DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

GEASSI GKASSINI 217
it may be taken out or replaced with the key,
witliout disturbing the rest of the mechanism,
Tliere is a regulating screw perforating the jack,
tongue, or lly, as it is variously called, of the
grasshopper, drilled into tlie backpiece and bearing
a leatlier button, the position of whicli and
the pressure of a spring determine tlie ralve of
the jack, and consequently the rise and rebound
the rebound being further regu-
of the hammer ;
lated by a contrivance attached to the jack, ^^lien
not an independent member, and used for checking
or arresting it after tlie blow. In grand
pianofortes, and in upright ones with crank
lever actions, the escapement apparatus is less
easily detiiclied from the action.
It is not recorded by M'hom tlie Grasshopper
was introduced, although tlie escapement part
of it existed in Cristofori's ' linguetta mobiie '
but the tradition wliich attributes it to Longman
& Broderi[), pianoforte makers in London, and
predecessors of the firm of Clementi & Collard,
may be relied upon. John Geib patented in
London in 1786 a square action with the jack,
and the setting otf button acting upon the key,
also, in another form, the screw holding the
button perforating the jack—but withthebutton
in front of it. The improved form with which
we are acquainted, with the button behind the
jack, was ad"pted by Messrs. Longman &
Broderip, and soon became general. A. J. H.
GRASSI, Cecilia, who afterwards became the
wife of John Christian Bach (' English Bach '),
was born in 1746. She came to London with
Guarducci in 1766, as 'first woman,' and remained
in that capacity at the opera for several
years. Burney thought her ' inanimate on the
stage, and far from beautiful in her person ; but
there was a truth of intonation, with a plaintive
sweetness of voice, and innocence of expression,
that gave great pleasure to all hearers who did
not expect or want to be surprised.' She was
succeeded in 1772 by Girelli, but remained in
England until the death other husband in 1782,
when she returned to Italy, and retired Irom
public singing. J. M.
GRASSINEAU, James, born of French
parents in London, about 1715 ; was first employed
by Godfrey, the chemist, of Southampton
Street, Strand, then became Secretary to Dr.
Pepusch, at whose instance he translated the
DictionTiaire de musiqit^ of Brossard (Paris,
170.3), with alterations and additions, some of
which are said to be by Pepusch himself: A
Musical Dictionary . . . of Terms and Characters
etc., London, 1740, an 8vo of 34.3 pages, with
a recommendation prefixed, signed by Pepusch,
Greene, and Galliard. [Some years afterwards
an 'appendix' of 52 pp. was issued ; it is now
scarce.] A second edition is said to have been
published in 1769 by Robson -with an appendix
taken from Rousseau. [The Dielionarium Musica
(sic) by John Hoyle, a Yorkshire musician,
appeared about 1770, and went into several
;
editions ;
it is a mere abridgment of Grassineau's
dictionary, although it pretends to be an original
work. Grassineau died in London in 1769.] g. ;
additions by F. K.
GRASSINI, JosEPHiNA (as she signed herself),
was born at Varese (Lombardy), in 1773,
of very humble parents. The beauty of her
voice and person induced General Belgiojoso to
give her the best instruction that could be procured
at Milan. She made rapid progress in
the grand school of singing thus opened to her,
and soon developed a powerful and extensive
contralto, with a po^^•er of light and finished
execution rarely found with that kind of voice.
She had the great advantage of singing in her
first operas with such models as Marchesi and
Crescentini. Grassini made her debuts at Milan,
in the carnival of 1794, in Zingarelli's ' Artaserse,
and the ' ' Demofoonte of
Portogallo. She soon
became the first singer in Italy, and appeared in
triumph on all the chief Italian stages. In 1796
she returned to Milan, and played in Traetta's
' Apelle e Campaspe, ' and with Crescentini and
Bianchi in the ' Giulietta e Romeo ' of Zingarelli.
The year after she excited the greatest enthusiasm
at Venice as ' Orazio.' In 1797 she
was engaged to sing at Naples during the fetes
held on the marriage of the Prince. In ISOO,
after Marengo, she sang at Milan in a concert
before ]>uonaparte, and was taken by him to
Paris, where she sang (July 22) at the national
fete in the Champ de Mars, and in concerts at
the opera. In 1S04 she was engaged to sing in
London from March to July for £3000, taking
the place of Banti, Here she had to contend
with Mrs. Billiugton in popular favour, though
their voices were very dill'erent. Lord Mount-
Edgcunibe speaks in disparaging terms of that
of Grassini, though he gives her credit for great
beauty, 'a grace peculiarly her own, ' and the
excellence of her acting. Her st^de was then
' exclu3i^'ely the rantahilc, and bordered a little
on the monotonous. She had entirely lost all
her upper tones, and possessed little more than
one octave of good, natural notes ; if she attempted
to go higher, she produced only a shriek,
quite unnatural, and almost painful to the ear.'
Her first appearance was in ' La Vergine del
Sole,' by Mayer, [or Andreozzi, according to the
contemporary journals] in a part well suited to
her ; but 'so equivocal was her reception, that
when her benefit was to take place she did not
dare encounter it alone, but called in Mrs.
Billington to her aid.' The tide then turned,
and Grassini became the reigning favourite.
' Not only was she rapturously applauded in
public, but she was taken up by the first society,
fiUc, caressed, and introduced as a regular guest
in most of the fashionable assemblies.' Very
different from this was the etfect produced by
Grassini on other hearers, more intellectual,
though less cultivated in music, than Lord
Mount- Edgcumbe. De Quincey found her voice
P