DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

656 LAWES LAY VICAR
But both appear to judge from a false point of
view. It was not Lawes's object to produce
melody in the popular sense of the word, but
to set 'words with just note and accent,' to
make the prosody of his text his principal care ;
and it was doubtless that quality which induced
-all the best poetical writers of his day, from
Milton and Waller downwards, to desire that
their verses should be set by him. To effect
his object he employed a kind of ' aria parlante,'
a style of composition which, if expressively
sung, would cause as much gratification to the
cultivated hearer as the most ear-catchingmelody
"would to the untrained listener. [His songs,
by a natural consequence, appeal forcibly to
modern ears.] Lawes was careful in the choice
of words, and the words of his songs would
form a very pleasing volume of lyric poetry.
Hawkins says that notwithstanding ' Lawes was
a servant of the church, he contributed nothing
to the increase of its stores '
; but, besides the
coronation anthem before mentioned, there are
(or were) in an old choir book of the Chapel
Koyal fragments of eight or ten anthems by
him, and the words of several of his anthems
are given ' in Clifford's Divine Services and
Anthems,' 1664. A portrait of Henry Lawes
is in the Music School, Oxford. [Another
painted in 1622, is in the bishop's palace at
Salisbury. See a reference to him in Aubrey's
Miscellanies, ed. 1890, p. 139.]
John Lawes, a brother of Henry, was a lay
vicar of Westminster Abbey. He died in Jan.
1654-55, and was buried in the Abbey cloisters.
TnoM.is L.iWES, probably the father of
William and Henry Lawes, was a vicar choral
of Salisbury Cathedral. He died Nov. 7, 1640,
-and was buried in the north transept of the
cathedral.
William Lawes, elder brother of Henry,
received musical instruction from Coperario at
the expense of the Earl of Hertford. He became
a member of the choir of Chichester Cathedral,
which he quitted in 1602, on being appointed
a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He was
:sworn in Jan. 1, 1602-3. On May 5, 1611,
he resigned his place in favour of Ezekiel Waad,
a lay vicar of Westminster Abbey, but on Oct.
1, following, was readmitted 'without paie.
He was also one of the musicians in ordinary
to Charles I. In 1633 he joined Simon Ives
in the composition of the music for Sliirley's
'Triumph of Peace.' [In 1635 he wrote the
music for Davenant's masque, ' The Triumph
of the Prince d'Amour,' preserved in the Bodleian
(Music Sch. MSS. B, 2, 3, and D, 229.)] An
' antliem by him is printed in Boyce's Cathedral
Music ' ; songs and other vocal compositions in
'Select Musicall Ayres and Dialogues,' 1653
and 1659 ;
' Catch that catch can,' 1652 ;
' The
Treasuryof Musick, ' 1669 ; and 'Choice Psalms,'
1648 ; and some of his instrumental music in
'Courtly Masquing Ayres,' 1662. Hia portrait
is in the Music School, Oxford. 'The Royal
Consort ' for viols, consisting of sixty-six short
' ' pieces, and some Airs for violin and bass are
in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 10,445,
31,431-2 [the latter MS. contains also a canon,
;
iifty-five vocal compositions.
' 'Tisjoy to hear, ' and
Add. MSS. 29,410-4, and 17,798 contain more
of his pieces, and in the Christ Church Library
are his 'Great Consorte ' (I. 5. 1-6) and other
works (I. 4, 79-82, 91-3, K. 3, 32, and H. I. 12
and 18). Canons and MS. songs are contained
in Brit. Mus. Eg. MS. 2013, Add. MSS. 29,396-
7, 30,273, 31,423, 31,433, 31,462. His bestknown
work is the part-song 'Gather ye rosebuds
while ye may. '] On the breaking out of
the Civil War he joined the Royalist army, and
was made a commissary by Lord Gerrard, to
exempt him from danger, but his active spirit
disdaining that security, he was killed by a stray
shot during the siege of Chester, 1645. \v. H. H.
LAWROWSKA, Mme. Elizabeth Axdee-
JEWNA Lawbowskaja, Well known as Mme.
La\vrowska, was born Oct. 12, 1845, at Kaschin,
Twer, Russia. She was taught singing by
Fenzi, at the Elizabeth Institute, and by Mme.
Nissen - Saloman at the Conservatorium, St.
Petersburg. In 1867 she made her debut as
Orpheus at three performances of Gluck's opera,
given by the students of the Conservatorium
under Rubinstein, at the Palace of the Grand
Duchess Helena, thanks to whose kindness she
was enabled to study abroad. From 1868 to 1872
she was engaged at the Russian Opera-Theatre
Marie, and on July 31, 1871, she married the
Prince Zeretelew at Odessa. In 1868 she was
announced to sing at the Italian Opera, Covent
Garden, but did not appear. She left the opera
for a time and sang in concerts all over Europe,
having received further instruction from Mme.
Viardot-Garcia. She visited this country in
1873, and made her firat appearance, Feb. 24,
at the Monday Popular Concerts, and March 1
at Crystal Palace. During her stay she made
a great impression by her grand mezzo-soprano
voice and fine declamatory powers of singing in
operatic airs of Handel and Glinka, and in the
Lieder of Schubert, Schumann, etc. In 1881
she reappeared in England in concerts, but for
a very short period. In 1878 she returned to
the St. Petersburg Opera. The principal
Russian operas in which she has performed
are ' La Vie pour le Czar ' and ' Russian and
Ludmila ' of Glinka, 'Russalka' of Dargomijsky,
and ' WrazyJa Silow ' of Serov. a. c.
LAY. A Proven9al word, originally probably
Celtic, meaning at first a sound or noise, and
then a song, especially the tune, as the quota-
tions from Spenser, Milton, and Dryden in
Johnson's Dictionary prove. Beyond this general
sense the term has no application to music. The
German ' Lied '
is another form of the word.
LAY VICAR or LAY CLERK, a singer
G.
in
Cathedral Choirs. [See Vicak Choral.]