Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

—'
STAECK STASSOV 675
than once formed the vehicle for American
patriotic songs, Adams and ' Liberty ' being one
of these effnsions. This American popularity
for such songs has caused several claims to be
set up for the American origin of the air. For
one of these see the Musical Times for August
1896, p. 516 £f.
The English song associated with the tune,
'To Anacreon in Heaven,' was written for,
and sung at all important meetings of the
'
Anacreontic Society,' held chiefly at The
Grown and Anchor in the Strand. These words
were by Ralph Tomlinson, a president of the
Society, and the music was by John Stafford
Smith, who claimed it as his in his Fifth Book
of Canzonets, Catches, and Glees {circa 1780),
long after its popularity had been established.
An early appearance of the words is in 2%e
Vocal Magazine, 1778. After that date they
were reprinted in nearly every subsequent collection.
In America, as before stated, the song was
greatly sung, and its fine tune was adapted to
numerous songs of a patriotic cast. The Freemasons,
too, also used it for one or more songs
relating to their Order. It is effectively introduced
into Puccini's Madama ' Butterfly.' p. K.
STAECK (von Bronsart), Ingeborg, was
bom at St. Petersburg, of Swedish parents,
12/24 August 1840. Henselt was one of
her first masters. When eighteen she studied
for some time under Liszt at Weimar, and then
made a long concert tour through the principal
towns of Germany, playing at the Gewandhaus
Concerts in 1858 and 1859, at Paris and St.
Petersburg. In 1862 she married Hans von
Bronsart. After staying some time iu Leipzig,
Dresden, and Berlin, Herr Bronsart and his
wife settled in Hanover, where he was Intendant
of the theatre. Here she devoted herself entirely
to composition. An opera by her,
' Die Gbttin
von Sais,' had been unsuccessful in Berlin ; hut
her next dramatic work, a setting of Goethe's
'Jery und Bately," was played with great
success in Weimar, Cassel, and many other
places. In 1870 she wrote a 'Kaiser Wilhelm
March,' which was played at Berlin at a state
performance, to celebrate the return of the
troops. In 1891 her four-act opera, Konig
'
Hiame,' was produced, the libretto by Hans
von Bronsart and Friedrich von Bodenstedt.
[ ' Manfred, ' a dramatic tone-poem in five pictures,
was given at Weimar in 1901.] After settling
in Hanover, Frau von Bronsart, who is a pianist
of rare excellence, was seldom heard in public.
Her compositions include a concerto and other
PF. pieces, many songs, and some music for
strings. w. b. s.
STAEK, LuDWiG, was born at Munich, June
19, 1831 ; was educated at the University there,
and learned music in the good school of the
Lachners. In 1856 he went to Paris, and
after a short residence there removed to Stuttgart,
and in conjunction with Faisst, Lebert,
Brachmann, and LaibUn, founded the Stuttgart
Music School, which has since become so well
known. Among the teachers in the School
were Speidel, Pischek, Levi, and other wellknown
names. Dr. Stark's energies were since
that time continually concentrated on the
school, which has flourished accordingly, and
in July 1865 was allowed to assume the title
of Conservatorium.
A large number of works have been prepared
for the use of the students, among which the
'Grosse Klavierschule ' of Lebert and Stark,
in 4 vols., is conspicuous. Also by the same
' Instruktive Klavierstucke ' in iom- grades ;
' Jugendbibliothek' and
'
Jugendalbum, ' each in
'
twelve parts ; Instruktive klassicher Ausgabe,
of various writers, in 21 vols., by Lebert, Faisst,
I. Lachner, Liszt, and Biilow ; and many more.
The famous Cotta edition of Beethoven's pf.
sonatas is the best-known of these publications.
Dr. Stark was madeEoyal Professor in 1868,
and Hon. Dr. Ph. 1873, and had many other distinctions
; he died at Stuttgart, March 22, 1884.
STASSOV, Vladimir Vassilievioh, a celebrated
art critic, and the literary champion of
the New Russian School of Music. Bom in St.
Petersburg, Jan. 14, 1824, he was the son of an
architect of great talent. Staasov was educated,
like Serov and Tchaikovsky, at the School of
Jurisprudence, which he left in 1843. From
1851 to 1854 he resided abroad, chiefly in Rome
and Florence, as private secretary to Prince
Demidov. In the former city he wrote his first
important contribution to musical literature,
Ii'Abbi Santini et sa collection musicale a Rome.
On his return to St. Petersburg he began by
being private assistant to the director of the
Imperial Public Library, Baron Korf, and in
1872 was himself appointed director of the
department of Fine Arts, a position which he
held until his death on Oct. 23, 1906. He
wrote indefatigably on a. great number of
subjects, artistic and literary, and was much preoccupied
with the theory—which he shared
with Glinka—that the national epics of Russia
were mainly of Eastern origin. His earlier
musical articles had chiefly an erudite and
archaeological interest, but with the birth and
struggles of the young Russian School they
assumed a new and far more vigorous character,
and henceforth he stood as the representative
champion of nationality in art. His views are
clearly and trenchantly deflned in such remarkable
essays as Twenty-five Years of Russian Art,
The Tracks of Russian Art, Art in the XlXth
Ceniury, etc. His style is intensely individual,
his sincerity unquestionable ; while his views
invariably incline to the progressive and liberal
side. The value of his criticisms is increased
by his extensive and accurate learning, which
enabled him to use comparative methods most
effectually. Apart from polemics, Stassov has