Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/536

496 lived quietly in the palace of his forefathers, devoting himself to study. When Maxtla succeeded his father Tetzotzomoc, and killed Chimalpopoca, in 1427, fearing the popularity of Netzahualcoyotl, he sent assassins to murder him, but the latter escaped, and, taking refuge in the mountains of Tlaxcala, was hunted by the emissaries of Maxtla for several years like a wild beast. But at last the neighboring monarchs of Mexico and Tlaltelolco and the republics of Tlaxcala and Huexotzingo formed an alliance in 1430 and called Netzahualcoyotl to the command of the allied army. After a short and bloody campaign he defeated, captured, and killed the usurper Maxtla, destroying Atzcapotzalco and restoring the legitimate monarchy of Texcoco. One of his first acts after recovering his throne was to proclaim a general amnesty. He reformed the tribunals, and established a supreme court at Texcoco, for which he formed a code of laws that consisted of eighty articles, of which thirty-four have been preserved in tradition. He was a patron of science and literature, and assembled many learned men at the court of Texcoco. That city soon became the centre of civilization of that part of the New World, and has been styled by historians the Athens of America. He was an adept in astronomy and natural history, and for the advancement of the latter science ordered a collection of paintings to be made of all the animals and plants in Anahuac, part of which was used by the scientist Francisco Hernandez (q. v.) for his work on the natural history of New Spain. Netzahualcoyotl was also an excellent poet, and a philosopher far in advance of his time. By study he had come to recognize one God, whom under the name of Tlogue Nahuague he celebrated in a series of sixty odes. These have been partially translated by his descendant, Fernando de Alba Ixtlilxotchitl (q. v.), and highly praised for their beauty. Some of the cities formerly belonging to the kingdom of Atzcapotzalco revolted against his authority, but he subdued them, and greatly extended the limits of his empire, being appointed chief of the confederacy of Mexico, Tlaltelolco, and Acolhuacan. He had also considerable knowledge of engineering, and superintended the construction of the dike that was erected after the inundation of Mexico in 1446, by order of Montezuma I. The latter years of his reign were troubled by several revolts that were headed by his four sons by his first wife. He was forced to execute them, and, having no legitimate successor, he fell into a deep melancholy and sought distraction in the chase. In one of these expeditions he fell in love with the wife of a cacique of Tepechpan. Sending the latter on a warlike expedition against Tlaxcala, in which he perished, Netzahualcoyotl, after the death of his second wife, married the princess, and by her had a son, Netzahualpilli, whom he indicated as his successor. &mdash; His son, Netzahualpilli (net-sa-wal-pil'-le), king of Texcoco, b. in Texcoco in 1462; d. in his palace of Tecotzingo in 1516, was proclaimed king under a council of regency, but when he came of age he assumed the government and followed the example of his father as a wise and powerful monarch, continuing to embellish his capital and to be a patron of learning. He had also inherited his father's taste for astronomy, and erected near Texcoco an observatory, of which the remains still exist. There he gave himself to astrological studies, and by his calculations thought that he had discovered that within a few years powerful invaders from a foreign and unknown country would arrive to overthrow the dynasties of Anahuac. Saddened by this discovery and by the

continuous strife between his four sons, he retired from public life. Some of his tributary provinces revolted, and the title of chief of the allied armies of Anahuac was wrested from him by Montezuma II. He died three years before the arrival of Cortes, and his son, Cacamatzin, was his successor.

NEUENDORFF, Adolph Heinrich Anton Magnus, musician, b. in Hamburg, Germany, 13 June, 1843. He came to New York with his parents in 1854. Two years later he had instruction on the violin from Joseph Weinlich. After serving as chorus-master and member of an orchestra before he was sixteen, he studied theory and composition with Gustav Schilling, under whose direction he also made his first appearance as a pianist at Dodworth hall in 1859. After a two-years' trip to South America, he became conductor of the orchestra at the German theatre in Milwaukee, Wis., and in 1864 was chorus-master of Carl Anschütz's German opera company. Later he succeeded Anschütz as conductor, and in 1867 became music-director of the New Stadt theatre, New York. In 1870-'1 he brought a German company from Europe, produced &ldquo;Tannhäuser&rdquo; and &ldquo;Lohengrin,&rdquo; the latter being seen for the first time in America. In 1872 he brought Theodor Wachtel to this country, and, with Carl Rosa, gave a season of Italian opera at the Academy of music. In that year he also established the Germania theatre in New York, of which he was manager for eleven years. During that time he was also organist of a church and conductor of a choral society. In 1875 he gave a season of German opera with Wachtel and Madame Pappenheim, conducted the Beethoven centennial concerts, and went to the first Wagner festival at Bayreuth as correspondent for the &ldquo;New Yorker Staats-Zeitung.&rdquo; In 1878 Neuendorff succeeded Theodore Thomas as conductor of the New York philharmonic. In 1881 he transferred his German theatre to the building that had been vacated by Lester Wallack; but the change proved disastrous, and he lost a fortune in two years. He has directed operas and concerts in all the large cities of the Union. His compositions include two symphonies and three operas, &ldquo;The Rat-Charmer of Hamelin&rdquo; (1880); &ldquo;Don Quixote&rdquo; (1882); &ldquo;Prince Waldmeister&rdquo; (1887); and numerous other instrumental and vocal works.

NEUMANN, John Nepomucene, R. C bishop, b. in Prachatitz, Bohemia, 28 March, 1811 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 Jan., 1860. He studied in the gymnasium of Budweis in 1823- '31, and in the the- ological semina- ry there for two years, after which he finished his theological stud- ies at Prague in 1835. His desire always had been to labor among his countrymen in the United States, and, after meeting with many obstacles, he arrived in New York on 31 May, 1836, and was ordained priest by Bishop Dubois on 25 June. He was appointed, a few days after, to take charge of the missions around Niagara Falls. He next went to Buffalo, N. Y., and thence to Williamsville, near that place, where he completed