Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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RUDOEFF EUBEZAHL 191
ments. There is also a set of Variations on a
theme of Rossini's, corrected by Beethoven in MS.
He was for many years the protector ' ' of the
great Gesellsohaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna,
and bequeathed to it his very valuable musical
library.
An oil portrait in the possession of his
son, shows a rather intellectual face, of the
Hapsburg type, but its peculiarities so softened
as to be more than ordinarily pleasing, and
even handsome.*
The Archduke's published works are the two
alluded to above : Theme by L. van Beethoven,
with Forty Variations—for PF. solo (Haslinger)
Sonata for PF. and clarinet, op. 2, in A (Haslinger).
A. yf. T.
RUDORFF, Ernest, was born in Berlin,
Jan. 18, 1840 ; his family was of Hanoverian
extraction. At the age of five he received his
first musical instruction from a god-daughter of
C. M. von Weber, an excellent pianist and of
a thoroughly poetical nature. From his twelfth
to his seventeenth year he was a pupil of Bargiel
in PF. playing and composition. A song and
a PF. piece composed at this period he afterwards
thought worthy of publication (op. 2, No. 1 ;
op. 10, No. 4). For a short time in 1858 he
had the advantage of PF. lessons from Mme.
Schumann, and from his twelfth to his fourteenth
year learned the violin under Louis Kies. In
1857 he entered the Friedrichs Gymnasium,
whence inl859 he passed to the Berlin university.
During the whole of this time his thoughts were
bent on the musical profession. When Joachim
visited Berlin in 1852 Eudorff had played before
him, and had made such a favourable impression
that Joachim advised his being allowed to follow
the profession of music. His father at length
consented that he should go at Michaelmas, 1859,
and attend the Conservatorium and the University
at Leipzig. After two terras of theology
and history he devoted himself exclusively to
music, and on leaving the Conservatorium in
1861, continued his musical studies for a year
under Hauptmann and Reinecke. Rudorif
went to Stockhausen early in 1864, conducted
those of the Choral Society's concerts in which
Stockhausen himself sang, and finally made
concert tours with him. In 1865 he became
professor at the Cologne Conservatorium, and
there in 1867 he founded' the Bach Society,
whose performance at their first concert in 1869
gave such satisfaction to Rudorff that he at first
refused an appointment as professor in the new
Hochschule at Berlin under Joachim's direction.
He afterwards changed his mind, and since
October 1869 has been first professor of PF.-
playing and director of the piano classes in that
institution, besides conducting part of the
orchestral practices, and in Joachim's absence
directing the public performances. In the
summer of 1880, on Max Bruch's appointment
as director of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society,
1
Pop a more detailed notice see the Mueicai World, April 2, 1S81.
Rudorff succeeded him as conductor of the Stem
Singing-Society in Berlin, but without .resigning
his post at the Hochschule. [He retained the
duection of this Society till 1890.]
He has much talent for piano-playing, though
an unfortunate nervousness prevents him from
exercising it much in public. His tone is
beautiful, his conception poetical, and he possesses
considerable power of execution, never
degenerating into mere display. He is an
excellent teacher ; but his greatest gifts are
shown in composition. His musical style is
founded throughout upon the romantic school
of Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, and
especially of Weber. His part-songs interest by
their elegance and thoughtfulness, but few, if
any, leave a pleasant impression on the mind.
This it true also of his solo songs. He has an
almost feminine horror of anything rough or
common, and often carries this to such a pitch as
seriously to interfere with simplicity and naturalness.
He has deeply imbibed the romantic charm
of Weber's music, but the bold easy mirth which
at times does not shrink from trivialities is unfortunately
utterly strange to him. His early
songs opp. 1 and 2 follow, it is true, closely in
Schumann's steps, but they are among the most
beautiful that have been written in his style.
Rudorifs works are for the most part of great
technical difficulty, and many of them are overelaborated,
a fact which has kept his works
from being as well known as they deserve. The
following is a list of his published works :
Op.
1. Variatlonfi for two FFe.
2. Six eongs.
a Six songs from Eichendorff.
4. Six duets tor PF.
6. Sextet tor atrings (played at
the Popular Concerts in
Api-illSOOandJanuaryigOS).
6. Four part -songs tor mixed
voices.
7. Romance tor violoncello and
orchestra.
'
8. Overture to Der blonde Ekbert'
tor orchestra.
9. Six part-songs tor female
voices.
10. Eight FaotasiestUcke tor Ff
li. Four part-songs tor mixed
voices.
12. Overture to ' Otto der SchUtz
tor orchestra.
13. Four part-songs tor mixed
voices.
14. Fantasie tor PF.
15. Ballade tor full orchestra.
16. Four songs.
17. Four songs.
*Der Aufzug der Xtomanze,*
fromTieck.torsolos.choruB,
and orchestra.
Serenade tor orchestra.
Six three -part songs tor
tomale voices.
Variations on an original
theme for orchestra.
Four six-part songs.
'Oesang an die Sterne,' by
BUckert, for six -part
chorus and orchestra.
Six four-part songs.
Three songs.
Two etudes for PF.
Four part-songs for mixed
choir.
Symphony in B flat.
Klnderwalzer for P7. duet.
A second symphony in Qt
minor (1691).
Symphonic variations for
orchestra.
Scherzo capriccioso for
orchestra.
He has also arranged Schubert's 4 -hand
fantasia in F minor (op. 103) for orchestra. P. s.
RtXBEZAHL. An opera in two acts ; words
by J. G. Rhode, music composed by C. M. von
Weber, at Breslau, between October 1804 and
Weber's autograph list shows that
May 1806.
the first act contained fifteen scenes, the second
twelve. Of these pieces of music, however, only
threehave survived (in MS. ) —a Chorus of Spirits,
a Recitative and Arietta, and a Quintet. Of the
overture (in D minor) only the last eleven bars
of the first violin part exist ; it was recast into
the overture called 'The Ruler of the Spirits.'