Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

700 STOCKHORN STODAET
founded by Stern (Sternsohes Gesangverein),
which under his genial and able direction rose
to the highest point of excellence. In the four
years that he conducted it there were no less
than twenty-eight performances of great works,
including Beethoven's Mass in D, Mozart's
Requiem, Bach's Matthew-Passion, Schumann's
'Faust' music (complete), and 'Paradise and the
Peri,' Brahms's Requiem, etc. In 1878 he again
changed his residence, this time to Frankfort,
to take the department of singing in the Conservatorium
founded by Dr. Hoch, and presided
over by Raff. This post, however, he soon gave
up, and retired to his house at Frankfort,
teaching the many private pupils who resorted
to him there. After the death of Raff in 1882
he returned to the Conservatorium. In 1886-87
he published his Method of Singing (translated
by Mme. Sophie Lowe, new edition, 1907). He
died Sept. 22, 1906.
Stockhausen's singing in his best days must
have been wonderful. Even to those who, like
the writer, only heard him after he had passed
his zenith, it is a thing never to be forgotten.
Perhaps the maturity of the taste and expression
made up for a little falling off in the voice.
His delivery of opera and oratorio music—his
favourite pieces from 'Euryanthe,' 'Jean de
to make his singing of songs a wonderful event.
Those who have heard him sing Schubert's
'
Naohtstiick, ' 'The "Wanderer,' 'Memnon,' or
the Harper's songs ; or Schumann's ' Friihlingsnaoht,'
or ' Fluthenreioher Ebro,' or the
'
Liiwenbraut, ' will corroborate all that has just
been said. But perhaps his highest achievement
was the part of Dr. Marianus in the third part
of Schumann's Faust,' ' in which his delivery
of the scene beginning Hier ' ist die Aussicht
frei,' with just as much of acting as the concert-room
will admit—and no more—was one
of the most touching and remarkable things
ever witnessed. G.
STOCKHORN. A reed instrument on the
principle of the bagpipe practice - chanter,
but with two parallel cylindrical tubes and
independent reeds. These tubes were pierced
in a single block of wood, furnished with a horn
bell-mouth at one end, and the reeds were
sounded by means of a cap or covering-piece
placed between the lips, in the same manner as
the mouth-piece of the flageolet.
An interesting example in the Museum of
Scottish Antiquities, Edinburgh, has fourteen
finger-holes, and two thumb-holes at the back,
arranged in pairs, so that each finger closes or
opens two holes at once. The total length of
this instrument is about twenty-two inches,
with a bell-mouth expanding to 2-J- inches, and
its scale is from / to gr". The object of the
double bore appears to have been the production
of a strong beating tone from mistuned consonances
as is common in certain native Egyptian
instruments at the present day. D. j. B.
STODART. A family of eminent pianofortemakers,
whose business was founded in Wardour
Street, Soho, about the year 1776, by Robert
Stodart. It is said he had been in the Royal
Horse Guards, to be a private in which corps
involved at that time the payment of iSlOO, an
amount that must now be estimated by the then
higher value of money. Having little duty and
much leisure, Stodart became a pupil of John
Broadwood to learn pianoforte-making, and in
the books of Broadwood's firm appears, during
the year 1775, to have taken his share in tuning
for customers. It was while he was under
Broadwood that he had the privilege, enjoyed by
them as friends, of assisting Amerious Backers
in the invention of the new movement for the
grand pianoforte since generally known as the
Paris,' 'Le Chaperon rouge,' and 'Le Philtre'
'
;
English 'action. After Backers's death, Stodart,
or the part of Elijah, or certain special airs of now upon his own account, entered upon grand
Bach—was superb in taste, feeling, and execution
; but it was the Lieder of Sohxibert and soon made a considerable reputation. The
pianoforte making with energy and ability, and
Schumann that most peculiarly suited him, and pianoforte was at that time hardly emancipated
these he delivered in a truly remarkable way. from the harpsichord, and there were frequent
The rich beauty of the voice, the nobility of the endeavours to combine both principles in one
style, the perfect phrasing, the intimate sympathy,
and, not least, the intelligible way in patented by Stodart in 1777, which is otherwise
instrument. An endeavour of this nature was
which the words were given—in itself one of remarkable by the first mention of the word
his greatest claims to distinction—all combined
' '
gland in connection with a pianoforte. In
it he worked his crow-quill registers, and also a
swell, by means of pedals.
"We find the business in 1795 removed to
Golden Square, "William Stodart in that year
taking out, from that address, a patent for an
'Upright Grand.' This was the horizontal
grand turned up vertically in the same way the
upright harpsichord had been. The giraffe-like
upright grand was then coming into fashion,
and the speciality of Stodart's patent was to
introduce one in the form of a bookcase. Of
the highest importance was the patent of James
Thom and "William Allen, who were in Stodart's
employ, a compensating framing of metal tubes
and plates at once secured by Stodart's firm.
This meritorious invention, which was really
Allen's, was brought out in 1820, and paved
the way to the general introduction of iron in
pianofortes as a resisting power. [See Piano-
FOKTE and the writer's Pianoforte Primer, p. 16.]
"When Malcolm Stodart, who had shown great
promise, died, the interest of the survivors
ceased, and the business, which had been declining,
came, in 1861, to an end. A. j. H.