follows. The Treble leads, with the Guida. The Alto follows, after a Breve Rest, in the Fifth below, singing the B flat. And the Tenor enters, one Semibreve later than the Alto, in the Octave below the Guida. We believe that this solution—which is at least as effective as that in general use, and, in some places, even more so—has also remained hitherto undiscovered.
Among the MSS. preserved in the Royal Library at Buckingham Palace is a solution in four parts. The Tenor leads with the Guida. The Bass follows, after a Breve rest, in the Fifth below, singing the B flat. The Alto enters, a Breve after the Bass, in the Fourth above the Guida, singing the B flat. The Treble begins a Semibreve after the Alto, an Octave above the Guida. In order to work out this solution, the seventh note in the Alto must be made a Semibreve, and the eighth a Minim; and the three last notes in the Treble must be F, F, C, instead B, B, A. No clue can be obtained, either as to the authorship, or the date, of this very interesting MS.
Furthermore, Burney entertains us, on the authority of Hilton, with a solution in which all the parts are inverted; thus—
The Guida is here led off by the second voice. The first follows, after a Semibreve rest, in the Fourth above. The third enters, two Semibreves after the second, in the Twelfth below the Guida. We give this solution for what it is worth; but, it presents so many crudities that it is impossible to believe it can ever have entered into the Composer's original design.
[ W. S. R. ]
NON PLUS ULTRA, the title of a pianoforte sonata in F by Woelfl (op. 41), published in 1807 (?), and intended to express that mechanical difficulty could no further go. The finale is a set of variations on 'Life let us cherish.' The challenge was answered by 'Plus ultra,' the title affixed by the publishers to Dussek's sonata 'Le retour à Paris' (op. 71) on its publication in England.
[ G. ]
NONNE SANGLANTE, LA. Opera in 5 acts; words by Scribe and Delavigne, from Lewis's 'Monk '; music by Gounod. Produced at the Académie, Oct. 18, 1854.
[ G. ]
NORCOME, Daniel, lay-clerk of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, contributed a madrigal, 'With angel's face and brightness,' to 'The Triumphes of Oriana,' 1601. Nothing is known of his biography. [App. p.732 "Add that he was born at Windsor in 1576. Having embraced the tenets of the Romish Church, he was deprived of his lay clerkship and went to Brussels, where he became one of the instrumentalists in the Vice-regal Chapel. His name occurs in a list of the members of the chapel in 1641."]
[ W. H. H. ]
NORMA. Opera in 2 acts; words by Romani, music by Bellini. Produced at Milan, Lent 1832 [App. p.732 "Dec. 26, 1831"] (Donzelli, Pasta, Grisi). In Paris, Italiens, Dec. 8, 1855 [App. p.732 "1835"]. In London, in Italian, King's Theatre, June ao, 1833; in English (Planché), Drury Lane, June 24, 1837.
[ G. ]
NORRIS, Thomas, Mus. Bac., born about 1745, was a chorister of Salisbury Cathedral under Dr. Stephens. He appeared as one of the principal soprani at Worcester Festival, 1761, and Hereford Festival, 1762, and in the latter year at Drury Lane in 'The Spring,' a pasticcio. In 1765 he was appointed organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford; in November of the same year graduated at Oxford as Mus. Bac., his exercise (two anthems, 'The Lord is king' and 'I will alway give thanks') being performed in the Music School, Nov. 12; and on Dec. 15 was chosen organist of St. John's College. In 1766 he appeared at Gloucester Festival as a tenor singer, and continued to sing at the Meetings of the Three Choirs until 1788. On Nov. 5, 1771, he was admitted a lay clerk of Magdalen College, Oxford. He sang at the Commemoration of Handel in 1784 (where his delivery of the final recitatives in 'Israel in Egypt,' and of 'Thy rebuke,' and 'Behold and see,' in 'Messiah,' was greatly admired), and at most of the subsequent performances in the Abbey. He sang also at the oratorios in London. In 1790 he was engaged at the Birmingham Festival. But the effort proved fatal; ten days afterwards (Sept. 5, 1790), he expired at Himley Hall, near Stourbridge, the seat of Lord Dudley and Ward. Norris composed several anthems, only one of which has been printed; 6 symphonies for strings, with two hautboys and two horns; and some glees and other vocal pieces, of which 5 glees and 3 canons are printed in Warren's Collections. His career was much prejudiced by habits of intemperance.
[ W. H. H. ]
NORRIS, William, one of the Children of the Chapel Royal at the coronation of James II in 1685; afterwards a member of the choir, and master of the choristers of Lincoln. An anthem by him, 'Blessed are those,' was printed in Playford's 'Divine Companion,' and a service and two anthems are in the Tudway Collection (Harl. MS. 7340). He composed an ode for St. Cecilia's day, believed to have been performed in London in 1702; the MS. was in the possession of Benjamin Jacob, and was sold with the rest of his library in 1830, but has not been traced. Norris is supposed to have died about 1710.
[ W. H. H. ]
NORTH. Francis, Lord Guilford, born at Rougham, Norfolk, about 1640, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and afterwards Lord Chancellor, one of the best amateur musicians of his time, published anonymously in 1677 'A Philosophical Essay on Musick,' containing some curious observations on the phenomena of sounds. He died Sept. 7, 1685.
The Hon. Roger North, his brother, born at Rougham in 1650, was also bred to the bar, and became Attorney-General to James II. He wrote several family biographies and other works, but his claim to mention here is as author of 'Memoirs of Musick,' a well-written sketch of the progress of the art from the time of the ancient Greeks to about 1730. The MS. remained in the family's possession, unpublished, until 1842, when it came into the hands of
