Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

624 SORIANO-FUERTES SOSTINENTE PIANOFORTE
voice he became a pupil of Montanari, then of
G. M. Nanini, and lastly of Palestrina. After
this his fame went on always increasing. In
1581 we find him Maestro di cappella at
S. Ludovico dei Francesi ; in 1583 he was at
the Court of Mantua ; in 1587 at S. Maria
Maggiore ; in 1599 at S. John Lateran. He
returned, however, to S. Maria Maggiore, and in
1603 made his final step to the head of the
choir of S. Peter's. He retu-ed in June 1620,
died about 1621, and was buried at S. Maria
Maggiore. Soriano published his first work
in 1581, a book of madrigals, a 5. This was
followed by a second in 1592 ; by a book
of motets, a 8, 1597 ; by a second book of
madrigals, a 4, 1601, 1602 ; by a book of
masses for 4, 5, and 6 voices, 1609 ; by a
collection of 110 canons on 'Ave Maris Stella,'
1610, and by a second book of psalms and
motets, a 8, 12, and 16, 1616. His last work
was a Magnificat and Passione, a 4, Home, 1619,
containing his portrait. A complete list of his
works is given in the Quellen-Lexilcon. He
will be remembered longest for having arranged
Palestrina's' Missa Papae Marcelli for 8 voices.
The Passion already mentioned, a Magnificat
and five Antiphons, are included in Proske's
'Musica Divina,' vols. iii. and iv., and two
Masses in the ' Selectus novus.' G.
SORIAlSrO-FUERTES, Mariano, bom in
Mureia, 1817, a. Spanish composer and lUUrateur,
according to Riemann was the son of a
musician, and so determined in his pursuit of
music that though forced into a cavalry regiment
he left it for the musical career. His works were
many, and in many spheres ; in 1 841 he founded
a periodical, Iberia musical y lUeraria ; in 1843
became teacher in the Conservatoire at Madrid ;
in 1844 director of the Lyceums at Cordova,
Seville, and Cadiz ;
conductor of the opera at
Seville, Cadiz, and (1852) at Barcelona, where
he founded the Gaceta Musical Barcelonesa in
1860. During this period he wrote several
' Zarzuelas ' or operettas ; but it is from his
literary works that he will derive his chief fame
— Masica Arabo - Espanola (1853); History of
Spanish Music from the Phcenicians down to
1850 (4 vols., 1855-59) ; Memoir on the Choral
Societies of Spain ; and Spain, Artistic and
Industrial, in the Exposition of 1867. Soriano
died at Madrid, March 26, 1880. o.
SOSTENUTO,
'
sustained ' ;
a direction
which has of latfe come to be used with a
considerable degree of ambiguity. It originally
signified that the notes were to be held for their
full value, and was thus equivalent to tenvio ;
but in music of the modern romantic ' ' school it
very often has the same meaning as memo mosso,
or something between that and ritenuto— i.e.
the passage so marked is to be played at a
uniform rate of decreased speed until the words
a tempo occur. No precise rule can be given
for ite interpretation, as its use varies with
;
the bass strings, like the largest ' Bass-violins '
different masters, and even in different works
by the same master. M.
SOSTINENTE PIANOFORTE. The teim
implies a pianoforte capable of producing a sustained
sound, such as that of the organ, harmonium,
or violin. It must, however, be borne
in mind that by giving the pianoforte this
power of sustaining sound, the special character
of the instrument is transformed, and in point of
fact the ' sostinente ' pianoforte is a pianoforte
in name only. It is the rapid diminution of the
fugitive tone that raises the ordinary pianoforte
to that ideal terrain wherein it finds one of its
chief excellences, the prerogative of freedom
from cloying ; the emotion of the hearer
entering actively into the appreciation of its
unsubstantial and ithereal tones. Under the
head of Piano -Violin the Hurdy-gurdy is
referred to as the germ of sostinente keyed
instruments ; and allied to the harpsichord we
next meet with it in the Gambenwerk of Hans
Haydn of Nuremberg, dating about 1610. The
Lyrichord, patented by Roger Plenius in London
in 1741, demands notipe as being a harpsichord
strung with wire and catgut, made on the sostinente
principle, and actuated by moving wheels
instead of the usual quills, so that the bow of the
violin and the organ were imitated. There is no
specification to the patent, but a magazine article
of 1755, in the possession of the writer, gives a
drawing and complete description of the instrument,
which was otherwise remarkable for
sustaining power by screws, springs, and balanced
tension weights for tuning ; for silver covering to
for the use of iron to counteract the greater pull
of the octave-strings (in the drawing there are
apparently four iron bars connecting the wrestplank
and sound-board, thus anticipatingthe later
introduction of steel arches in grand pianofortes
for similar service) ; and lastly for the Swell obtained
by dividing the lid or cover into two parts,
one of which is movable up and down by means
of a pedal governed by the foot of the player,
a practice followed by Kirkman in his harpsichords,
and perhaps by Shudi, until he introduced,
about 1766, his important improvement
of the Venetian Swell. Another patent of
Plenius, in 1745, added the 'Welch harp,' or
buff stop (in his patent by a pedal), to the
instrument. We have thus dwelt upon the
Lyrichord because as an ingenious combination
of inventions its importance cannot be gainsaid.'
Another ' Sostinente ' harpsichord was the
' Celestina ' of Adam Walker, patented in London
in 1772. An important 'Sostinente' instrument
was the ' Claviol ' or ' Finger-keyed Viol,'
the invention of Dr. John Isaac Hawkins of
Bordertown, New Jersey, U.S. A., an Englishman
by birth, who invented the real upright pianoforte.
This upright piano (called 'portable
1 PlenluB is Bald to have be«n the flist to attempt to make a
pianoforte in England.