Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/453

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NIEDERMEYER
NIEMCEWICZ
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on their journey to Sana, the capital of Yemen, they lost the naturalist Forskal. They were well received at Sana, but dreading the climate they resolved to return to Mocha, where the whole party were taken sick, but at length obtained passage to Bombay. Baurenfeind, the draughtsman, died on the voyage, and Cramer, the physician, the last of Niebuhr's companions, expired soon after their arrival. Niebuhr remained 14 months in Bombay, and then turned homeward, visiting Muscat, Bushire, Shiraz, and the ruins of Persepolis, ascending the Euphrates to the ruins of Babylon, and thence going to Bagdad and to Mosul, where he joined a caravan going to Aleppo. He passed over to Cyprus, and returning made a tour to Palestine, went with a caravan across Mount Taurus to Brusa in Asia Minor, arrived at Constantinople in February, 1767, and finally reached Copenhagen in November of the same year. He published the first fruits of the expedition in German under the title of Beschreibung von Arabien (Copenhagen, 1772), the government defraying the expense of the illustrations. In 1774-' 8 he continued his narrative by publishing his Reisebeschreibung von Arabien und andern umliegenden Landern (2 vols., Copenhagen). The third volume was not published till 1837; it bore the same title as the preceding, and contained an account of his homeward journey, through Aleppo, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, with brief notices of Bulgaria, Wallachia, Poland, and Germany. He contributed to a German periodical a paper on the " Interior of Africa," and one on the a Political and Military State of the Turkish Empire." He also edited Forskal's papers, Descriptions Animalium, and Flora JEgyptiaco-Ardbica (4to, 1775). The Danish government rewarded his services with the cross of Dannebrog. Toward the close of his life he became blind. His son, the historian, wrote his life (Kiel, 1817).

NIEDERMEYER, Louis, a composer, born at Nyon, Switzerland, April 27, 1802, died in Paris, March 14, 1861. He was the son of a German music teacher, and received lessons on the piano from Moscheles and in vocal music from Zingarelli. His first work, II reo per amore, was represented at Naples in 1820. In 1823 he went to Paris, where most of the remainder of his life was spent. He wrote several operas, one of which, La casa nel bosco, was produced at the Theatre Italien, through Rossini's aid, in 1828. In 1836 his Stradella was produced at the Grand Opera; in 1844, Marie Stuart; and in 1853, La Fronde. None of these works achieved any decided success. Niedermeyer, disheartened, abandoned dramatic composition, and revived Choron's school for religious music with good results. Besides his operas, he composed many masses, motets, and other religious compositions, and a number of excellent songs.

NIEL, Adolphe, a French general, born at Muret, Haute-Garonne, Oct. 4, 1802, died in Paris, Aug. 13, 1869. He entered the polytechnic school of Paris in 1821, and the military academy of Metz in 1823, and became a second lieutenant of engineers. In 1836-'7 he distinguished himself in the expedition against Constantine in Algeria, and was promoted, Oct. 25, 1837, to command the engineers in that province. On his return to France he gained distinction as military engineer, and was appointed colonel in 1846. In 1849 he took part in the expedition to Rome. He became general of division in 1853, commanded in 1854 the siege operations against Bomarsund, and in 1855 was appointed adjutant of Napoleon III., and was employed in the siege of Sebastopol. In 1859 he took a prominent part in the Italian campaign, and decided by the artillery under his command the victory of Solferino (June 24), after which he was made a marshal of France. In 1857 he was appointed a senator, and in 1867 minister of war, which office he held, with the exception of a few weeks, until his death.

NIEMANN, Albert, a German tenor singer, born at Erxleben, near Magdeburg, in 1831. He commenced his career as a chorus singer at Dessau, and afterward obtained distinction by means of a voice of unusual power and beauty. Most of his career has been spent in the service of the king of Hanover. He was the tenor selected by Wagner to sing in his Tannhauser when it was produced in Paris in 1861; but, disgusted with the temper shown by the Parisians toward that work, he broke his engagement and returned to Hanover. He married the German actress Marie Seebach.

NIEMBSCH YON STREHLENAU.See LENATJ, NlKOLAUS.

NIEMCEWICZ, Julian Ursin, a Polish author, born at Skoki, Lithuania, in 1757, died in Paris, May 21, 1841. He was educated in the military academy of Warsaw, and became an adjutant of Czartoryski; but he left the military service in 1788 with the rank of major, and served from 1788 to 1792 in the constituent Polish diet as a deputy of Lithuania. On the outbreak of the revolution of 1794 he fought on the side of Kosciuszko, afterward shared his imprisonment in Russia, and accompanied him in 1797 to America, where he married an American lady. After Napoleon's invasion of Poland he returned to Warsaw (1807), and was appointed secretary of the senate; and after the annexation of Poland to Russia, he became president of the committee on the new constitution. During the revolution of 1830 he was a member of the administrative council. Shortly before the fall of Warsaw he went to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life. His principal works are piewy histioryczne, or " Historical Songs of the Poles," with historical sketches (Warsaw, 1816), which attained immense popularity; history of the "Reign of Sigismund III." (1819); "Leb and Sarah," a novel in letters, illustrative of Jewish life in Poland; a historical novel, " John of Tenczyn;" and a collection of admirable tales and fable?