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[Clementi, Mutius Philippus Vincentius Franciscus Xaverius]

(b Rome, Jan 23, 1752; d Evesham, Worcs., March 10, 1832). English composer, keyboard player and virtuoso, teacher, music publisher, entrepreneur, and piano manufacturer of Italian birth.

The oldest of seven children of Nicola Clementi (1720–89), a silversmith, and Magdalena (née Kaiser), Clementi began studies in music in Rome at a very early age; his teachers were Antonio Boroni (1738–92), an organist named Cordicelli, Giuseppi Santarelli (1710–90), and possibly Gaetano Carpani. In January 1766, at the age of 13, he secured the post of organist at his home church, S Lorenzo in Damaso. In that year, however, his playing attracted the attention of an English traveller, Peter Beckford (1740–1811), cousin of the novelist William Beckford (1760–1844) and nephew of William Beckford (1709–70), twice Lord Mayor of London. According to Peter Beckford’s own forthright explanation, he ‘bought Clementi of his father for seven years’, and in late ...

(b Würzburg, March 13, 1767; d Paris, June 19, 1844). German horn player, composer and teacher, active in France. Son of the Hungarian-born principal horn at the Würzburg court, Friedrich Domnich (b Ofen, 9 June 1729; d Würzburg, 22 April 1790), he was the most famous of three horn-playing brothers; the others were Jacob (b Würzburg, 1758; d Philadelphia, after 1806), who in about 1790 emigrated to Philadelphia and taught and played extensively there, and Arnold (b Würzburg, 29 Sept 1771; d Meiningen, 14 July 1834), who was employed at the Saxe-Meiningen court from 1786 until 1834, becoming principal horn in 1803. At an early age Heinrich entered the band of Count von Elz at Mainz, but when subjected to livery service he left in 1783 for Paris, where he studied with Punto for two years. In 1785 he earned praise for the neatness and facility of his playing as second to Jean Lebrun in a double concerto at the Concert Spirituel; this was the first of at least eight appearances there by Domnich between ...

(b Jirapa, Ghana, June 22, 1958). Ghanaian xylophone maker, player, and teacher. Born into a family of gyilli makers and players in northwest Ghana, Doozie began playing at six years of age. When he was 12 his father taught him to make his first gyilli and he was a practised maker by age 15. After secondary school Doozie moved to Accra to become a xylophonist with the Ghana Dance Ensemble. He was also an instructor at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. Among other appointments, he has performed with the National SO Ghana and has been associated with the Institute of African Studies and the music and performing arts departments of the University of Ghana. In 1990 he established a workshop to produce xylophones; he made the xylophones used in the Broadway production of The Lion King. He has also restored instruments in museum collections. He continues to teach and perform and is managing director of Dagarti Arts and Music in Accra and a member of the Arts Council of Ghana. He is also involved in promoting fair trade practices. Doozie’s xylophone bars—from eight to 18 for each instrument—are made of aged, fire-dried planks of wood from male shea trees. Gourd resonators are affixed under the bars, which are tied to the curved frame. The tips of the wooden beaters are padded with rubber recycled from tyres....

(b ?Hennaard, Friesland, c1650; d Tzum, c1725). Dutch writer on music, organist and schoolmaster. While mysteries remain about Douwes’s biography and publications, there is no doubt that his little Grondig ondersoek (Franeker, 1699/R) is one of the most important sources of information for historians and makers of keyboard instruments, offering unique details on the scaling of the clavichord and virginals. It also discusses the trumpet marine and ‘noardske Balke’ (noordsche balk). His general musical education came from such Dutch authors as J.A. Ban, but his data on instruments (useful, like his discussion of musical intervals, to remote Friesian organists) were more empirical and, though based on an uncertain unit of measurement, much more practical than those of any European theorist of his period. His treatise is concerned with the notes (toonen) of music: how to tune them, how to use them harmonically and how to produce them on different instruments. It does not seem to have been widely known at the time....

(b Belfast, Aug 12, 1839; d Manchester, Dec 12, 1911). English clarinettist, brass band conductor and teacher. He was the son of a military bandmaster and had a precocious musical talent; by the age of 11 he was appearing as a piccolo soloist with Louis Jullien’s orchestra. He also appears to have been a talented pianist, but it was as a clarinettist that he made his mark as a player. After touring with a number of theatre bands he became leader of the Harrogate Spa Band, and in 1861 he joined the Hallé Orchestra in which he remained for most of his playing career. In the 1850s he started to conduct brass bands, and he went on to have influential associations with the most successful Victorian bands, particularly the Meltham Mills Band. At the time of his death Gladney was widely referred to as the father of the brass band movement. With two other successful Victorian band conductors, Edwin Swift and Alexander Owen, he shaped the format and idiom of the British brass band. The standard instrumentation comes from their preferred combination of forces (...

(David )

(b Chicago, IL, Jan 27, 1950). American horn player, historical horn maker, music educator, and composer. He studied horn with Ernani Angelucci, John Barrows, Helen Kotas, Ethel Merker, Frank Brouk, and Dale Clevenger. He was appointed assistant principal horn for the Detroit Symphony in 1972, and has also performed as principal horn with the Mexico City Philharmonic (1978–80), the Cincinnati Symphony (1984–6), the Toledo Symphony (1990–7), and as guest principal horn with the Antwerp Philharmonic/Royal Flemish Orchestra. He has taught the horn at Interlochen Arts Academy, Wheaton College, Oakland University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Michigan, the School of Perfection in Mexico City, and the Carl Nielsen Academy in Odense, Denmark. Greer has written solo pieces for both the modern and natural (valveless) horn, as well as a mass for hunting horns and organ.

Noted for his flexible tone and facile technique, Greer has toured widely as a soloist and has made notable recordings, particularly on the natural horn; those recordings include Beethoven’s Sonata for horn, Brahms’ Trio for horn, violin, and piano, and the horn concertos of Mozart....

[Louis]

(b Berlin, 17 Feb ?1821; d Berlin, May 23, 1882). German harpist, teacher and composer, son of Karl Grimm. He studied the harp with Josef Hasselmans at the Strasbourg Conservatory and perfected his skill in Leipzig with Elias Parish Alvars. From 1837 he performed with great success and was much in demand, particularly by Liszt and Bülow. In 1844 he was the principal harpist at the royal chapel in Berlin and 25 years later received the title königliche Concertmeister.

Grimm was the founder of the modern German school of harp playing. Among his pupils were Albert Zabel, Wilhelm Posse, Franz Poenitz, Rosalia Spohr (wife of Louis Spohr) and Ferdinand B. Hummel. His compositions for the harp are unpublished.

(b Bohemia, 1710/11; d Dresden, March 30, 1771). Bohemian horn player, teacher, inventor and composer. He was appointed second horn of the Dresden Hofkapelle in 1737 and continued in that capacity until about 1768, being paired initially with J.G. Knechtel, later with Carl Haudek. Hampel contributed to the development of both the instrument and its technique, and his innovations were widely imitated. He extended the horn's range downwards by developing the middle and low registers. During his tenure at Dresden, second horn parts became more independent of first parts and a new idiomatic second horn style appeared, the latter characterized by rapid arpeggios and wide leaps, sometimes extending down to the second harmonic, with occasional factitious tones in the low register (e.g. e, f and f ♯). This new style was soon imitated elsewhere, and from it developed a species of second horn player (...

[Karel]

(b Dobřiš, Nov 1721; d Dresden, July 25, 1802). Bohemian horn player and teacher. From 1738 to 1744 he studied with Johann Schindelárž [Jan Šindelář], who was principal horn player at Prince Mannsfeld’s court at Prague. Haudek joined Count Kinsky’s orchestra in 1744 and became Konzertmeister to Prince J.A. von Auersperg in 1746. He was appointed third horn player in the Dresden Hofkapelle in 1747, becoming first horn about 1756 (Marpurg), probably succeeding J.G. Knechtel. The second horn player at Dresden was Anton Joseph Hampel, with whom Haudek worked to develop the technique of hand-stopping for playing chromatic scales.

According to Dlabacž, Haudek and Hampel performed the most difficult Duettkonzerte in front of the entire Dresden court. Haudek’s 28 horn Duetts (ed. C. Larkins London, 1994), require a well-developed hand-stopping technique for both horn parts. Dlabacž also mentioned solos, Duettkonzerte and partitas written by Haudek for his many pupils (among whom were Franz Wiesbach and Giovanni Punto). Haudek became ill in ...

(b Bozí Dar [Gottesgab], Bohemia, March 11, 1795; d Prague, Jan 29, 1871). Czech horn player, teacher and inventor. He graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 1817, and played the horn in the theatre orchestra of Pest from 1819 to 1822 and in the Vienna Hofoper (Kärntnertortheater) from 1822 to 1 December 1824. He then returned to Prague to become principal horn in the Estates Theatre. In June 1826 he was summoned by B.D. Weber, the director of the Prague Conservatory (whose variations ‘for the newly invented keyed horn’ Kail had performed in 1819), to be its first professor for trumpet and trombone (both with valves). From 1852 he also taught the flugelhorn; he retired in 1867.

On 1 November 1823 Kail obtained a privilege, together with the Vienna maker Joseph Riedl, for a trumpet with two Vienna valves; on 11 September 1835 the two received a privilege for a rotary valve; and from ...

(b Philadelphia, PA, 1945). American maker of historical woodwinds, performer, and teacher. He founded Levin Historical Instruments, Inc. around 1970 to produce period instrument replicas in collaboration with Steven Silverstein, who was once a partner in the business. Levin arrived on his instrument designs by exploring museum collections in Europe, particularly Germany and Holland. His mentors included friedrich von Huene , Anthony Baines, william Dowd , and Gerrit and Henk Klop. Eventually, his company offered Renaissance- and Baroque-style recorders, cornetti, shawms, and dulcians (fagotti), as well as Baroque and Classical bassoons and oboes. Levin dissolved the company in 1990 to pursue a career in software development and technical writing, but his instruments continue to be sought after and remain in use worldwide.

Levin graduated from the Manhattan School of Music (BA, 1967), where he studied modern bassoon with Elias Carmen. He became a faculty member at the Oberlin College Baroque Performance Institute (...

(b Berkeley, CA, June 25, 1948; d Portland, OR, March 3, 2001). American luthier. He attended Summerhill school in England. Having developed craft skills through constructing models, and repairing and rebuilding vehicles, he began to make musical instruments as a hobby. In 1971 he began an apprenticeship with Paul Schuback, a Portland, Oregon violin maker trained in Mirecourt, and in 1973 became a journeyman in the workshop of the Swiss lute maker Jacob van de Geest at Vevey. During these years Lundberg photographed, measured and studied lutes and viols in European collections. By the mid-1970s he had established his own workshop in Portland, and gained a reputation as an important maker of lutes and related instruments on historical models; he produced about 400 in total. Lundberg also restored historical instruments for museums and collectors, and freely shared his knowledge with apprentices. He lectured frequently on lute construction, in particular at the Erlangen ...

(b Mount Vernon, NY, Nov 24, 1953). American composer, computer instruments inventor and educator. He studied composition and cello at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1971–3), Columbia University (1973–4), the Juilliard School (BM 1975, MM 1977), specialising in computer music technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. His principal teachers were Luigi Dallapiccola (1973), Roger Sessions (1973–5) and Elliott Carter (1975–8). He was the principal cellist with the Canadian Opera Company (1975–6) and a guest composer at IRCAM, Paris (1978–9), where he subsequently served as director of musical research (1980–84). He returned to the United States and in 1985 joined the faculty of MIT as professor of music and media at its new media laboratory and became director of the Experimental Media Facility and head of the Hyperinstruments/Opera of the Future group where he continues to work. In ...

(b Lapalisse, Allier, France, July 28, 1800; d Paris, France, 7/March 8, 1865). French piano technician, teacher, and manufacturer. Sightless since childhood, Montal was enrolled in a progressive school for the blind in Paris, where he learned to play oboe, violin, and piano, and studied music theory and mathematics. He taught himself to tune pianos, hiring helpers to read him books on the subject. Together with a fellow student, he disassembled and reassembled a piano and an organ, studying the mechanics of both instruments. In time, he became a prominent tuner-technician and began to lecture about piano technology, initiating the tradition of piano work as an appropriate skill for blind persons. In 1834 learning that one of his students was about to issue a book based on his own methods, he dictated a summary treatise that was published in Paris and translated into German, Czech, and Dutch. Montal advocated equal temperament as the only system appropriate for music of his time; his tuning method was based on ear-training exercises designed to familiarize students with the sound of equally tempered intervals and chords. In ...

(b Los Angeles, 1910; d Los Angeles, Dec 17, 2000). American piano teacher and designer of the Rhodes electric piano . The son of a baker, his grounding was in the sciences and he took an architectural degree at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School. Around 1930 he established the Harold Rhodes School of Popular Piano. During World War II he taught the piano to fellow servicemen, and then to hospital patients. For this he built his 29-note Air Corps Piano (1942), which could be played in bed and resembled a large toy piano; it used scrap parts from aeroplanes, including lengths of flattened aluminium tubing, mounted like xylophone bars, instead of strings. Thousands were built for Air Corps Hospitals. By 1947, working in California, Rhodes had developed the idea in the three-octave Pre-Piano, with electrostatic pickups, which was marketed for two years.

While in partnership with guitar builder Leo Fender, the only direct result of which was the Rhodes Piano Bass (marketed ...

(b Los Angeles, 1910; d Los Angeles, Dec 17, 2000). American piano teacher and designer of the Rhodes electric piano. The son of a baker, he was grounded in science and took an architectural degree at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School. About 1930 he established the Harold Rhodes School of Popular Piano. During World War II the Army Air Surgeon General asked him to develop a music therapy programme for servicemen in hospitals. For this he designed his 29-note Air Corps Piano, or ‘Xylette’ (1942), which could be played in bed and resembled a large, 15-pound toy piano; initially it used parts from wrecked aeroplanes and scrap plywood from engine crates. Instead of strings it had graduated lengths of flattened aluminium tubing from B-17 wings, mounted like xylophone bars and played from a piano-type keyboard. Thousands were built between 1942 and 1945, primarily for Air Corps hospitals; many of these ‘Make and Play’ instruments were assembled by the patients, following a manual that Rhodes wrote....

(b Kaufbeuren, Feb 12, 1925; d Sept 2004). German organ builder.

He studied the organ and piano at the Händelkonservatorium in Munich and became the organist in Kaufbeuren in 1946. He received his training in organ building from the Hindelang brothers in Ebenhofen (1945–8) and then worked for Josef Zeilhuber in Altstätten (1949), Albert Moser in Munich (1949–53) and A. Mårtenson in Lund (1953–5). He took his master’s examinations in Munich in 1952 and set up his own business in Kaufbeuren on 1 April 1955. He built organs exclusively with slider chests and mechanical action in cases of solid timber. His display pipes are 90% tin, his mixtures 80%; all the other pipes are 50% spotted metal. He occasionally lectured on the design of organ façades, the use of materials, and voicing. Schmid’s firm had built some 200 new organs by ...

(b Hirschberg [now Jelenia Góra, Poland], March 31, 1853; d Leipzig, Jan 16, 1940). German flautist, teacher and inventor . He performed as principal flautist in the Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1881 to 1917, and taught at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1908 to 1932. Schwedler was the last major exponent of the conical-bore ‘simple-system’ flute, whose advantages he strove to retain whilst matching the manifest advantages of Boehm's 1847 system. In 1885 he designed the ‘Schwedler-Kruspe flute’, built for him by Friedrich Wilhelm Kruspe. In 1898 Schwedler designed his ‘Reformflöte’, collaborating with F.W. Kruspe's son, Carl jr (established since 1893 in Leipzig), which he later improved in 1912. Among improved features of these models were head-joint in metal, redesigned embouchure-hole and a mechanism to facilitate the fingering of F/F♯. After a rift with Krupse, Schwedler’s later models were made from 1917 by Moritz-Max Mönnig (1875–1949), the last of which Hindemith dubbed ‘the six-cylinder flute’, because of its technical complexity. These developments are documented in his ...

(b Detroit, MI, July 12, 1957). American horn player, teacher, and brass instrument maker. He was a pupil of Lowell Greer (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and Philip Farkas (Indiana University) and holds a BM from Wayne State University and a MM degree from Indiana University.

A pioneer in the United States in natural horn performance and teaching, Seraphinoff has been on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (modern and natural horn) since 1986, and has made reproductions of baroque and classical natural horns and trumpets since 1983. As a modern horn player he has performed with the Toledo Symphony, Michigan Opera, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His activities as natural horn player include performances with virtually every period instrument orchestra in the United States, including the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. His publications cover a wide range of topics, from horn performance and history to brass instrument technology. Since ...

(b Reinsdorf, nr Artern, Nov 8, 1725; d Leipzig, Feb 4, 1805). German flautist, teacher and flute maker. In 1750 he received the degree of Imperial Public Notary at Leipzig University. At about this time he began to make flutes. In 1754 he became principal flautist of the Grosses Conzert, a forerunner of the Gewandhaus orchestra. His career, interrupted by the disbanding of the orchestra during the Seven Years War, included solo tours as far afield as St Petersburg. J.F. Reichardt's accounts of his own travels (published 1774–6) took note of Tromlitz and only three other Leipzig virtuosos. Tromlitz left the orchestra in 1776 and devoted himself to teaching, writing, composition and flute making. He recorded his ideas and teaching methods in several texts which shed much light on late 18th-century flute playing and performing practice. His Kurze Abhandlung vom Flötenspielen (1786) announced his rejection of merely average standards of performing and instrument making; this was to become a constant theme of his. He introduced the elements at the core of his ideal: clarity of articulation and expression; perfect intonation in a system having both large (5-comma) and small (4-comma) semitones, for which the E♭ and D♯ keys invented by J.J. Quantz in ...