Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/611

GLEE. and in very high perfection; and this together with a constructive power which we should seek in vain in the musical compositions of the madrigalian era. Stevens's glee, 'Ye spotted Snakes,' is a model of construction, and if not the earliest, is one of the earliest specimens of pure vocal music in the 'sonata form.'

The glee proper is wholly independent of instrumental accompaniment. The name, however, is occasionally given to compositions like 'The Chough and Crow,' by Sir Henry Bishop. These would be better entitled accompanied trios, quartets, or choruses. The principal glee composers, over and above those already named—without exception Englishmen—are Attwood, Battishill, Cooke, Danby, Hindle, Lord Mornington, Paxton, and Spofforth. [][ J. H. ]

GLEE CLUB, THE. This club originated in some meetings at the house of Mr. Robert Smith in St. Paul's Churchyard, commenced in 1783, at which motets, madrigals, glees, canons, and catches, were sung after dinner. The meetings were subsequently held at Dr. Beever's and other houses until, in 1787, it was resolved to establish a society to be called 'The Glee Club,' the first public meeting of which took place at the Newcastle Coffee House on Saturday, Dec. 22, 1787. The original members were, R. Smith, Dr. Arnold, Dr. Beever, Rev. J. Hinckes, T. S. (afterwards Dr.) Dupuis, J. Roberts, J. Heseltine, T. Aylward, C. Wright. T. Gregory, H. Desdier, L. Atterbury, and T. Linley. The professional members were, S. Webbe, J. Dyne, P. Hobler, J. W. (afterwards Dr.) Callcott, J. Hindle, J. Bartleman, S. Webbe, jun., and S. Harrison. In 1788 the Club removed to the Freemasons' Tavern, thence to the Crown and Anchor until Feb. 1790, when it returned to the Freemasons' Tavern, but removed once more, on July 6, 1791, to the Crown and Anchor, and again returned to the Freemasons' Tavern. In 1790 Mr. S. Webbe composed for the Club his 'Glorious Apollo,' which was ever after sung at the meetings as the opening glee, while Byrd's canon 'Non Nobis' was sung immediately after dinner, often followed by Dr. Cooke's canon 'Amen.' After 'Glorious Apollo' (first sung with three voices to a part and then full) the chairman, vice-chairman, conductor, sub-conductor, and secretary, each named a glee, and then the members according to seniority. Among the eminent visitors who have contributed to the music of the meetings were Samuel Wesley (who played Bach's fugues upon the pianoforte, or an extemporaneous effusion on some conspicuous passage in a glee recently sung), Moscheles, and Mendelssohn. The Club was dissolved in 1857 and the Library sold. The Club must be distinguished from another Glee Club formed in 1793, the original members of which were Shield, Johnstone, Charles Bannister, Incledon, Dignum, C. Ashley, and W. T. Parke, the last of whom ('Musical Memoirs,' ii. 175) states that 'it was held on Sunday evenings at the Garrick's Head Coffee House in Bow Street, Covent Garden, once a fortnight, when we amused ourselves by singing the works of the old and modern masters, after which we sat down to supper.'[ C. M. ]

GLEN. An eminent Scotch firm of musical instrument makers. Thomas Glen, the founder, was born at Inverkeithing, Fifeshire, in 1804; commenced business in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, in 1826; in 1836 removed to North Bank Street, and died July 12, 1873. Amongst the instruments invented by him was a wooden Ophicleide, of which a large number were made, and known as 'Serpentcleides.' The business is still carried on by his sons John and Robert. The Glens are now chiefly noted for their Bagpipes, of which they are the recognised best makers. [ G. ]

GLINKA,, born 1803 [App. p.648 "May 20, 1804"] near Novospaskoi in Russia, died Feb. 15 [App. p.648 "Feb. 2"], 1857, at Berlin. Of late years several northern composers, not German by birth but German as far as their musical method goes—like Gade the Dane, Grieg and Svendsen the Norwegians, Glinka, Anton Rubinstein, and Peter Tschaikoffsky the Russians—have made their mark more or less strongly. Glinka is the earliest of the Russians, as gifted as any, perhaps, but not so accomplished; there has always been a dash of dilettantism about his productions, spite of his obvious talents, his gift of spontaneous, and (to those who do not know much of Russian folk-songs and dances) original melody, and his undeniable cleverness in the manipulation of the voice and of orchestral instruments. Glinka's two Russian operas are held to be of national importance by his country-men. They were among the first musical works in Russian, and for a long time the best of their kind, though their value has undoubtedly been exaggerated from patriotic motives.

In early youth Glinka enjoyed the advantage of lessons in pianoforte playing from John Field. In 1830 he visited Italy, and made a close study of Italian singing and of the Italian method of composition for the voice; but, feeling himself helpless as regards harmony and counterpoint, he went, in 1833, to Berlin for some months, and worked hard as the pupil of S. W. Dehn. Thence he returned to Russia, and became court conductor, and director of the opera and the choral performances at the imperial churches. From 1840 to 50 he again led an itinerant life, the centre of which was Paris, and the extent the confines of Spain. In the autumn of 1856 he came back to Berlin, had much intercourse with his old master Dehn upon the subject of ancient church tunes connected with the Eastern Church, and died there, unexpectedly, early in 1857.

Glinka's name is associated with the titles of two Russian operas, 'La Vie pour le Czar' and 'Russian et Ludmilla,' neither of which, spite of repeated trials, have been able to gain a firm footing outside their native land. A number of orchestral arrangements or transcriptions, such as 'La Jots Aragonese,' etc., as well as many romances and songs, complete the list of his productions. Of these a catalogue is given by Gustav Bertrand in the Supplement to Fétis. He left his own memoir in Russian; and sketches