Coronation Anthems one of which was afterwards employed in Deborah. For the custom of standing during the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus see Handel, p. 651b.
In his 114th Psalm Mendelssohn has accented
the Hallelujah in a manner not justified by the quantity of the Hebrew word.
[ G. ]
HAMBOYS, or HANBOYS, John, Mus. Doc., a distinguished musician, flourished about 1470. He was author of a Latin treatise, 'Summa super Musicam Continuam et Discretam,' preserved in the British Museum (Add. MSS. 8866), and printed in Coussemaker's 'Scriptorum de Musica Medii Ævi,' i. 416. Another MS. treatise 'Quatuor principalia totius artis musicæ,' contained in the same volume as the above, and of which there is another MS. in the Bodleian Library, has been ascribed to Hamboys, but is believed to be the work of Simon Tunstede. It has been supposed that Hamboys was the first person on whom the degree of doctor of music was conferred in this country, but there is no evidence to support it.
[Appendix p.664: "HANBOYS, John. The treatise by this author, mentioned in vol. i, appears to be a commentary on the works of Franco, or rather the two Francos, and is chiefly interesting as giving an account of the musical notation of the time. Hanboys divides the notes into Larga, Duplex Longa, Longa, Brevis, Semibrevis, Minor, Semiminor, Minima; each of which is in its turn subdivided into perfect and imperfect notes, the former being equal in value to three of the next denomination below it, the latter to two. Considering the Larga as equivalent to the modern breve, the minim would be equal in value to our semi-demi-semiquaver. Hanboys abolishes the name crotchets used by Franco. This MS. cannot have been written much later than the middle of the 15th century, though Holinshed enumerates John Hanboys among the writers of Edward IV.'s reign, describing him as 'an excellent musician, and for his notable cunning therein made Doctor of Music.' He also appears to have written a book, 'Cantionum artificialium diversi generis,' which has been lost. Hanboys was an ecclesiastic, if we may judge from the epithet 'reverendus,' which is given to him at the end of his treatise.
[ A. H.-H. ]
HAMERTON, William Henry, born at Nottingham 1795; was placed as a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. In 1812 he came to London and studied singing under Thomas Vaughan. In 1814 he returned to Dublin and established himself as a teacher. In 1815, on the resignation of John Elliott, he was appointed master of the choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and in 1823 Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Dublin. In 1829 he resigned his appointments and went to Calcutta, where he resided until his death. Hamerton's compositions comprise some anthems and chants; an opera, entitled 'St. Alban,' performed at Dublin in 1827, and a few songs and duets. He was also author of an elementary work published in 1824, entitled 'Vocal Instructions, combined with the Theory and Practice of Pianoforte Accompaniment.'
[ W. H. H. ]
HAMILTON, James Alexander, born in London in 1785, was the son of a dealer in old books, and self-educated. Music became his particular study—the theory rather than the practice. He wrote many elementary works, including a long series of useful catechisms on musical instruments and subjects, many of which have passed through numerous editions, and a list of which will be found in the catalogue of R. Cocks & Co. He also translated and edited Cherubini's Counterpoint and Fugue, Baillot's Method for the Violin, and other important treatises. He died Aug. 2, 1845.
[ W. H. H. ]
HAMLET. Grand opera in 5 acts; words by Barbier and Carré after Shakspeare; music by Amb. Thomas. Produced at the Académie, March 9, 1868; in London, in Italian, as Amleto, at Covent Garden, June 19, 69 (Nilsson and Santley).
[ G. ]
HAMMER (Fr. Marteau; Ital. Martello; Germ. Hammer). The sound of a pianoforte is produced by hammers. In this the pianoforte resembles the dulcimer, from which we may regard it as developed by contrivance of keys and intermediate mechanism, rendering the pianoforte a sensitive instrument of touch, instead of one of mere percussion, incapable of refinement or expression. The pianoforte hammer consists of head and shank like any other hammer; the shank is either glued into a butt that forms its axis, or is widened out and centred or hinged with the same intention; and the blow is given and controlled by leverage more or less ingenious, and varying with the shape of the instrument and the ideas of the makers.
Both head and shank must be elastic: English makers use mahogany for the former, on which are glued thicknesses of sole or buffalo leather and specially prepared felt. Of late years single coverings of very thick felt have been successfully employed. For the shanks most English makers prefer cedar, on account of its peculiar elasticity and freedom from warping; on the continent, peartree, birch, hickory, and other woods are in use. The hammers gradually diminish in size and weight from bass to treble.
[ A. J. H. ]
HAMMERKLAVIER, i. e. Pianoforte. Beethoven's Sonata, op. 106, composed 1816–7, was superscribed by him 'Grosse Sonate fur das Hammerklavier.' So is op. 101, only at that time the German fit was not so strongly on Beethoven, and he gives the Italian name as well. By op. 109 he has returned to the Italian name alone.
[ G. ]
HANCOCK, organ builder. [Crang & Hancock.]
HAND BELLS for purposes of tune-playing or practising Change-Ringing can be obtained of all bell founders, tuned either chromatically or simply in the diatonic scale.
There are many bands of tune-players on hand bells in England, consisting of five or six men, who manipulate between them as many as sixty bells, and produce extremely pretty music. Hand bells are also used by Change-Ringers for practising the methods by which changes are produced, before performing them on the tower bells, much noise and annoyance being thus prevented; they are almost indispensable for this purpose.
[ C. A. W. T. ]
HANDEL[1], George Frederick, one of the greatest composers the world has ever seen, was born at [2]Halle, Lower Saxony, February 23, 1685. His father, a surgeon, who was sixty-three years of age when this son was born, knew nothing of Art, and regarded it as a degrading pursuit, or, at best, as an idle amusement. Determined to
- ↑ The name is always spelt Händel by German writers. It was spelt at first, in England, Hendel. The family-name had been spelt Händel, Hendel, Hendeler, Händeler, and Hendtler, but most correctly Händel (Förstemann. G. F. Haendel's Stammbaum, fol. Leipzig. 1844, very incorrectly quoted by Fétis).
- ↑ A woodcut of the house. No. 4 Grosser Schlamme, from a photograph by Klingemann, Mendelssohn's friend, was given in the Illustrated London News for June 25, 1859, and at a frontispiece to the Book of Words of the Handel Festival, 1877.
