Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/145

'TIS THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER. 'TIS THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER. A song written by Thomas Moore to the tune of 'The Groves of Blarney'; this again being possibly a variation of an older air called 'The Young Man's dream,' which Moore has adapted to the words 'As a beam on the face of the waters may glow.' Blarney, near Cork, became popular in 1788 or 1789, and it was then that the words of 'The Groves of Blarney' were written by R. A. Millikin, an attorney of Cork. The tune may be older, though this is not at all certain: it is at all events a very beautiful and characteristic Irish melody. We give it in both its forms, as it is a good example of the way in which Moore, with all his taste, often destroyed the peculiar character of the melodies he adapted.

Beethoven (20 Irische Lieder, No. 6) has set it, in E♭, to the words 'Sad and luckless was the season.' Mendelssohn wrote a fantasia on the air, published as op. 15, considerably altering the notation; and Flotow has made it the leading motif in the latter part of 'Martha.' Berlioz's enthusiasm for the tune equals his contempt for the opera. 'The delicious Irish air was so simply and poetically sung by Patti, that its fragrance alone was sufficient to disinfect the rest of the work.' [ G. ]

TITZE, or TIETZE,, member of the Imperial chapel and of the Tonkünstler-Societät, and Vice-Pedell of the University of Vienna, born April i, 1797, died Jan. 11, 1850. Possessor of a sympathetic and highly-trained tenor voice, with a very pure style of execution, Titze was universally popular. He sang at the Concerts Spirituels, and acted as choir-master, Karl Holz being leader, and Baron Lannoy conductor. Between 1822 and 1839 he appeared at 26 concerts of the Tonkünstler-Societät, singing the tenor solos in such works as Handel's 'Solomon,' 'Athaliah,' 'Jephthah,' and 'Messiah, 'and Haydn's 'Creation' and 'Seasons,' associated in the latter with Staudigl after 1833. From 1822 he also sang at innumerable concerts and soirées of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. His special claim to distinction, however, was his production of Schubert's songs at these soirées. He sang successively, 'Rastlose Liebe' (1824 and 31); 'Erlkönig' (1825); 'Der Einsame' (1826); 'Nachthelle' (1827); 'Norman's Gesang' (March 8, 1827, accompanied by Schubert on the PF., and 1839); 'Gute Nacht' (1828); 'Der blinde Knabe,' and 'Drang in die Ferne' (1829); 'Liebesbotschaft,' and 'Auf dem Strome' (1832); 'An mein Herz,' 'Sehnsucht,' and 'Die Sterne' (1833); besides taking his part in the quartets 'Geist der Liebe' (1823 and 32); 'Die Nachtigall' (1824); 'Der Gondelfahrer' (1825); and the solo in the 'Song of Miriam' (1832). At the single concert given by Schubert, March 26, 1828, he sang 'Auf dem Strome,' accompanied on the French horn by Lewy, jun.. and on the PF. by Schubert. These lists show that Schubert's works were not entirely neglected in Vienna. His name appears in the programmes of the Gesellschaft soirées 88 times between 1821 and 1840. [ C. F. P. ]

TOCCATA (Ital.), from toccare, to touch, is the name of a kind of instrumental composition originating in the beginning of the 17th century. As the term Sonata is derived from the verb suonare, to sound, and may thus be described as a sound-piece, or Tonstück, so the similarly formed term Toccata represents a touch-piece, or a composition intended to exhibit the touch and execution of the performer. In this respect it is somewhat synonymous with the prelude and fantasia; but it has its special characteristics, which are so varied as to make them difficult to define clearly. The most obvious are a very flowing movement in notes of equal length and a homophonous character, there being often indeed in the earlier examples but one part throughout, though occasionally full chords were employed. There is no decided subject which is made such by repetition, and the whole has the air of a