Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/228

 peculiar singing effect, and excelled in playing from fortissimo to pianissimo and vice versa. They possessed much power of colouring, and elegance of execution, the true Italian refinement of taste—broad, not finikin like the modern French school, in its finish. They both composed many solos for the flute, some of which are excellent. The only Spanish flautist deserving notice is José Maria del Carmen Ribas (1796-1861), who served as a soldier under Wellington in the Peninsular War, and fought at the battle of Toulouse. Ribas played the flute and the clarinet equally well—often at the same concert—and also played the concertina. For many years he was a leading orchestral player on the flute in London; playing at the Philharmonic Concerts (1838-41) and the Italian opera. He was the first to play the famous Scherzo in Mendelssoln's Midsummer Night's Dream in England, and the composer was so pleased at the rehearsal that he asked Ribas to play it over three times, saying that he had no idea it would be so effective. Ribas played the old flute and possessed a powerful tone.

A remarkable and eccentric genius, whose name is familiar to every flautist, Adolf Terschak (1832-1901), was born at Hermannstadt in Transylvania, and studied at the Vienna Conservatoire. In 1863 he had a quarrel with Böhm, whose flute he never would adopt. Terschak was a born "globe-trotter," and gave flute recitals in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, which had never before been visited by any European flautist of note. Much of his life was spent in Arabia, Astrachan, Siberia, Korea, China, Japan, and