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ABBOTT, Emma. 1850-1888. Dramatic soprano. Born in Chicago. Her father was a mu-sic teacher. She showed great love of music in childhood. Her family moved to Peoria, Ill., in 1854, where her father had difficulty in earning a living. To help with the finances, he gave concerts in Peoria and many other towns in which Emma, then nine years old, and her brother George appeared. At the age of ten, Emma was given lessons on the guitar and George on the violin, their mother partly paying for the lessons by boarding the teacher. After three years of instruction, Emma was able to teach the guitar and had several pupils. She attended school in Peoria, until, at the age of sixteen, she was obliged to teach district school to help support the family. She also sang in the synagogue in that town. About this time, she joined the Lombard Concert Company and toured with them through Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, but they soon disbanded and Emma, determined to study music, undertook to work her way to New York by giving concerts. This she accomplished, but was unable to make any headway in that city. Soon after this, she met Clara Louise Kellogg in Toledo, Ohio. Miss Kellogg was so pleased with her voice that she paid her expenses and gave her a letter to Erani, a celebrated teacher. While studying with Erani, she sang in a church choir at a good salary and was helped by the congregation to go to Europe. She went to Milan and worked for some time under San Giovanni and later, for several years in Paris, with Delle Sedie and Warte! Her first appearance in Paris was a great success and she remained for several years in Europe. In 1878 she returned to the United States where she had great success. She married Mr. Eugene Wetherell, a New York business man, the year she returned from abroad and he managed all her tours until her death, in 1888. Miss Abbott was also very sucessful financially and is said to have been a very wealthy woman.
Abel (ä'-bél), Karl Friedrich. 1725-1787.
Very noted performer on the viol da gamba. He was a pupil of Sebastian Bach, at the Thomasschule, Leipsic, and afterward belonged to the Court band at Dresden. He went to Lon-don in 1759, where he gave concerts composed entirely of his own music, and was appointed chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte, with a salary of two hundred pounds. For many years he conducted Mrs. Cornely's Subscription concerts with Johann Christian Bach. These concerts were also known as "Bach and Abel's Concerts," and were continued until Bach's death in 1782. During the next year they were conducted by Abel alone but were unsuccessful. He returned to Germany in 1783, but did not stay, going back to London in 1785. He was the greatest and last performer upon his instrument, which after his death fell into disuse. His compositions consist of overtures, concertos, quartets, sonatas and symphonies. Among his best known works are A Fifth Set of Six Overtures and A Set of Six Sonatas. His instrumental pieces are in seventeen works. He also wrote two operas, Love in a Village, in 1760, and Bernice, in 1764. His works excel particularly in harmony. Abel played usually on a six-stringed English viol da gamba, in-stead of on the seven-stringed one generally used on the continent. A very fine three-quarter length portrait of Abel with his instrument was painted by his friend Gainsborough. Among his pupils was the noted pianist, T. B. Cramer.
Abell, John. About 1660-after 1716.
Famous alto singer and lute player. Began his musical education in the choir of the Chapel Royal and was later sent by Charles II. to study in Italy. Returned to England in 1683. He was dismissed from the choir of the Chapel Royal in 1688, and after traveling on the Continent for a number of years, during which time he supported himself by his voice and lute, he returned and settled at Cam-bridge in 1700. He published a collection of songs in several languages in 1701, dedicated to William III. and a collection of songs in English, also in 1701.
Abert (ä'bert), Johann Joseph. 1832-
Bohemian orchestral and operatic composer. Received his first musical instruction in the choir of the church at Gastdorf. At the age of eight, he entered the Augustine convent at Leipa, where he stayed until he was fifteen, when he ran away to Prague and became a pupil in the Conservatory there, studying with Tomaczek and Kittl. He studied doublebass first, and the works which he wrote for this instrument are very fine. In 1852 he became contrabassist in the Court Orchestra at Stuttgart and the next year produced his first symphony in C minor. His first opera, Anna von Landskron, was written in 1859, after which he lived in Paris and London for several years. In 1865 he was appointed Royal Music director at Stuttgart and in 1867 Royal Orchestra conductor at the Court Theatre. Is best known by his orchestral transcriptions of Bach's organ fugues. He also wrote overtures and operas. In 1877 he was appointed music director and conductor at the Stuttgart Court Theatre. His best known work is a five act opera, Ekkehard.
Abt, Franz. 1819-1885.
Born at Eilenburg, Prussia. His father was a clergyman, and the son was intended for the same profession. He was sent to the Thomasschule and the University of Leipsic, to study theology, but was allowed to take up music at the same time and received a thorough musical education. After his father's death he gave up theology entirely. He was appointed musical director of the Court Theatre at Bernburg in 1841 and later on held the same position at the Aktien Theatre at Zurich. In 1852, he went to the Hof-Theatre, Brunswick, as Court conductor, where he stayed until his retirement in 1882, after which he lived at Wiesbaden. He visited the United States in 1872, as the guest of several singing societies and conducted at the Gilmore Jubilee the same year. Abt's piano pieces, which were of a light character, are almost forgotten, but he was a most prolific song-writer, his compositions consisting of between four and five hundred works, almost entirely songs. These consist of solos, duets, trios and choruses and of part-songs for men's voices, which were particularly popular and successful. Some of these pieces have become really German folk-songs, among them, Gute Nacht du Mein Herziges Kind, and his popular and familiar, When the Swallows Homeward' Fly. He also wrote a number of successful cantatas for female voices, the most popular being Red Riding Hood; Little Snowdrop; and Cinderella.
Acton, John. 1863-
English composer and vocal teacher. Studied first at Manchester and later at Milan under Lamperti. From 1882-1893 was organist in various churches. He has been professor of singing at the Royal College of Music, Manchester, since its opening in 1893. Became conductor of the St. Cecilia Choral Society of Manchester in 1894. His compositions consist of two cantatas for female voices, Forest Bells, and The Rose and the Nightingale; a chorus for male voices, For Home and Liberty, which was awarded a prize, offered by the South London Musical Club in 1888; also duets; many songs; and piano pieces.
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