DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

KREHBIEL KREISLER 599
and advantage till 1871. From that date he
conducted the orchestra in the Catholic chapel.
He died Jlay 16, 18 SO. His compositions are
numerous and varied in kind—masses, operas
('bilva,' 1830, 'Agnes Bernauer,' 1835), a Te
Deuin, orchestral pieces, songs, and pianoforte
works, many of them much esteemed in Germany.
In England, however, his name is known almost
exclusively as the father of Marie Kkebs, the
pianist, born Dec. 5, 1851, at Dresden. On
the side of both father and mother (Aloysia
MiCHALESI, an operatic singer of eminence, born
Aug. 29, 1826, married Krebs .July 20, 1850),
she inherited music, and like Mme. Schumann
was hapjiy in having a father who directed her
studies with great judgment. Frl. Krebs appeared
in public at the early age of eleven
(Meissen, 1862). Her tours embraced not
only the whole of Germany and England, but
Italy, France, Holland, and America. She
played at the Gewandhaus tirst, Nov. 30, 1865.
To this country she came in the previous year,
and made an engagement with Mr. Gye for four
seasons, and her hrst appearances were at the
Crystal Palace, April 30, 1864 ; at the Philharmonic,
April 20, 1874 ;
and at the Monday
Popular Concerts, Jan. 13,1875. [She enjoyed
many years of great popularity in England and
on the continent, and retired from the profession
on her marriage with Herr Brenning. She
died June 27, f900.] G.
KREHBIEL, Henry Edward, an American
critic and writer on nmsic, was born at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A., on March 10, 1854.
He stuilied law in Cincinnati, but soon turned to
journalism, devoting himself especially to music.
He was nmsic critic of The Cincinnati Gazette
from 1874 to 1880, and then entered upon the
same office for The New York Tribune, which
he still continues to fill. In authority and
influence he ranks among the first American
critics, and among the ablest champions of
musical progress. Mr. Krehbiel at the same
time is a deep student of the classics, and stands
for the highest in purity of taste. He has
done much to advance the understanding and
love of "Wagner's later music dramas in America,
and was among the earliest to welcome and
appraise discriminatingly the music of Brahms,
Tchaikovsky, Dvofdk, and other modern composers,
which has been made familiar in New
York before it was widely known in most
European capitals. Mr. Krehbiel's activity has
by no means been confined to newspaper
criticism. He is widely known as a lecturer ;
has done a useful work for many years by means
of the programme notes and analyses that he
has prepared for most of the principal New
York concerts ; and has written a number of
books, viz : Notes on the Cultivation of Choral
Music and the Oratorio Society of Neio York
(1884) Review ;
of the New York Musical Seascm
(five volumes, 1885-90); Studies in the Wag-
nerian Drama (1891) ; The Philharmonic
Society of New York ;
a Memorial puhlished on
the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Founding of the Philharmonic Society
Music
(1892) ;
Hoio to Listen to Music (1897) ;
and
Maimers in the Classical Period (1898). M.
KREISLEE, Fritz, violinist, was born in
Vienna on Feb. 2, 1875. He displayed musical
giits of an uncommon order in earliest infancy.
These were recognised liy Ills father, an eminent
physician and enthusiastic musical amateur,
who instructed and encouraged him to such
purpose that at the age of seven he appeared
at a concert for children given in Vienna b}'
Carlotta Patti, and entered the Vienna Conservatorium,
where he studied under Hellmesberger
and Auher. This was a special privilege,
pupils being as a general rule ineligible for
admission in that institution before the age of
fourteen. He was in fact the youngest child
who has studied there, and justified to the full
the opinion formed of his exceptional talents by
carrying off, in 1885, the gold medal for violinplaying
at the age of ten. Passing on to Paris,
wdiere he studied at the Conservatoire under
Massart (violin), and Delibes (theory), he there
achieved at the age of twelve another remarkable
success, gaining the gold medal (Premier
Grand Prix) against forty competitors, all of
whom had reached the age of twenty. After
a few years of further study he visited America
(in 1889), and made a successful tour of the
States with Moritz Rosenthal, the pianist, at
the conclusion of which he returned to his
native town, and temporarily broke away from
the musical life. Considering the position
which youth holds, at the present day, in the
world of music, it is of the utmost significance
to note that this step proved ultimately favourable
to his development as an artist. He
entered the Gymnasium at Vienna to take up a
course of medicine, studied art in Paris and
Rome, prepared for and passed a very stiff army
examination, and duly became an officer in a
regiment of Uhlans (he is still in the Reserve).
In short, he gave to other sides of his nature,
besides the musical, a chance of development.
During his year of military service he laid the
violin completely aside, and, as a result of the
training received, became physically the more
fitted for a profession which makes serious calls
upon the vitality of those who practise it.
Then came a transition period, during which he
made a few public appearances, liut^A'ith so little
success that he was moved to make a preliminary
retirement into the country, during whicli he
worked uninterruptedly at his violin for eight
weeks, and emerged triumphant, having com-
pletely regained his command over the instrument.
He was then able once more to shine as
a solo player, making a brilliant debut at Berlin
in March 1899, in a progi-amme whicli included
concertos by Max Bruch and Vieuxteraps, and