Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/588

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558
FRYE
FUENSALIDA

musical people were chary of approbation and withheld their patronage. In 1846 Fry went to Europe for study and observation, being engaged as a regular correspondent of the New York “Tribune” and other newspapers. He remained abroad six years, and on his return to New York city, in 1852, became musical editor of the “Tribune.” Soon afterward he wrote the music to an ode for the opening of the New York industrial exhibition of 1853, and delivered a course of ten lectures on the history of music, with illustrations on a gigantic scale, which were pecuniarily unsuccessful. On this occasion Fry brought forward two of his own symphonies, “The Breaking Heart” and “A Day in the Country.” In 1854 and 1855 were also written other symphonies, a “Stabat Mater, and “Eleven Violin Quartets.” In 1858 the Italian opera company in New York city unsuccessfully produced a reconstructed Italian version of his “Leonora.” Another opera, “Notre Dame,” brought out in 1864, won no attention. Fry was an occasional political speaker, a lecturer on topics of the day, and altogether an accomplished man. For several years he suffered from lingering consumption and unsuccessfully sought relief in a milder climate. When he was lying bedridden in a house near the New York Academy of Music he asked permission to have a “lover's telephone” placed so that he could hear something of the music. During the last two years of his life he was accustomed to sit propped up in bed while opera was going on at the Academy, his telephone in one hand and the libretto of the opera in the other. At the foot of the bed, standing against the foot-board, were the photographs of the chief singers engaged in the performance. He was one who thoroughly believed in himself, but he had not the divine faculty in music; his compositions neither charmed the many nor satisfied the demands of a just criticism. As a musical reviewer he was a determined, honest partisan, an acute analyst, and trenchant writer. He held the theory that all true melody was evolved only in the minds of Italians, that the voice should always be paramount in operatic representations, and the orchestra serve as an accompaniment to the singers. These convictions, ably presented and partly justified, were caused by the reaction against the poverty of melodic invention and overloaded orchestral devices of Halevy, Meyerbeer, Spohr, and Spontini. Fry published a volume entitled “Artificial Fish Breeding” (New York, 1854). — His brother, Joseph Reese, banker, d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in June, 1865, wrote the words of his brother's opera, “Leonora,” and translated others. He was largely instrumental in organizing the Union League brigade of Philadelphia during the civil war. Jointly with Robert T. Conrad he wrote a “Life of Zachary Taylor” (Philadelphia, 1848).


FRYE, James, soldier, b. in Andover, Mass., in 1709; d. 8 Jan., 1776. He filled several local offices, served at the capture of Louisburg in 1745, and commanded the Essex regiment at the beginning of the Revolution, taking an active part in the battle of Bunker Hill. He afterward commanded the 6th brigade of the army investing Boston.


FRYE, Joseph, soldier, b. in Andover, Mass., 30 IVIarch, 1712 ; d. in Pryeburg, Me., 25 July, 1794. He was a second cousin of James Frye, noticed above. He was a justice of the peace and a member of the general court of Massachusetts, and was an ensign in Hale's regiment at the capture of Louisburg in 1745. He was a colonel when Montcalm captured Fort William Henry in 1757, and escaped by killing the Indian that had charge of him. He was appointed major-general by the Massachusetts provincial congress on 21 June. 1775, and was com- missioned brigadier-general by the Continental congress on 10 Jan., 1776, but resigned on account of infirmity on 23 April. He was an early settler of Fryeburg, Me. — His great grandson, William Pierce, senator, b. in Lewiston, Me.. 2 Sept., 1830, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1850, studied law with William P. Fessenden, and, after practising for a few years in Rockland, Me., removed to Lew- iston, Me., where he has since resided. He was a member of the legislature in 1861-'2 and 1867, a presidential elector on the Lincoln ticket in 1864, mayor of Lewiston in 1866-'7, and attorney-general of Maine in 1867-'9. He was then elected to congress as a Republican six times in succession, serving from 1871 till 1881, when he took his seat as U. S. senator, having been chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James G. Blaine, He was re-elected in 1883 for a full term. Mr. Frye has interested himself especially in the distribution of the Geneva award, in commercial legislation, and in the fishery question. He has been a member of the Republican national committee since 1872, and earnestly supported James G. Blaine for the presidency in 1884. He was made a trustee of Bowdoin in 1880, and received the degree of LL. D. from Bates in 1881.


FUENLEAL, Sebastian Ramirez (fwen-lay'-al), Spanish R. C. bishop, b. in Villaescusa, Spain, in the last quarter of the 15th century; d. in Valladolid, 22 Jan., 1547. He studied at the college of Santa Cruz de Valladolid, and in 1525 became bishop ot Santo Domingo, and president of the royal audiencia of that island. When the first audiencia of Mexico began to quarrel with Cortes, the empress, during the absence of Charles V. in Germany in 1529, appointed Fuenleal president of the new audiencia, and by his tact and prudence he soon restored order and public confidence. Fuenleal was an admirer of Cortes, and assisted him in all his enterprises and new conquests, at the same time protecting the Indians. He prohibited slavery, established mining laws, founded many churches, convents, and public buildings, and in fact organ- ized New Spain in every branch of administration. He also divided the country into four dioceses and had bishops appointed over them. In 1534 Fuenleal returned to Spain, where he became successively bishop of Tuy, Leon, and Cuenca, and president of the chancery of Valladolid. According to Herrera and Pinelo, Fuenleal wrote a "Relacion de la Nueva Espafia."


FUENSALIDA, Luis (foo-en-sal-e'-da), Spanish missionary, b. in Estremadura, Spain, about 1490; d. in Puerto Rico in 1545. He entered the order of St. Francis in early life, and about 1528 went to Mexico to preach the gospel and convert the Indians. He was the first missionary to preach in the Aztec language, and, according to his contemporaries, was the one who spoke it best. In 1535 he became provincial of his order in Mexico, and returned in 1538 to Spain to inform Charles V. about the condition of the Indians. He was offered the bishopric of Michoacan by Charles, but declined it and retired to the convent of San Gabriel du Estremadura. He afterward asked to be sent to Africa, but was refused, and when his brethren tried to make him abandon his peaceful retreat by electing him provincial, he fled from this honor and returned to the New World. In the National library in Mexico are preserved the manuscripts of two curious works of Fuensalida, "Sermones en Lengua Mexicana," and "Coloquios en Mexicano entre el Arcangel San Gabriel y la Virgen Maria."