Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

'
'
730 STEUNQK SUBJECT
the usual friction between the Itahan and
German musicians, although the Germans were
gradually gaining the ujiper hand, for on March
30, 1688, Elector Johann Georg III. was appealed
to because the Italians refused to join in
any performance of Strungk's compositions, and
would only acknowledge his authority when Bernhard
the capellmeister was absent through Ulness.
This resulted in the dismissal of the
ringleader Fedeli in the following September.
Bernhard died on Nov. 14, 1692, and was succeeded
by Strungk, who composed some music
in his memory.
On June 13, 1692, Strungk obtained permission
from Johann Georg IV. of Saxony to found
an opera-house in Leipzig. With the aid of
two associates, Glaser and Sartorio, an ai'ohifceet,
the work was put in hand in March 1693, and a
theatre of wood was erected in the Briihl, at a cost
of 10,000 thaler. It was opened on May 8, 1693,
with Strungk's opera ' Alceste ' ; the German
libretto by Paul Thiemioh was adapted from the
original Italian of Aurelio Aureli. A contemporary
chronicle narrates that pictured announcements
were suspended in the streets of
Leipzig, giving a description of the opera, and
the time of its performance {Leipzigisehes Geschicht-Buch,
1714, p. 883). Johann Georg IV.
came from Dresden to be present at the opening
performance. In 1693 Strungk's opera Nero
'
was also given, and his ' Agrippina in 1699.
'
Strungk was financially much embarrassed by his
Leipzig undertaking, although he retained his
Dresden post and salary until 1697, when he
retired with a pension. He died Sept. 23, 1700,
at Dresden. His daughters Philippine and
Elisabeth were two of the principal singers in
the Leipzig theatre from 1705 to 1709.
Very little of Strungk's music is known at
the present day, and it nearly all remains ia MS.
He composed a ' Eicercar auf den Tod seiner
Mutter, verfertiget zu Venedig am 20. Dec.
1685,' also Die Auferstehung ' Jesu,' first performed
on April 21, 1688 ; and he published at
Dresden in 1691 ' Musikalische Uebung auf der
Violin oder Viola da gamba, so wohl zur Ehre
Gottes als meus3hlieher Ergbtzlichkeit bestehend,
in etlichen Sonaten iiber die Pestgesiinge,
dann auch etliche Ciaconen mit zwei Violinen.'
A selection of his opera airs was published in
Hamburg, 1684, 'Ein hundert auserlesene Arien
zweyer Hamburgisohen Operen, Semiramis und
Esther. Mit beigefiigten Eitornellen. ' A MS.
copy is in the Kiinigsberg Library as well as
some MS. Choralvorspiele also attributed to
Strungk, although they may be the work of his
father, Delphin Strungk (see Midler's Oat.).
MS. copies of a sonata for two violins and viola
da gamba, and a sonata for six strings, are in
the Upsala Library. Various MSS. are also in
the Berlin and Dresden Libraries, and in the
Wolfenbiittel Library, MS. 253 ' Les Aires avec
les Plants douces pour son Altesse Seren«
monseigneur le Prince Ludwig Rudolf, Duo de
Bruns. et Liiueberg,' containing ten numbers,
chiefly dances. o. s.
STUDIES.
,
See Etudes.
STtfCK (Ger. ' Piece ').
SUB. 'The Latin preposition 'imder' is
used in connection with the organ, and denotes
the octave below, as Sub Bass, ' '
' Sub Octave
couples,' etc. [See Coupler.]
SUBDIAPENTE. A polyglot word, part
Latin, part Greek, to signify a fifth below, just
as Epidiapente ' ' signified a fifth above. A
'
Canon in Subdiapente was a canon ' in which
the answer was a fifth below the lead.
Similarly
' Subdiatessaron
'
is a fourth below, and Epidiatessaron
a ' fourth above. '
a.
SUBDOMINANT. The fourth note of the
scale upwards.
The note below the dominant,
as F in the key of C. The radical bass of the
penultimate chord in the Plagal cadence. When
groups of movements are balanced together in
threes the central one is most frequently in the
key of the subdominant, as in sonatas of three
movements, the minuet and trio form, marches,
valses, etc. In the actual body of a large move-
forms of the sonata order, the key uf
ment in
the subdominant is not antithetically acceptable,
and examples of its occurrence in modern music
as the Icey of the second section or second subject
are extremely rare, and evidently not well advised.
But in dependence on,the tonic key it is
one of the most important of harmonic centres,
and digressions in that direction are very common
in modern music. c. H. H. p.
SUBJECT. The theme, or leading idea, on
which a musical composition is based. A piece
of music can no more be composed without a
Subject than a sermon can be preached without
a, text. Rich harmonies and graceful passages
may be strung together in any number ; but if
they be not suggested by a leading tliought,
they will mean nothing. The leading thought
'
is the Subject ; and the merit of the composition
based upon that Subject will depend, in the first
place, upon the worthiness of the idea, and in
the second, upon the skill with which the composer
discourses upon it.
Subjects may be divided into as many classes
as there are classes of composition ; for every
definite art -form is based upon a Subject in
harmony with its own peculiar character.
I. The earliest known form of Subject is the
ecclesiastical Cantus firmus.^ The most important
varieties of this ai'e the plain -song
melodies of the antinhon^ and those of the
hymn. ^ The former admits of no rhythmic ictus
beyond that demanded by the just delivery of
the words to which it is set. The latter fell,
even in very early times, into a more symmetrical
vein suggested by the symmetry of the
verse or prose, cultivated by the great mediaeval
'
See Flain-Sono. 2 See Antiphow.