Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/212

200 Handel's air from 'Semele,' 'O Sleep,' or by the introduction in their own tongue of Danish melodies and the Spanish songs of Yradier She was engaged at the Boston festivals in 1871 and 72, and after the latter took up her permanent abode in the States, where she now resides. At the Birmingham Festival of 73 she wrote the libretto of Signor Randegger's cantata 'Fridolin,' founded on Schiller's 'Gangnach dem Eisenhammer.' She had previously introduced in 1869, at the Gewandhaus concerts, Leipzig, the same composer's scena 'Medea,' which she sang also at the Crystal Palace and in 72 at Boston She has now retired from public life, and devotes herself to teaching singing. Among her pupils are Mesdames Anna Drasdil, Emma Thursby, and Isabel Fassett. [App. p.777 "Add date of death, Feb 26, 1882."] [ A. C. ]

RUDHALL. A family of bell founders of this name carried on business in Bell Lane, Gloucester, from 1648 until late in the 18th century. Its successive members were Abraham, sen., Abraham, jun., Abel, Thomas, and John. From catalogues published by them it appears that from 1648 to Lady day, 1751, they had cast 2972 bells 'for sixteen cities' and other places 'in forty-four several counties,' and at Lady day 1774 the number had increased to 3594. The principal metropolitan peals cast by them were those of St. Bride, St. Dunstan in the East, and St. Martin in the Fields. The most eminent member of the family was Abraham junior, who brought the art of bell-casting to great perfection. He was born 1657, and died Jan. 25, 1736, 'famed for his great skill, beloved and esteemed for his singular good nature and integrity,' and was buried in Gloucester Cathedral. His daughter, Alicia, married William Hine, the cathedral organist. [See .] The bells of the Rudhalls were distinguished for their musical tone. [ W. H. H. ]

RUDOLPH JOHANN JOSEPH RAINER, of Austria, born at Florence, Jan. 8, 1788, died suddenly at Baden, Vienna, July 24, 1831, was the youngest child of Leopold of Tuscany and Maria Louisa of Spain. On the death of the Emperor Joseph II., Feb. 20, 1790, Leopold succeeded his brother as Emperor Leopold II., and thus Rudolph received an exclusively German education. Music was hereditary in his family. His great-grandfather, Carl VI., so accompanied an opera by Fux, that the composer exclaimed: 'Bravo! your Majesty might serve anywhere as chief Kapellmeister!' 'Not so fast, my dear chief Kapellmeister,' replied the Emperor; 'we are better off as we are!' His grandmother, the great Maria Theresa, was a well-educated dilettante, and a fine singer; her children, from very early age, sang and performed cantatas and little dramas, to words by Metastasio, on birthdays and fetes. His uncle, Max Franz, was Elector of Cologne, viola-player, and organiser of that splendid orchestra at Bonn, to which the Rombergs, Rieses, Reichas and Beethovens belonged. It was his father, Leopold, who, after the first performance of Cimarosa's 'Matrimonio segreto,' gave all those who took part in the production a supper, and then ordered the performance to be repeated; and it was his aunt, Marie Antoinette, who supported Gluck against Piccinni at Paris.

Like the other children of the Imperial family, Rudolph was instructed in music by Anton Teyber, and tradition says that, as early as twelve or fourteen he played in the salons of his friends with credit to himself. In later years he gave ample proof of more than ordinary musical talent and taste; but none greater than this—that as soon as he had liberty of choice he exchanged Teyber for Beethoven. The precise date and circumstances attending this change have eluded investigation; but in his 17th year he received a separate establishment from his elder brother, then Emperor Francis I. of Austria (succeeded March 1, 1792), as 'Coadjutor' of the Prince Archbishop Colloredo of Olmütz. From the notices of Ries and other sources, it seems probable that the connection between Rudolph, a youth of sixteen, and Beethoven, a man of thirty-four, began in the winter of 1803–4.

^Ries relates that Beethoven's breaches of court etiquette were a constant source of trouble to his pupil's chamberlains, who strove in vain to enforce its rules on him. He at last lost all patience, pushed his way into the young Archduke's presence, and, excessively angry, assured him that he had all due respect for his person, but that the punctilious observance of all the rules in which he was daily tutored, was not his business. Rudolph laughed good-humouredly and gave orders that for the future he should be allowed to go his own way.

Beethoven in 1817 told Fräulein Giannatasio, that he had struck his pupil's fingers, and, upon Rudolph's resenting the affront, had defended himself by pointing to a passage in one of the poets (Goethe?) which sustained him.

Beethoven's triple concerto, op. 56 (1804), though dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, was written, says Schindler, for the Archduke, Seidler, and Kraft. The work does not require great execution in the piano part, but a youth of sixteen able to play it must be a very respectable performer.

The weakness of the Archduke's constitution is said to have been the cause of his entering the Church. The coadjutorship of Olmütz secured to him the succession; and the income of the position was probably not a bad one; for, though his allowance as Archduke in a family so very numerous was of necessity comparatively small, yet, in the spring of 1809, just after completing his 21st year, he subscribed 1500 florins to Beethoven's annuity. [See vol. ii. p. 59.] In 1818 Beethoven determined to compose a solemn Mass for the installation service of his pupil, a year or two later. On Sept. 28, 1819, the Cardinal's insignia arrived from the Pope, and the installation was at length fixed for March 9, 1820. But the Mass had asumed such gigantic proportions that the ceremony