Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/80

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68 ANIMUCCIA. .

ANFOSSI.

benefactor with great ingratitude. In his own turn he experienced the. fickleness of the Roman public of that day, and quitting, first the capital, and afterwards Italy, brought out a long string of operas in Paris, London, Prague, and Berlin, with varying success. He returned to Italy in 1784, and to Rome itself in 1787. Tiring of the stage, he sought for and obtained the post of Maestro at the Lateran, and held it till his death [App. p.523 "Feb. 1797"].

The music of Anfossi was essentially ephemeral; he was the fashion in his day, and for a time eclipsed his betters. But, although a musician of undoubted talent, he was destitute of real creative power, and it is not likely that his reputation will ever be rehabilitated. He composed no less than forty-six operas and one oratorio, besides certain pieces of church-music, some of which are in the collection of the Lateran and others were in that of the Abbé Santini.

Mozart composed two airs for soprano and one for tenor, for insertion in Anfossi's opera of 'Il Curioso indiscrete' on the occasion of its performance at Vienna in 1783, and an arietta for bass for the opera of 'Le Gelosie fortunate' at the same place in 1788. (See Köchel's Catalogue, Nos. 418, 419, 420, 541.) [App. p.523 "See also Curioso Indiscreto."]

[ E. H. P. ]

ANGLAISE. The English country-dance (contredanse), of lively character, sometimes in 2-4, but sometimes also in 3-4 or 3-8 time. It closely resembles the Ecossaise (q. v.), and most probably took its origin from the older form of the French Rigaudon.

[ E. P. ]

ANGLEBERT, Jean Henry D', chamber-musician to Louis XIV, and author of ' Pieces de Clavecin,' etc. (Paris, 1689), a collection of fugues and of airs, some by Lulli, but mostly original, arranged for the harpsichord. 'Les Folies d'Espagne,' with twenty-two variations, was afterwards similarly treated by Corelli, and has been erroneously supposed to be his composition.

[ M. C. C. ]

ANGRISANI, Carlo, a distinguished basso, born at Reggio, about 1760. After singing at several theatres in Italy, he appeared at Vienna, where, in 1798 and 1799, he published two collections of 'Notturni' for three voices. In 1817 he sang at the King's Theatre in London with Fodor, Pasta, Camporese, Begrez, Naldi, and Ambrogetti. His voice was full, round, and sonorous.

[ J. M. ]

ANIMATO or CON ANIMA (Ital.), 'With spirit.' This direction for performance is seldom to be found in the works of the older masters, who usually employed 'Con spirito' or 'Spiritoso.' Haydn and Mozart rarely if ever use it; Beethoven never once employs it. In the whole of Clementi's sonatas, numbering more than sixty, it is only to be found three times. He uses it in the first allegro of the sonata in D minor, Op. 50, No. 2, and in the rondo of the 'Didone abbandonata,' Op. 50, No. 3. In both these cases passages are simply marked 'Con anima.' The third instance is especially interesting as proving that the term does not necessarily imply a quick tempo. The slow movement of his sonata in E flat, Op. 47, No. 1, is inscribed 'Adagio molto e con anima.' Weber frequently uses the term (see his sonatas in A flat and D minor), Chopin employs it in his ist Scherzo and his E minor Concerto, and it is also to be met with in Mendelssohn,—e. g. 'Lieder ohne Worte,' Book 5, No. 4, 'Allegro con anima,' symphony of 'Lobgesang' first allegro 'animato' (full score, p. 17). In these and similar cases no quickening of the tempo is necessarily implied; the effect of animation is to be produced by a more decided marking of the rhythmical accents. On the other hand the term is sometimes used as equivalent to 'stretto,' as for instance in the first allegro of Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony, where the indication 'assai animate' is accompanied by a change in the metronome time from [symbol] = 100 to [symbol] = 120, or at the close of the great duet in the third act of Auber's 'Haydée,' where the coda is marked only 'animate,' but a quicker time is clearly intended. In this, as in so many similar cases, it is impossible to lay down any absolute rule. A good musician will never be at a loss as to whether the tune should be changed or not. [App. p.523 "Add a reference to Mendelssohn's letters to Mrs. Voigt, published in Macmillan's Magazine for June 1871, p. 129."]

[ E. P. ]

ANIMUCCIA, Giovanni, an Italian composer, born at Florence at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. He studied music under Claudeo Goudimel, and in 1555 was made Maestro at the Vatican, retaining that post until his death. He died beyond all question in 1571, for, although Poccianti in his 'Catalogus Scriptorum Florentinorum' places his death in 1569, Adami, Pitoni, and Sonzonio all give the date 1571. But better than any such authority are two entries in the Vatican Archives, one of his death in March 1571, and the other of the election of Palestrina in his place in April following. There can be no doubt, although his fame and his work were so soon to be eclipsed by the genius of Palestrina, that his music was a great advance upon the productions of the Flemish school. More than one passage in the dedications of his published pieces show too that he was touched by the same religious spirit of responsibility which filled the soul of Palestrina; and the friendship of Saint Filippo Neri, which they both shared, is alone an indication of that similarity. The saint's admiration of Animuccia may be gauged by his ecstatic declaration that he had seen the soul of his friend fly upwards towards heaven.

Animuccia composed the famous 'Laudi,' which were sung at the Oratorio of S. Filippo after the conclusion of the regular office, and out of the dramatic tone and tendency of which the 'Oratorio' is said to have been developed. Hence he has been called the 'Father of the Oratorio.' It is strange that a form of music which Protestantism has made so completely its own should have been adopted, even to its very name, from the oratory of a Catholic enthusiast in the later ages of the Church's power.

Several volumes of his works, comprising masses, motetti, madrigals, Magnificats, and some of the 'Laudi,' were published in his lifetime by the Dorici and their successors, by