Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/182

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LOVATTINI.
LUCCA.

LOVATTINI, Giovanni, an Italian singer, celebrated for the most beautiful of tenor voices and for his excellent acting. He sang in London (1767) in Piccinni's 'Buona Figliuola,' very strongly cast with La Guadagni and Morigi. Lovattini continued to sing here for several years, until the end of 1774, according to Lord Mount-Edgcumbe; but the present writer has only traced him as late as 1772, when he was singing in 'La Schiava' of Piccinni and Guglielmi's 'Virtuosa.' We have no record of his later career; but in 1834 Lord Mount-Edgcumbe saw, 'in the pavement of a church at Bologna, a small square, inscribed with the three words, Qui giace Lovattini.'

[ J. M. ]

LOVE'S TRIUMPH. An opera in 3 acts; words by J. R. Planché, after 'Le Portrait vivant,' music by W. Vincent Wallace. Produced at the Royal English Opera, Covent Garden, (Pyne and Harrison) Nov. 3, 1862.

[ G. ]

LOWE, Edward, was a native of Salisbury and a chorister in the cathedral there under John Holmes, the organist. In 1630 he succeeded Dr. William Stonard as organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. In 1660 he was appointed one of the organists of the Chapel Royal. In 1661 he published at Oxford 'A Short Direction for the performance of Cathedrall Service, published for the information of such as are ignorant of it and shall be called upon to officiate in Cathedral or Collegiate Churches where it hath formerly been in use,' containing the notation of the Preces, Responses, Litany, etc., for ordinary days, and, under the title of 'Extraordinary Responses upon Festivalls,' a version of Tallis's Responses and Litany, and also 'Veni Creator,' harmonised for 4 voices. In 1662, on the resignation of Dr. Wilson, he was appointed Professor of Music at Oxford, having been deputy for some time before. In 1664 he published 'A Review' of his 'Short Direction,' adapted to the then newly-revised Liturgy, and including also several chants and John Parsons's Burial Service. This edition was reprinted by Dr. llimbaultin 1843, and by Dr. Jebb in his 'Choral Responses' in 1857. Low composed several anthems, some of which are in the Tudway collection and at Ely Cathedral. He died at Oxford, July 11, 1682, and was buried in the Divinity Chapel on the north side of the cathedral.

LOWE, Thomas, favourite tenor singer, made his first appearance on any stage at Drury Lane, Sept. 11, 1740, as Sir John Loverule in 'The Devil to pay'; Oct. 17 he performed Macheath, and Dec. 20 had the distinction of being the original singer of Arne's beautiful songs, 'Under the greenwood tree' and 'Blow, blow, thou winter wind' in 'As You Like It.' He was the original singer of the following parts in Handel's oratorios;—Priest of Dagon and Israelitish Man in 'Samson,' 1742; First Elder in 'Susanna,' 1743; Joshua, 1746; Zadok in 'Solomon,' 1749; and Septimius in 'Theodora,' 1750. In 1745 and several subsequent years he sang at Vauxhall Gardens, and in 1763 became lessee and manager of Marylebone Gardens, and continued so until 1768, when an unsuccessful season compelled him in Feb. 1769 to assign his interest in the place to trustees for the benefit of his creditors. His powers beginning to fail he was compelled to accept engagements at Finch's Grotto Garden, Southwark, and similar places. In 1784 he was engaged at Sadlers' Wells. Lowe is said to have possessed a finer voice than Beard, but to have been inferior as musician and singer.

LUCAS, Charles, born at Salisbury, July 28, 1808, was a chorister in the cathedral under Arthur Thomas Corfe from 1815 to 1823, when he became a pupil of the Royal Academy of Music, and studied the violoncello under Lindley, and harmony and composition under Lord and Dr. Crotch. He remained there for 7 years. In 1830 he became a member of Queen Adelaide's private band, and composer and arranger of music for it, and soon afterwards music preceptor to Prince George (now Duke) of Cambridge and the Princes of Saxe Weimar. In 1832 he succeeded Cipriani Potter as conductor at the Royal Academy of Music. He also became a member of the opera and other orchestras as a violoncellist. In 1839 he was appointed organist of Hanover Chapel, Regent Street. He was for some time conductor of the Choral Harmonists' Society. On the retirement of Lindley he succeeded him as principal violoncello at the opera, the provincial festivals, etc. [App. p.706 "in 1840–3 he occasionally conducted at the Ancient Concerts."] From 1856 to June 30, 1865, he was a member of the music-publishing firm of Addison, Hollier, & Lucas. In 1859 he was appointed successor to Potter as Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, which office he held until July 1866, when ill health compelled him to relinquish it. His compositions include 'The Regicide,' opera, 3 symphonies, string quartets, anthems, songs, etc. He edited 'Esther' for the Handel Society. He died March 30, 1869. His son, Stanley Lucas, born 1834, was Secretary to Leslie's Choir from its formation to Oct. 1855; has been Secretary to the Royal Society of Musicians since 1861, and to the Philharmonic Society since 1866, and is otherwise much connected with music in London.

LUCCA. In 1640 an Academy, that of the 'Accesi,' was founded at Lucca entirely for dramatic musical representation.

LUCCA, Pauline, one of the most brilliant operatic artists of a brilliant epoch, is a native of Vienna. [App. p.706 "add date of birth, April 26, 1841, and that her parents were Italian."] Her high musical gifts showed themselves early, when, a mere child, she sang in the choir of the Karlskirche, in 1856. One Sunday the principal singer was missing, and the young chorister put forward to supply her place in the solo of a mass of Mozart's, revealed a beauty of voice and charm of style that startled all present. She studied under Uschmann and Lewy, and her parents being in straitened circumstances, entered the chorus of the Opera at Vienna, which she quitted in 1859 to come out at Olmütz. Just before leaving, it fell to her to lead the Bridesmaids' Chorus in the Freischütz, her performance creating a sensation that made Vienna eager to retain her; but it was too late. On