Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/464

452 appearance at the Philharmonic, on June 11, 1849, in a concerto of De Beriot's. They returned immediately to the Continent, and passed several years in travelling, chiefly in Russia. In 1864 Mlle. Neruda found herself in Paris, where she played at the Pasdeloup Concerts, the Conservatoire, etc., and awakened an extravagant enthusiasm. At this time she married Ludwig Normann, a Swedish musician, and was henceforth known as Mad. Normann-Neruda. In 1869 she again visited London, played at the Philharmonic on May 17, and was with some difficulty induced, by the entreaties of Vieuxtemps, to remain till the winter, when she took the first violin at the series of Monday Popular Concerts before Christmas, and at once made her mark. From that time she has been in England for each winter and spring season, playing at the Popular Concerts, the Philharmonic, the Crystal Palace, Mr. Charles Halle's Recitals and Manchester Concerts, etc., etc., and always with increasing power and refinement, and increasing appreciation by the public. [App. p.730 "on July 26, 1888 she married Sir Charles Hallé."] [ G. ]

NEUKOMM,, born at Salzburg, July 10, 1778, first learned music from Weissauer and from Michael Haydn, who in 1798 sent him to his brother at Vienna. He studied music with Joseph Haydn for some years, and was treated by him more as a son than a pupil. His first compositions appeared in 1808, and in 1806 he went viâ Sweden to St. Petersburg, where he became Capellmeister, and director of the Emperor's German theatre. He returned to Vienna just in time to close the eyes of Haydn, and shortly after took up his residence in Paris, and there lived on terms of intimacy with Grétry, Cherubini, Cuvier, and other eminent men, and especially with Talleyrand, in whose establishment he succeeded Dussek as pianist. Their friendship survived the downfall of the Empire, and he accompanied Talleyrand to the Congress of Vienna. There he composed a Requiem for Louis XVI, which was performed at St. Stephen's before a crowd of the greatest notabilities, and for which in 1815 Louis XVIII made him Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, with letters of nobility. In 1816 he went in the suite of the Duke of Luxemburg to Rio Janeiro, and remained there as maître de chapelle to Dom Pedro till the revolution of 1821 drove that monarch, and Neukomm with him, back to Lisbon. Having resigned his pension, he returned to Talleyrand, whom he accompanied on several of his grand tours. He came to London in the same year with Mendelssohn (1829), and they met at the house of Moscheles, with whom Neukomm remained on terms of great friendship and mutual esteem. The last 20 years of his life he divided between England and France, and died in Paris April 3, 1858. In England his intelligence and cultivation gave him a high position. His Symphony in E&#x266d; was played by the Philharmonic, March 21, 1831, and many other pieces at various times. His oratorio 'Mount Sinai,' was repeatedly performed in London, and at Worcester, Derby, etc., and he wrote his oratorio 'David' specially for the Birmingham Festival of 1834, where so highly was he prized as to be familiarly called 'the King of Brummagem.' In fact his two songs 'Napoleon's Midnight Review' and 'The Sea,' both to Barry Cornwall's words, may be said to have made him for some months the most popular person in England. But there were no lasting qualities in his longer pieces, and Mendelssohn's arrival at Birmingham in 1837 eclipsed Neukomm's fame, and even caused him to be as unjustly depreciated as he had before been unduly extolled. This reverse he bore with a philosophy which elicited Mendelssohn's warmest expressions.

Neukomm was a man of remarkable diligence and method, which nothing interrupted. The number of his compositions is prodigious. They embrace about 1000 church works, including 5 oratorios, an opera, 'Alexander,' and music for Schiller's 'Braut von Messina,' in which he endeavoured to resuscitate the ancient Greek chorus. He had a great predilection for Palestrina, and attempted to revive his style. He also wrote for several musical periodicals, especially the 'Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris.' He was destitute of genius, and therefore produced nothing that will live; indeed he was more a highly cultivated amateur than an artist, in the strict sense of the term. But he was above all a man of great refinement and of an extraordinarily fine and sincere character, to which the strong attachment of friends like the Bunsens and Mendelssohn is in itself the most convincing testimony. [ F. G. ]

NEW PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY, THE. The prospectus, dated from Cramer's, January 1852, states that the Society was founded to give more perfect performances of the great works than had hitherto been attained, and to afford to modern and native composers a favourable opportunity of coming before the public. Classical music was not to be exclusively adhered to; Exeter Hall was chosen as the locale; Mr. Berlioz was engaged as conductor for the first season; the band was magnificent (20 first violins, led by Sivori); the chorus was professional; and the subscription for stalls for 6 concerts was £2 2s., professional subscribers, £1 1s. The programme of the first season (1852) embraced—Symphonies: Mozart's Jupiter; Beethoven's Nos. 5 and 9 (twice); Mendelssohn's Italian; part of Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet (twice); Selections from Berlioz's Faust, Spontini's Vestale, H. Smart's Gnome of Hartzburg, Dr. Wylde's Prayer and Praise, etc., etc. The concerts of the second season were conducted, 4 by Lindpaintner, and 2 by Spohr, in combination with Dr. Henry Wylde. The orchestra was enlarged to 24 first violins, etc., and the programmes included, amongst other symphonies, the Ninth of Beethoven, Spohr's 'Irdisches und Göttliches,' and the Quartet with Orchestra, op. 121; Weber's Kampf und Sieg, Cherubini's Requiem, Lindpaintner's Widow of Nain, Mendelssohn's Finale to Loreley and Walpurgisnight, Dr. Wylde's