34 he went to Mannheim to conduct the opera there, and in 36 advanced to the top of the ladder as Hofkapellmeister—in 1852 general music director—at Munich, and there remained till 1865, when he retired on a pension. Lachner's writings are of prodigious number and extent. An oratorio, and a sacred cantata; 4 operas; requiems; 3 grand masses; various cantatas, entr'actes, and other pieces; many large compositions for male voices; 8 symphonies—among them those in D minor (No. 3), in C minor (op. 52)—which won the prize offered by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde—and in D (No. 6), which Schumann finds twice as good as the prize one—suites, overtures and serenades for orchestra, the orchestration of Schubert's 'Song of Miriam'; 3 quartets; concertos for harp and bassoon; trios, duos, pianoforte pieces of all dimensions; and a large number of vocal pieces for solo and several voices. All that industry, knowledge, tact, and musicianship can give is here—if there were but a little more of the sacred fire! No one can deny to Lachner the praise of conscientiousness and artistic character; he is deservedly esteemed by his countrymen almost as if he were an old classic, and holds a similar position in the South to that of Hiller in the North. The next brother, Ignaz, was born in 1807, was brought up to music, and at 12 years old was sent to the Gymnasium at Augsburg, where he is said to have had no less a person than Napoleon III. (then Count St. Leu) as a schoolfellow. In 1824 he joined his brother at Vienna, in 1825 was made Vice-Kapellmeister of the opera; in 1831 a Court music-director at Stuttgart, and in 1842 rejoined his brother in a similar position at Munich. In 53 he took the conduct of the theatre at Hamburg, in 58 was made Court Kapellmeister at Stockholm; and in 61 settled down for good at Frankfort, where he fills many musical positions, and celebrated his 50th anniversary on Oct. 18, 1875. He also has produced a long list of works—3 operas; several ballets, melodramas, etc., etc.; with masses, symphonies, quartets, pianoforte works, and many songs, one of which—'Überall Du'—was very popular in its day. The third brother, Vincenz, was born July 19, 1811, and also brought up at the Augsburg Gymnasium. He began by taking Ignaz's place as organist in Vienna, and rose by the same course of goodness and indefatigable assiduity as his brothers, to be Court Kapellmeister at Mannheim from 1836 till 73, when he retired on a pension. He was in London in 42, conducting the German Company. His music to Turandot, his Prize song 'In der Ferne,' and other pieces, are favourites with his countrymen.
[ G. ]
LACHNITH, Ludwig Wenzel, born July 7, 1746, at Prague, migrated to the service of the Duke at Zweibrücken, and thence to Paris, where he made his début at the Concert Spirituel as a horn player. He was a clever handy creature, who wrote not only quantities of all kinds of instrumental music, but at least four operas, and several pasticcios and other pieces. His most notable achievements however, were his adaptations of great operas, by way of making them pleasant to the public, such as 'Les mystères d'Isis,' for which both libretto and music of the Magic Flute were 'arranged' into what M. Fétis calls 'a monstrous [1]compilation' (Grand Opera, Aug. 20 [App. p.694 "Aug. 23"], 1801). No wonder that the piece was called 'Les misères d'ici,' and that Lachnith was styled 'le dérangeur.' He was clever also at working up the music of several composers into one piece, and torturing it to the expression of different words and sentiments from those to which it had originally been set—as 'Le Laboureur Chinois,' in which the music of 'several celebrated composers' was 'arrangée par M. Lachnitch' (Feb. 5, 1813). In these crimes he had an accomplice in the elder Kalkbrenner, who assisted Him to concoct two 'Oratorios in action'—Saul (April 6, 1803) and 'The taking of Jericho' (April 11, 1805). We were as bad in England several years later, and many fine operas of Rossini, Auber, and quasi-Weber were first made known to Londoners by much the same expedients as those of Lachnith, in the hands of T. P. Cooke, Lacy, and others. [App. p.694 add "date of death, 1884."]
[ G. ]
LACY, John, bass singer, born in the last quarter of last century, was a pupil of Rauzzini at Bath. After singing in London he went to Italy, where he became complete master of the Italian language and style of singing. On his return he sang at concerts and the Lenten oratorios, but although he possessed an exceptionally fine voice and sang admirably in various styles, circumstances prevented him from taking any prominent position. In 1818 he accepted an engagement at Calcutta, and, accompanied by his wife, left England, to which he never returned. Had he remained here he would most probably have been appointed successor to Bartleman.
Mrs. Lacy, his wife, was originally Miss Jackson, and appeared as a soprano singer at the Concert of Ancient Music, April 25, 1798. In 1800 she became the wife of Francesco Bianchi, the composer, and in 1810 his widow. In 1812 she was married to Lacy, and sang as Mrs. Bianchi Lacy in 1812, 13, and 14. She 'was the best representative of the great and simple style as delivered down by Mrs. Bates and Madame Mara, whilst her articulate delivery and pure pronunciation of Italian, rendered her no less generally valuable in other departments of the art.'
[ W. H. H. ]
LACY, Michael Rophino, son of an English merchant, born at Bilbao, July 19, 1795; learned music from an early age, and made rapid progress on the violin; was at college at Bourdeaux for 18 months, and in 1803 was sent to Paris to finish his education, and attained to considerable skill as a linguist. Kreutzer was his principal instructor in music. About the end of 1804 he performed before Napoleon at the Tuileries. He was then known as 'Le petit Espagnol.' He played in the principal Dutch
- ↑ See the account by O. Jahn (Mozart, 2nd ed., ii. 537). The magic flute and all the comic music were omitted; Papageno was turned into a shepherd sage; while many pieces were left out, others were put in—as for instance 'Fin ch'an dal vino,' arranged at a duet! The opera opened with Mozart's finale, and the disorder must have been complete. And yet it ran 49 nights!
