Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/228

212 convince us that it was he who first endeavoured to remove 'the cross of the little Choir-Boys, and the torture of learners' (crux tenelloram puerorum, et tortura discentium), by the use of the syllables, Ut, Re, Mi, Fa; and that to him, and to him alone, belongs the honour of having invented, even if he did not perfect, the method of Solmisation which still bears his name.

The Hymn 'Ut queant laxis' is given, in modern notation, in vol. iii. p. 550. The poetry is known to have been written by Paulus Diaconus, though Albertus Magnus attributes it to S. Jerome—a fact which did not escape the sharp observation of Hermann Finck. The Melody is a very early one, in Mode II. (the Hypodorian). A comparatively late Gallican version is given in the Mechlin Vesperal (1870). The version given in the latest Roman Vesperal (Ratisbon, 1875) is scarcely recognisable, and does not comply with Guido's conditions in any of its sections except the second. [ W. S. R. ]

ACCAJ,, a prolific composer of Italian operas, born at Tolentino March 15, 1790. He passed the first 10 or 12 years of his life at Pesaro, a few more at Rome with the view to the law, and it was not till his 17th or 18th year that he threw off this, and took lessons of Jannaconi in counterpoint. In 1811 he went to Naples and put himself under Paisiello for dramatic composition, and there wrote a couple of cantatas and some church music. In 1814 he brought out his first opera, 'I solitari di Scozia,' at Naples. The next seven years were passed at Venice, each one with its opera. None, however, were sufficiently successful, and he therefore took up the teaching of singing, and practised it in Trieste and in Vienna. In 1824 he resumed opera composition, and in 1825 wrote amongst several others his most favourite work, 'Giulietta e Romeo,' for Naples. In 1829 he visited Paris, and stayed there two years as a singing master in great popularity. He then passed a short time in London, and in 1831 we again find him writing operas in Italy, amongst others 'Marco Visconti' and 'Giovanna Grey'—the latter for Malibran. In 1838 he succeeded Basili as head and principal professor of composition of the Conservatorio of Milan. In 1844 he left his active duties, returned to Pesaro, and wrote a fresh opera, 'Virginia,' for the Argentino Theatre, Rome. It was his last work, and he died at Pesaro Aug. 5, 1848. His works contain 15 operas besides those mentioned above, 12 Ariette per Camera (Cramer, London), and a Method (Ricordi). 'Giulietta e Romeo' was performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London, April 10, 1832. [ G. ]

VAET, (or ), Flemish composer of the 16th century, attached to the imperial Kapelle at Vienna in the capacity of chanter and apparently also of court-composer, as early as 1520–1526, when he wrote a motet 'in laudem eerenissimi principis Ferdinandi archiducis Austriae.' After a long life of this service he was appointed 'obrister Kappelmeister,' Dec. 1, 1564, and died Jan. 8, 1567. That he remained active as a composer to the court, is shown by his motet 'in laudem invictissimi Romanorum imperatoris Maximiliani II.,' who ascended the throne in July 1564. Both motets were printed in P. Ioannelli's 'Novus Thesaurus Musicus,' Venice, 1568, which also contains a motet 'in obitum Iacobi Vaet.' F. Haemus, in his 'Poemata' (Antwerp 1578), has an elegy 'in obitum Iacobi Vasii, Caesaris Maximiliani archiphonasci,' which is quoted by M. vander Straeten.

Vaet's compositions are principally comprised in the 'Novus Thesaurus' just mentioned, which includes 25 motets, 8 'Salve Regina,' and one 'Te Deum' of his; and in the five volumes of the 'Thesaurus musicus' published at Nuremberg in 1564 (all motets). Other motets, 'Sententiae piae,' etc., appear in several collections of Tylman Susato, Montanus, Phalesius, and Buchaw; and three French chansons are found respectively in Phalesius' first book of 'Chansons' (1554), in Waelrant and Laet's 'Jardin musical' (1556), and in Buchaw's 'Harmoniae' (1568). Vaet's reputation among contemporaries stood very high. Among modern critics, Fétis admires the correctness, want of affectation, and religious character, of his writing; he did not care, like so many of the composers of that time, to strain after merely learned, or pedantic, effects. Ambros, commenting on the richness and nobility of Vaet's style, and the variety of his treatment, singles out his 'masterpiece,' the 8-voice 'Te Deum,' and a 'Miserere' in 5 parts, which he regards as worthy of special distinction.[ R. L. P. ]

VAGANS, i.e. wandering, uncertain—the old name for the Quinta Pars in a mass or motet, so called because it was not necessarily of any particular compass, but might be a second soprano, or alto, or tenor; though usually a tenor. [ G. ]

VAISSEAU-FANTÔME, LE. Opera in 2 acts; words translated or imitated from the