interrupted by the warning voice of the passing guardian of the night calling out the hours as they flew too quickly—was almost equally popular. Among his poems may be briefly cited 'Anacreon'; the matchless 'Irish Melodies,' and their sequel the 'National Airs'; 'Lalla Rookh' (including four poems) and numerous songs and ballads. With his satirical and political writings we do not concern ourselves. Probably no poet or man of letters has ever attained such popularity, or such loving celebrity amongst his very rivals. Some of his works have been translated into the French, Russian, Polish, and other languages of Europe, and his oriental verse has been rendered into Persian, and absolutely sung in the streets of Ispahan. It will be sufficient for our purpose to allude to the one misfortune of his public life, which arose from the defalcation of his deputy in a small official post at Bermuda, given him in 1804 through the influence of Earl Moira. The claims which thus arose he however honourably discharged by his literary labours. The evening of Moore's life was saddened by the successive deaths of his children. His wife,[1] an admirable woman, was his mainstay under these trials; and in 1835 the government of the day, through Lord John Russell, almost forced upon him a pension of £300 per annum. He died, enfeebled, but in the possession of his faculties, Feb. 25, 1852, at Sloperton Cottage, near Devizes.
[ R. P. S. ]
MOOREHEAD, John, was born in Ireland, where he received his first musical instruction. He came to England when young, and was for several years engaged in the orchestras of various country theatres. In 1798 he was engaged in the orchestra at Covent Garden, and soon after employed to compose for that theatre. During his engagement he composed music for 'The Volcano' and 'The Naval Pillar,' 1799; 'Harlequin's Tour' and 'The Dominion of Fancy' (both with Attwood), 1800; 'Il Bondocani' (with Attwood) and 'Perouse' (with Davy), 1801; 'Harlequin's Habeas,' 'The Cabinet' (with Braham, Davy, etc.), and 'Family Quarrels' (with Braham and Reeve), 1802. He died in 1804.
[ W. H. H. ]
MOOSER, Aloys, a famous Swiss organ-builder, whose greatest instruments are those at Fribourg and in the New Temple at Berne. He was born at Fribourg in 1770, and died there Dec. 19, 1829. Mooser also made pianos.
[ G. ]
MORALES, Cristofero, born at Seville in the early part of the 16th century, and appointed a member of the papal chapel about 1540[2] by Paul III. His published works, dating between the years 1539 and 1569, consist of 16 Masses (in 2 books), Magnificats, and several Motets published in various collections. Morales[3] 'despised all worldly, to say nothing of light, music, and had nothing to do with it, regarding with anger those who applied that noble gift of God, the power of making music, to frivolous, and even to objectionable uses.' Ambitious that his works should be worthy of God and the papal chapel, he surely gained his end, and for nearly 350 years they have been annually sung[4] in the place for which he designed them. In modern score Eslava gives six pieces; Rochlitz[5] some extracts from a mass; Schlesinger[6] the celebrated motet 'Lamentabatur Jacob,' which Adami describes as a 'marvel of art'; Martini[7] three movements from the Magnificats. Two motets (à 3) 'Domine Deus' and 'Puer est natus' and a Magnificat are in score in the British Museum in Burney's Musical Extracts, vol. iv. (Add. MSS. 11,584).
An interesting portrait is given by Adami, and copied in Hawkins" History.
[ J. R. S.-B. ]
MORALT. Four brothers of great celebrity in Munich, celebrated for their rendering of Haydn's quartets.
The first, Joseph, born 1775, entered the court band in 1797, and became Kapellmeister in 1800, which post he held till his death in 1828.
The next brother, Johann Baptist, born 1777 [App. p.719 "Jan 10"], entered the same band in 1792, was the second violin in the quartet, and also composed two symphonies for orchestra, some 'Symphonic concertantes,' and 'Leçons méthodiques' for the violin, two string quartets, besides a MS. Mass, etc. He died in 1825.
Philipp, the violoncello of the quartet, born 1780, was in the band from 1795 to his death Mar. 18, 1847. He had a twin-brother, Jacques, who played in the orchestra, but not in the celebrated quartet.
Georg, the tenor-player, was born in 1781 and died 1818.
A Moralt, probably one of the same family, was well known in England in the early part of the present century. He was first-viola player at the Philharmonic till 1842, when his name disappears, possibly on account of his death, and is succeeded by that of Hill. He took a prominent part in the provincial festivals and music generally.
[ J. A. F. M. ]
MORDENT (Ital. Mordente; Ger. Mordent, also Beisser; Fr. Pincé). One of the most important of the agrémens or graces of instrumental music. It consists of the rapid alternation of a written note with the note immediately below it.
Mordents are of two kinds, the Simple or Short Mordent, indicated by the sign
, and consisting of three notes, the lower or auxiliary note occurring but once, and the Double or Long Mordent, the sign for which is
, in which the auxiliary note appears twice or oftener. Both kinds begin
- ↑ Miss Bessie Dykes, a young and beautiful Irish actress, whom he married in 1811.
- ↑ Adami's 'Osservazioni per ben regolare il coro della Capp. Pontif.' (Roma, Rossi 1711). The date of the 2nd book of Masses is here quoted as 1544. In the dedication to the Pope, Morales writes 'quod cum me jam pridem inter Chori tui musicos collocaveris.'
- ↑ From preface to 2nd book of Masses.
- ↑ 'Mottetti etc che si cantano nella Capella Sistlna e nella Basilica Vaticana'—a MS. in the British Museum (Egerton Collection 2460–61) containing a Magnificat sung on the vigil of Epiphany, and the motet 'Lamentabatur Jacob,' sung on the 4th Sunday in Lent.
- ↑ Sammlung Gesangstücke, vol. i. nos. 27, 29.
- ↑ In 'Musica Sacra,' Berlin 1853. Each motet can be had separately.
- ↑ 'Esemplare … di contrappunto' (Bologna 1774). The three movements are used as theoretical examples, and numerous notes added on questions which they illustrate.
