Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/342

326 'Athalie' and 'Gustav Adolf,' and in September he was giving organ recitals in Hamburg. The assassination of Gustavus Adolphus III., whom he liked and respected, on March 16, 1792, only a few days after the production of his opera, started him off with Weber on another long tour through Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. In the next year he undertook a course of lectures on Harmony, and in 1794 betook himself to Paris to hear the choruses accompanied by wind-instruments with which the new-born Republic solemnised its fêtes, and add the result of his observations to his 'Polymelos or characteristic music of divers nations.' At St. Sulpice he gave an organ performance for the poor, the receipts of which were 15,000 livres. On his return he gave a second course of lectures in 1795, and in 1796 erected his orchestrion at Stockholm. About this time his ten years' engagement as Royal Music-director came to an end, and he proposed to leave Sweden. But his school was considered so successful that the Regent prevailed on him to prolong his stay till the spring of 1799. In that year he received from the Swedish Court an annual pension of 500 dollars, departed for Denmark, and made an unusually protracted stay in the Danish capital, during which he brought out an important work for the church, and another for the stage. The former was his 'Choral-System,' in which he reviewed Fux, Kirnberger, and Rameau, and professed to demonstrate that all the Protestant chorale-melodies were written in the Greek modes. Of this work the Danish government ordered 100 copies for distribution gratis to organists. The latter was the music to 'Hermann von Unna.' This, though originally written to a Swedish libretto by Spöldebrand, had not been performed in Sweden. It now proved a great success. Though the ticket office did not open till 4 in the afternoon, people began to assemble round it at 6 a.m. After these achievements Vogler proceeded, in the summer of 1800, to Berlin. There he gave 'Hermann' several times in German by way of attracting the general public, appealed to the savants by his 'Data zur Akustik,' and to the religious world by his proposals to reduce the cost of organ-building. He was entrusted with the reconstruction of the organ in St. Mary's, and gave a performance on it on Nov. 28, 1800. The King of Prussia commissioned him to build an organ at Neu-Ruppin. But this did not keep him in Prussia. He set off to Leipzig, gave three organ recitals in the spring of 1801, and then went on about June to Prague. At Prague he was received with great honour, and made governor of a musical school. His introductory lecture treated the question 'What is an Academy of Music?' and the interest he excited was shown in the crowded audiences that attended his course on the theory of music. The orchestrion was again erected, and after eight months' delay, and two disappointments, was heard on Easter Sunday, 1802. The Bohemians do not seem to have thought much of it, and it may have been in consequence of this failure that he left Prague for Vienna, arriving about the end of 1802. He was reported to be invited to Vienna to write an opera, and rumours of the forthcoming work were constant throughout 1803. 'Samori,' however, did not actually appear till May 17, 1804, at the Theatre an-der-Wien, after more than fifty rehearsals. It enjoyed a moderate success, but on the course of operatic history at Vienna it exercised no influence at all. Two other of Vogler's works were given there, 'Castor and Pollux' (with additions and alterations), in a concert-room on Dec. 22 and 23, 1803, and 'Athalie' at the Redoutensaal in Nov. 1804. Neither made much impression. While at Vienna, Vogler celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his ordination. An interesting circumstance connected with his stay there is his meeting with Beethoven, and their extemporising in turn on the piano. [See vol. i. 183a.] Another is that here Gansbacher and, through him, C. M. von Weber, became his pupils. Weber made the PF. arrangement of 'Samori.' Vogler had now been more than two years in Vienna, and his wandering instincts revived. He spent the summer of 1805 at Salzburg, en route to Munich. There he gave organ recitals, and at Christmas had his Pastoral Mass performed in the Court Chapel. When Napoleon, on his return from Austerlitz, paused at Munich to celebrate the marriage of Eugène Beauharnais with the Princess Augusta of Bavaria, the Abbé was the musical hero of the hour, and 'Castor and Pollux' was performed on the wedding day, Jan. 14, 1806. He made some little stay in Munich, occupying himself as usual in simplifying organs and publishing theoretical works. In September 1807 he turns up at Frankfort, and shortly afterwards received an invitation from the Grand Duke of Darmstadt, Louis I., for whom he had written 'Lampedo' nearly thirty years before, to settle in that town. The Duke gave him a salary of 3000 florins, a house, with dinner and supper every day from his own kitchen, four wax candles a day and firewood ad libitum, the titles of Kapellmeister, and Privy Councillor for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and the order of Merit