Bach. Passion (St. John); Magnificat.
Balfe. Mazeppa.
Beethoven. Mass in C; Mount of Olives; Ruins of Athens; King Stephen.
Carissimi. Jonah.
Cherubini. Requiem Mass.
Costa. Eli.
Cowen. The Corsair.
Gade. The Erl-King's Daughter; Spring's Message; Psyche; The Crusaders.
Gadsby. The Lord of the Isles; Alice Brand.
Gollmick. The Heir of Linne.
Handel. Saul; Joshua; Esther; Theodora; The Dettingen Te Deum.
Hiller. Lorelei.
Macfarren. The Sleeper Awakened; John the Baptist.
Mendelssohn. St. Paul; Lauda Sion; Athalie; Christus; The First Walpurgis-Nlght; Loreley.
Monk. The Bard.
Mozart. Requiem.
Rossini. Stabat Mater.
Smart. The Bride of Dunkerron.
Spohr. Last Judgment; Psalm 84.
Stewart. A Winter Night's Wake; The Eve of St John (both written for the Society).
Sullivan. Martyr of Antioch; Te Deum; On Shore and Sea.
Van Bree. St. Cecilia's Day.
Verdi. Requiem Mass.
Weber. Jubilee Cantata; Music in Preciosa; Liebe und Natur.
Several large selections from operas containing a choral element have been given, as Mozart's 'Idomeneo,' 'Zauberflöte,' and 'Don Giovanni'; Weber's 'Der Freischütz' and 'Oberon,' etc.
For many years the old-fashioned regulations compelled the Society to employ only the choristers of the Cathedral for the treble parts in the chorus, and on occasions where boys' voices were inadequate, to give its concerts outside the college walls; but in 1870 permission was granted to admit ladies as associates, and since that time they have taken part in the concerts of the Society.
About the year 1839 the Church Music Society, of which Mr. J. Rambaut was conductor, was founded in Trinity College. It appears to have restricted itself to the practice of psalmody, and to have had but a brief existence.
UPHAM, J. Baxter, M.D., a citizen of Boston, U.S.A., where he has for long occupied a prominent position in the musical life of the city. He was for nearly thirty consecutive years (1855–1884) president of the Music Hall Association, and it was largely through his personal exertions that the great organ, built by Walcker of Ludwigsburg, was procured for the hall. Before concluding the contract for the organ, Dr. Upham consulted the most notable builders in Europe, as well as with organists and scientific authorities, and personally inspected the most famous organs in the Old World, with the view of securing an instrument that should be in all respects a masterpiece.[1] For 10 years (1860 to 1870) Dr. Upham was president of the Handel and Haydn Society, and it fell to him to prepare and deliver the historical sketch of the society at its bicentenary festival in May, 1865. For 15 years (1857–1872) he officiated as chairman of the Committee on Music in the public schools of the city, and through his active supervision the system of music-training in Boston acquired much of its thoroughness. [See United States.]
UPRIGHT GRAND PIANO. A transposition of the ordinary long grand piano to a vertical position, so that it might stand against a wall. The upright piano was derived from the upright harpsichord, and like it, its introduction was nearly contemporaneous with the horizontal instrument. The upright harpsichord (Fr. Clavecin Vertical) is figured in Virdung's 'Musica getutscht,' etc., a.d. 1511, as the Claviciterium,' but, like all Virdung's woodcuts of keyboard instruments, is reversed, the treble being at the wrong end. He does not figure or describe the Arpichordium, but we know that the long horizontal instrument was in use at that time, and constructive features are in favour of its priority. Upright harpsichords are now rarely to be met with. One decorated with paintings was shown in the special Loan Exhibition of ancient Musical Instruments at South Kensington in 1872, contributed by M. Laconi of Paris. Another, in a fine Renaissance outer case, was seen in 1883 at Christie's, on the occasion of the Duke of Hamilton's sale. The museums of the Conservatoire at Brussels, and of Signor Kraus, Florence, contain specimens. There is also an upright grand piano at Brussels, the oldest yet met with. It was made by Frederici of Gera, in Saxony, in 1745. This was the very time when Silbermann was successfully reproducing the Florentine Cristofori's pianofortes at Dresden, which were horizontal grand pianos. [See Pianoforte; Cristofori; and Silbermann.] Frederici, however, made no use of Cristofori's action. Neither did he avail himself of a model of Schroeter's, said to be at that time known in Saxony. M. Victor Mahillon, who discovered the Frederici instrument and transferred it to the Museum he so ably directs, derives the action from the German striking clocks, and with good reasons. Frederici is also credited with the invention of the square piano, an adaptation of the clavichord.
The earliest mention of an upright grand piano in Messrs. Broadwoods' books occurs in 1789, when one 'in a cabinett case' was sold. It was, however, by another maker. The first upright grand piano made and sent out by this firm was to the same customer, in 1799. Some years before, in 1795, William Stodart had patented an upright grand pianoforte with a new mechanism, in the form of a bookcase. He gained a considerable reputation by, and sale for, this instrument. Hawkins's invention in 1800 of the modern upright piano descending to the floor, carried on, modified, and improved by Southwell, Wornum, the Broadwoods and others, in a few years superseded the cumbrous vertical grand piano.
URBANI. [See Valentini.]
URHAN, Chrétien, born Feb. 16, 1790, at Montjoie, near Aix-la-Chapelle, was the son of a violinist. He early showed great taste for music, and while still untaught began to compose for his two favourite instruments, the violin and piano. The Empress Josephine happening to hear him at Aix-la-Chapelle, was so struck with his precocious talent that she brought him to Paris, and specially recommended him to Lesueur. The composer of 'Les Bardes' was then at the height of his popularity both with the public and the Court, and his countenance was of as much service to Urhan as his lessons in composition. Urhau entered the orchestra of the
- ↑ The organ was sold and taken down in the summer of 1884, and stored awaiting the erection of a new concert hall, for which it was bought.
