of that artistic style and charm of tone which distinguish him. He studied orchestral playing at the Royal Academy under the late Mr. Charles Lucas. His first appearance as a soloist was at the Town Hall, Windsor, where he and the late William Crozier (a most admirable player, who died early in 1871, after having been for many years First Oboe at the Crystal Palace) played a duet for oboe and bassoon under the irection of Dr. (now Sir George) Elvey. On the death of Baumann he would have accepted engagements with Jullien for the Promenade Concerts, and with Alfred Mellon for the Orchestral Union, if Waddell, his bandmaster, had not peremptorily forbade it. He was then transferred from the bassoon to the saxophone, of which he was the earliest player in England. In 1886 he left the Life Guards and joined the orchestra of the Crystal Palace, in which he has played First Bassoon ever since. He is also a member of the orchestras of the Philharmonic, Albert Hall, and many others, and is Professor of the Bassoon at the Royal College of Music.
WRANIZKY, Paul, conductor of the orchestra at the two Court Theatres at Vienna, and a popular composer of operas and instrumental music, born Dec. 30, 1756, at Neureusch in Moravia, was educated at the monastery close by, and at Iglau and Olmütz, where he perfected himself, especially in violin-playing. In 1776 he went to Vienna to study theology at the Imperial Seminary, and at once obtained a post as conductor. He then studied composition with Kraus, a Swedish composer then living in Vienna, and produced a number of new works which attracted notice. Towards the end of 1780 he became conductor of the court-theatres, and remained so till his death. He was also for many years capellmeister to Prince Lobkowitz. His operas were great favourites, and became known nearly throughout Germany. The one which was oftenest and longest performed was 'Oberon' (May 23, 1791), a serio-comic fairy opera, libretto adapted by Giesecke from Wieland, which at one time ran the 'Zauberflöte' hard. Special mention should also be made of 'Die gute Mutter,' comic opera (1795); 'Der Schreiner,' Singspiel (1799); 'Mitgefühl,' Liederspiel (1804); all produced at the court theatre, as were also many ballets, including:—'Die Weinlese,' 'Das Urtheil des Paris,' 'Der Sabinerraub,' all between 1794 and 1800. Gerber gives a detailed catalogue of Wranizky's operas, ballets, and instrumental music. Among his many works, mostly published by André in Paris and Vienna may be specified:—12 symphonies; string-quintets, quartets, and trios; 3 trios for 2 flutes and cello, op. 83; concertos for cello, op. 27, flute op. 24; and sonatas for pianoforte, violin, and cello. He also left much music in MS. His connection with the Tonkünstler-Societat must not be passed over. He entered it in 1793, and having become secretary undertook at Haydn's instigation to reorganise its affairs, then in a very bad state. In 1797 he completely effaced the difficulties which existed in 1779, when Haydn had thought of entering. Haydn had a great respect for him, both as a man and an artist, and expressly desired that he might lead the strings at the first performances of the 'Creation' and the 'Seasons.' Wranizky died in Vienna, Sept. 26, 1808.
WRESTPLANK[1] and WRESTPINS. The Wrestplank or Pinblock of a pianoforte is the carrier of the wrest or tuning-pins, and is of great importance to the tone and stability of the instrument, its solidity maintaining the due continuance of the upper partials of the strings as it also contributes to the enduring resistance against their tension. In modern pianos it is built up of layers of wood with grain running alternately longitudinally and transversely; the woods employed being generally beech and wainscot. A brass plate which is to be often seen covering the wrestplank and is attractive to the eye, plays no real part in assuring the solidity of the structure. Broadwoods' metal pin-piece, a plate of iron ⅝ inch thick, through which the wrestpins screw into the wooden wrestplank beneath, is the surest means for keeping the pin in position without crushing the wood where the leverage of the string is exerted, or allowing the tuner the facile but unsound practice of rocking the pin from side to side. Becker of St. Petersburg exhibited at Paris, 1878, a grand piano wherein this part of the instrument was entirely of iron, and cast together with the frame. The bar was not bored for wrestpins, but was the bed for a system of mechanical tuning-pins, the principle of which is the female screw analogous to the machine heads used in guitars, etc. Becker has been followed by others, as was shown in the London Inventions Exhibition, 1885, where four more or less ingenious adaptations of this principle were submitted. The prime objection to mechanical tuning-pins, first introduced in pianos in 1800 by John Isaac Hawkins, and tried again from time to time, is in the fact that the elasticity of the wire is rebellious to a method of tuning that proceeds throughout by very small degrees. The string requires to be drawn up boldly, so as to give at once the tension intended. Without this the operation of tuning becomes tedious to the ear, which tires with a process which, through the slow and uncertain response due to the points of friction, seems interminable. [See Pianoforte, Tone, Tuning.]
WRIGHT, Henry, music-publisher. [See Walsh, vol. iv. p. 380.]
WRIST TOUCH (Ger. Handgelenk). In pianoforte playing, detached notes can be produced in three different ways, by movement of the finger, by the action of the wrist, and by the movement of the arm from the elbow. [Staccato.] Of these, wrist-touch is the most serviceable, being available for chords and octaves as well as single sounds, and at the
- ↑ Wrest from wrastan, A.S., to strain a string to a required tension; O.E. wrest, a tuning hammer or key.
The claricord hath a tunely kynde,
As the wyre is wrested high and lowe.-Skelton.
