DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

218 GRAUN GRAUN
'delightful beyond all that he had ever heard.'
Sir Charles Bell (1805) thought it was 'only
Grassini who conveyed the idea of the united
power of music and action. She died not only
without being ridiculous, but with an effect equal
to Mrs. Siddons. The "ODio" of Mrs. Billington
was a bar of music, but in the strange, almost
unnatural voice of Grassini, it went to the soul.'
Elsewhere he speaks of her ' dignity, truth, and
affecting simplicity.' Such was her influence on
people of refined taste, not musicians. In 1804
she sang again in Paris ; and, after 1806, when
she quitted London, continued to sing at the
French Court for several years, at a very high
salary (altogether, about £2600). Here the
role of ' was Didone '
written for her by Paer.
Alter the change of dynasty, Mme. Grassini,
whose voice was now seriously impaired, lost her
appointment at Paris, and returned to Milan,
where she sang in two concerts in April 1817.
In 1822 she was at Ferrara, but died at Milan,
January 3, 1850.
In 1806 a fine portrait of her was scraped in
mezzotint (folio) by S. W. Reynolds, after a
picture by Mme. Le Brun. It represents her in
Turkish dress, as 'Zaira' in Winter's opera, j. M.
GRAUN. Tlie name of three brothers, sons
of an Excise collector at Wahrenbriick near
Dresden, one of whom made a lasting mark on
German music.
The eldest, August Friedrich, born at the
end of the 17th century, was at the time of his
death cantor of Mcrseburg, where he had passed
the greater part of his life, 1727-1771.
JoHANN Gottlieb, born in Wahrenbriick
about 1698, was an eminent violinist, and composer
of instrumental music much valued in his
day. He was a pupil of Pisendel. After a
journey to Italy, where he had instruction from
Tartini, he was in the Dresden band until 1726,
when he became concertmeister at Mcrseburg,
and had Friedemanu Bach for some time as his
pupil. In 1727 he entered the service of Prince
von Waldeck, and in 1728 that of Frederick the
Great, then Crown Prince at Rheinsberg. On
the King's accession he went to Berlin, and
remained there till his death, Oct. 27, 1771, as
conductor of the royal baud. Of his many com-
positions only a set of violin sonatas, six harpsichord
or organ concertos (with Agrell), and eight
sonatas (trios) for two flutes and violin, were
printed (see the Quellen-Lexikmi). Burney
in his Present State (ii. 229) testifies to the
great esteem in which he was held. The excel-
lence of the then Berlin orchestra is generally
attributed to him. P. D.
The most celebrated of the three is the youngest,
Karl HErN'KiCH, born at Wahrenbriick, May 7,
1701. He was educated with Johann Gottlieb
at the Kreuzschule in Dresden, and having a
beautiful soprano voice, was appointed, in 1713,
' Raths-discantist, ' or treble-singer, to the town
council. Grundig the cantor of the school, the
court-organist Petzold, and the capellmeister
Joh. Christoph Schmidt, were his early musical
instructors, and he profited by the friendship of
Ulrioh Konig the court-poet, and of Superintendent
Loscher, who defended him from the
pedantic notions of an inartistic Burgomaster.
His career both as a singer and composer was
largely influenced by his study of the vocal compositions
of Keiser, the then celebrated composer
of Hamburg, and of the operas of the Italian
composer Lotti, who conducted in person a series
of performances in Dresden, with a picked company
of Italian singers. Even during this time
of study, Graun was busilyengaged in composing.
There still exist a quantity of motets and
other sacred vocal pieces, whicli he wrote for
the choir of the Kreuzschule. In particular may
be cited a ' Grosse Passions-Cantata,' with the
opening chorus ' Lasset uns aufsehen auf Jesum,'
which, as the work of a boy of barely fifteen,
is very remarkable. [Three other early passion
oratorios are mentioned in the Qnelleii-Lexilon.']
Upon Kimig's recommendation he was appointed
tenor to the opera at Brunswick when Hasse
was recalled to Dresden in 1725. The opera
chosen for his first appearance was by Schurmann
the local cajiellmeister, but Graun being
dissatisfied with the music of his part replaced
the airs by others of his own composition, whicli
were so successful that he was commissioned
to write an opera, and appointed vice-capell-
meister. This first opera, ' Pollidoro '
(1726),
was followed by five others ; 'Sancio,'1727,'Scipio
Africano,' 1732, 'Tiniareta,' 1733, ' Lo specchio
della fedelta' and ' Pharao Tubaetes, ' 1735 ; and
besides these he composed several cantatas,
sacred and secular, two ' Passions-Musiken,'
and instrumental pieces. His fame was now
firmly established. In 1735 he was invited to
Rheinsberg, the residence of the Crown-Prince
of Prussia, afterwards Frederick the Great. This
powerful amateur continued Graim's friend and
patron till his death. Here he composed about
fifty Italian cantatas, usually consisting each of
two airs with recitatives. They weie highly
valued at the time, and contain ample materials
for an estimate of Graun's style of writing for the
voice. He also wrote ' Trauermusik
' for Duke
August Wilhelm of Brunswick (1738) and King
Frederick William I. (1740). Wlien his patron
came to the throne in 1740, he gave Graun the
post of capellmeister, with asalary of 2000 thalers,
and despatched him to Italy to form a company
of Italian singers for the opera at Berlin. In
Italy he remained more than a year, and his
singing was much appreciated. A fter his return
to Berlin with the singers he had engaged, he
spent some years of remarkable activity in composing
operas. Those of this period amount to
twenty-eight in all [a complete list will be found
in the Qiiellen-Le.ril-on'] ; 'Rodelinda, Reginadi
Longobardia ' appeared in 1741, and 'Merope,'
his last, in 1756. In his operas he gave his