Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SCEIBE SCRIPTOEES 403
1872 .(Dec. 29, 1871 O.S). He received his
eaiiy education in the Cadet Corps, but afterwards,
abandoning the military career for music,
he entered the Moscow Conservatorium, where
he studied the piano under Safonov and gained
a gold medal in 1892. Having completed his
course at tlie Conservatorium he went abroad,
and won considerable reputation both as pianist
and composer in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam,
and other cities. From 1898 to 1903 he was
professor of pianoforte at the Moscow Conservatorium,
but since that time he has devoted
himself almost exclusively to composition.
Scriabin is regarded as one of the most gifted
of the younger Russian composers. He has a
distinctive style and seems, like Chopin, by
whom he has evidently been influenced, to be
attracted to the smaller musical forms. His
pianoforte works are delicate and poetical ; in
his larger compositions it is the orchestration
of "Wagner rather than of Glinka that he follows
with considerable eflfect. Scriabin's output is
not large, but his orchestral works include : two
symphonies, E major, op. 26 (with choral finale),
'
and C minor, op. 29 Reverie,' op. 24 ; ;
Pianoforte Concerto in F sharp minor, op. 20.
For pianoforte : three sonatas (opp. 6, 19,
23) ; AUegro appassionato, op. 4 ; Concert
allegro, op. 18 ; Fantasia, op. 28 ; Studies, op. 8 ;,
Impromptus, opp. 7, 10, 12, 14 ; Mazurkas, opp. ^
3, 25 ; Preludes, opp. 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 22,
27 ; besides nocturnes, a valse, and other small
pieces. E. N.
SCEIBE, EuGtoE, the most prolific of French
dramatists, and the best librettist of his day,
bom in Paris, Dec. 25, 1791. He lost his parents
early, and the well-known advocate Bonnet
urged him to take to the Bar ;
but he was
irresistibly drawn to the stage, and from his
d^but at twenty at the TheS.tre du Vaudeville till
his death, he produced for the different theatres
of Paris a rapid succession of pieces which have
served as models to a host of imitators. He
originated the eomedie-vaudevUle, and attained
to high comedy in Une Chaine ' ' ; but it is in
opera-comique and lyric tragedy that he has
given the most striking proofs of his imagination
and knowledge of the stage. For half a century
he produced on an average ten pieces a year,
many, it is true, written conjointly with various
authors, but in these manages ' d'esprit ' Scribe
was always the head of the firm.
Meyerbeer's ' Huguenots, ' ' Robert, ' 'Prophete,
' L'Etoile du Nord,' and
' L'Afrieaine
'
; Auber's
•Fra Diavolo,' 'Gustave III.,' 'Chevalde Bronze,'
'Domino Noir,' 'Diamans de la Couronne,' and
Verdi's Vepres ' Siciliennes ' are the most famous
of his librettos.
Scribe died suddenly in Paris, Feb. 21, 1861.
He had been a member of the French Academy
since 1836, and had acquired a large fortune.
His complete works have not been published, but
there are several editions of his stage-pieces.
That of 1855 comprises 2 vols, of operas, and
3 of operas - comiques ; and that of Calmann
Levy (1874 to 1881), 6 vols. 12mo of ballets
and operas, and 20 of op&as-comiques. A
perusal of these gives a high idea of his fertility
and resource. g. c.
SCRIPTOEES. There are several great
coUeotions of ancient writers on musical theory,
both Greek and Latin. In 1652 Meibomius
printed a valuable collection of Greek writei-s
which long held the field. It is now, however,
superseded by the following :
MusieiScriptoresGraeei, ed.C. Janus (Teubner,
1895), contains, with elaborate prolegomena, the
following authors
1. Aristotle. '
Loci de Musica."
2. Paeudo-AriBtotle. 'Derebua nmsiciBproblemata.'
3. Euclides. ' Sectlo Canonis.'
4. Cleonides. EitrayutyT] app.ovt,Kij.
5. Nicomacliiis GerasenuB. 'ApfiovLKhviyxetpLSutv&ExcerptA.
6. BacchiuB. Eicrayuyrj rixy^^ fioviriMjs.
7. Gaudentius. 'ApjuoftKij ettraytayrj.
S. Alypiua, Eiffaymyij jLiovcriK^.
9. 'ExcerptaNeapolitana.'
10.
'
Carminum Oraecorum Beliqojae.'
The De Musica of Aristides Quintilian is not
included above, because it had been edited
separately by A. Jahn (Berlin, 1882). The
Harnnomic Mements of Aristoxenus are best
studied in Macran's edition (Oxford, 1902).
The later Greek writers are to be found as
published by Wallis, -either separately or in his
Opera Mathematica (Oxford, 1699), of which
vol. iii. contains Ptolemy, Harmonica; Porphyry,
Commentary on Ptolemy; and Bryennius, Harmmiica7
To these may be added a less important
anonymous work. Be Musica, ed. BeUermann
(BeVlin, 1841).
For Latin authors reference must first be
made to the great collection of Martin Gerbert,
Scriptores' Ecclesiastici de Musica, 3 vols., 1784
(and reproduced in facsimile 1905). It contains
the following :
Vol. I.
1. S. PamlK). 'Oerouticon' (in Greek aBd Latin).
2. 'Monacho qua menteait Psallenduia.'
3. ' Inatituta Fatrujn de mode Fsallendi ' (t CiaterciaD).
4. S. Nieetiua ol Trevea. ' De bono Pealmodiae.'
5. Caaaiodorua. ' Inatitntionea muaicae.'
6. S. Isidore. 'Sententiae de Musica.'
i. Alcnin. 'Musica.'
8. Aurelian.
'
Musica disciplina.'
9. Bemigius. 'Musica.'
10. Notker. 'Be Musica.'
11. Hucbald. 'De Musica.'
(Fseudo-Hucbald.) 'Musica Bnchiriadifl, Commemonbtio BreviB
de tenia et paalmis modulandis.'
12. Begino.
' De harmonica institutione.'
13. Odo. ' Touariua,' ' Dialogus de Musica.'
14. Adelbold.
'
Musica.'
15. Bemelin. ' DiTisio monochordL
16. Varioua anonymous pieces.
Voi-U.
1. Guldoof Arezzo. 'Dedi8ciplinaartismn8icae,"BegulaemU8icae
Thythmicae,'
'
De ignoto
'
cantu,' Tra^tatus correctorius multorum
errorum,' 'De tropis sive tonia.'
2. Bemo of Beichenau. *De varia Paalmornm atque cantuum
modujatione,' 'De consona tononun diveiaitate,' 'Tonaiiua,'
3. Hermann Contractus. 'Musica,"Explicatiosignoruni,' 'Versus
ad diacemendura cantum/
4. William of Hirarliau. 'Musica.'
5. Theoger of Metz.
'
Musica.'
6. Aribo ScholaaticuB. ' Muaica.'
7. John Cotton. 'Be musica.'
8. S. Bernard. '
Tonal.' «
9. Oerlandua. 'De musica.'
10. Eberhard of Freisingen. ' De menaura fistularum.*
11. Anonymous. ' De menaura ilstularmn,'
12. Engelbert of Admont. 'De musica.'
13. Joh, ^Igidius. 'Are musica.'