Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/115

THAYER Johann Beethoven) very sharply. When the work is completed it will be a mine of accurate information, indispensable for all future students. With some condensations an English edition would be very welcome.

Besides the Biography, Mr. Thayer is the author of countless articles in American newspapers; of 'Signor Masoni' (Berlin, Schneider, 1862); of 'Ein kritischer Beitrag zur Beethoven-Literatur' (Berlin, Weber, 1877); and of 'The Hebrews and the Red Sea' (Andover, Mass., Draper). [ G. ]

THEATRE. A term usually employed in England for a house in which plays are acted, in contradistinction to an opera-house, in which musical pieces are performed. Abroad this distinction, either of house or word, does not prevail to at all the same extent as here. [ G. ]

THEILE,, known to his contemporaries as 'the father of contrapuntists,' the son of a tailor, was born at Naumburg, July 29, 1646, learned music under great difficulties at Halle and Leipzig, and became a pupil of the great Heinrich Schütz. In 1673 he became Capellmeister to the Duke of Holstein at Gottorp, and in 1678 produced a Singspiel, 'Adam and Eva,' and an opera, 'Orontes,' at Hamburg. In 1685 he became Capellmeister at Wolfenbüttel, then went to Merseburg and finally back to his native town, where he died in 1724. Buxtehude, Hasse, and Zachau were all his scholars. His principal works are a German Passion (Lübeck 1675); a Christmas Oratorio (Hamburg, 1681, MS.); 'Noviter inventum opus musicalis compositionis 4 et 5 vocum,' etc.—20 masses in Palestrina style; Opus secundum—instrumental; two treatises on double counterpoint, 1691. Körner has printed in the 'Orgel-virtuos' No. 65 a chorale by Theile, which is characterised by Spitta (Bach, i. p. 98) as 'very scientific but intolerably pedantic and stiff.' No other work of his appears to have been reprinted. [ G. ]

THEMATIC CATALOGUE. A catalogue of musical works, in which, in addition to the title and other particulars of each, the first few bars—the theme—either of the whole work or of each movement are given in musical notation.

1. The earliest published list of this description was in six parts, issued between 1762 and 1765, and 16 supplements extending from 1766 to 1787, the whole forming a thick 8vo. volume of 792 pages. Part I is signed by Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, the virtual founder of the great firm. [See vol. i. p. 272.] It is mentioned by Burney in his Musical Tour (ii. 74).

2. Haydn, towards the end of his life (1797), made a thematic catalogue of a large number of his works. This has not been printed, but copies have been made by Dehn, Otto Jahn, and others. It is now superseded by the complete thematic list which forms so valuable a part of Mr. C. F. Pohl's 'Life of Haydn' (i. 284, etc.; 317, etc.; 334; 345; ii. Anhang).

3. A thematic catalogue has been preserved, in which Mozart entered his works as he composed them, from Feb. 9, 1784, to Nov. 15, 1791. This interesting document was published by Andre in Nov. 1828. The title, in Mozart's hand, runs as follows:—

It contains 145 works, begins with the PF. concerto in E♭ (K. 449), '9te Hornung,' 1784, and ends with the 'kleine Freymaurer Kantate,' Nov. 15, 1791—nineteen days before his death.

4. A thematic catalogue of the MSS. by Mozart then in the hands of Andre—an octavo pamphlet of 79 closely printed pages—was published by him at Offenbach on May 1, 1841; one of 172 important symphonies and overtures was issued by Hofmeister in 1831; and one of Mozart's PF. sonatas, prepared by Edward Holmes, by Messrs. Novello & Co. in 1849.

5. In 1851, Breitkopf & Härtel published their first thematic catalogue of Beethoven's works. This was a thick volume of 167 pages, large 8vo, and a great advance on anything before it. It is arranged in order of opus-numbers, with names of dedicatees and publishers, arrangements, etc. The 2nd edition, 1868, is much enlarged (220 pages) by the addition of many interesting particulars, dedications, dates of composition, etc. It is in fact a new work, and is a model of accuracy, as may be inferred from the name of its compiler, Gustav Nottebohm. So is the Catalogue of Schubert by the same indefatigable explorer and critic—288 pages, published by Schreiber, Vienna, 1874, dealing both with the published and the unpublished works, and extraordinarily accurate considering the immense difficulties involved. Catalogues of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt have been published by Breitkopf; of Moscheles by Kistner; and of Bach's instrumental works in Peters's collected edition (by A. Dörffel, Aug. 1867).

Two Catalogues stand apart from the rest owing to the vast amount of information that they contain, and still more to the important fact that they are arranged in the chronological order of the composition of the works—the only real method of contemplating the productions of a composer. These are Von Köchel's 'Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss' of all Mozart's works (Breitkopfs, 1862, 551 pages), and Jähns's 'Carl Maria von Weber in seinen Werken. Chron. Them. Verzeichniss,' etc. (Schlesinger, 1871—480 pages, and 8 pages more of facsimiles of handwriting). These two works (the latter perhaps a trifle overdone) are indispensable to all students. [ G. ]

THEME—i.e. Subject, or Text (Ital. Il Tema, Il Soggetto, Il Motivo; Germ. from Lat. Thema, from Ital. Motiv; Fr. Thème, Air). A term only to be applied, in its fullest significance, to the principal subject of a musical composition;