Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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168 EOUSSEAU'S DREAM ROVESCIO, AL
wholly re -written, by Francoeur, on whose
advice, as well as on that of Jelyotte the tenor
singer, Rousseau was much in the habit of relying.
An air (' de trois notes ') and a duettino,
melodious and pretty but of the simplest style,
are given in the Musical lAbrary, vol. iii. G. c.
ROUSSEAU'S DREAM. A very favourite
air in England in the early part of the 19th
century. Its first appearance under that name
is presumably as 'an Air with Variations for
the Pianoforte, composed and dedicated to the
Rt. Hon. the Countess of Delaware, by J. B.
Cramer. London, Chappell' [1812].
But it is found (with very slight changes) a
quarter of a century earlier, under the title of
' Melissa. The words by Charles James, Esq.,
adapted to the Pianoforte, Harp, or Guitar.
London, J. Dale, 1788.' The melody occurs
in the ' Pantomime ' in Scene 8 of the ' Devin
du Village,' where its form is as follows :
[The tune, no doubt, made its way in England
through the adaptation of the opera by Dr.
Bumey, as 'The Cunning Man,' in 1766. It
seems to have been first adapted to a hymn in
Thomas Walker's Companion '
to Dr. Rippon's
Tunes' (1825), and after its appearance in
'Sacred Melodies' (1843), with the name
'
Rousseau ' attached to it, became widely
popular as a hymn -tune. w. H. G. F.] The
origin of the title Dream ' ' is not forthcoming. G.
ROUSSEAU, Samuel Alexandre, was born
at Neuve-Maison (Aisne), June 11, 1853, and
studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where he
gained successively the first organ prize in 1877,
in C&ar Franck's class, and the Grand Prix de
Rome in 1878 with 'La Fille de Jepht^.' In
the latter year the Prix Cressent was awarded
to his op6ra-comique, 'Dinorah,' which was
produced at the Op&a-Comique in December
1879. Works sent from Rome, and executed
at the Conservatoire, were 'Labinies' (1880),
'
Raddb ' (1881), La ' Florentina ' (1882). He
was for many years mattre de ohapelle in Sainte-
Clotilde, and chorus-master of the Soci^t^ des
Concerts du Conservatoire. He wrote a great
quantity of admirable church music, two masses,
motets, organ pieces, etc. ; secular choral works,
pieces for piano, harmonium, violin, small
orchestra, etc. and songs. He was president of
the Society des Compositeurs, and vice-president
of the Association de la critique musicale et
dramatique. His most famous work was the
opera, 'La Cloche du Rhin,' in three acts,
brought out at the Paris Op&a, June 8, 1898 ;
another three-act opera, 'M^rowig,' gained the
prize of the City of Paris, and produced at
Nancy, Jan. 12, 1899. Rousseau died of a
tumour on the brain, in Paris, Oct. 1, 1904. G. F.
ROVELLI. A family of eminent Italian
musicians. Giovanni Battista was first violin
in the orchestra of the church of S. Maria
Maggiore of Bergamo, at the beginning of the
19th century. Gittseppe, his son, was a violoncellist,
born at Bergamo in 1753, and died at
Parma, Nov. 12, 1806. Of Alessandeo we
only know that he was at one time director of
the orchestra at Weimar, and that he was the
father of Pietko, who was born at Bergamo,
Feb. 6, 1793, and received his first lessons,
both in violin-playing and the general science
of music, from his grandfather. By an influential
patron he was sent to Paris to study under
R. Kreutzer, and his playing attracted much
attention there. On his father's appointmentto
Weimar he joined him for a time. At the
end of 1814 we find him at Munich, playing
with great applause. He remained there for
some years, a,nd was made Royal Bavarian
'
chamber-musician,' and 'first concerto-player.'
In Feb. 1817 he was playing at Vienna ; there
he married Micheline, daughter of E. A. Fbrster,
and a fine PF. -player, and in 1819 went on to
Bergamo, took the place once occupied by his
grandfather, and seems to have remained there,
suffering much from bad health, till his death,
Sept. 8, 1838. The writer in the Allg. mus.
Zeitimg for Dec. 26, 1838, from whom the
above facts have been mainly taken, characterises
his playing as 'simple, expressive, graceful,
noble ; in a word, classical— a style which
takes instant possession of the heart of the
hearer.' In other notices in the same periodical,
he is said to have inherited the pure, singing,
expressive style of Viotti, and practised it to
perfection. Moliquewas his pupil at Munich. G.
ROVESCIO, AL. A term used, in instrumental
music, to express two different things.
(1) An imitation by contrary motion, in which
every descending interval in the leading part is
imitated by an ascending one, and vice versa
see Moscheles's !^tude 'La Forza,' op. 51. (2)
A phrase or piece which may be played backwards
throughout. It is then synonymous with
Canorizans. An interesting example occurs
in the minuet of a Sonata for PF. and violin by
Haydn, in which, on the repetition ;after the
Trio, the minuet is
played backwards, so as to