309 



ARIAS MONTAGUS. 



ARIOSTO, LUDOVICO. 



310 



rest. Nothing further is said about the married priests, a class which 

 became gradually extinct, as no more married men were ordained. 



(Abridged from the Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the 

 Uijfusion of Useful Knowledge.) 



A'RIAS, MONTA'NUS, BENEDICTUS, in Spanish Benito Arias 

 Montana, was a celebrated Catholic divine and orientalist, who pos- 

 sessed vast erudition in Jewish antiquities, and chiefly distinguished 

 himself as editor and interpreter of the sacred Scriptures. He was 

 born, in 1527, of noble but poor parents, in a village called Frexenal 

 de la Sierra, in Estremadura, near the Audalusiau border, in a moun- 

 tainous district ; and hence his surname Montauo. He studied for 

 some time at Sevilla, and subsequently he took up his residence at 

 Alcala de Henares (Complutam), where he obtained the degree of 

 Doctor of Divinity. He acquired a knowledge of Arabic, Syriac, and 

 Chaldaic ; at a later period, while journeying through France, England, 

 Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, he acquired several modern 

 tongues. On account of his great scholarship, the bishop of Segovia, 

 Martin Perez Ayala, took him for his companion to the council of 

 Trent. After his return to his own country he determined to live in 

 seclusion and devote his time to literature, but at the request of 

 Philip II. he proceeded to Antwerp to superintend the splendid and 

 expensive edition of the ' Polyglott Bible,' which, at the suggestion of 

 a most diligent and enlightened printer, Christopher Plantin, was to 

 be executed in that city. Arias devoted four years to this under- 

 taking, and presented the finished work to Pope Gregory XIII. in 1572. 

 During bis sojourn in the Netherlands, he was also president of the 

 committee, which, by the order of the Duke of Alba, governor of 

 the Netherlands, prepared the ' Index Expurgatorius.' The edition 

 of the ' Polyglott Bible ' which Arias gave to the world, in every 

 respect justified the high expectation which had been formed of it; 

 but in a voyage from the Netherlands to Spain nearly all the copies 

 were lost. The king remunerated Arias's labours by giving him a 

 yearly pension of 2000 ducats, besides other honorary rewards and 

 lucrative offices. Arias was an upright, sincerely orthodox Catholic, 

 but he was a declared enemy of the Jesuits, and that ambitious order 

 omitted no opportunity to take revenge on so dangerous a foe -the 

 more powerful, because his orthodoxy had never been questioned, and 

 was supported by uncommon erudition. He died at Sevilla, in the 

 year 1598, as prior of the convent of St. lago, being then seventy-one 

 years of age. His library, which was extensive, was incorporated in 

 that of Escurial. 



Arias's numerous and extensive literary works chiefly belong to 

 theological, but partly also to classical literature, but his Polyglott 

 certainly holds the principal place ; it is generally called the ' Antwerp 

 Polyglott,' or, from the patronage bestowed on it by Philip II., ' Biblia 

 Regia,' and sometimes also after the printer, ' Biblia Plantiniana.' 



ARI'ON, a native of Lesbos, the inventor of the dithyrambus, and 

 a great musician, was contemporary with Periander of Corinth, and 

 with Alyattes, king of Lydia (B.C. 628-571). He travelled as far as 

 Taras (Taranto) in Southern Italy, and acquired considerable wealth 

 by his professional skill. (Herod, i. 23 ; .Elian., Hitt. Anim. xiL 45.) 



AUIOSTI, ATTI'LIO, a dramatic composer of some celebrity, was 

 a native of Bologna. He was intended by his family for the priest- 

 hood, and in compliance with their wishes became a Dominican friar. 

 But his heart was devoted to music, his time was spent in its cultiva- 

 tion, and at length he was freed by a papal dispensation from tho 

 rules of his order, and left to follow his favourite pursuit aa ho chose. 

 Hia bent was towards dramatic composition, and in 1696 he set to 

 music Apostolo Zeno's 'Dafnc,' which was performed in his native 

 city. Two years afterwards he entered the service of the electress of 

 Uranilenburg, and his ballet ' La Festa d'Imeneo,' and his opera of 

 ' Atis ' were produced at Berlin during the short period that he 

 remained there. " To a portion of the latter," says Hawkins, " Ariosti 

 adapted a composition called 'Sinfonia Infernale,' the modulation of 

 which was so singular, and withal so masterly, that the audience 

 were alternately affected with terror and pity in exact correspondence 

 with the sentiments of the part and the design of the representation." 

 During bis residence at Berlin, Ariosti became acquainted with 

 Handel, then a youth, and the friendship thus early formed was un- 

 impaired in after life when they met as rivals. On his return to Italy 

 he composed ' Nebuchadonasar,' an oratorio, for Venice ; and his 

 opera, ' La piii gloriosa Fatica d'Ercole,' for Bologna. He quitted 

 Italy again for Vienna, when, in 1708, he brought out the opera of 

 'Amortra Nemici.' On the 12th July, 1716, the 'London Courant." 

 Announced his performance of a solo on the viol d'amour at the 

 1 talian opera house, on the sixth representation of Handel's ' Amadigi.' 

 I luring this, his first visit to England, Ariosti appears only to have 

 attracted attention as a skilful performer on an instrument little 

 known there. In 1720 a plan was formed in London for patronising 

 Italian operas, and enlisting in their composition and performance the 

 choicest musical talent of Europe. For this purpose the sum of 

 50,000t was raised by subscription, George I. contributing lOOOi. ; and 

 the associated subscribers gave the establishment the title of the 

 Royal Academy of Music. A lyric poet was engaged, the best singers 

 that Kurope could supply were brought to London, and three eminent 

 compooerk were enlisted in the service of the academy. Bononcini, 

 as he himself states, was invited from Rome, Ariosti from Germany, 

 ami Handel, who at this time resided with the Duke of Chandoa at 



Caunons, was not ouly included in the arrangement, but was com- 

 missioned to engage the principal singers. The following year, 

 Handel having returned from his mission, the libretto of 'Muzio 

 Scevola ' was divided between these three composers ; the first act 

 having been assigned to Ariosti, the second to Bononcini, and the third 

 to Handel. Ariosti's ' Giro ' was ths first new opera after the run of 

 ' Muzio Scevola,' and its songs were printed by Walsh. To this suc- 

 ceeded the ' Floridante ' of Handel, and then the ' Crispo ' of Bonon- 

 cini. In 1723 Handel's ' Otho ' was followed by the ' Coriolauo ' of 

 Ariosti; then came Bononcini's 'Erminia,' the 'Flavio' of Handel, 

 and, in 1724, the ' Vespasiano ' of Ariosti. This successive occupa- 

 tion of the Italian opera stage by the three rivals continued till 1727, 

 when Bononcini having produced his ' Astyanax ' and Ariosti his 

 ' Lucio Vero,' they relinquished their engagements, and left Handel in, 

 undisputed possession of the field. 



Of the various operas which Ariosti wrote, ' Coriolauo ' was the 

 most popular. " The prison scene," says Hawkins, " is wrought up 

 to the highest degree of perfectiou that music is capable of, and is 

 said to have drawu tears from the audience at every representation." 

 This was supposed to have been parodied by Gay in the ' Beggar's 

 Opera,' and to have been alluded to in this sentence from his introduc- 

 tion : " I have introduced the similes that are in all your celebrated 

 operas ; and besides I have a prison scene, which the ladies always 

 reckon charmingly pathetic." 



Bononcini, after ceasing to write for the stage, found, for a time, 

 patronage and support among his titled admirers, especially from the 

 Marlborough family. Arioati was less fortunate. He issued pro- 

 posals for publishing a collection of cantatas, and a set of lessons for 

 the viol d'amour, but with little success. No reputation is, more 

 transient than that of a composer for the Italian opera, and the three 

 rivals, whose contending claims for supremacy for several years 

 agitated the fashionable world, were in turn destined to encounter its 

 neglect. Ariosti, soon after this disappointment to his hopes, quitted 

 England, and of his future fate nothing is recorded. 



"Ariosti," says Dr. Burney, "seems to have been a perfectly good 

 harmonist, who had treasured up much excellent music in his head, 

 but had little invention. I can sometimes trace Corelli in his works, 

 but, as for his immediate cotemporaries, there appear, on a general 

 reading, so many claimants for the favourite passages of the day, that 

 it is difficult to assign them to the right owners : Handel, Bononcini, 

 and Ariosti all adopted the same divisions in songs of execution." 

 In proof of this assertion, Buruey has subjoined the ' Aria d'agilita,' 

 sung by Senesiuo in ' Vespasiano,' in which the alleged community of 

 style and passage is sufficiently conspicuous. 



That Bononciui and Ariosti should have been invited to England as 

 joint composers with Handel to the Italian opera at a time when the 

 latter was residing in London, and had given some evidence of his 

 power as a dramatic writer, may seem to argue a needless prodigality 

 of expenditure on the part of its noble directors; and that there 

 should have been enlisted on the side of Handel's competitors a 

 formidable array of partisans may also appear to indicate a strange 

 want of ability to estimate the real capacity and merit of the three 

 rivals. But it must be remembered that the works which have im- 

 mortalised Handel had not, at this period, been called into existence. 

 He is now known, pre-eminently, as a choral writer; his name is 

 associated with whatever is grand and majestic in his art. He was 

 then known and estimated solely as a composer of operas for the 

 Italian stage, forming his style upon Italian models, governed and 

 restricted by the rules which then regulated the lyric drama of that 

 country, and venturing upon no demonstration of that power which 

 he afterwards so copiously displayed. It is true that in Handel's 

 operas his genius occasionally blazes out, that the vigour of his mind 

 and the extent of his resources are disclosed, that we feel the spirit 

 and strength of the ' giant Handel ; ' but these indications of power 

 are, nevertheless, rare, and a comparison of his operas with those of 

 his rival? will show a pervading sameness of style and of phrase suffi- 

 cient to account for their having shared with him, for a time, the 

 favour of the London public. The operas of Handel, Ariosti, and 

 Bononcini are now almost equally unknown, and are found only in the 

 libraries of collectors. 



(Geber, Lexicon der Tonktinstler ; Hawkins, History of Music ; 

 Burney, History of Music ; Life of Handel ; Libretti del Teatro Real, 

 1720-1730.) 



(Abridged from the Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the 

 Diffiaion of Uieful Knowledge.) 



ARIOSTO, LUDOVICO, was born at Reggio, near Modena, Sept. 8, 

 1474. He was the son of Nicolt) Ariosto of Ferrara, a military officer 

 in the service of Duke Hercules I. d'Este, and governor of the citadel 

 of Reggio ; his mother, Daria Malaguzzi, was of a noble family of 

 Reggio. Ludovico was the eldest born of a family of five brothers and 

 five sisters. He early showed a disposition for poetry, and wrote in 

 his boyhood a drama on the subject of Pyramus and Thisbe, which he 

 and his brothers rehearsed before their parents. Ludovico was designed 

 for the profession of the law, but after spending five years in prepara- 

 tory legal studies at Padua he was allowed to follow his own inclination. 

 Being then past twenty, and but little acquainted with the ancient 

 writers, he put himself under the tuition of Gregorio da Spoleti, by 

 whose assistance he made great progress in Latin. Greek he acquired 



