Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/639

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
GREGORIAN MODES.
GRETRY.
627

natural diatonic modes 14 in number—2 to each of the 7 natural notes—admitting the proscribed B♮ as a Final for a quasi-Authentic and quasi-Plagal pair of modes—Locrian and Hypo-locrian. It does not however appear that more than 12 or 13 at the most have ever been found in any Ritual Service-books. In some of these books we find the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th transposed and placed under the head of one or other of the first eight with the title 'formerly the 9th, 10th,' etc. In the recent Ratisbon editions of Ritual music all 14 modes are however counted, so that the 11th and 12th above are styled the 13th and 14th.

5. Such is the basis on which the arrangement of the whole body of Ritual music of the Western Churches, including the Reformed Church of England—and probably that of the Eastern Churches also—is founded. The 'Accents' for Collects, the Verses and Responses, Psalm and Canticle tones, Introits, Antiphons, Kyries, Sanctus, Gloria in Excelsis, Agnus, Osanna, Benedictus, Communio, Sursum corda, Proses or Sequences, Prefaces, Office-hymns, the Nicene Creed, and special Offices and Services as printed by authority in the various Antiphonals, Processionals, Hymnals, Graduals, and Rituals in Latin, and in the English Book of Common Prayer noted, all belong to this species of sacred music. [See Modes, Plainsong, Tones.]

[ T. H. ]

GRESHAM MUSICAL PROFESSORSHIP. In the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the college bearing his name in the city of London, provision was made for several professorships, and for the 'sallarie' of a person 'mete to rede the lecture of musicke' in the college. Sir Thomas died on Nov. 21, 1579, and his widow on Nov. 3, 1596, upon which the provision for the lectures took effect, the civic authorities requesting the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to nominate persons properly qualified as professors. Dr. John Bull was appointed the first Professor of Music by the special recommendation of Queen Elizabeth. The ordinance adopted concerning the music lecture, according to Stowe (Strype's edition), ran as follows:—The solemn music lecture is to be read twice every week in manner following: viz.—the theorique part for half an hour, and the practique, by concert of voice or instruments, for the rest of the hour; whereof the first lecture to be in the Latin tongue and the second in the English tongue. The days appointed for the solemn lectures of music are Thursday and Saturday in the afternoon between the hours of three and four; and because at this time Dr. Bull is recommended to the place by the Queen's most excellent Majesty being not able to speak Latin, his lectures are permitted to be altogether in English so long as he shall continue the place of the music lecturer there.' At first the Professors were given apartments in the college and a stipend of £50 a year, but in the 8th of Geo. III an Act was passed enabling the lecturers to marry, any restriction in Sir Thomas Gresham's will notwithstanding, and also giving them £50 a year in lieu of their apartments. For many years the Professors had no knowledge of music, and were utterly unqualified to lecture upon it. The following is a list of the professors, with the date of their appointments: (1) John Bull, Mus. Doc., 1596 (resigned on his marriage); (2) Thomas Clayton, Doctor of Medicine, 1607; (3) Rev. John Taverner, M.A., 1610, elected at the age of 26, subsequently Rector of Stoke Newington; (4) Dr. Richard Knight, physician, 1638; (5) Sir W. Petty, Doctor of Medicine, 1650; (6) Sir Thomas Baynes, Doctor of Medicine, 1660, ejected from office by a vote of the committee; (7) Rev. John Newey, M.A., incumbent of Itching Abbotts and Avington, Hants, 1696; (8) Rev. Dr. R. Shippen, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, and Rector of Whitechapel, 1705; (9) Edward Shippen, Doctor of Medicine, 1710; (10) John Gordon, barrister at law of Gray's Inn, 1723; (11) Thomas Browne, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1739, elected by an equality of votes, and the committee proceeded to a second election; (12) Charles Gardner, 1739; (13) Thomas Griffin, 1762; (14) Theodore Aylward, assistant director of the Handel Commemoration and organist of St. George's, Windsor [App. p.658 "1771"]; (15) R. J. S. Stevens, the composer, 1801; (16) Edward Taylor, 1837; (17) Henry Wylde, Mus. Doc., 1863. In 1832 and for some years after, a medal was given in commemoration of Sir Thomas Gresham for the best choral work, the judges being the Oxford Professor, Dr. Crotch; the Gresham Professor, Mr. Stevens; and Mr. Horsley; and the work was sung at a commemoration service at St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, which had been Sir Thomas's parish church. The Music Lectures at the College are now given in the evening, in English, on days announced in the newspapers, and the admission to them is free. For an instance of the manner in which the intentions of the founder were at one time set at naught see Griffin, Thos.

[ C. M. ]

GRÉTRY, André Ernest Modeste, born Feb. 11, 1741, at Liége, on the ground-floor of a small house in the Rue des Récollets, now No. 28. His father, a poor violinist, placed him at 6 years old in the choir of St. Denis; but under the harsh treatment of his master the little chorister showed no aptitude for music, and at 11 was dismissed as incapable. His next master, Leclerc, as gentle as the former had been cruel, made him a good reader; and Renekin, organist, taught him harmony. His taste for music was however developed by listening to the operas of Pergolesi, Galuppi, Jomelli, etc., performed by a company of Italian singers with Resta as conductor. After a year spent in this manner an irresistible impulse urged him to compose; in vain the maître de chapelle tried to teach him counterpoint—he longed to give expression to the thoughts that were burning for utterance; and as his first attempt, produced at Liége in 1758 six small symphonies, and in 1759 a ' messe solennelle ' for 4 voices, none of which have been published. These compositions secured him the protection of the Chanoine du Harlez, who furnished him with the means of going