STORACE, STEPHEN (1763-1796), English musical composer, was born in London in 1763. His father, Stefano Storace, an Italian contrabassist, taught him the violin so well that at ten years old he played successfully the most difficult music of the day. After completing his education at the Conservatorio di Sant' Onofrio, at Naples, he produced his first opera, Gli Sposi malcontenti, at Vienna, in 1785. Here he made the acquaintance of Mozart, in whose Nozze di Figaro his sister, Anna Selina Storace, first sang the part of Susanna. Here also he produced a second opera, Gli Equivoci, founded on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and a “Singspiel” entitled Der Doctor und der Apotheker. But his greatest triumphs were achieved in England, whither he returned in 1787. After creating a favourable impression by bringing out his “Singspiel” at Drury Lane, under the title of The Doctor and the Apothecary, Storace attained his first great success in 1789, in The Haunted Tower, an opera which ran for fifty nights in succession. No Song, No Supper was equally successful in 1790; and The Siege of Belgrade scarcely less so in 1791. The music of The Pirates, produced in 1792, was partly adapted from Gli Equivoci, and is remarkable as affording one of the earliest instances of the introduction of a grand finale into an English opera. These works were followed by some less successful productions; but The Cherokee (1794) and The Three and the Deuce (1795) were very favourably received, and the music to Colman's play, The Iron Chest, first performed on the 12th of March 1796, created even a greater sensation than The Haunted Tower. This was Storace's last work. He caught cold at the rehearsal, and died on the 19th of March 1796.
The character of Storace's music is pre-eminently English; but his early intercourse with Mozart gave him an immense advantage over his contemporaries in his management of the orchestra, while for the excellence of his writing for the voice he was no doubt indebted to the vocalization of his sister Anna. This lady was born in London in 1766, completed her education at Venice under Sacchini, sang for Mozart at Vienna, and first appeared at the King's Theatre in London in 1787. After contributing greatly to the success of The Haunted Tower and her brother's later operas, she crowned a long and brilliant career by winning great laurels at the Handel Commemoration at Westminster Abbey in 1791, retired from public life in 1808, and died on the 24th of August 1817. During her stay in Vienna she married John Abraham Fisher, a celebrated violinist; but he used her so cruelly that she refused to bear his name, and in her will—bequeathing property to the amount of £50,000—styled herself “spinster.”
STORE (from O. Fr. estor or estoire, Late Lat. staurum or instaurum, stock, provisions, supply, from the late use of instaurare, to provide, properly to construct, renew, restore), a stock or supply of provisions, goods or other necessaries kept for future daily or recurrent use or for a specific purpose; thus the term applies equally to the domestic supply of provisions, &c., and to the accumulated stock of arms, ammunition, clothing, food, &c., kept for the general use of a navy or army. A common secondary meaning is that of the place where a supply or stock is kept, a storehouse, and thus the term is used particularly in the country districts of America for the general shop where goods of all kinds are sold by retail. In English the term “stores” has come into use for large general shops with many departments selling all kinds of goods.
STOREY (equivalents are Fr. étage, Ital. piano, Ger. Stock), the term in architecture given to the floor of a building, and employed generally when referring to a number of floors one above the other; thus a building may be of two, three or more storeys high. It used to be applied to a series of apartments on one floor, which are now generally known as a flat. “Storey” or “story” is from O. Fr. estorée, building, estorer, to build, equip, furnish, store, from Lat. staurare, only seen in compound instaurare, to repair, restore, ultimately from root sta, to stand. “Story,” a tale or narrative, is a shortened form of “history.”
STORK (A. S. storc, Ger. Storch), the Ciconia alba of ornithology, a well-known bird, which, however, though often visiting Britain, has never been a native or even inhabitant of that country. It is a summer visitor to most parts of the European continent—the chief exceptions being France (where the native race has been destroyed), Italy and Russia—breeding from southern Sweden to Spain and Greece, and being especially common in Poland.[1] It reappears again in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia and Turkestan, but farther to the eastward it is replaced by an allied species, C. boyciana, which reaches Japan. Though occasionally using trees (as was most likely its original habit) for the purpose, the stork most generally places its nest on buildings,[2] a fact familiar to travellers in Denmark, Holland and Germany, and it is nearly everywhere a cherished guest, popular belief ascribing good luck to the house to which it attaches itself.[3] Its food, consisting mainly of frogs and insects, is gathered in the neighbouring' pastures, across which it may be seen stalking with an air of quiet dignity; but in the season of love it indulges in gestures which can only be called grotesque—leaping from the ground with extended wings in a kind of dance, and, absolutely voiceless as it is, making a loud noise by the clattering of its mandibles. At other times it may be seen gravely resting on one leg on an elevated place, thence to sweep aloft and circle with a slow and majestic flight. Apart from its considerable size—and a stork stands more than three feet in height—its contrasted plumage of pure white and deep black, with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object, especially when seen against the fresh green grass of a luxuriant meadow. In winter the storks of Europe retire to Africa—some of them, it would seem, reaching Cape Colony—while those of Asia visit India. A second species, with much the same range, but with none of its relative's domestic disposition, is the black stork, C. nigra, of which the upper parts are black, brilliantly glossed with purple, copper and green, while it is white beneath—the bill and legs, with a patch of bare skin round the eyes, being red. The bird breeds in lofty trees, generally those growing in a large forest. Two other dark-coloured, but somewhat abnormal, species are the purely African C. abdimii and the C. episcopus, which has a wider range, being found not only in Africa but in India, Java and Sumatra. The New World has only one true stork, Dissura maguari, which inhabits South America, and resembles not a little the C. boyciana above mentioned, differing therefrom in its greenish-white bill and black tail. Both these species are very like C. alba, but are larger and have a bare patch of red skin round the eyes.
The storks form the family Ciconiidae, and together with the ibises (Ibididae) are now ranked as a sub-order of Ciconiiform birds (see Bird). There is no doubt that they include the jabiru (q.v.) and its allies, as well as the curious genus Anastomus (known in India as the “open-bill,” because its lower mandible is hollowed out so as only to meet the maxilla at the base and the tip), of which there are an African and an Asiatic species. In all the storks the eggs are white and pitted with granular depressions. (A. N.)
STORM, THEODOR WOLDSEN (1817-1888), German poet and novelist, was born at Husum, in Schleswig, on the 14th of September 1817. Having studied jurisprudence at Kiel and Berlin, where he formed a close friendship with the brothers Theodor and Tycho Mommsen, he settled in his native town as advocate; but, owing to his German sympathies, lost his post in 1853. Entering the Prussian service as assessor at Potsdam, he was appointed district judge at Heiligenstadt. After the
- ↑ In that country its numbers are said to have greatly diminished since about 1858, when a disastrous spring storm overtook the homeward-bound birds. The like is to be said of Holland since about 1860.
- ↑ To consult its convenience a stage of some kind, often a cartwheel, is in many places set up and generally occupied by successive generations of tenants.
- ↑ Its common Dutch name is Ooijevaar, which can be traced through many forms (Koolmann, Wörterb. d. ostfries. Sprache, i. 8, sub voce “Adebar”) to the old word Odeboro (“the bringer of good”). In countries where the stork is abundant it enters largely into popular tales, songs and proverbs, and from the days of Aesop has been a favourite in fable.
