DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

LEVEl' L'HOMME AKME 687
his favourite joke tliat 'lie still struggled to
beat Time.' Among his published pieces are
two volumes of old Irish airs. He married three
times, and died June 28, 1899. His eldest son,
K. M. Levey, juur., born in 1833, became a
famous violinist, and played at Musard's con-
certs in Paris in 1851-58. He then appeared in
London in an entertainment called ' Paganini's
Gliost,' in which he was got up to represent
that player, and performed his most difficult
feats of virtuosity. In 1865-85 he gave concerts,
etc., under the name of ' Paganini
Ficdivivus, ' and
after 1888 he appeared at the
music-halls. He is believed to be still living.
The youngest son, John Levey, author and
comedian, died at Seaforth, Liverpool, Sept.
17, 1891. w. H. G. F.
LEVEY, William Charles, born April 25,
1S37, at Dublin, was taught music by his
father, Richard Michael Levey (see above). He
afterwards studied at Paris under Auber, Thalberg,
and Prudent, and was elected a member
of the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs. He
was conductor at Drury Lane from 1868 to
1874, and held the same post at Covent Garden,
Adelphi, Princess's, Avenue, and Grecian
Theatres, etc. His compositions iuclnde two
Garden, Jan. 2,
Covent operettas, 'Eanchette, '
1864; 'Punchinello,' Her Majesty's, Dec. 28,
1864 ; 'The Girls of the Period,' musical bur-
letta, libretto by Buruand, March 1869 ; in-
cidental music to 'Antony and Cleopatra,'
King o' Scots,'
1873 ; music to the dramas '
' Amy Robsart,' ' Lady of the Lake,' ' Rebecca,'
and ' Esmeralda,' and to several pantomimes;
'Robin Hood,' cantata for boys' voices; Saraband
for piano on a motif written by Henry
VIII. ; several drawing-room pieces and many
songs, one of which, ' Esmeralda,' origdnally
sung by Miss Furtado at the Adelphi in the
drama of that name, and in the concert-room
by Mme. Bodda-Pyne, obtained considerable
popularity. He died in London, August 18,
1894. A. c.
LEVI, Hermann, born Nov. 7, 1839, at
Giessen, studied with Vincenz Lachner from
1852 to 1855, and for three years from that
time at the Leipzig Conservatorium. His first
engagement as a conductor was at Saarbriioken
in 1859 ; in 1861 he became director of the
German Opera at Rotterdam ; in 1864 Hof-
capellmeister at Carlsruhe ; and finally, in 1872,
was appointed to the Court Theatre of Munich,
a post which he filled with great distinction
until 1896. He attained to a prominent place
among Wagnerian conductors, and to him fell
the honour of directing the first performance of
' Parsifal ' at Bayreuth, on July 28, 1882. In
1895 he came to England, but only conducted
one concert, on April 25, in the Queen's Hall.
His mental disease .showed itself soon afterwards,
and, though in 1898 he rearranged the
libretto of 'Cosl fan tutte,' he was never able
to resume active work. He died at Munich,
May 13, 1900. M.
LEWIS, Thomas C, originally an architect,
commenced business as an organ -builder in
London about the year 1861. He built the
organs of the Protestant and Catholic Cathedrals,
ISTewcastle-on-Tyne, Ri})on Cathedral, and
in London those of St. Peter's, Eaton Square ;
Holy Trinity, Paddingtou, and the Peojile's
Palace. But his largest work is the organ of
St. Andrew's Hall, Glasgow. v. de p.
L'HERITIER, Jean, a French composer and
pupil of Josquin des Pres, flourished in the earlier
part of the 16th century. His works appeared
in the collections jjublished between 1519 and
1555, and even as late as 1588 a mass of his
was published at Venice along with several by
Orlando Lassus. Only one work bears his
name on the title-page, ' Moteti de la fama,'
a 4, Venice, 1555, but even here his works
only appear along with those of other composers.
Ambros classes him with Antoine Fevin and
Jean Mouton, and describes his works as charac-
terised by a peculiar refinement and grace,
uniting something of the solidity of the Netherland
school proper with the elegance of the
French. Aron in his ToscancUo refers approvingly
to L'Heritier, because in his earliest jiub-
lished motet, ' Dum
' complerentur in Petrucci's
' Motetti delta Corona,' 1519, he had expressly
marked the E flat in the melodic progression
from B flat to avoid the Tritone. See Ambros,
GeschicJUe der Musik, iii. 102-3 and 273. .1. R. M.
L'HOMME ARMli:, Lome ARMii, or Lomme
Arm^. I. The name of an old French C'fianson,
the melody of which was adopted by some of the
great masters of the 15th and 16th centuries,
as the Canto fermo of a certain kind of Mass
called the 'Missa L'Hommearme'—which they
embellished with the most learned and elaborate
devices their ingenuity could suggest.
The origin of the song has given rise to much
speculation. P. Martini calls it a ' Canzone
Provenzale.' Burney (who, however, did not
know the words) is inclined to believe it
identical wdth the famous 'Cantilena Rolandi,
anciently sung by an armed Champion at the
head of the French army, when it advanced to
battle. Baini confesses his inability to decide
the question : but points out that the only
relic of this poetry which remains to us—a fragment
preserved in the
' Prop)ortionale Musices
of Tinctor—makes no mention of Roland, and
is not written in the Provencal dialect.^
Lome, lome, lome arine.
Et Robiiiet to m'as
La mnrt donnee,
Quand tu fen vas.
The melody—an interesting example of the
use of the Seventh Mode—usually appears,
either in Perfect Time, or the Greater Prolation.
Though simple, it lacks neither grace nor spirit.
' No more information ia given by Loquin, Milodies popuiairet,
Paris. 1679.