Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/478

466 and called, by mediæval writers, 'The Golden Sequence.'

3. For the Festival of Corpus Christi, S. Thomas Aquinas wrote the celebrated Sequence, 'Lauda Sion,' which is generally believed to date from about the year 1261.

4. The 'Stabat Mater,' sung on the 'Feasts of the Seven Dolours of Our Lady' (the Friday in Passion Week, and the Third Sunday in September), is generally referred to the end of the 12th, or beginning of the 13th century. The name of its author has not been certainly ascertained: but Daniel, after much patient investigation, attributes it to Jacobus de Benedictis.

5. More justly celebrated than any of these, is the 'Dies iræ,' written, during the latter half of the 12th, or beginning of the 13th century, by Thomas of Celano, and sung in the 'Requiem,' or Mass for the Dead. In the triple Stanzas of this wonderful Poem the rhymed Latin of the Middle Ages attained its highest perfection; and, though the 'Stabat Mater' is frequently said to be second only to it in beauty, the distance between the two is very great. No Latin hymn has probably been so often translated.

The Plain Chaunt Melodies adapted to these five Sequences, in the Gradual, differ from Hymn Melodies chiefly in their continuity. Each Melody is founded, it is true, upon certain fixed and well-marked phrases; but these phrases are not mechanically repeated, as in the Hymn, to each successive Stanza of the Poetry. The authorship of these Melodies is indiscoverable. They were probably composed by the Poet, simultaneously with the words.

In addition to these venerable Melodies, we possess innumerable settings of all the Sequences now in use, by the great Masters of the Polyphonic School; and many, by the Classical Composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. For these see ; and (App.). [ W. S. R. ]

SERAFIN, and  (uncle and nephew), two celebrated violin-makers of Venice. The uncle, as his label informs us ('Sanctus Seraphin Utinensis fecit Venetiis'), was originally of Udine, a town in the Venetian territory towards the mountains of Carinthia, and probably of Jewish extraction. His violins date from about 1710 to 1740. The nephew, if we may judge from the style of his instruments, worked with the uncle many years, and appears to have succeeded him in the business. The instruments of Sanctus Serafin occupy a middle place between the Italian and the Tyrolese school. As far as external appearance goes, the maker seems to vacillate between the model of Stainer and that of Nicholas Amati. But in the essential particulars of the art, in the selection of wood of the finest and most sonorous quality, in the proper calculation of the proportions, and the solidity and finish of the parts, he worked on the principles of the Cremona makers. Few equalled him as a workman. Those who wish to see how far mechanical perfection can be carried should examine Serafin's purfling with a magnifying glass. In Serafin's earlier years, the Stainer character predominates in his instruments: in his later years he leaned to the Amati model. His instruments are famous for their perfect finish (reminding forcibly of the style of Stradivarius), their remarkably lustrous deep red varnish, and fine mellow tone.

George Serafin followed his uncle's later model with such precision that it is difficult to find any point of difference. Like his uncle, he finished his instruments to a degree of perfection which amounts to a fault, depriving them, as it does, of character and individuality. Like his uncle, he used a large copperplate label (nearly all the Italian makers used letterpress labels) bearing the inscription 'Georgius Seraphin Sancti nepos fecit Venetiis, (1743).' Both makers branded their instruments at the tail-pin. Their works are not common in this country, and specimens in good preservation realise from £20 upwards. [ E. J. P. ]

SERAGLIO, THE. The English title of an adaptation of Mozart's, brought out at Covent Garden, Nov. 24, 1827. Much of Mozart's music was cut out, and popular English melodies and airs from other operas inserted instead (Moscheles, Life, i. 193). The perpetrators of this outrage—at that time a common proceeding—were Mr. Dimond, who translated the book, and Kramer, the director of the King's Band at Brighton. The scenery was painted by David Roberts, and the effects were 'rich and amazingly beautiful' (Moscheles). As 'Il Seraglio' and 'Der Serail' tbe opera was announced and played, by the German Company at Drury Lane, June 14, 1854; and as 'Il Seraglio' it was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre June 30, 1866, and at Covent Garden June 9, 1881. [ G. ]

SERAPHINE. In vol. i. p. 667a reference is made to the seraphine as a precursor of Debain's. It was an English free-reed instrument resembling the German Physharmonica, which latter was brought to this country by the Schulz family in 1826, and introduced to the London public at a concert at Kirkman's rooms in Frith Street, Soho, by, then a boy of 14. In 1828 a similar instrument, but named Aeol-harmonica, was played by young Schulz in a Philharmonic Concert (Concertante for Aeol-harmonic and 2 guitars, April 28). In 1833, John Green, who had been Clementi's traveller, and had a shop in Soho Square, brought out the Seraphine. According to Mr. Peters (for many years with Messrs. Broadwood, and formerly Green's pupil), the reeds for the seraphine were made by Gunther the piano-maker, and the cases by Bevington the organ-builder, Green putting them together. Green engaged old Samuel Wesley to give weekly performances upon the seraphine at his shop, and managed for some time to dispose of his instruments at 40 guineas each. But the seraphine was harsh and raspy in tone, and never found favour with sensitive musicians. The wind apparatus, similar to the organ, was a dead-weighted bellows giving