the music of Chopin according to the composer's intention. His chief energies were devoted to a study of the science of music and of the history and quality of keyboard instruments. ”

“ In many musical tempests, especially the older ones, an agitated movement with plenty of tremolos and semiquaver passages is deemed sufficient to convey the idea, but many composers have sought accurately to imitate the sounds and even the aspect of nature during a storm, with varying success. ”

“ Not so freely as we may combine the different forms of accent, for the longer divisions are less clearly perceptible; indeed the modern complexity of rhythm, especially in German music, is one of the chief obstacles to its ready appreciation. ”

“ ARDITI, LUIGI (1822–1903) , musical conductor and composer, born at Crescentino, in Piedmont, on 16 July 1822, was son of Maurizio Arditi by his wife Caterina Colombo. He was educated as a violinist at the Milan conservatoire, showing also some talent for composition. In 1840 an overture of his was produced in Milan, and during the carnival of the following year a light opera, 'I Briganti.' He made his first appearance as an operatic conductor at Vercelli in 1843, and became an honorary member of the Accademia Filarmonica there. ”

“ In barbarous music and plain-chant this is because the notes exist only with reference to the words, which are chiefly metre-less: in polyphonic music it is because the termination of one musical phrase (foot, or group of accents) is always coincident with and hidden by the commencement of another. ”

“ In 1830 he temporarily interrupted his musical work to accept an 'appointment in the commissariat of the French army at Algiers, and on his return studied medicine in the military hospitals of Paris (art. in Musical Times, April 1905) . In 1840 he presented to the French Institut his 'Mémoire sur la voix humaine,' which was accepted as the best authority on the subject. Appointed to a professorship at the Paris Conservatoire, he attracted many distinguished pupils, including Jenny Lind, whom he instructed in Paris from 26 Aug. ”

“ One consequence of this is that he has written the most tumultuously emotional opera extant;, but another is that the work is a mere chaos to the hearer until it is closely studied. Actual popularity and general appreciation for such music is out of all question for some generations to come. ”

“ His father, Manuel del Popolo Vicente Garcia (1775–1832) , made a reputation as singer, impresario, composer and teacher of singing. His mother, Joaquina Sitchès, was an accomplished actress. Manuel was the only son. Both his sisters, Maria Felicita (Madame Mahbran) (1808–36) and Michelle Ferdinande Pauline (Madame Viardot-Garcia) (1821–1910) , achieved the highest eminence as operatic singers. All three children were educated by their parents. At fifteen Manuel was studying harmony with Fetis in Paris and singing in opera with his father at Madrid. ”

“ On analysing any piece of music it will be found that whether the ultimate distribution of the accents be binary or ternary, the larger divisions nearly always run in twos, the rhythms of three, four, or seven being merely occasionally used to break the monotony. ”

“ He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1846, studying the piano under Herz, and also under Halevy. In 1848 he settled in London, becoming pianist to Queen Victoria and a fashionable teacher, and was naturalised as a British subject. He published numerous fugitive piano pieces and a very large number of songs, some of which, such as 'The Message' and 'The Requital' (1864) and 'We Two' (1879) , achieved a lasting popularity. His more ambitious attempts at composition attracted no attention. A pianoforte trio and a 'Morceau de Concert for Piano,' both early works, were printed ”

“ A very quaint effect is produced by the unusual rhythm of seven. An impression is conveyed that the eighth bar—a weak one—has got left out through inaccurate sense of rhythm, as so often happens with street-singers and the like. ”

“ He reintroduced equal temperament in tuning into this country in 1846, and wrote profusely on musical history, contributing largely to 'Grove's Dictionary,' as well as to the ninth edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' In 1881 he made a journey through Germany to examine historic pianofortes in the royal palaces. ”

“ One grave absurdity should here be alluded to; namely, the imitating, by the appearance of a written passage on paper, the form of soundless objects! It is quite admissible to represent the howling of the wind by rising and falling chromatic scales, but to imitate a flash of lightning by a zigzag passage on the piccolo, as is done by Haydn (Seasons) and Wagner (Die Walküre) ”

“ Gadsby was a typical Victorian composer, whose works were always well received and never heard a second time. An earnest musician, whose mission in life was to teach others to be like himself, he died on 11 Nov. ”

“ In 1847 he published his world-famous 'Traité complet de l'art du chant,' of which a simplified abstract appeared as 'Hints on Singing' in 1894. In both the literary and artistic society of Paris Garcia filled a prominent place. Early in 1848 he resigned his position at the Conservatoire, and came to London in June. On 10 Nov. he was appointed a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. ”

“ The most original treatment, perhaps, of a storm is in the prelude to 'Die Walküre.' Throughout this drama the weather is very bad, and there are various kinds of storms, but the first is a magnificent one. The tremolo D held by the violins and violas for nearly 70 bars against the rushing wind of the basses,
is surprisingly effective, and were it not for the comical lightning effect
the artistic value of the movement would be much greater. In Act 2 a theatrical 'thunder machine' is used to enhance the effect, but this cannot be said to belong to the score, though it stands there. ”

“ For more than half a century Garcia held, by general consent, the position of premier singing-teacher in the world. In person he was, from youth to old age, extremely handsome, with all his father's fiery and impetuous disposition. His chief recreation was chess. Mr. C. E. Hallé owns a sketch by Richard Doyle of Garcia and his friend, Sir Charles Hallé, at a game, which is reproduced in MacKinlay's 'Life,' p. 222. There is also a crayon sketch of Garcia, made by his sister Pauline soon after the invention of the laryngoscope. ”

“ Three-bar rhythm, if in a slow time, conveys a very uncomfortable lop-sided sensation to the uncultivated ear. The writer remembers an instance when the band could hardly be brought to play a section of an Andante in 9–8 time and rhythm of three bars. The combination of 3 x 3 x 3 was one which their sense of accent refused to acknowledge. Beethoven has taken the trouble in the Scherzo of his 9th Symphony to mark 'Ritmo di tre battute,' although in such quick time it is hardly necessary ”

“ In 1906 he won a prize of 50l, offered by the Worshipful Company of Musicians for the best 'Fantasy-Quartet' for strings. Always of a delicate constitution, he died of consumption on 30 May 1906, and was buried at Mitcham, Croydon. ”

“ Great as are the varieties afforded by the diverse positions and combinations of strong and weak accents, the equal length of bars, and consequently of musical phrases, would cause monotony were it not that we are allowed to combine sets of two, three, and four bars. ”

“ In 1863 he became a teacher of the piano, the writer being one of his first pupils. Having also taught himself the organ, he became organist of St. Peter's, Brockley, holding this appointment till 1884. ”

“ A member of the Philharmonic and other musical societies and fellow of the College of Organists, he was a well-known figure in the musical world. His published works include the following choral and orchestral cantatas: ‘Psalm 130’ (1862) ; ‘Alice Brand’ (1870) ; ‘The Lord of the Isles’ (Brighton Festival, 1879) ; ‘Columbus’ (male voices, 1881) ; ‘The Cyclops’ (male voices, 1883) ; music to ‘Alcestis’ (1876) and to Tasso's ‘Aminta’ (for Queen's College, 1898) . Other instrumental works were a concert overture, ‘Andromeda’ (1873) , an organ concerto in F, and a string quartet. ”

“ She then retired from public life and successfully engaged in teaching in London. Her husband died on 14 March 1892, aged sixty-nine. She received a civil list pension of 70Z. in 1896, and died without issue in London on 24 March 1904. Her sister Susan, who married Frank H. Standing, a baritone vocalist known as F. H. Celli, died in 1886.
[Grove's Dict. of Music; Brown and Stratton's Dict. of Musicians; Musical World, 1857; Athenæum, 26 March 1904; Musical Times, April 1904; Kuhe's Reminiscences; H. Saxe-Wyndham, Annals of Covent Garden; Hays' Women of the Day, 1885.] ”

“ It was not however always sufficient for Beethoven's requirements, as may be seen from a well-known place in the Scherzo of the Eroica, where he first gives a passage in syncopation—
and then repeats it in common time, which in this instance may be taken as an extreme form of syncopation.
Schumann was fonder of syncopation than any other composer. His works supply many instances of whole short movements so syncopated throughout that the ear loses its reckoning, and the impression of contra-tempo is lost: e.g. Kinderscenen, No. 10; Faschingsschwank, No. ”

“ George Smart, and in 1842, at the age of ten, made a successful appearance in public with her elder sister Susan at the Queen's Concert Rooms, Hanover Square. In 1847 the sisters performed in Paris, and in August 1849 Louisa made her debut on the stage at Boulogne as Amina in 'La Sonnambula.' Lablache offered to take her to St. ”

“ Lockey retired from public life about 1862 on account of a throat affection, and entered into business at Grave send and Dover. He nominally held his position at St. Paul's till his death, but for forty-three years Fred Walker, Joseph Barnby, and Edward Lloyd were his deputies. He died on 3 Dec. 1901 at Hastings. On 24 May 1853 he married Martha Williams, an excellent contralto singer, who predeceased him in 1897, leaving one son, John. ”

“ On 14 Aug. 1851 she performed the Queen of Night in Mozart's 'II Flauto magico' at Covent Garden, and during the season fulfilled many important oratorio and concert engagements. In August 1854 she went to America with William Harrison (1813-1868) [q .v.] , and was received there with great enthusiasm, staying through three seasons. On her return to England in 1857 she went into partnership with Harrison, lessee of the Lyceum and Drury Lane Theatres, for the performance of English opera. The Harrison-Pyne enterprise was inaugurated with success at the Lyceum on 21 Sept. ”

“ James's Church, New York (1891) ; 'An orchestral introduction and chorus in praise of King Alfred,' performed at the inauguration of the Alfred Memorial at Winchester in 1901, besides two motets, two psalms, anthems, part songs, and two sonatas.
[Musical Times, Nov. 1901, March 1902 (with portrait) , May 1902; Brown and Stratton, Musical Biog., 1897; Brit. Mus. Cat.; private information.] ”