the Philharmonic Society (May 11, 1868), a concerto in D minor, and other works. In 1867, at the request of the committee of the Birmingham Festival, he composed his cantata 'The Ancient Mariner,' on Coleridge's poem, which was an acknowledged success. In 1870 he received a second commission from the Birmingham Festival committee to write a cantata, and this time he chose 'Paradise and the Peri,' which was performed the same year with great success. Both these works have been given repeatedly in England and the Colonies. Mr. Barnett next wrote his overture to Shakspeare's 'Winter's Tale' for the British Orchestral Society, which performed it Feb. 6, 1873. In the same year he produced his oratorio 'The Raising of Lazarus,' which may be regarded as his most important work. In the following year he received a commission to compose an instrumental work for the Liverpool Festival, when he chose for his theme Scott's 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' This was produced on Oct. 1, 1874. Besides the works numerated, Mr. Barnett has written a number of pianoforte and vocal compositions, including a 'Tantum Ergo' in eight parts.
BARON, Ernst Theophilus, a famous lute player, born at Breslau Feb. 27, 1696. His first instruction was obtained from Kohatt, a Bohemian, in 1710, next in the Collegium Elizabethanum at Breslau; and he afterwards studied law and philosophy at Leipsic. After residing in Halle, Cöthen, Zeitz, Saalfold, and Rudolstadt, he appeared in Jena in 1720, whence he made an artistic tour to Cassel, Fulda, Würzburg, Nuremberg, and Regensburg, meeting everywhere with brilliant success. In Nuremberg he made some stay, and there published his 'Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersmchung des Instruments der Lauten' (J. F. Rüdeger, 1727), to which he afterwards added an appendix in Marpurg's 'Historisch-kritischen Beiträge,' etc. In 1727 Meusel, lutenist at the court of Gotha, died, and Baron obtained the post, which however he quitted in 1732, after the death of the duke, to join the court band at Eisenach; there he remained till 1737, when he undertook a tour by Merseburg and Cöthen to Berlin, and was engaged by King Friedrich Wilhelm I. as theorbist, though he possessed no theorbo, and was compelled to obtain leave to procure one in Dresden. Weiss, the great theorbist, was at that time living in Dresden, and from him, Hofer, Kropfgans, and Belgratzky, a born Circassian, Baron soon learnt the instrument. After this he remained in Berlin till his death, April 20, 1760; and published there a great number of short papers on his instrument and music in general. Many of his compositions for the lute were published by Breitkopfs.
BARONESS, THE, an artist of German origin, as is supposed, who sang in the operas abroad and in London, and was known by no other name. She sang the part of Lavinia, in the opera of 'Camilla,' by Buononcini (Drury Lane, 1706), and that of Eurilla in 'Love's Triumph,' at the Haymarket, some time afterwards. She was a perfect mistress of the grandest method of singing, an art which was even then becoming rare, and she shared that proud pre-eminence with but a few such singers, as Cornelio Galli, Tosi, and Siface. She took a great part, with Sandoni, in the teaching and cultivation of Anastasia Robinson, so far as that singer would submit to receive any instruction at all; being herself, at the same time, engaged at the Opera, and 'greatly caressed,' as Hawkins informs us. Her name must not be confounded with that of Hortensia, the mistress of Stradella, as was done by Humfrey Wanley, the compiler of the Harleian Catalogue, relying on the information of his friend Berenclow; for that unfortunate lady was, according to the best accounts, assassinated at the same time with her lover.
BARRE, Antonio, was of French extraction, but the place and date of his birth are unknown. We find him as a composer of established repute at Rome in 1550. In 1555 he started in that capital a printing-press, which he afterwards removed to Milan, and from which he published a series of six volumes containing pieces by himself and other writers. The titles of these are as follows:—(1) 'Primo Libro delle Muse a 5 voci, Madrigali di diversi Autori.' (2) 'Primo Libro delle Muse a 4 voci, Madrigali ariosi di Antonio Barre ed altri diversi autori.' Both of these volumes were dated 1555, and were dedicated, the first to Onofrio Virgili, the second to the Princess Felice Orsini. (3) 'Secondo Libro delle Muse a quattro voci, Madrigali ariosi di diversi excellentissimi Autori, con due Canzoni di Gianetto, di nuovo raccolti e dati in luce. In Roma appresso Antonio Barre 1558.' (4) 'Madrigali a quattro voci di Francesco Menta novamente da lui composti e dati in luce; in Roma per Antonio Barre 1560.' (5) 'Il Primo Libro di Madrigali a quattro voci di Ollivier Brassart. In Roma per Antonio Barre 1564.' Of this last only the alto part is known to exist, having been actually seen by Fétis. (6) 'Liber Primus Musarum cum quatuor vocibus, seu sacræ cantiones quas vulgo Mottetta appellant. Milan, Antonio Barre, 1588.' Out of these six volumes even the learned and indefatigable Baini had only thoroughly satisfied himself as to the existence of the two first. The last is said to contain no less than twenty-nine pieces by Palestrina, besides specimens of the work of Orlando Lasso, Rore, Animuccia, and other rare masters.
BARRE, Leonard, a native of Limoges, and pupil of Willaert, a singer in the Papal Chapel in 1537, and thus contemporary with Arcadelt. He was one of the musicians sent by the Pope to the Council of Trent in 1545 to give advice on church music. His claims as a composer rest on some motets and madrigals published in a collection at Venice in 1544, and on many MS. compositions preserved in the library of the Papal Chapel.
