Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

'
RIGHINI EIMBAULT 101
and Galatea.' His voice was of iine quality, full
compass, and considerable power, and he sang
with earnestness and care. Since an appearance
at Brigliton in 1887 in 'Eli,' he has virtually
He
retired. w. h. h.
RIGHINI, ViNCBNZO, awell-known conductor
of the Italian opera in Berlin, born at Bologna,
Jan. 22, 1756. As a boy he was a chorister
at San Petronio, and had a fine voice, but owing
to injury it developed into a tenor of so rough
and muffled a tone, that he turned his attention
to theory, which he studied with Padre Martini.
In 1776 he sang for a short time in the Opera
buffa at Prague, then under Bustelli's direction,
but was not well received. He made a success
there, however, with three operas of his composition,
La Vedova ' scaltra,' La Bottega ' del
Gaffe,' and 'Don Giovanni,' also performed in
Vienna (August 1777), whither Eighini went
on leaving Prague in 1780. There he became
singing-msister to Princess Elisabeth of Wiirtemberg,
and conductor of the Italian opera.
next entered the service of the Elector of Mainz,
(1788-92) and composed for the Elector of Treves
' Alcide al Bivio' (Coblenz) and a missa solemnis
(1790). In April 1793 (owing to the success
of his Enea ' nel Lazio ) he was invited to
'
succeed Alessandri at the Italian Opera of Berlin,
with a salary of 3000 thalers (about £450).
Here he produced 'II Trionfo d'Arianna' (1793),
'Armida'(1799), 'Tigrane'(1800), ' Gerusalemme
liberata,' and 'La Selva incantata' (1802). The
last two were published after his death with
German text (Leipzig, Herklotz).
In 1793 Righini married Henriette Kneisel
(born at Stettin in 1767, died of consumption
at Berlin, Jan. 25, 1801), a charming blonde,
and according to Gerber, a singer of great
expression. After the death of Friedrich
Wilhelm II. (1797) his post became almost a
sinecure, and in 1'806 the opera was entirely
discontinued. Righini was much beloved.
Gerber speaks in high terms of his modesty
and courtesy, and adds, ' It is a real enjoyment
to hear him sing his own pieces in his soft veiled
voice to his own accompaniment.' As a composer
he was not of the first rank, and of course
wjis eclipsed by Mozart. His best point was
his feeling for ensemble, of which the quartet in
'
Gerusalemme ' is a good example. He was a
successful teacher of singing, and counted distinguished
artists among his pupils. After the
loss of a promising son in 1810, his health gave
way, and in 1812 he was ordered to try the
effects of his native air at Bologna. When bidding
good-bye to his colleague, Anselm Weber,
'
he said, It is my belief that I shall never
return ; if it should be so, sing a Requiem and
a Miserere for me '—touching words, too soon
fulfilled by his death at Bologna, August 19,
1812. His own Requiem (score in the Berlin
Library) was performed by the Singakademie
in his honour.
Besides twenty operas, of which a list is given
by F^tis (thirteen are mentioned in the Qiiellen-
Lexikon as still extant), Righini composed
church music—a Te Deum and a Missa Solennis
were published—several cantatas, and innumerable
Scenas, Lieder, and songs ; also a short
ballet, 'Minerva belebt die Statuen des Dadalus
(1802), and some instrumental pieces, including
a serenade for two clarinets, two horns, and two
bassoons (1799, Breitkopf & Hartel). One of
his operas, ' II Convitato di pietra, ossia il
dissoluto,' will always be interesting as a forerunner
of Mozart's 'Don Giovanni.' It was
produced at Vienna, August 21, 1777 (ten years
before Mozart's), and is described by Jahn
(^Mozart, ii. 333). His best orchestral work is
his overture to 'Tigrane,' which was often
played in Germany and England. Breitkopf
& Hartel's Catalogue shows a tolerably long
list of his songs, and his exercises for the voice
(1804) are amongst the best that exist. English
amateurs will find a duet of his, Come ' opprima,
from Enea nel Lazio, '
'in the 'Musical Library,'
vol. i. p. 8, and two airs in Lonsdale's Gemme
'
d'Antichitk.' He was one of the sixty-three
composers who set the words ' In questa tomba
oscura,' and his setting was published in 1878
by Ritter of Magdeburg. r. g.
RIGOLETTO. An opera in three acts;
libretto by Piave (founded on V. Hugo's Le
Roi s amuse), music by Verdi. Produced at
the Teatio Fenice, Venice, March 11, 1851,
and given in Italian at Covent Garden, May
14, 1853, and at the Italiens, Paris, Jan. 19,
1857. , G.
RILLE, FRANgois Anatole Laukent de,
the composer of an enormous number of partsongs
and other small choral works, born at
Orleans in 1828. He was at first intended to
be a painter, but altered his purpose and studied
music under an Italian named Comoghio, and
subsequently under Elwart. His compositions,
of which a list of the most important is given
in the supplement to Fetis, have enjoyed a lasting
popularity with orph^oniste ' ' societies, and
although they contain few if any characteristics
which would recommend them to the attention
of earnest musicians, they have that kind of
vigorous effectiveness which is exactly suited to
their purpose. A large number of operettas of
very slight construction have from time to time
been produced in Paris, and the composer has
made various more or less successful essays in
the department of church music. M.
RIMBAULT, Edward Fkancis, LL.D., son
of Stephen Francis Rimbault, organist of St.
Giles in the Fields, was born in Soho, June 13,
1816. He received his first instruction in music
from his father, but afterwards became a pupil
of Samuel Wesley. At sixteen years old he was
appointed organist of the Swiss Church, Soho.
He early directed his attention to the study
of musical history and literature, and in 1838