Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SOLFEGGIO SOLMISATION 499
is therefore obviously a collection of Italian Solfeggi
made in France by Frenchmen. Levesque
was a baritone in the King's Chapel from
1759 to 1781, and in 1763 became master of
the boys. Beche was an alto. The fast edition
of the work appeared in 1768 ; the fourth,
published by Cousineau, at Paris in 1786. It
forms one lai-ge oblong volume, and is in four
Divisions ; I. The indispensable ' principles
of singing— names of notes, etc., and 62 easy
(anonymous) Solfeggi iu the G clef with figured
bass. II. Solfeggi 63 to 152 for single voices
in vai-ious clefs—including G clef on second
line and F clef on third line^—in common, triple,
and compound time, all viith figured basses.
III. Solfeggi 153-241, with changing clefs,
and increasing difficulties of modulation and
execution— ending with the Exclamaiiones
quoted in the text ; all with figured basses.
Divisions .II. and III. are by the masters named
in the title ; each Solfeggio bearing the composer's
name. IV. 12 Solfeggi for two voices
and figured bass by David Perez, each in three
or four movemente. The forms of fugue and
canon are used throughout the work, and
some of the exercises would bear to be sung
with words.
A later and very complete collection of exercises
and studies is that published in Paris
by Hengel jmder the title of ' Solfeges du
Conservatoire, par Cherubini,' Oatel, Mehul,
Gosseo, et Langle,' edited by Edouard Batiste,
Professeur de Solffege, etc. It is in eight
volumes 8vo, including a hundred preparatory
exercises by Batiste himself. The first exercise
in the main coUeotion is a short theme with
57 variations. The studies increase in difficulty,
and the later ones require great powers
of vocalisation. Those by Gossec abound in reiterated
notes and in passages of extended compass.
There are duets and trios, some of which
are very elaborate. A curious one by Cherubini
is in free fugal imitation, with the respective
entries of the second and third voices taking
place at an interval of 24 bars. Canons and
fugues are in abundance, amongst them a fugue
in 5-4 by Catel. One exercise by Cherubini is
without bars, and another by the same composer
is headed Contrepoint rigoureux k cinq voix
'
sur le Plain Chant. ' If these two collections of
vocalizzi are stiidied and conquered, an amount
of theoretical and practical knowledge, as well
as control over the voice, will have been gained
that will fulfil every possible requirement preparatory
to acquaintance with the great operatic
and oratorical works. Mention must not be
omitted of Concone's useful Exercises, of more
modest calibre, which have gained a large popularity
throughout musical Europe ; nor of those
of Madame Marohesi-Graumann^ which give a
^ Chembini's Autograph Catalogue [see vol. i. p. 509&] coutains
an iiniiieuse uumber of Solfesgi wiltten between the years 1822
and 1842, in his capacity of Director of the Conservatoire, for the
examinations of the pupils of that institution.
great deal of excellent work, and were highly
approved by Rossini. H. c. D.
SOLI^fi, Jean Pierre (real name Soijliek),
bom at Nimes, 1755, died in Paris, August 6,
1812, was one of the good singers and composers
at the Opera-Coniique in its early days. The
son of a violoncellist he learnt that instrument,
and had a good musical education at the Nimes
maitrise, after which he played in the orchestra
and taught singing till his debnt as a tenor iu
1778. His success in the provinces tempted
him to go to Paris, but he failed at fa-st, in
1782, and remained away tUl after three years'
success in the largest theatre of Lyons. He was
engaged in 1787 for the Op^ra-Comique, where
he remained, gi-adually making his way upwards
to the first place in the company, especially
after relinquishing the part of ieTior de goUt for
that of baritone. The baritone was then a
novelty, and M^hul wrote for Solie several parts
which have since become identified with his
name. He next tried his hand at composition,
and with equal success, for his op&as-comiques
number 33 in all, 'Jean et Genevieve' (1792)
being the first, and ' Les Menestrels,' three acts
'
(1811) the last. Le Jockey' (Jan. 6), 'Le
Secret' (April 20, 1796), 'Le Chapitre Second'
(June 17, 1799) in one act ; and Le Diable a
'
quatre ' (Nov. 30, 1809), and ' Mademoiselle de
Guise' in three (March 17, 1808), were published.
Though this music is now entii'ely out of date,
pretty airs became favourites with
many of its
the vaudeville writera, and were set to a variety
of words. Several may be found in the Cl^
'
du Caveau.'
SoM had several sons ; the eldest drowned
himself iu 1802 ; but EmUe (bom in Paris,
1801) published in 1847 two pamphlets on the
Op^ra-Comique and Opera, also some short
biographies of French musicians. He left a
son, Charles, a conductor, who produced at
Nice, in 1879, an op&a-comique, 'Scheinn Baba,
ou I'intrigue du Harem,' three acts. G. c.
SOLMISATION (Lat. Solmisatio). The art
of illustrating the construction of the musical
scale by means of certain syllables, so associated
with the sounds of which it is composed as to
exemplify both their relative proportions, and
the functions they discharge as individual
members of a system based upon fixed mathematical
principles.
The laws of Solmisation are of scarcely less
venerable antiquity than those which govern
the accepted proportions of the scale itself.
They first appear among the Greeks, and after
making the necessary allowance for differences
of tonality, the guiding piinciple in those earlier
times was precisely the principle by which we
are guided now. Its essence consisted in the
adaptation to the Tetrachord of such syllables
as should ensure the recognition of the Hemitone,
wherever it occurred. Now, the Hemitone
of the Greeks, though not absolutely identical