Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/554

SMORZANDO (Ital., 'fading away'). A term with the same meaning as Morendo, but used indiscriminately in the course of a piece. [See Morendo.]

SNETZLER, John, was born at Passau in Germany about 1710. This truly eminent organ-builder, after acquiring some fame in his own country, was induced to settle in England, where he built the noble instrument at Lynn Regis (1754); a very fine one at St. Martin's, Leicester (1774); that of the German Lutheran Chapel in the Savoy, which was the first in this country provided with a pedal clavier; and many others. Two stories are current of his imperfect way of speaking English and his quaint expressions. At the competition for the place of organist to his new organ at Halifax (1766) he was so annoyed by the rapid playing of Dr. Wainwright, that he paced the church, exclaiming, 'He do run over de keys like one cat, and do not give my pipes time to shpeak.' And at Lynn he told the churchwardens, upon their asking him what their old organ would be worth if repaired, 'If they would lay out £100 upon it, perhaps it would be worth fifty.'

Snetzler lived to an advanced age, and died at the end of the last or the commencement of the present century. Having saved sufficient money, he returned to his native country; but after being so long accustomed to London porter and English fare, he found in his old age that he could not do without them, so he returned to London, where he died. His successor was Ohrmann. [See Hill & Sons.]

[ V. de P. ]

SNOW, Valentine, was probably of the same family as Moses Snow, gentleman of the Chapel Royal from 1689 until his death, Dec. 20, 1702, and also lay-vicar of Westminster Abbey, and a minor composer. He became the finest performer upon the trumpet of his day; was a member of Handel's oratorio orchestra; and it was for him that the great composer wrote the difficult obbligato trumpet parts in 'Messiah,' 'Samson,' 'Dettingen Te Deum,' 'Judas Maccabeus,' etc. No better evidence of his ability can be required. In Jan. 1753 he was appointed (in succession to John Shore, deceased) Sergeant Trumpeter to the King, which office he held until his death in Dec. 1770.

[ W. H. H. ]

SNUFF-BOX, MUSICAL. A mechanical invention which has given pleasure to thousands from the peculiar—what for want of a better expression we may call Æolian—charm arising from the production of harmonics in the solid part of the steel comb which provides the necessary reinforcement to the sounds emitted by the teeth of the comb. The motive power is a pinned cylinder resembling the barrel of a mechanical organ, and made to shift on the same principle; the working power is a spring; the mechanism and rotation are closely allied to those of a watch or clock; and the teeth of the comb which produce the notes are measured to scale.

Musical boxes were invented about the beginning of the present century, probably in Switzerland, the chief seat of their production, where there are now some twenty principal manufactories. About 30,000 are said to be made annually, half of which are below the selling value of 50 francs each. The original musical boxes are small and not unlike a snuff-box in appearance. They are now made of all sizes, the cost ranging from 20s. to 50l.

About 1830, a very favourite composition with amateurs of the pianoforte was the 'Snuff-box Waltz,' the composer of which preserved his anonymity under the initials M.S. The scale and arpeggio passages, played with much use of both pedals, produced something of the musical-box effect upon the hearer, enhanced a few years later by the introduction in pianos of brass bridges and harmonic bars, which are to a certain extent subject to the acoustical conditions which affect the musical-box combs. Such a passage as the following, from the 'Snuff-box Waltz,' illustrates the kind of imitation that was possible:

Of late years, bells, drums, castagnettes, free reeds worked by bellows, and more recently a 'zither,' produced by a sheet of thin paper resting on the teeth of the comb, have been introduced, and have not raised the musical value of the instrument, any more than similar introductions early in the century raised the value of the pianoforte. As pointed out by Mr. Moonen in his recent Report on the Melbourne Exhibition, the real improvements have been in the mechanical portion, by the accurate 'pointing' or adjustment on the cylinder of as many as 36 airs;