1753) 'Recueil d'édits, arrêts du Conseil du roi, lettres patentes, … en faveur des musiciens du Royaume' (Ballard, 1774, 8vo); and 'Les Instruments à archet' by A. Vidal (i. and ii. Paris, 1876, 77; 4to), which last contains nearly all the necessary information.
[ G. C. ]
ROKITANSKY, Victor, Freiherr von, of Hungarian origin, the son of a celebrated physician at Vienna, where he was born, July 9, 1836. He studied singing chiefly at Bologna and Milan. He first appeared in England at concerts in 1856. In 62 he made his début at Prague in 'La Juive,' and fulfilled a very successful engagement there of two years. In 63 he made a few appearances at Vienna, and in 64 obtained an engagement there, and has been a member of the opera company ever since. His voice is a basso-profondo of great compass and volume, very equal in all its range; he has a commanding presence, and is an excellent actor. His operas include La Juive, Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, Don Juan, Zauberflöte, Guillaume Tell, Le Prophete, Aïda, Faust, Medea, and Wagner's operas.
On June 17, 65, he reappeared in London at Her Majesty's as Marcel with very great success, and then sang there for four consecutive seasons, and was greatly esteemed. He played with success as Rocco, Sarastro, Leporello, Il Commendatore, Oroveso, Falstaff, Osmin (June 30, 66, on production in Italian of Mozart's 'Entfuhrung'), and Padre Guardiano in 'La Forza del Destino.' He returned for the seasons of '76 and '77 in some of his old parts, and played for the first time the King in 'Lohengrin,' and Giorgio in 'I Puritani.'
From 1871 to 1880 he filled the post of Professor of Singing at the Conservatorium of Vienna, but has now relinquished that position for private tuition, where he employs the Italian method which has formed the basis of his own great success.
[ A. C. ]
ROLLA, Alessandro, violinist and composer, born at Pavia, April 6, 1757. He first studied the pianoforte, but soon exchanged it for the violin, which he learned under Renzi and Conti. He had also a great predilection for the viola, and wrote and performed in public concertos for that instrument. For some years he was leader of the band at Parma, and it was there that Paganini was for some months his pupil. [See Paganini.] In 1802 he went to Milan as leader and conductor of the opera at La Scala, in which position he gained a great reputation. He was also for many years a professor at the Conservatorio of Milan, and died in that town, September 15, 1841, aged 84. His compositions, now entirely forgotten, had considerable success in their time; they consist of a large number of violin duets, some trios, quartets and quintets for stringed instruments, and concertos for the violin and for the viola. His son and pupil, Antonio, violinist, was born at Parma, April 18, 1798; from 1823 till 1835 was leader of the Italian Opera band at Dresden, and died there, May 19, 1837. He published concertos and other solo pieces for the violin.
[ P. D. ]
ROLL-CALL. [See Signals.]
ROLLE. A German musical family. The father was town musician of Quedlinburg and of Magdeburg in 1721, and died there in 1752. Of his three sons, Christian Carl, born at Quedlinburg in 1714, was Cantor of the Jerusalem Church, Berlin, but was apparently of no account. He had sons, of whom Friedrich Heinrich left a biography of his father; while Christian Carl (the younger) succeeded him as Cantor, 2. A second son is mentioned, but not named. 3. The third, Johann Heinrich, was born at Quedlinburg, December 23, 1718, and at an early age began to play and to write. He got a good general education at the High School in Leipzig, and migrated to Berlin in hopes of some legal post; but this failing he adopted music as his career, and entered the Court chapel of Frederick the Great as a chamber musician. There he remained till 1746, and then took the organist's place at St. John's, Magdeburg. On the death of his father he stepped into his post as town-musician, worked there with uncommon zeal and efficiency, and died at the age of 67, December 29, 1785.—His industry seems almost to have rivalled that of Bach himself. He left several complete annual series of church music for all the Sundays and Festivals; cantatas for Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, of which many are in the Royal Library at Berlin; 5 Passions, and at least 60 other large church compositions. Besides these there exist 21 large works of his, of a nature between oratorio and drama, such as 'Saul, or the power of Music,' 'Samson,' 'David and Jonathan,' 'The Labours of Hercules,' 'Orestes and Pylades,' 'Abraham on Moriah,' The Death of Abel,' etc. The last two were for many years performed annually at Berlin, and were so popular that the editions had to be renewed repeatedly. In addition to these he left many songs and compositions for organ, orchestra, and separate instruments. All have now as good as perished; but those who wish to know what kind of music they were will find a specimen in Hullah's 'Vocal scores,' 'The Lord is King.' It has a good deal of vigour, but no originality or character. Others are given in the Collections of Sander and Rochlitz, and a set of twenty motets for 4 voices was published at Magdeburg by Rebling (1851–66.)
[ G. ]
ROMANCE (Germ. Romanze). A term of very vague signification, answering in music to the same term in poetry, where the characteristics are rather those of personal sentiment and expression than of precise form. The Romanze in Mozart's D minor PF. Concerto differs (if it differs) from the slow movements of his other Concertos in the extremely tender and delicate character of its expression; in its form there is nothing at all unusual; and the same may be said of Beethoven's two Romances for the violin and orchestra in G and F (op. 40 and 50), and of Schumann's 'Drei Romanzen' (op. 28). Schumann has also affixed
