Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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130 ROMBERG ROME
to hit the taste of modern artists and audiences,
they are yet of considerable merit as compositions,
and contain passages of distinct grace
and charm. It may be gathered from the
character of his compositions, that his tone
was not so full and powerful as that of artists
who confine themselves more to the lower
register of the instrument, and to passages of
less complication. As an indication that this
view agrees with that which prevailed during
his lifetime, we find him for instance spoken of
as follows by a correspondent of the Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung for :— 1817, who had heard
him play at Amsterdam ' The visit of B. Romberg
had long been eagerly looked for. The
immense reputation which preceded him caused
his first concert to be crowded to excess. He
played a concerto ('die Eeiseauf den Bernhardsberg
') and a capriccio on Swedish national airs.
In regard to the perfection and taste of his
performance, to the complete ease and lightness
of his playing, our great expectations were far
exceeded—but not so in respect of tone—this,
especially in difficult passages, we found much
weaker than the powerful tone of our own
Eauppe, and indeed scarcely to compare with
it.' At a second concert Komberg played his
well-known Military Concerto, and the same
view was reiterated.
Bernhard Komberg composed violoncello
solos of various kinds ; string quartets ; PF.
quartets ; a funeral symphony for Queen Louise
of Pi-ussia ; a concerto for two violoncellos
(Breitkopf & Hartel), his last work ; and operas
^'Die Wiedergefundene Statue,' words by
Gozzi von Schwick (1790), and 'DerSohiffbruch'
(1791, Bonn), 'Don Mendoce,' with his cousin
Andreas (Paris), Alma,' ' Ulysses und Circe
'
(July 27, 1807), and 'Rittertreue,' three acts
(Jan. 31, 1817, Berlin). His son Karl, also
a violoncellist, born at St. Petersburg, Jan.
17, 1811, pla,yed in the court band there from
1832 to 1842, and afterwards lived at Vienna.
Anton Romberg, the father of Bernhard, had
a brother Gbkhakd Heinbich, born August
8, 1745, a clarinet-player, and Musikdirector
at Miinster, who lived with him for some time
at Bonn, and had several children, of whom
the most celebrated was Andreas Jakob, a
violinist, born April 27, 1767, at Vechta, near
Miinster. When only seven he played in public
with his cousin Bernhard, with whom he remained
throughout life on terms of the closest
friendship. At seventeen -
he excited great
enthusiasm in Paris, and was engaged for the
Concerts Spirituels (1784). In 1790 he joined
his cousin at Bonn, played the violin in the
Elector's band, and accompanied him to Italy
in 1793. In Rome they gave a concert at the
Capitol (Feb. 17, 1796) under the patronage
of Cardinal Rezzonico, Andreas then made
some stay in Vienna, where Haydn showed
great interest in his first quartet. In 1797 he
went to Hamburg, and in 1798 made a tour
alone. In 1800 he followed Bernhard to Paris,
and composed with him 'Don Mendoce, ou le
Tuteur portugais.' The opera failed, and the
success of their concerts was but partial, so
Andreas left for Hamburg, where he married,
and remained for fifteen years. He next became
Court-Capellmeister at Gotha, where he died,
in very great destitution, Nov. 10, 1821.
Concerts were given in various towns for the
benefit of his widow and children. The university
of Kiel gave him a degree of Doctor of
Music. He composed six symphonies, quartets,
quintets, and church music ; a Te Deum, Psalms,
a Dixit, Magnificat, and Hallelujah, in four, five,
eight, and sixteen parts ;
several operas—
' Das
graue Ungeheuer' (1790, Bonn), 'Die Macht
der Musik ' (1791), Der ' Rabe,' operetta (1792).
'Die Grossmuth des Scipio,' and 'Die Ruinen
zu Paluzzi,'—the two last not performed. His
best-known work is the music for SchiUer's 'Lay
of the Bell,' which kept its place in concert
programmes for many years. His music is
solid, but not original, being too closely modelled
on Mozart. His larger works are well known
'
in England. The Transient and the Eternal,'
'
The Harmony of the Spheres,' 'The Power of
Song,' and a Te Deum (in D), as well as 'The
Lay of the Bell,' are all published with English
words by Novello. His Toy-symphony is now
and then played as an alternative to Haydn's,
and was chosen for performance by an extraordinary
company, embracing most of the great
artists of London, May 14, 1880. Tivo sons,
Cypkian and Heinbich are mentioned in the
Allg. musikalische Zeiiung. [The former, a
violoncellist, pupil of his uncle, was born at
Hamburg, Oct. 28, 1807, and died there Oct.
14, 1865 ; he made concert -tours, became a.
member of the court orchestra of St. Petersburg,
and published compositions for his instrument.
Riemann's Lexikon.'\ Audreas's brother Bal-
THASAR, born 1775, and educated for a violoncellist,
died agedseventeen. His sister Thebese,
born 1781, had a considerable reputation as a
pianist. f. g.
ROME. The early music schools of Rome,
from the time of St. Sylvester to that of Palestrina,
were so closely connected with the papacy
that their histoi'y , as far as it is known, may be
read in the article Sistine Choir.
Whether or not Guido d' Arezzo founded a
school of singing at Rome in the first half of the
11th century is only a matter of conjecture ; the
probabilities are in favour of the theory, as it
is known that Guido spent a short time, at least,
at the capital about the year 1032, and that
the then Pope John XIX. was so delighted with
his method of teaching singing that he urged
him to take up his residence in Rome, an invitation
which only ill-health prevented Guido
from accepting. (See vol. ii. p. 256.) In any
case there can be no reasonable doubt that the