also be produced 'from the head'; or, in other words, that the different 'registers' of every voice may be made to cross each other. [See Chest-voice; Falsetto.]
[ J. H. ]
HEBRIDES. 'Die Hebriden' is one of the names of Mendelssohn's 2nd Concert Overture (in B minor, op. 26), the others being 'Fingals Höhle' and 'Die einsame Insel.' He and Klingemann were at Staffa on Aug. 7, 1829; and the next letter to his family is dated 'Auf einer Hebride,' and contains the first 20 bars of the overture. (See facsimile in 'Die Familie Mendelssohn,' i. 257.) It is said that when he returned to Berlin and was asked by his sisters what he had seen, he went to the piano and played the opening of the overture, as much as to say 'that is what I have seen.' He began it seriously at Rome in the winter of 1830 (see the 'Reisebriefe'), and the first score is dated 'Rome, Dec. 16, 1830,' and entitled 'Die einsame Insel.' This MS. is in the possession of Mr. Felix Moscheles. It was played at the Crystal Palace on Oct. 14, 1871. A second score is dated ' London, June 20, 1832,' and entitled 'The Hebrides'; it is in possession of the family of Sir W. Sterndale Bennett. A comparison between the two was attempted in the C. P. programme book of the above date. The differences are very great, and are chiefly in the middle portion or working out (see letter Jan. 12, 1832). The printed score (Breitkopfs), an 8vo (published Easter 1834), is entitled 'Fingals Höhle.' The parts are headed 'Hebrides,' and do not agree with the score (see bars 7 and 87).
The overture was first played by the Philharmonic Society, May 14, 1832.
[ G. ]
HEDGELAND, William, established an organ factory in London in 1851. Amongst his instruments are those of St. Mary Magdalen, Paddington; Holy Cross, St. Helen's, Lancashire; and St. Thomas, Portman Square, London.
[ V. de P. ]
HEIDEGGER, John James, by birth a Fleming, as it is supposed, arrived in England in necessitous circumstances in 1707. Swiny was still sole manager of the Opera-house, but Heidegger was probably the person ('tho' musick is only his diversion') to whom Motteux alluded in his Preface to 'Thomyris,' as the selector of the songs in that opera. In 1708 he undertook the management, and held it until the end of the season of 1734 with varying success; but ended by acquiring a large fortune. He had the address to procure a subscription which enabled him to put 'Thomyris' on the stage, and by this alone he gained 500 guineas. He introduced Ridotti and masquerades at the Opera; and, in allusion to this, Dr. Arbuthnot inscribed to him a poem, 'The Masquerade,' in which he is more severe on his ugliness than on his more voluntary vices. Pope describes him as—
'With less reading than makes felons 'scape,
Less human genius than God gives an ape;'
and commemorates his personal charms in the lines,—
'And lo! her bird (a monster of a fowl),
Something betwixt an Heideggre and owl.'
(Dunciad, bk. 1.)
and a little print, below which are the words '—Risum teneatis amici?' translates his words into a caricature, representing a chimæra with the head of Heidegger. His face is preserved also in a rare etching by Worlidge, and in a capital mezzotint by Faber (1749) after Vanloo. Lord Chesterfield, on one occasion, wagered that Heidegger was the ugliest person in the town; but a hideous old woman was, after some trouble, discovered, who was admitted to be even uglier than Heidegger. As the latter was pluming himself on his victory, Lord Chesterfield insisted on his putting on the old woman's bonnet, when the tables were turned, and Lord Chesterfield was unanimously declared the winner amid thunders of applause.
Heidegger was commonly called the 'Swiss Count,' under which name he is alluded to in 'A Critical Discourse on Operas and Musick in England,' appended to the 'Comparison between the French and Italian Musick and Operas' of the Abbe" Raguenet, and in Hughes's 'Vision of Charon or the Ferry-boat.'
The libretto of Handel's 'Amadigi' (1716) is signed by Heidegger as author. In 1729 they entered into operatic partnership at the Haymarket Theatre for three years, but the agreement lasted till 1734. In 1737 Heidegger resumed the management, which the nobility had abandoned, in consequence of Farinelli's detention at Madrid; but the season was calamitous. Previous to closing the theatre, he advertised for a new subscription (May 24, 1738); but a second advertisement (July 25), announced that the project of another season was relinquished, and after that we hear no more of Heidegger.
[ J. M. ]
HEIGHINGTON, Musgrave, Mus. Doc., born 1680, son of Ambrose Heighington, of White Hurworth, Durham, and grandson of Sir Edward Musgrave, of Hayton Castle, Cumberland, Bart., embraced the profession of music and in 1738 was organist at Yarmouth. On Aug. 12, 1738, he was admitted a member of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, a literary and antiquarian body corresponding with the Society of Antiquaries. In 1739, being then organist at Leicester, he produced at the Society's anniversary an ode composed by him for the occasion. He composed the vocal music in 'The Enchanter, or, Harlequin Merlin,' a pantomime published in Dublin, together with the instrumental music, a circumstance which, coupled with the facts of his wife being an Irish lady and his son born in Dublin, leads to the inference that he at some time pursued his profession in that city. He also composed 'Six Select Odes,' and some minor pieces. He is said to have obtained his degree at Oxford, but his name is not to be found in the records there, nor in the catalogues of graduates at Cambridge or Dublin. He died at Dundee about 1774.
[ W. H. H. ]
