[By Ernst Hähnel, of Dresden. Plaster. 1847. In the possession of the artist, who executed the large statue of Beethoven in bronze, which stands in the Place at Bonn. This was the study from the life, for the head of the statue.]
321*. Ferdinando Paer. Musical Composer.
[Born at Parma, in Italy, 1771. Died 1839. Aged 68.]
At sixteen, Paer began to write for the stage. Before he was twenty-six he had already produced twenty-two operas, all in the conventional style of the old Italian operas, and after the manner of Cimarosa and Paisiello. After 1797, a laudable change is remarked in his style—more force in the harmonies, more variety in the modulations, with richer and more effective instrumentation. In 1801, appointed by the Elector of Saxony Chapel-Master in Dresden, and, favoured by the repose afforded here, Paer still improved his style. In 1806, Dresden was taken by the French. The musician transferred his services to Napoleon, and accompanied his new master to Paris. In 1810, revisited his native city, and there composed his master-piece, the opera of Agnèse. His subsequent career is remarkable for little more than for petty intrigues against rival composers, and—after his appointment as Director of the Italian Opera in Paris in 1812—for miserable squabbles with actors and musicians. He ceased to be an artist, and condescended to become a mere courtier and “homme de salon.” His death was accelerated by long-continued habits of intemperance. Paer was gifted with great fluency, and his works have brilliancy and spirit; but he is without originality, force, and dramatic power.
[Bust to come.]
322. Christian Friedrich Tieck. Sculptor.
[Born 1776. Died at Berlin, 1850. Aged 74.]
Of the school of Schadow. Brother to the celebrated poet and critic, and the friend of Rauch, with whom he was engaged in illustrating in sculpture the glories of the late war. His productions are in various parts of Germany, and are held in high estimation. He is the sculptor of the statue of Frederic William at Ruppen, and of the front gate of the cathedral at Berlin.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1825. Given by Rauch to his friend Tieck, and now in the possession of his widow.]
323. Christian Rauch. Sculptor.