DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

26 FERTE TESTA
Italy at that time. He aroused the greatest
enthusiasm wherever he appeared ; hundreds of
sonnets were written iu his lionour, he was
covered with roses in liis carriage after simply
singing a cantata, and at Florence a number of
distinguished persons went three miles out of
the town, to escort him into it. (Ginguene.)
He is said also to have visited London, and to
have sung here the part of Zephyr: but this
must be a fable, as Italian opera did not begin in
England till 1692,— twelve years after his death.
It is true that in M. Locke's 'Psyche' (1671)
there is a character called Zephyr; but he has
only four lines to speak, and none to sing.
Ferri had, nevertheless, made one journey (before
1654) to Sweden, to gratify Queen Christina's
wish to hear him. Ginguene says that his
portrait was engraved with the inscription ' Qui
fecit mirabilia multa ; but such '
a portrait (as
far as the present writer knows) has never been
seen. A medal was struck, bearing on one side
his head crowned with bays, and on the other
the device of a swan dying by the banks of
Meander. Ferri was tall and handsome, with
refined manners ;
and he expressed himself with
distinction. He died very rich, leaving 600,000
crowns for a pious foundation.
His voice, a beautiful soprano, had an indescribable
limpidity, combined with the greatest
agility and facility, a perfect intonation, a
brilliant shake, and inexhaustible length of
breath. Although he seems to have surpassed
all the evirati in brilliance and endurance, he
was quite as remarkable for pathos as for those
qualities, (Bontempi, Hlstoria Musica.) j. M.
FERT6, Papillon de la, born in Feb. 1727
at Chalons; became in 1777, by purchase, ' Intendant
des lleuus-plaisirs ' to Louis XVI., and
as such had the direction of the ' lilcole Royale
de Chant' founded by the Baron de Breteuil,
and of the opera after the municipality had given
up the administration of it. In 1790 he published
a reply to a pamphlet by the artists of
the opera — ' Me'moire justificatif des sujets de
I'Academie royale de musique '—in which they
demanded a reform of the administration. He
died in Paris, July 19, 1794. His son occupied
the same post after the Restoration.
FERVAAL. Opera in three acts,
m. c. c.
words and
music by Vincent d'Indy. Produced at the
Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, March 12,
1897; at the Ope'ra Comique in Paris, May
10, 1898.
FESCA, Friedrich Ernst, composer, born
at Magdeburg, Feb. 1.5, 1789. His father was
an amateur, and his mother a singer, pupil of
J. A. Hiller, so he heard good music in his
youth, and as soon as he could play the violin
had taste enough to choose the quartets and
quintets of Haydn and Mozart in preference to
Pleyel's music, for which there was then a
perfect rage in Germany. Having completed
his elementary studies, he went through a course
of counterpoint with Pitterlin, conductor of the
Magdeburg theatre. On Pitterlin's death in
1804 he became a pupil of August Eberhardt
Miiller at Leipzig. Here he played a violin con-
certo of his own with brilliant success. In 1806
he accepted a place in the Duke of Oldenburg's
band, but iu the following year became solo
violinist under Reichardt at Cassel, where he
passed six happy years and composed his first
seven quartets and first two symphonies, interesting
works, especially when he himself
played the first violin. In 1814, after a visit to
Vienna, he was appointed solo violin, and in the
following year concert-meister, to the Duke of
Baden at Carlsruhe. During the next eleven
years he wrote two operas, ' Cantemir ' and
' Leila,' overtures, quartets, quintets, chorales,
psalms and other sacred music. He died at
Carlsruhe, May 24, 1S26, of consumption, after
many years' suffering, which, however, had not
impaired his powers, as his last works contain
some of his best writing. His ' De Profundis,'
arranged in four parts by Strauss, was sung at
his funeral. Fesca was thoughtful, earnest, and
warm-hearted, with occasional traits of humour
in striking contrast to his keen sensibility and
lofty enthusiasm for art. He appreciated success,
but steadfastly declined to sacrifice his own
perceptions of the good and beautiful for popularity.
Fesca's rank as a composer has been
much disputed. There is a want of depth in
his ideas, but his melodies are taking and his
combinations effective. His quartets and quin-
tets, without possessing the qualities of the
great masters, have a grace and elegance peculiar
to himself, and are eminently attractive. His
symphonies are feebly instrumented, but his
sacred works are of real merit. In richness of
modulation he approaches Spohr. A comi)lete
edition of his quartets and quintets (twenty and
five in number) has been published in Paris
(Eimbault). His son, Alexander Ernst,
born at Carlsruhe. May 22, 1820, died at
Brunswick, Feb. 22, 1849, was a pupil of
Rungenhagen, AVilhelm Bach, and Taubert,
and composer of trios for pianoforte, violin, and
violoncello, and other chamber-music popular in
' their day. The best of his four operas was Der
Troubadour' (Brunswick, 1854). m. c. c.
FESTA, Costanzo, one of the earliest composers
of the Roman School, was born somewhere
towards the close of the 15th century. He was
elected a member of the Pontifical choir in 1517,
and died April 10, 1545. He eventually became
maestro at the Vatican, and his nomination was
so far singular that he was at that time the only
Italian in a similar position throughout the
Peninsula. His genius cannot be doubted, and
Dr. Burney, who had been at the trouble of
scoring a great number of his Madrigals, was
astonished at the rhythm, grace, and facility of
them. He calls one of Festa's Motetti, ' Qiiam
pulchra es, anima mea,' a model of elegance