Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/405



technical facility attracted attention. In 1784 he was recalled to Munich and made choirmaster, but in 1785 set out again for a tour in northwestern Germany, becoming in 1786 court-choirmaster at Stockholm and establishing a school. Having devised many improvements in organ-building ('simplifications') and a portable 'orchestrion' embodying some of them, in 1788 he went to Prussia, in 1790 to England and then to various Continental countries, playing, arguing and seeking orders for his specialties. From 1807 he was court-choirmaster at Darmstadt, where he founded still another school. He was a singular mixture of ability and charlatanry. His ideas about theory and instrument-making were original and ahead of his time. His arrogance and oddity turned most musicians against him, but he was adept in cajoling the favor of princes and astonishing the public. He had the title of Abbé and affected extreme piety. He attracted numerous pupils, who were generally attached to him, and several of them became famous (as Weber and Meyerbeer). His listed works number over 300, of which the best are choral and organ-pieces of every description, including many masses, Te Deums, Misereres, hymns, etc., with over 10 operas (from 1780) in various styles. As a critic and theorist he was fertile and enterprising, and his pedagogical influence was considerable (see sec. 165).

Peter von Winter (d. 1825), the opera-writer (see sec. 153), was a pupil of Vogler and, like him, a protégé of the Elector at Mannheim and Munich, where he was ultimately choirmaster. He wrote over 25 masses, a few oratorios, many sacred cantatas and smaller sacred works, some of them for the Protestant service. Though not a strong contrapuntist or apt at emotional expression, he was clever in choral and instrumental ensembles.



In France the most striking sacred composers were Le Sueur and Cherubini, representing the free and the strict styles respectively; but their work in this field belongs chiefly to the next period. Among the famous organists was Nicolas Séjan (d. 1819), working in various Paris churches from 1760 for more than 50 years.



In Spain should be named Francisco Saverio Garcia (d. 1809), from 1756 choirmaster at Saragossa, and Pedro Albeniz (d. 1821), choirmaster at San Sebastiano.

164. Protestant Church Music.—Neither the Lutheran nor the Anglican Church offers anything of decided musical interest at this period. In Germany, to be sure, as in Austria, attention to thoughtful organ music continued to some extent, and the average cantor was expected to be something of a contrapuntist. But the incentives to originality and genius were extremely small. In England interest in the noble organ style hardly existed, as is evidenced by the lack of well-equipped instruments, and only in the cathedrals was choir music carefully considered. In both cases the prevalent secular styles influenced those of the church, awakening a desire for something less