four were altered and twelve new melodies substituted, some for earlier ones of Bourgeois himself. In several instances therefore the tune is of later date than the psalm.
These last changes were final and mark the time since which the tunes adopted before 1562 have remained unaltered. The old Strasburg tunes of 1539 which still survived were those to Psalms 1, 2, 15, 36, 91, 103, 104, 114, 130, 137 and 143, two of which (36 and 137) retained almost their primitive form, and 103 remained unaltered. M. Douen considers these Strasburg melodies to possess more of a German than a French character, and according to Riggenbach 36 and 91 are by Matthäus Greiter, a member of the choir of Strasburg Cathedral.
How far the other tunes adapted by Bourgeois are original it is impossible to determine. A few can be traced to a German origin, some are constructed out of fragments of earlier melody, while others are adapted from secular songs popular at the time. It is not improbable that every tune in the Genevan Psalter belongs to one or other of the above categories.[1]
Bourgeois left Geneva in 1557, and undoubtedly had no connection with the Genevan Psalter after that time. The forty tunes of 1562 were added by another and a less skilful hand. In June 1561 an entry in the 'Comptes des recettes et depenses pour les pauvres' records the payment of ten florins to 'Maître Pierre' for having set the psalms to music. This person is conjectured by Becker to be Pierre Dubuisson, a singer who in 1565 was admitted gratuitously to the rights of citizenship at Geneva, but nothing certain is known on the subject.
It only remains to add that in 1550 Bourgeois published 'Le droict chemin de musique, composé par Loys Bourgeois auec la maniére de chanter les pseaumes par vsage ou par ruse, comme on cognoistra, au xxxiv,[2] nouveau mis en chant, et aussi le cantique de Siméon. Genève 1550.' This treatise, in twelve chapters, is the first in which a proposal is made to abandon the method of the musical hand and to teach music by the employment of the solfeggio. An analysis of it will be found in Fétis, Biogr. des Musiciens, ii. 42. The last known work of Bourgeois shows him still employed in working on the Genevan melodies. It is entitled 'Quatre-vingt-trois Psalmes de Dauid en musique … à quatre, cinq, et six parties, tant a voix pareilles qu'autrement, etc. Paris 1561.'
For full details respecting Bourgeois and the history of the Genevan Psalter see the exhaustive work of Douen entitled 'Clément Marot et le Psautier Huguenot,' 2 vols. Paris, 1878-79. The following works may also be consulted:Bovet, 'Histoire du Psautier des églises reformées,' Neuchatel et Paris, 1872; G. Becker, 'La Musique en Suisse,' Geneve et Paris, 1874; Riggenbach, 'Der Kirchengesang in Basel'; and six articles in the Musical Times (June to Nov. 1881) by the present writer.
BOYCE, William. Line 15 of article, add that in 1734 he set Lord Lansdowne's masque of 'Peleus and Thetis.' Line 30, for 1740 read 1736, and for l. 33 read and it was given by the Apollo Society, and subsequently, in 1740, at Covent Garden Theatre. In 1749, when the Masque of Lethe was revived at Drury Lane, Blow wrote new songs for Beard. P. 267 b, l. 22, for setting read reviving (Dict. of Nat. Biog.). Line 28, for 1750 read 1751, and l. 31, for 1675 read 1755. At the foot of the same column add that Boyce's last theatrical work was Garrick's pantomime, 'Harlequin's Invasion,' 1759. To the list of works given on p. 268 a, add 'Noah,' an oratorio.
BRADE, William. There is no evidence as to the date of his death.
BRAHAM, John. P. 269 a, last line but one, after opera-house insert the Oratorios, and the Three Choir Festival. P. 269 b, l. 3, read Florence was the first Italian city, etc. He had previously given concerts in Paris with Nancy Storace. Line 24, add 'The Siege of Belgrade,' 1802. Line 25, for 1802 read 1803. Line 28, add 'Nareusky,' 1814, and 'Zuma' (with Bishop), 1818. At the Lyceum he appeared in 'The Americans,' 1811; 'Isidore de Merida,' 1827, and 'The Taming of a Shrew,' 1828. In the third paragraph of the same column, add that an American tour, undertaken with his son Charles in 1840, was unsuccessful, and that his last appearance took place at the Wednesday concert in March 1852.
BRAHMS, Johannes. Line 4 of article, for March read May. Line 29 from bottom, for 1873 read 1872, and in list of works read D for the key of op. 73. (Corrected in late editions.) Add the following supplementary article:—
This master, whose music during the last nine years has slowly and surely gained in the estimation of the musical world, may now justly be described not as 'one of the greatest living,' but as the greatest living of German composers.
Popularity, in the ordinary sense of the word, his music has not acquired; nor can it be expected to do so, for his compositions, with few exceptions, are written for cultivated audiences only. His influence will always be deeply rather than widely felt. There is, if we may say so, something impalpable about his creations; at first hearing their beauties seem to elude our grasp; we are deeply moved, but we cannot clearly discern the influences which affect us. 'Brahms,' says Dr. Louis Ehlert, 'does not stand before us like Mozart or Schubert, in whose eyes we seem to look, whose hands we seem to press. Two atmospheres lie between him and us. Twilight surrounds him; his heights melt in the distance, we are at once lured onward and repelled.' But as we approach, in a spirit of conscientious investigation, the mist which hangs over his art seems to roll away; the outlines of his sublime creations are revealed more clearly, we recognise
