Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/710

 706 DAVID their friendship for him during the reign of Saul, and he devoted himself now to perfecting the publiq worship. He brought the ark of God to Jerusalem, and organized the service of sacred song, surrounding himself with prophets and psalmists. He intended building a temple, but was forbidden by the prophet Nathan be- cause of the blood he had shed in war. The same prophet reprimanded him on account of the murder of Uriah, whose wife Bathsheba, taken by the king, subsequently became the mother of Solomon. David's old age. was em- bittered by the consequences of polygamic dis- order in his house, and the passions and ambi- tion of his sons, and by revolts, conspiracies, and a dreadful pestilence. His son Absalom brought about an almost general insurrection, but was conquered and slain by Joab. Sheba, a Ben- jamite, raised the standard of rebellion, but was subdued by Amasa, the successor of Joab in command. A conspiracy of Adonijah, an- other son, was baffled by the proclamation of Solomon as heir and king. Shortly afterward the aged monarch died, having reigned over all Israel 33 years. David founded the perma- nent dynasty of Hebrew kings. How many of the psalms he wrote is uncertain (see PSALMS) ; but his lament over Saul and Jonathan alone proves him a poet of great beauty of thought and of rare power. Though a man of strong passions, often ungoverned, he yet shines in Scripture as the model king of Israel. DAVID II. See BRUCE. DAVID, Felieien Cesar, a French composer, born at Cadenet, in Vaucluse, April 3, 1810. He sang in the cathedral at Aix, and at the age of 20 entered the conservatory in Paris. Soon after he joined the St. Simonians, for whom he composed the music of the choruses sung in their establishment at Me"nilmontant, and with some of whom, on the dissolution of the sect, he travelled in Egypt and the East. He re- turned in 1835, and published Melodies orien- tales. His reputation rests mainly on the Desert, a choral symphony, published in 1844, which aims at giving impressions of the physical as- pects of the East, and abounds in melodic and harmonic beauties. He has written a number of operas, among which are Mo'ise sur le Sinai (1846), Christophe Colomb (1848), La perle du Bresil (comic opera, 1851), Eerculanum (1859), and Lalla Roukh (comic opera, 1862). In 1869 he succeeded Berlioz as librarian of the con- servatory and as member of the institute. DAVID, Ferdinand, a German musician, born in Hamburg, Jan. 19, 1810, died in July, 1873. At 13 he commenced the study of the violin under Spohr, and two years later made a musi- cal tour with his sister, afterward known as the pianist Louise Dulcken, playing successful- ly at Dresden, Leipsie, Berlin, and Copenha- gen. In 1826 he was appointed first violinist at the theatre royal, Berlin. In 1829 he went in the same capacity to Dorpat, where he also conducted a musical society, and became known as an able orchestral leader. He made a tour through Russia, and in 1836 became concert master under Mendelssohn at Leipsie. On the formation of the Leipsie conservatory he became a teacher there, and sent out many remarkable young violinists. During the in- tervals of teaching he visited many capitals, and took rank with the first musicians. He has written concertos, romances, melodies, symphonies, and a comic opera, Hans WacJit. DAVID, Jacques Lonis, a French painter, born in Paris, Aug. 31, 1748, died in Brussels, Dec. 29, 1825. His taste for painting was fostered by his uncle Buron, the architect, and developed in the studio of the historical painter Vien. David, having obtained in 1775 the great prize for one of his paintings, followed his master to Kome, and there imbibed that love for classic art which afterward caused him to be hailed in France as the great reformer of painting. His first important work, the " Plague of St. Roch " (1779), was executed at Rome for the lazaretto of Marseilles. This was followed, after his return to Paris in 1780, by " Belisa- rius " and " Andromache lamenting the Death of Hector." In 1784 he revisited Rome, and there finished the "Horatii," which was greet- ed with enthusiasm in Italy and France. In 1787 he produced the "Death of Socrates;" in 1788, the "Loves of Paris and Helen;" and in 1789, his famous "Brutus," which had been ordered by Louis XVI. as a pendant to the "Horatii." Revolutionist and painter at the same time, he executed in 1790 for the constituent assembly the " Oath of the Ten- nis Court" and the "Entry of Louis XVI. into the Assembly," and in 1793 painted the assas- sination of Lepelletier and of Marat. He was also consulted in reference to the arrangement of festivals and the costumes of civil and mili- tary officers, fixing his classic ideas upon dress and manners. In 1793, being a member of the convention, he voted for the death of the king. Imprisoned after the downfall of Robespierre, he was released after four months, through the intercession of his pupils, but soon rearrested and detained until the amnesty of October, 1795. While in prison he commenced his cel- ebrated picture of the " Sabines," which he finished in 1799. He executed for Napoleon a series of works of which the " Coronation " and the " Distribution of Eagles " pleased the emperor best; while the picture in which Bo- naparte is represented upon an impetuous horse, on Mount St. Bernard, pointing out to his sol- diers the path to Italy, was the most popular. Expelled from France soon after Napoleon's downfall, he went to Brussels, but before his departure gave proof of his patriotism by re- fusing to execute the portrait of the duke of Wellington. At Brussels he produced " Cupid and Psyche," the "Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis," the "Wrath of Achilles," and " Mars disarmed by Venus," which were ex- hibited all over Belgium for charitable pur- poses ; while a copy of his "Coronation of Napoleon," also executed by him at Brussels,