Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/468

456 in contrapuntal style, as well as many comic operettas, ballads, etc. His diligence in study was astonishing. No day passed in which he did not write a fugue. A few years before his death he had the misfortune, through his own good nature, to lose almost everything, and died on the 12th September, 1867, nearly 80 years old, in poverty and privation. Sechter was much esteemed and beloved for his simplicity and goodness, and it may be truly said that he had no enemies. His system, though severe, was simple, clear, and logical. His scholars were almost innumerable: amongst them may be mentioned, Preyer, Nottebohm, the Princess Czartorijski, Sucher, Bibl, Rosa Kastner (Escudier), Rufinatscha, Bruckner, Otto Bach, Dohler, Schachner, Filtsch, S. Bagge, Benoni, Vieuxtemps, Pauer, C. F. Pohl, and Thalberg. Notwithstanding the multitude of his lessons he found time to compose a great deal of music. His unpublished works in the Imperial Library and the Musikverein at Vienna contain 4 oratorios, operas and large cantatas, music for voice, organ, and pianoforte, including 104 variations on an original theme of 104 bars; also a complete theoretical treatise ready for publication, in two portions, first on acoustics, second on canon. Among his published works are an edition of Marpurg on the Fugue, with many additions; Grundsätze der musik. Composition (3 vols. B. & H.); 12 masses; Practical examples of accompaniment from figured bass, op 59; Practical school of thorough bass, op. 49, 98; preludes for the organ, in four books; fugues, hymns, chorale preludes; 4 fugues for PF., op. 5, dedicated to Beethoven; fugue in C minor, to the memory of Schubert, op. 43; etc., etc. Sechter completed the grand fugue for the orchestra in D major, left imperfect by Mozart. [ C. F. P. ]

SECOND. The smallest interval in the scale used for musical purposes. It is described by notes which are next to each other on the stave, or by letters which lie next each other in the alphabet, as A B, B C, C D♯, E♭ F♯.

Three kinds can be practically distinguished. The minor second, which is equal to a semitone, as at (b) in the example; the major second, which is equal to a tone, as at (a); and the augmented second, which is equal to three semitones, as at (c). They are all discords, but are characterised by different degrees of roughness. The minor second is extremely harsh, the major decidedly so, though not so extremely, and the augmented second but slightly. In ordinary musical usage the last is actually the same interval as a minor third, which is not looked upon as a dissonance at all; nevertheless the ear, distinguishing relations instinctively, classifies the combinations according to their context as having a dissonant or consonant significance. Thus when the context suggests the interval A♭ B♮, the mind will not accept it as final, but as a dissonance requiring resolution; whereas if the same interval could be expressed as A♭ C♭, it might be recognised as a characteristic portion of the minor chord of A♭, and could be accepted as final without desire for further motion.—The numerical ratios of the several intervals in just intonation are given as follows:—the minor second, 16:15; the grave major second, 10:9; the acute major second 9:8; and the augmented second 75:64. [ C. H. H. P. ]

SECONDO. The second player in a duet. [See .]

SEDIE, DELLE-,, baritone singer, son of Arcangelo Delle-Sedie, merchant of Leghorn, Italy, born 1826. In the year 1848 he volunteered in the army of Charles Albert of Piedmont, and fought against the Austrians in the war for Italian independence. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Curtatone but afterwards released, and at the close of the campaign of the following year retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant. Under the direction of his fellow-citizen, Orazio Galassi, he then devoted himself to the study of singing, and in 1851 made his début at Pistoia in Nabucco.

In 1854 he was engaged to perform Rigoletto at Florence: casting aside the traditional conception of Varesi, who had created the rôle at Venice, he adopted an entirely original rendering of the character, and at once asserted himself as an artist of high rank. From that time his position was secure; he appeared with unvarying success at Rome, Milan, Vienna, Paris, and London, and though possessed of so little voice as to gain the sobriquet of Il baritono senza voce, he made up by dramatic accent and purity of style for the shortcomings of nature. In 1867, at the earnest request of Auber, he accepted a professorship at the Conservatoire of Paris on the most advantageous terms hitherto offered. Under him a commission was appointed for the entire remodelling of that institution, but the death of Auber, and the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, compelled the government to abandon their intention. In 1874 he published a large work upon the art of singing and musical declamation, under the title of L'Art Lyrique, of which a lengthy critical notice appeared in the 'Westminster Review' of July 1876.

Signor Delle-Sedie is a Cavaliere of the Order of the Crown of Italy, for his military services in the campaigns of 1848, 1849; Cavaliere of the order of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro; and member of many societies and academies both of Italy and France. He has now retired from the stage, lives in Paris, and devotes himself entirely to the teaching of his art. [ J. C. G.]

SEE, THE CONQUERING HERO COMES. A well-known piece of Handel's music. It occurs in the 3rd act of 'Joshua,' as a welcome to Caleb after the taking of Debir, in three repetitions of the same form: (1) Chorus of youths, S.S.A., lines 1 and 2 repeated as a horn duet; (2) As a duet (Signore Cassarini and Galli) with flute accompaniment; (3)in full chorus. 'Joshua' was finished Aug. 12, 1747, and produced March 9, 1748.