Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/227

MARCHESI. in 1878, but continues to reside and teach in Vienna, where her services to art have met with full recognition. A pupil of hers having created a furore at a concert, the public, after applauding the singer, raised a call for Mme. Marchesi, who had to appear and share the honours. From the Emperor of Austria she has received the Cross of Merit of the 1st class, a distinction rarely accorded to ladies; and she holds decorations and medals from the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, the Emperor of Germany, and the King of Italy. She is a member of the St. Cecilia Society in Rome, and of the Academy of Florence. She has published a grand practical Method of singing, and 24 books of vocal exercises.[ B. T. ]

MARCHESI,, husband of the foregoing, a barytone singer and vocal teacher, born at Palermo, 1822. His family belonged to the nobility, and his father was four years Governor-General of Sicily. In 1838 he entered the Neapolitan Guard, but, for political reasons, resigned his commission in 1840. Whilst studying law and philosophy at Palermo, he took lessons in singing and composition from Raimondi; and he continued his musical studies at Milan, under Lamperti and Fontana. Having participated in the revolutionary movement of 1848, he was forced to seek shelter in America, where he made his début, as an operatic singer, in 'Ernani.' He returned to Europe to take instruction from Garcia, and settled in London, where, for several seasons, he was favourably known as a concert-singer. He married Mdlle. Graumann in 1852, and, with her, made numerous concert tours in England, Germany, and Belgium, appearing also in opera with success, both in England and on the continent. He has held posts as teacher of singing at the Conservatoires of Vienna and Cologne, and was appointed chamber singer to the court of Saxe Weimar, 1862. From the King of Italy he has received the orders of the Knights of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus. Signor Marchesi is known also as the composer of several German and Italian songs, and as the Italian translator of many French and German libretti—'Medea,' 'La Vestale,' 'Iphigenia,' 'Tannhauser,' 'Lohengrin,' etc. He has published various writings on music, and some books of vocal exercises. [ B. T. ]

MARCHESINI. [See and .]

MARENZIO,. The oldest account we can find of this great Italian composer is given by O. Rossi, in 1620. It tells us of Marenzio's birth at Coccaglia, a small town on the road between Brescia and Bergamo, of the pastoral beauty of his early surroundings, and the effect they may have had in forming the taste of the future madrigal composer, of the patronage accorded him by great princes, of his valuable post at the court of Poland, worth 1000 scudi a year, of the delicate health which made his return to a more genial climate necessary, of the kind treatment he received from Cardinal Cintio Aldobrandino at Rome, of his early death in that city, and burial at S. Lorenzo in Lucina. The same author gives an account of Giovanni Contini, organist of the cathedral at Brescia, and later in the service of the Duke of Mantua, under whose direction Marenzio completed his studies, having for his fellow-pupil Lelio Bertani, who afterwards served the Duke of Ferrara for 1500 scudi a year, and was even asked to become the Emperor's chapel-master.

Donato Calvi, writing in 1664, anxious to claim Marenzio as a native of Bergamo, traces his descent from the noble family of Marenzi, and finds in their pedigree a Luca Marenzo. He adds further details to Rossi's account, how the King of Poland knighted the composer on his departure, how warmly he was welcomed by the court of Rome on his return, how Cardinal C. Aldobrandino behaved like a servant rather than a patron to him. We also learn that he died Aug. 12, 1599, being then a singer in the Papal chapel, and that there was a grand musical service at his funeral.

In the next account Brescia again puts in a claim, and Leonardo Cozzando asserts that Marenzio was born at Cocaglio, that his parents were poor, and that the whole expense of his living and education was defrayed by Andrea Masetto, the village priest. To Cozzando we are also indebted for a special article on Marenzio's great merits as a singer, and after reading of him under the head of Brescian composers, we find him further mentioned under 'Cantori.'

A fourth account, qxiite independent of these, and one of the earliest of all, is that given by Henry Peacham, published in 1622. Of the composers of his time, Byrd is his favourite, Victoria and Lassus coming next. Then of Marenzio he says:—

'For delicious Aire and sweete Invention in Madrigals, Luca Marenzio excelleth all other whosoever, having published more Sets than any Authour else whosoever: and to say truth, hath not an ill Song, though sometime an over-sight (which might be the Printer's fault) of two eights or fifts escape him; as betweene the Tenor and Base in the last close, of, I must depart all haplesse: ending according to the nature of the Dittie most artificially, with a Minim rest. His first, second, and third parts of Thyrsis, Veggo dolce mio ben che fæ hoggi mio Sole Cantava, or sweete singing Amaryllis, are Songs, the Muses themselves might not have beene ashamed to have had composed. Of stature and complexion, hee was a little and blacke man: he was Organist in the Popes Chappell at Rome a good while, afterward hee went into Poland, being in displeasure with the Pope for overmuch familiaritie with a kinswoman of his (whom the Queene of Poland, sent for by Luca Marenzio afterward, she being one of the rarest women in Europe, for her voyce and the Lute:) but returning, he found the affection of the Pope so estranged from him, that hereupon hee tooke a conceipt and died.' 