DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

250 GEOVE GEUA
scheme, carried out by Breitkopf & Hiirtel
(^Tillies, Sept. 15), for issuing a facsimile edition
of the autograph scores of Beethoven's Sym-
phonies. To the special Beethoven number of
the Musical Times (Dec. 15, 1892)hecontributed
an interesting paper on ' The Birds in the
Pastoral Symphony.' Overwork and advancing
years had now begun seriously to impair Grove's
health. Visits to Sir Arthur Sullivan's villa
near Monte Carlo at Christmas 1892 and to
Eagatz in Sept. 189.3, only brought him temporary
relief, and consciousness of his failing
powers impelled him in Oct. 1894 to resign
his directorship. In March 1896 he published
his valuable and illuminating commentary on
Beethoven's Symphonies. The Scottish Musical
Review for June 1896 contains a sketch of his
old friend, Madame Schumann, and his con-
tributions to the press continued to the close of
1897. As long as health remained he showed
the liveliest interest in the welfare of his old
pupils, and attended the meetings of the Royal
College Council. Early in 1899 his strength
began to fail, and he passed away on May 28,
1900, in the old wooden house at Sydenham
which he had inhabited for nearly forty years.
He is buried in Ladywell Cemetery, Lewisham.
Grove's achievements are all tliemore remarkable
when it is borne in mind that in the strict
sense of the words he was neither a scholar, a
linguist, nor a musician. These limitations he
was never afraid to acknowledge,— see for example
the preface to his book on Beethoven's Symphonies,—and
he freely availed himself of the
best expert aid to supplement his own shortcomings.
As one of his most distinguished pupils
said of hira, ' he taught one to think of him as
pre-eminently an amateur, and I am inclined to
think that this pre-eminence, together with his
human kindness, formed his best qualification
for a great professional post.' Though he was
' no executant ' he never missed any opportunity
of hearinggood music ; hismemory was retentive,
and he could find his way well enough about tlie
full score of a work with which he was familiar.
As a critic he was hampered by his temperament;
he hated comparisons, ' would rather love than
condemn any day in the week,' and was little
concerned with niceties of technique in performance.
"Where he shone was as a commentator,
interpreter, or eulogist ; in the words of one of
his best friends, ' in handling the great poets
or musicians, his knowledge of their outer and
inner lives, their friends, surroundings, and
general circumstances, together with his minute,
loving study of every line and note of tlieir
works, gave him a clue to the most abstruse
and difficult passages, which more ]iractical
and scientific musicians have rarely attained.'
Grove's yiersonal devotion to his musical heroes
was quite extraordinary. He came to regard
them as companions and friends. ' Schubert is
my existence,' he wrote while engaged on the
article in this Dictionary, and his feeling for
Beethoven, though not so tender, was hardly less
strong. Personally Grove was a most lovable
and delightful man, with a genius for friendship
with young and old alike, and for utilising all
the means by which friendship is kept in good
repair. Before concentrating himself on music
he had for many years moved in the mid-stream
of culture, he had travelled widely, found time
to read everything new or important in art or
letters, and reckoned amongst his intimates or
acquaintances a very large number of the most
distinguished of his contemporaries. It was
characteristic of the man that he was always
ready to communicate and impart the treasures
of a mind thus richly stored to those who needed
it most. No one could have acted more conscientiously
in accordance with the advice
he gave to a young friend :
' Get all the education
you can, and never fail to lend a helping
hand to any one who needs it. ' Of his energy and
versatility a curiously interesting sketch will
be found in the chapter on Types in H. Taine's
Notes sur L' Angleterre (Paris, Haohette, edition
deuxieme, 1872, pp. 76-77). Besides the dis-
tinctions and honours already mentioned it
may be added that Grove was made a C.B. in
1894, that the late Duke of Coburg decorated
him with the Cross of the Order of Merit, and
that the University of Glasgow conferred on him
the honorary degree of LL. D. On his retirement
his pupils at the Royal College presented him
with his bust by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R. A., which
he subsequently gave to the College. The
teaching staff presented him with his portrait
by the late Mr. Charles Furse, A.R.A. Other
portraits of him were painted by Henry Philips,
H. A. Olivier, and Felix Moscheles. A George
Grove Memorial Scholarship has been founded
at the Royal College of Music.
Besides the works already mentioned Grove
translated Guizot's i,tud,es sur les Beaux Arts
(1853), and contributed a sketch of his visit to
Nablus to Sir Francis Galton's Varation Tourists
and Notes of Travel in 1S61 (Macmillan, 1862).
He also wrote Prefaces to Otto Jahn's Life of
Mozart, Hensel's Mendelssohn Family, "\V. S.
Rockstro's Life of Handel, Novello's ShrM
History of Cheap Music, Amy Fay's Music Study
in Germany, The Early Letters of Schumann,
translated by May Herbert, and Mr. F. G.
Edwards's History of Mendelssohn's 'Elijah.'
[For tlie sources of the above information, and
for further particulars, the reader is referred to
the Life of Sir George Grove, by C. L. Graves,
Macmillan, 1904.] c. L. G.
GRUA, a family of Italian musicians who
were renowned in Germany in tlie 18th century,
concerning whose dates very little seems at
present to be known with certainty. According
to the QiielJen- Lexikon, Carl Litigi Pietro
Grua'.s name appears in the list of the court
i musicians at Dresden, as a male alto, in 1691,