Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/73

KIRCHER. matter on the nature of sound and the theory of composition, with interesting examples from the instrumental music of Frescobaldi, Froberger, and other composers of the 17th century. The second vol., on the music of the Greeks, is far from trustworthy; indeed Meibomius ('Musici antiqui') accuses Kircher of having written it without consulting a single ancient Greek authority. HiS 'Phonurgia' (Kempten 1673), translated into German by Agathon Cario (apparently a nom de plume) with the title 'Neue Hall- und Thon-kunst' (Nördlingen 1684), is an amplification of part of the 'Musurgia,' and deals chiefly with acoustical instruments. In his 'Ars magnetica' (Rome 1641) he gives all the songs and airs then in use to cure the bite of the tarantula. His 'Œdipus ægyptiacus' (Rome 1652–54) treats of the music contained in Egyptian hieroglyphics. [ F. G. ]

KIRCHGESSNER,, performer on the glass harmonica, born 1770 at Waghäusel near Rastatt, Baden. An illness in her fourth year left her blind for life, but this misfortune was compensated by a delicate organisation for music. She learned the harmonica from Schmittbauer of Carlsruhe, and made numerous successful concert-tours. Mozart heard her in Vienna (1791), and composed a quintet for her (Köchel 617). In London Fröschel made her a new instrument, which in future she always used. Here also she recovered a glimmering of sight under medical treatment. Much as they admired her playing, musicians regretted that she failed to bring out the true qualities of the harmonica through a wrong method of execution. After living in retirement at Gohlis near Leipzig, she undertook another concert-tour, but fell ill and died at Schaffhausen, Dec. 9, 1808. [ C. F. P. ]

KIRCHNER,, one of the most gifted of the living disciples of Schumann, a composer of 'genre pieces' for the pianoforte, was born 1824 [App. p.691 "Dec. 10"] at Neukirchen near Chemnitz in Saxony, and got his musical training at the Conservatorium of Leipsic. Having completed his schooling he took the post of organist at Winterthur in Switzerland, which town in 1862 he left for Zürich, where he acted as conductor and teacher. In 1875 he became director of the 'Musikschule' at Würzburg, but after a few months' experience he threw up that appointment and settled at Leipsic.

Kirchner's works extend to op. 42. Except a string quartet, op. 20, a 'Gedenkblatt,' a 'Serenade' for piano, violin and violoncello, and a number of Lieder, they are all written for pianoforte solo or à 4 mains, are mostly of small dimensions, and put forth under suggestive titles such as Schumann was wont to give to his lesser pieces. The stamp of Schumann's original mind has marked Kirchner's work from the first; yet though sheltered under Schumann's cloak, many minor points of style and diction are Kirchner's own, and decidedly clever. At best, his pieces are delicate and tender, frequently vigorous, now and then humorous and fantastic; at worst, they droop under a taint of lachrymose sentimentality. They are always carefully finished and well shapen, never redundant, rarely commonplace. Among his early publications, 'Albumblatter,' op. 9, became popular as played by Madame Schumann; and among his later, 'Still und bewegt,' op. 24, and particularly 'Nachtstücke,' op. 25, deserve attention. [ E. D. ]

KIRKMAN. The name borne by a family of eminent harpsichord, and subsequently pianoforte makers. Jacob Kirchmann (afterwards Kirkman) a German, came to England early in the last century, and worked for Tabel, a Flemish harpsichord maker, who had brought to London the traditions of the Ruckers of Antwerp. [See .] Another apprentice of Tabel's was Shudi, properly Tschudi, who became Kirkman's rival, and founded the house of Broadwood. Tabel would have been quite forgotten, but for these distinguished pupils, and for the droll anecdote narrated by Dr. Burney, of Kirkman's rapid courtship of Tabel's widow and securing with her the business and stock in trade. He proposed at breakfast-time, and married her (the marriage act being not then passed) before twelve o'clock, the same day, just one month after Tabel's demise. Jacob Kirkman carried on business at the sign of the King's Arms in Broad Street, Carnaby Market, now No. 19 Broad Street, Soho; still owned by the present Kirkman firm. Dr. Burney places the arrival of Jacob Kirkman in England in 1740, but that is manifestly too late, Shudi being then already established in business in Great Pulteney Street. There is no reason, however, to doubt the same generally excellent authority that his death took place about 1778, and that he left nearly £200,000.

Burney, in Rees's Cyclopaedia, gives Jacob Kirkman's harpsichords high praise, regarding them as more full in tone and durable than those of Shudi. These instruments retained certain features of the Antwerp model, as late as 1768, preserving André Ruckers's keyboard of G—F (nearly 5 octaves) with lowest G&#x266f; wanting. This, as well as the retention of the rosette in the soundboard may be seen in Mr. Salaman's Kirkman harpsichord of that year, in which we find King David playing upon the harp, between the letters I and K. Dr. Burney met with no harpsichords on the continent that could at all compare with those made in England by Jacob Kirkman, and his almost life-long competitor, Shudi.

Jacob Kirkman having no children by his marriage, was succeeded by his nephew Abraham, whose son Joseph, the first Joseph Kirkman, followed him, and introduced the manufacture of the pianoforte into his workshop. [App. p.691 "add that the piano was introduced in Kirkman's workshops in the time of Abraham Kirkman, as there is record of a square piano inscribed Jacob and Abraham Kirchmann, which was dated 1775. The grand piano dated 1780 was also theirs."] His son, the second Joseph, died at the advanced age of 87 in 1877, his second son Henry, to whom the business owes its present extension, having died some years before. The ware-rooms have long been in Soho Square. The business is carried on (1879) in trust for the present Mr. Joseph Kirkman, the third in order of succession so named. A recent invention of this house is noticed under the head of. [ A. J. H. ]