DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

128 GABRIELLI GADE
but she did not respond. Her capricious treatment
of her numerous adorers gave rise to
hundreds of stories, among which one may be
quoted. By this it appears that the ambassadors
or France and Portugal were both desperately
enamoured of her at Vienna. The former, concealing
himself in her apartments, saw enough
to confirm his susi)icions, and rushed upon her
with his sword, with which he would doubtless
have transfi.xed her, had not the busk of her
bodice turned aside the point of the blade. She
pardoned the Frenchman, who had thrown him-
self on his knees before her, on condition of
her retaining his sword, on which she determined
to have the words engraved, Epee de M. ....
qui osafrapper la Gahrielli, etc. ; but Metastasio
prevailed upon her to give up this design. In
1765 she nuitted Vienna, laden with wealth,
and went to Sicily, where she excited tlie same
furore, and exhibited the same caprices. She
was imprisoned by the King, because she would
not sing her part in the opera above a whisper.
During the twelve days of her imprisonment
she gave sumptuous entertainment.s, paid the
debts of poor prisoners, and distributed alms in
profusion. Each evening she assembled the
other inmates of the gaol, to whom she sang
her favourite songs in the most painstaking
manner. The King was obliged to set her free,
and her reputation with the p)ublic stood higher
than ever. In 1767 she went to Parma, where
the Infant Don Philip fell madly in love with
her, and persecuted her so far as sometimes to
shut her up in a room of which he kept the key.
Teirible scenes occurred between them, and she
called him on one occasion rjolbo rnalculetto.
Having escaped from Parma in 1768 she went
to Russia, where she astonished Catherine II.
by demanding 5000 ducats as salary, a sum,
as the Empress objected, larger than the pay of
a field-marshal ; to which Gabrielli simply re-
' plied, Then let your field-marshals sing for
you '—as Caffarelli once replied in similar
circumstances. She appeared in London in the
season of 1775-76. Burney says of her that '.she
had no indications of low birth in her countenance
or deportment, which had all the grace and
dignity of a Roman matron.' The public here
was prejudiced against her by the stories current
of her caprice ; and she only remained during
one season. 1 Burney extols the precision and
accuracy of her execution and intonation, and
the thrilling quality of her voice. She appeared
to him 'the most intelligent and best -bred
virtuosa with whom he had ever conversed, not
only on the subject of music, but on every subject
concerning which a well-educated female, who
had seen the world, might be expected to have
information.' She sang with Pacchierotti at
Venice in 1777, and at Milan in
Marchesi, with whom she divided
1780 with
the public
I Fi5tis ia mi8t.aken in aayinE thut she never ciime to England, and
in the whole of hlfl eiplaiiation of her reasons* for refusing engagements
In London. He also erroneouely calls her sister Anna.
into two parties. After this, Gabrielli retired
to Rome with her sister Francesca, who had
followed her everywhere as seconda donna, and
lived upon her savings, which amounted to no
more than 12,000 francs per annum. She died
in April 1796 of a neglected cold. A beautiful
little portrait of her in mezzotint, now very rare,
was engraved by D. Martin in 1766 from a
painting by Pouipeo Battoni. .7. M.
GABRIELLI, Dumenico, dramatic composer
and violoncellist, known as ' il Menghiuo del
violoncello,' born at Bologna 1640 ; first in the
Ijand of San Petronio (from 1680), then in the
service of Cardinal Pamfili (before 1691). In
1676 he became a member, and in 1683 President,
of the Societa Filarmonica in Bologna.
He died July 10, 1690. Of his eleven operas,
produced in Bologna, Padua, and Venice,
' Cleobulo ' (1683) was the most successful. [An
oratorio, 'S. Sigismondo re di Borgogno,' SiS.
dated 1687, is pireserved at Moderia.] His
instrumental compositions ' Balletti, gighe,
correnti, sarabande, a due violini e violoncello
con basso continue,' op. 1 (Bologna, 1684), are
interesting. F. G.
GABUSSI, GiULif) Ce.sake, a Bolognese composer
of the 16th century, pupil of Costanzo
Porta, was maestro di cappella in Rome about
1580, and from 1582 to 1611 at the cathedral
of Milan. He was for some time in tlie service
of the King of Poland, and died before 1619.
Books of madrigals appeared in 1580 and 1598,
magnificats and other church music in 1589
and 1619, and 1623. (See Quellen-Lexikon.)
GABUSSI, ViNCENZO, composer and teacher
of singing, born at Bologna early in the 19th
century, studied counterpoint under Padre Mattel.
He brought out his first opera at Modena
in 1825, and then came to London, and remained
there for about fifteen years teaching
singing and accompaniment. After this he
retired to Bologna, In 1834 he produced
' Ernani ' at the Theatre des Italiena, Paris,
and in 1841 ' ' Clemenza di Valois at the Fenice
in A'enice, without success. He composed cham-
Ijer music for instruments, but is best known by
his vocal duets, which are still sometimes heard.
He died in London, Sept. 12, 1846. M. c. c.
GADE, Niels V^ilhelm, was born Feb. 22,
1817, at Copenhagen, the son of a maker of
musical instruments. His first instruction in
music was obtained from a teacher who esteemed
mechanical industry beyond talent, and it seems
was not very well satisfied with the progress of
his pujiil. Gade learned a little about guitar,
violin, and pianoforte, without accomplishing
much on either instrument. Later on he met
with more able masters in M'exschall, Berggreen,
and Weyse, and entered the royal orchestra
at Copenhagen as violinist, attaining in that
practical school the rare degree of mastery in instrumentation
which his publications show from
the first. Through his ' Ossian ' overture, which,