Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/398

382 edition of his great work, and after his death they were used by in the preparation of his Lexicon. They ultimately came into the possession of the 'Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde' at Vienna. [ G. ]

WALTZ, and WALTZ À DEUX TEMPS. [See p. 385.]

WALTZ,, a German, who seems to have acted as Handel's cook, and after some time to have come out as a singer. He made his first attempt on the boards as Polyphemus in Handel's 'Acis and Galatea,' when it was performed as an 'English Pastoral Opera' under Arne, at the 'new English theatre in the Haymarket,' May 17, 1832 [App. p.815 "1732"], showing that his voice was a large bass. Seven years later (1739) he and Reinhold sang 'The Lord is a man of war' at the performance of 'Israel in Egypt,' their names being pencilled by Handel over the duet. He also sang Abinoam in 'Deborah,' Abner in 'Athaliah,' and Saul, on the production of those oratorios. His portrait was painted by Hauck, and engraved by Müller. He is seated with a cello, a pipe, and a pot of beer on the table beside him. It now belongs to Mr. J. W. Taphouse, of Oxford, and is exhibited in the Loan Collection of the Inventions Exhibition, 1885.

Handel on one occasion, speaking to Mrs. Gibber, said of Gluck, 'He knows no more of contrapunto than my cook Waltz.' This very impolite speech is often misquoted, and given as if Handel had said 'no more music'; but its force as uttered is very much altered when we recollect that Gluck was no contrapuntist, and that Waltz must have been a considerable musician to take such parts as he did at Handel's own choice. [ G. ]

WANDA,. A romantic tragedy with songs, in 5 acts, by Zacharias Werner, with music by Riotte. Produced at the Theatre an-der-Wien, Vienna, March 16, 1812, and repeated five times between that and April 20. On one of these nights Beethoven was in the house. He excuses himself to the Archduke Rodolph for not attending a summons from His Highness, on the ground that contrary to his usual custom he had not come home after noon, the lovely weather having induced him to walk the whole afternoon, and Wanda having taken him to the theatre in the evening (Thayer, iii. 195.) [ G. ]

WANHAL—in English publications VANHALL—, a contemporary of Haydn's (1732–1809), was of Dutch extraction, but born at Nechanicz in Bohemia May 12, 1739. His instructors were two local worthies, Kozák and Erban, and his first instruments the organ and violin. His early years were passed in little Bohemian towns near the place of his birth. At one of these he met a good musician, who advised him to stick to the violin, and also to write for it; both which he did with great assiduity. In 1760 he was taken to Vienna by the Countess Schaffgotsch, and here his real progress began; he studied (under Dittersdorf), read all the works he could get at, played incessantly, composed with great enthusiasm, and what was then thought extravagance, and was soon taken up by many of the nobility. One of these, the Freiherr Riesch, sent him to Italy for a long journey, of which he took full advantage. On his return to Vienna he fell into a state of mental depression, which for some time affected him greatly. It was thus that Burney found him in 1772 ('Present State,' etc., p. 358). Life in Vienna then was very much what it was 50 years later, and Wanhal's existence was passed, like Beethoven's or Schubert's, in incessant work, varied by visits to Hungary or Croatia, where the Count Erdödy, the immediate predecessor of Beethoven's friend, received him. He died in Vienna in 1813. Though somewhat younger than Haydn his music arrived in England first. Burney mentions this fact (Hist. iv. 599) and speaks of his symphonies as 'spirited, natural, and unaffected,' and of the quartets and other music for violins of this excellent composer as deserving a place among the first productions in which unity of melody, pleasing harmony, and a free and manly style are constantly preserved.' Burney's expressions about Haydn in the next paragraph show, however, how far higher he placed him than Wanhal or any other composer of that time.

The list of his works is enormous. Dlabacz, the author of the Dictionary of Bohemian Musicians, gives no less than 100 symphonies, 100 string quartets, 25 masses and 2 requiems, 30 Salve Reginas and 36 offertories, 1 Stabat Mater, 1 oratorio, 2 operas, and many other works. His sonatas were often met with in our grand-mothers' bound volumes, and Crotch has given two pieces in his Specimens of Music. Many of the symphonies and sonatas were produced a dozen at a time, a practice to which Beethoven gave the deathblow. They must not therefore be judged of from too serious a point of view. [ G. ]

WANLESS,, Mus. Bac., was appointed organist of York Cathedral April 18, 1691, and described in the Chapter book as 'in musicis expertum.' He graduated at Cambridge in 1698. In 1703 he published at York a collection of the words of anthems sung in the Cathedral. He composed a Litany, known as 'The York Litany,' no two copies of which exactly agree. Dr. Jebb has printed three different versions in his 'Choral Responses and Litanies.' An anthem by Wanless, 'Awake up, my glory,' is in the Tudway Collection (Harl. MS. 7347). He died in 1721. [ W. H. H. ]

WARD,, published, in 1613, 'The First Set of English Madrigals to 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts, apt both for Viols and Voyces. With a Mourning Song in memory of Prince Henry,' dedicated 'To the Honourable Gentleman and my very good Maister, Sir Henry Fanshawe, Knight'; one madrigal in which, 'Die not, fond man,' is still well known to members of madrigal societies. He was one of the contributors to Leighton's 'Teares or Lamentations,' 1614. An