Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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680 STEFFANI STEFFAKI
question whether music exists only in the
imagination, oi- is grounded on nature and
science. In 1695 we have the opera ' I trionfi
del Fato, o le glorie d' Enea,' another charming
work. It found its way to Hamburg in 1699.
'
An opera in one act, Bacoanali,' was also
composed this year for the small theatre in
Hanover. For the Carnival of 1696 the grand
opera of ' Briseide ' was composed, the words
by Palmieri, Comes Italus. No composer's
name is mentioned, and Chrysander thinks it
is not by Steffani ; but the two scores and
collections of Steffani's songs at Buckingham
Palace leave little doubt on examination that
it is his work, and in his usual manner.
A change was now about to take place in
Steffani's circumstances. He was no longer to be
the active composer of operas, and oapellmeister,
but from this time forth was destined to devote
his time chiefly to diplomacy, though he never
forsook the art of which he was so great an
ornament. Ernst August had sent 5000 men
to assist the Emperor against the Turks, and
some 8000 against the French ; his two eldest
sons, George (afterwards King of England) and
Frederick Augustus, had served in the field,
and three others had been killed in the wars.
The Emperor as a reward determined, in 1692,
to create a ninth Elector, and raise the younger
branch of the house of Brunswick-Liineburg to
the Electorate. This was generally deemed
just, but many difficulties stood in the way,
and during four years the position of Ernst
August as Elector became more and more
difficult, so that, in 1696, it was determined
to send an Envoy Extraordinary round to the
various German Courts to smooth matters over,
and Ernst August and Leibniz could find no
one among the court personnel in Hanover so
well fitted for the post as Abbate Steffani.
With the title of ' Envoye Extraordinaire ' he set
out on his mission, and so admirably did he
succeed, that at the end of the mission he was
not only granted a considerably larger salary
than he had hitherto had at Court, but Innocent
XI. was induced to raise him in 1706 to the
dignity of Bishop (in partibus infideliuiri) of
Spiga in Anatolia, Asia Minor—the ancient
Cyzicus. This was also, perhaps in recognition
of Steffani's services, aided by the tolerant
Leibniz, in procuring for the Koman Catholics
in Hanover the privilege of holding public
worship. Steffani was now an accomplished
courtier and diplomatist. In the early part of
1698 he was sent to Bnissels as Ambassador,
and there had his first audience on March 1.
In this year the Elector Ernst August died,
and Steffani afterwards transferred his services
to the Elector Palatine at Diisseldorf, where he
became a Privy Councillor as well as the Pope's
Protonotarius for North Germany, though at
what time this occurred is not known. In
1709 we find Steffani again with two new operas,
one for the Court at Hanover, the other at
Diisseldorf. Both are stated in the scores at
Buckingham Palace to be by Gregorio Piva
his secretary, whose name he adopted for bis
compositions after he became a statesman, and
this is the earliest date at which it occurs in
any of the MSS. of his works, as far as I know.
The opera given at Hanover is called Enea, ' or
Amor vien dal destine,' in the large copy, but
in the conducting score ' II Tumo '—in three
acts, and is a very fine work ; again an advance
on 'any previous effort. The Diisseldorf opera,
'Tassilone Tragedia in 5 Atti,' is only represented
at Buckingham Palace by a vocal score ;
the overture and all instrumental effects are
wanting, only the bass beinggiven to the different
pieces ; but thg singers' names, all Italian, are
mentioned. 'The music is mostly excellent.
The movements of both these operas of 1709
are all long, well developed, and broad, and
our composer has not failed to march with the
times. There remains one more opera to speak
of, ' Arminio,' which, according to the full score
(one of those brought from Hanover by George
I.), was composed for the Court of the Elector
Palatine in 1707. Though bearing no composer's
name, it is without doubt a composition
of Steffani, entirely in his manner and one of
his very finest ; the instrumental colouring still
more full and varied than in any other opera
of his. And what further establishes its claim
to be considered Steffani's is the fact that the
air, with fagotto obbligato from ' Henrico
Leone,' is introduced with other words, and for
a soprano instead of a tenor voice. This opera,
and 'Tassilone,' show that the Palatine pourt
at that time possessed a very fine orchestra,
and a splendid company of singers.
It is quite
possible that Steffani composed more operas
than these, and that several may have been
written for Diisseldorf which have not come
down to us ;
but what we have, form a splendid
series of masterly works that establish him as a
composer of the first rank, equal to Lulli, greatly
his superior as a contrapuntist, if possibly, and
only possibly, inferior to him in dramatic force.
In Hamburg his reputation was so great that
no music was thought equal to his. There
Bach and Handel as young men must have
listened to his operas.
Though, however, his operas were his greatest
works, they could not attain the same universal
popularity as his well-known duets for various
voices, with a bass accompaniment. These are
mostly in three long movements, some with
recitatives and solos, in the cantata form,
following Carissimi and Stradella. Of these
celebrated duets there are more than a hundred
in the British Museum, and in the splendid
copy in 3 vols, in Buckingham Palace. The
words were mostly by Ortensio Mauro, Averara,
Abbate Conti, Conte Francesco Palmieri, etc.
The testimony to the great excellence of these