DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

LAYOLLE LAZZARINI 657
LAYOLLE, Franoiscus de, or Fkanoesoo
dell' Aiolle, a French composer of the earlier
part of the 1 6th century, who settled as organist
at Florence about 1640, and was Benvenuto
Cellini's teacher in music. He edited, for the
Lyons music-printer, Jacques Moderne or Moder-
Dus, a book often Masses ( ' Liber decern Missarum,
1532-40), among which are three masses and
three motets by himself. ' His mass Adieu, mes
amours' Anibros describes as a remarkable work.
His other works are canzoni a 5 and a 4 published
by Modernus, 1540 and later, and other
madrigals and motets in various collections.
From a rare work entitled Contrapunctus seu
Jigurata musica super piano Cantu, etc., Lyons,
1528, Kade in his Beilagen zu Ainhros has reprinted
two motets by Layolle, ' Salve Virgo
' siugularis ' and Media vita, ' both a 4 , which, as
the title of the w^ork indicates, are contiapuntal
studies on a plain-song tenor. From this connection
of Layolle with works printed in Lyons,
it would seem as if Lyons had been his birth-
place, and it appears that Aleman Layolle, his
son, was for a while organist at Lyons, but afterwards
returned to Florence, and was music- teacher
to a daughter of Benvenuto Cellini. j. R. M.
LAYS, Francois, a famous French singer,
whose real name was Lay, born Feb. 14, 1758,
at La Barthe de Kestes in Gascony. He learned
music in the monastery of Guaraison, but before
he was twenty his fame as a singer had spread,
and in April 1779 he found himself at Paris to
be tried for the Grand Opera. His name first
appears in Lajarte's catalogue of first representa-
tions, as Petrarque, in a ' pastoral heroique '
by Candeille, called ' Laure et Petrarque,' July
2, 1780, and is spelt Lais. His next mention
is in the ' Iphigenie en Tauride ' of Piccinni,
Jan. 23, 1781, where he has the role of a
coryphee.^ After that he appears frequently in
company with Mile. Saint-Huberti, a famous
soprano of that day. He was also attached to
the concerts of Marie Antoinette, and to the Con-
cert Spirituel. He was a poor actor, unless in
parts specially written for him ; but the splendour
of his voice made up for everything, and he
preserved it so well as to remain in the company
of the Grand Opera till Oct. 1822. Lays was a
violent politician on the popular side, which did
not please his colleagues, and some quarrels arose
in consequence, but with no further result than
to cause him to write a pamphlet, and to force
him, after the 9th Thermidor, to appear in parts
distasteful to him, and to sing before the Bourbons
after the Kestoration. He was professor
of singing at the Conservatoire from 1795 to
and from
1799, when he retired from the post ;
1819 to 1826 held the same office in the 'Ecole
royale de chant et de declamation.' He had
been principal singer in the chapel of Napoleon
from 1801 till the fall of the Emperor, but was
I The rOleof tlie 'Sei^eur bien fainant ' is said by Ft^tia to have
heeii written for him, but his name does not appear in the company
at the first performance of that piece.
cashiered by Louis XVIIL After leaving
the Ecole he retired to Ingrande near Angers,
where he died March 30, 1831. We have said
that he was not agood actor, but Fetis pronounces
him not even a good singer, saying that his
taste was poor, and that he had several bad
tricks ; but he had warmth and animation, and
the beauty of his voice so far atoned for all,
that for a long time no opera could be success-
ful in which he had not a part. G.
LAZARUS, Henry, born in London, Jan. 1,
1815, commenced the study of the clarinet when
a boy under Blizard, bandmaster of the Royal
Military Asylum, Chelsea, and continued it
under Charles Godfrey, sen., bandmaster of the
Coldstream Guards. After fulfilling engagements
in various theatrical and other orchestras he
was, in 1838, appointed as second to Willman
at the Sacred Harmonic Society. On the death
of Willman in 1840 Lazarus succeeded him as
principal clarinet at the Opera and all the
principal concerts, festivals, etc. in London and
the provinces, a position he retained for many
years with great and ever-increasing reputation.
In both orchestral and solo-playing the beauty
and richness of his tone, his excellent phrasing,
and his neat and expressive execution, were
alike admired. He was a professor of his instrument
at the Royal Academy of Music from
1854, and at the Military School of Music,
Kneller Hall, near Hounslow% from 1858. [He
gave a farewell concert in St. James's Hall,
May 31, 1892, and died in London, March 6,
1895.]
w. H. H.
LAZZARI, Sylvio, though born at Botzen,
Tyrol, Jan. 1, 1858, ranks as a French composer,
for after studying law at Innsbruck and Munich,
he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1882,
but his chief studies were carried on under
Cesar Franck, The following works have been
publicly performed:—The pantomime, 'Lulu,'
brought out in 1887 ; the musical drama,
'Armor,' at the Landestheater in Prague in
1898, and ' L'Ensorcele,' in Paris in 1903. For
orchestrahe has written a ' Rhapsodic espagnole,'
'Ophelie,' a symphonic poem ;
' Impressions' ;
' Effet de Kuit, '
' Marche de Fete, ' a fantasia
for violin and orchestra, and a concertstiick for
piano and orchestra. His cbainber compositions
include a sonata for piano and violin, a trio, a
string quartet, an octet for wind instruments,
duets and choruses for female voices, and numerous
songs and ]iiano pieces. G. r.
LAZZARINI, GusTAM), was born (as some
biographers say) at Padua, or (according to
others) at Verona, about 1765. His debut was
made at Lucca in 1789, in Zingarelli's ' Ifigenia
in Aulide,' witli great eclat. In the two following
years he appeared in London, singing both
in serious and comic operas, such as Bertoni's
' Quinto Fabio ' and the ' Locanda ' of Paisiello,
in the former with Pacchierotti, but taking the
principal role in the latter. Lord Mount-
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