Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/132

one time a favourite in London. The discovery of the parts of this overture in his father's warehouse gave Schumann his first opportunity of conducting.^[1] It has been lately re-scored, and published by Aibl of Munich.

[ G. ]

TILMANT, Théophile, French conductor, born at Valenciennes July 8, 1799, and educated at the Paris Conservatoire, where he took the first violin prize in R. Kreutzer's class in 1818. He played with great fire and brilliancy, and had a wonderful instinct for harmony, though without much scientific knowledge. On the formation of the Société des Concerts in 1828 he was appointed vice-conductor, and also played solo in a concerto of Mayseder's. In 1834 he became vice- and in 1838 chief-conductor at the Théâtre Italien, where he remained till 1849. In 1838, with his brother Alexandre, a distinguished cellist (born at Valenciennes Oct. 2, 1808, died in Paris June 13, 1880), he founded a quartet-society, which maintained its popularity for some ten years or so. In 1849 he succeeded Labarre as conductor of the Opéra Comique, an enviable and responsible post, which he held for nearly 20 years. The composers whose operas he mounted found him earnest and conscientious, and he conducted with a fire and a dash perfectly irresistible, both there and at the Concerts du Conservatoire, which he directed from 1860 to 1863. In 1868 he left the Opéra Comique, and retired to Asnières, where he died May 7, 1878. He received the Legion of Honour in 1861.

[ G. C. ]

TIMANOFF, Vera, a native of Russia, received pianoforte instruction in music from Liszt, and for a long time past has enjoyed a wide continental reputation. She made her début in England, August 28, 1880, at the Promenade Concerts, Covent Garden, where she fulfilled six nights' engagement under the conductorship of Mr. F. H. Cowen, and made a lively impression by her brilliant rendering of the works of her master and other pieces of the same school. On May 19, 1881, she played Chopin's Concerto in F minor at the Philharmonic, and 'by her brilliant execution of the florid passages, by the delicacy with which she rendered the fairylike fancies of the composer, and by the marked character resulting from her strong feeling for rhythm and accent, gave the concerto an adventitious interest.'^[2] On May 13, 1882, she played at the Crystal Palace Liszt's 'Fantasia on the Ruins of Athens,' and on June 6 of the same year she gave a recital and was heard with pleasure in light pieces of Moskowski, Liszt, and Rubinstein.

[ A. C. ]

TIMBALES is the French word for Kettle-drums. [See Drum 2; vol. i. p. 463.] In that article, at p. 464b, it is mentioned that Meyerbeer used 3 drums, G, C, and D, in No. 17 of the score of 'Robert le Diable'; but it was really written for 4 drums, in G, C, D, and E, and was so played at the Paris Académie, where it was produced. This real kettle-drum solo begins thus, and is probably a unique example of its kind:—

The printed score has only 3 drums, G, C, and D, to facilitate the performance in ordinary orchestras, the E being then played by the contrabasso.

[ V. de P. ]

TIMBRE. A French word, originally signifying a bell, or other resonant metallic instrument, of which the sense was subsequently extended to denote peculiar ringing tones, and lastly employed by the older writers on Acoustics to indicate the difference between notes which, though of identical pitch, produce dissimilar effects upon the ear. The cause of this variety not being then understood, the vagueness which characterises the expression was hardly misplaced. But the researches of Helmholtz put an end to the ambiguity, by showing that difference of timbre was due to change in the upper-partial tones, or harmonics, which accompany the foundation-tone, or ground-tone, of a note or sound.

A somewhat better, but rather metaphorical phrase was afterwards suggested in Germany; by which varieties of timbre were termed Klangfärbe or Sound-colours. This term, in the outlandish shape of 'Clangtint,' was adopted by Tyndall and other writers as an English equivalent of the German word.

But a term has been latterly employed which must commend itself to all as at once a pure English word and a symbol to express the idea, now become definite; namely the word Quality. A sound may therefore be said in fair English to possess three properties, and no more—Pitch, Intensity, and Quality; respectively corresponding to the Frequency, the Amplitude, and the Form of the Sound-wave. In case this definition be objected to as unnecessarily geometrical, the Quality, or Timbre, of a note may be described as the sum of the associated vibrations which go to make up that complex mental perception.

'If the same note,' says Helmholtz,^[3] 'is sounded successively on a pianoforte, violin, clarinet, oboe, or trumpet, or by the human voice, notwithstanding its having the same force and pitch, the musical tone of each is different, and we recognise with ease which of these is being used. Varieties of tone-quality seem to be infinitely numerous even in instruments; but the human voice is still richer, and speech employs these very qualitative varieties of tone in order to distinguish different letters. The different vowels belong to the class of sustained tones which can be used in music; while the character of consonants mainly depends on brief and transient noises.'

It is well known that he analysed these compound tones by means of Resonators, and subsequently reproduced them synthetically by a

1. Wasielewski, p. 14.
2. Daily Telegraph.
3. 'Sensations of Tone,' Ellis's transl. p. 28.