Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/178

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LONGHURST.
LORTZING.

popularity by his singing in the duet 'My pretty page,' with Miss Stephens. During that and the next four years Bishop composed original parts for him in 'Montrose,' 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona,' 'Maid Marian,' 'Clari,' 'The Beacon of Liberty,' and 'As You Like It,' besides giving him the boy's parts in 'The Miller and his Men,' 'The Slave,' etc., which he had formerly written for Gladstanes and Barnett. Early in 1826 he was allotted the part of Puck in Weber's 'Oberon,' then in preparation, but shortly afterwards, whilst in the middle of a popular ballad, 'The Robin's Petition,' his voice suddenly broke, and he was compelled to relinquish singing. Weber mentions the event in a letter to his wife, March 9, 1826:—'The young fellow who was to have sung Puck has lost his voice, but I have a charming girl,[1] who is very clever and sings capitally." After a short time he became known as a teacher of singing and the pianoforte and excellent accompanyist. He died in 1855 aged 46.

His younger brother, William Henry, Mus. Doc., born in the parish of Lambeth, Oct. 6, 1819, was admitted a chorister of Canterbury Cathedral, Jan. 6, 1828, under Highmore Skeats, sen., having afterwards Stephen Elvey and Thomas Evance Jones as his masters. In 1836 he was appointed lay clerk and assistant organist of the cathedral. On Jan. 26, 1873, he was chosen to succeed Jones as organist and master of the choristers. His doctor's degree was conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Tait), Jan. 6, 1875. His compositions consist of anthems, services, songs, etc., and a MS. oratorio, 'David and Absalom.'

LOOSEMORE, Henry, Mus. Bac., was a chorister in one of the Cambridge colleges, afterwards lay clerk there, and organist of King's College. He graduated at Cambridge in 1640. In 1660 he was appointed organist of Exeter Cathedral. A service and anthems [App. p.705 "an anthem"] by him are in the Tudway collection (Harl. MSS. 7337, 7338) and at Ely, and two Latin litanies (in D minor and G minor) are printed in Jebb's 'Choral Responses and Litanies.' He died in 1667 [App. p.705 "after Michaelmas 1670"].

His son, George, Mus. Doc., was a chorister of King's College, Cambridge, under his father, and in 1660 became organist of Trinity College. He took his Doctor's degree at Cambridge in 1665. Anthems by him are in the Tudway collection (Harl. MS. 7339) and at Ely Cathedral.

Another son, John, built the organ of Exeter Cathedral in 1665, and died 1681. Parts of his work still remain in that organ.

LORD OF THE ISLES, THE. A Dramatic Cantata founded on Scott's poem; the music by Henry Gadsby. Produced at Brighton Feb. 13, 1879.

[ G. ]

LORELEY, DIE. An opera by [2]Geibel, upon the composition of which Mendelssohn was enengaged at the time of his death (Nov. 4. 47). He had completed—as far as anything of his could be said to be complete until it was published—the finale to the act in which the heroine, standing on the Loreley cliff, invokes the spirits of the Rhine. This number was first performed at Leipzig, and at the Birmingham Festival, Sept. 8, 1852, to an English adaptation by Mr. Bartholomew, and was published as 'Op. 98, No. 27 of the posthumous works.' In Oct. 1868 an Ave [3]Maria (scene 3) for soprano solo and chorus, and late in 1871 a Vintagers' Chorus (scene 4) were published, and portions of the 2nd and 7th scenes are more or less advanced towards completion. The Finale is frequently put on the stage in Germany. The opera has been since composed by Max Bruch (produced at Cologne in August 1864).

2. The Loreley is the subject of an opera by F. Lachner, words by Molitor, produced at the Court Theatre, Munich, in 1846.

[ G. ]

LORENZ, Franz, physician and writer, bora at Stein, Lower Austria, April 4, 1805; took his doctor's degree 1831, and is now residing in Wiener-Neustadt. Like many other physicians, he has done much for music, and his publications are of special interest and value:—'In Sachen Mozart's' (Vienna, 1851), much praised by Köchel in his Mozart-Catologue (Preface, xvii.); 'Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven's Kirchenmusik,' etc.; 'W. A. Mozart als Clavier-Componist' (Breslau, 1866); various accurate and interesting contributions on Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, to the Deutsche Musik-Zeitung,[4] 1861, 62; the Wiener Zeitung,[5] Aug. 3, 1850, Aug. 16, 1863.[6] It is to Dr. Lorenz that we owe Krenn's important account of Beethoven's last autumn, and the other anecdotes and traits there given. [See Krenn.]

LORTZING, Gustav Albert, opera-composer, born at Berlin, Oct. 23, 1803, son of an actor. He studied for a time under Rangenhagen, but the wandering life entailed by his father's profession made steady instruction an impossibility, and at 9 he was thrown upon his own resources, played the pianoforte, violin, and cello, studied the works of Albrechtsbcrger and others, and soon began to compose. At the same time, he habitually sung and acted on the stage, and thus secured a familiarity with the practical requirements of the boards which was of great advantage to him. In 1822 he went with his parents to Cologne, where lie married before he was 20, and produced his first operetta 'Ali Pascha von Janina.' The company to which he belonged served the theatres of Detmold, Münster, and Osnabrück, in addition to that of Cologne, and at all these his opera was repeated. In 1833 he was engaged as first tenor at the Stadttheater at Leipzig, and here he passed a happv and successful 10 years. In 1837 he wrote and composed two comic operas, 'Die beiden Schützen' and

  1. Miss Harriet Cawe, afterward Mrs. John Fiddes.
  2. 'Dem Andenken Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdys' Hannover, Rümpler 1861.
  3. This was performed in London early in 1860 under the care of Mr. Benedict.
  4. Mozart's Requiem (1861, No. 33, 48); Mozart's Klavier-Sonaten (do. 41, 42); Mozart's Masses (1862, No. 34, 35); Beethoven at Gneisendorf (do. 10); Haydn and his princely patrons (do. 45, 47, 48).
  5. Mozart's death.
  6. Haydn and Beethoven.