ALSINA, ADOLFO. 



AMBR08, AUGUST W. 



21 



During the festival of Ramadan, dervishes 

 and pilgrims from Mecca, and marabouts, went 

 about among the native population preaching 

 the holy war against the Christians. 



During the month of March the tribe of the 

 Uled-Bonasog, in the province of Constantino, 

 were incited to rebellion by a fanatical priest, 

 a marabout by the name of Bu Ayach. Gen- 

 eral Carteret was immediately dispatched to 

 the scene of the disorder, and on his arrival 

 found that the insurrection was confined to 

 one tribe, the others hastening to assure him 

 of their fidelity. On April llth he attacked 

 the natives, who numbered about 200 horse 

 and 2,000 foot, and had taken position near 

 the oasis El-Amri. After a severe struggle, 

 the enemy was driven back, leaving 100 dead 

 on the field, among whom was Mohammed 

 Ben Yahia, the leader of the movement. The 

 French loss was very small. The insurgents 

 soon after made an attack upon the French, 

 but were repulsed. The French succeeded in 

 surrounding them by the end of April, and 

 compelled them to surrender, thus ending the 

 insurrection. The leaders were held as host- 

 ages for the further good conduct of the tribes. 



In June their sentence was pronounced. 

 Their entire property was confiscated, while 

 they were themselves disarmed and driven 

 from their oases, and in addition a heavy fine 

 was imposed upon them. Nine of the leaders 

 were tried by court-martial, and twenty-three 

 were interned in Corsica. 



ALSINA, ADOLFO, a statesman of the Ar- 

 gentine Republic, born in Buenos Ayres in 

 1829. His father was likewise an eminent 

 statesman, and a jurist of considerable celeb- 

 rity. The subject of the present notice first 

 attracted public attention by a series of lect- 

 ures, and by articles contributed to the periodi- 

 cal press of his native city. He afterward be- 

 came deputy to the Provincial Chambers, and 

 was, of the number of the members of the 

 convention of 1872, most distinguished for fa- 

 cility and eloquence of address. From 1866 

 to 1868 he occupied the post of governor of 

 the province of Buenos Ayres, and that of 

 Vice-President of the Republic from 1868 to 

 1872 during the Sarmiento administration. He 

 commanded a body of National Guards at the 

 battles of Cepeda and Pavon. Dr. Alsina is a 

 man of much prestige, is energetic and ambi- 

 tious, and destined to play a conspicuous part 

 in the political affairs of his country. He is 

 now, for the second time, governor of his na- 

 tive province. 



AM BROS, AUGUST WILHBLM, a German com- 

 poser and author, born November 17, 181 6 ; died 

 June 28, 1876. He attended the gymnasium 

 in Prague and here commenced to study music 

 under great difficulties. In accordance with 

 the wish of his parents he devoted himself to 

 the study of political science, graduated in 

 1839 as Doctor of Laws, and soon after re- 

 ceived a Government appointment in Prague. 

 During his leisure hours he devoted himself as- 



siduously to his musical studies, finding much 

 encouragement in the society of men like Robert 

 Schumann, Kitte. and Veit. He was an active 

 contributor to Schumann's Neue Zeittchrtft 

 fur Musik, at first under the name of Flarain. 

 Among his first works was the overture to 

 "Geuoveva," which was received with great 

 enthusiasm in Prague. In 1846 he composed 

 his overture to Shakespeare's " Othello, and 

 after that played on the piano in several con- 

 certs, and thus soon gained considerable repu- 

 tation. His first attempts as an author also 

 appeared during this time, as be had taken the 

 place for a short time of his friend Bernhard 

 Gutt as musical critic of the Bohemia. He also 

 added some entr'acte music to bis overture to 

 "Othello," which was exceedingly well re- 

 ceived. In 1856 his fame as a musical author 

 began to rise. His work, "Die Grenzen der 

 Musik und Poesie," written in answer to Haus- 

 lik's "Vom Musikalisch-Schonen," attracted 

 great attention, and soon appeared in a second 

 edition. This work was severely attacked by 

 various parties, but on the other hand gained 

 for him the warm friendship of Liszt. A lect- 

 ure, "Die Musik als Culturmoment in der 

 Geschichte," attracted general attention, and 

 caused the publication of his " Culturhisto- 

 rische Bilder aus dem Musikleben der Gegen- 

 wart" (1860). In 1858 he published a me- 

 morial on the fiftieth anniversary of the Con- 

 servatory of Prague, of the Board of Direc- 

 tors of which he was a member. Attracted by 

 his works, which gained for him considerable 

 celebrity, the publishing-house of Leuckhardt, 

 in Leipsic, proposed to him to write a history 

 of music. This he made the work of his life. 

 The first volume appeared 1862, and the sec- 

 ond in 1864. In order to prepare the third 

 and fourth volumes, he went repeatedly to 

 Italy, receiving considerable aid from the Im- 

 perial Academy of Sciences in Vienna for this 

 purpose. There, in the libraries of Bologna, 

 Florence, and Rome, he sought diligently 

 after old musical treasures. The third vol- 

 ume, which treated of the music of the Neth- 

 erlands, appeared in 1868. The fourth vol- 

 ume was to treat of Palestrina, the musical 

 Renaissance, the origin of the monody, of the 

 opera, and of the modern system of sounds, 

 and was to close with Johann Sebastian Bach. 

 In the fall of the year 1876 he intended to 

 undertake a trip to Italy to collect the last 

 material for the fourth volume, but was inter- 

 rupted in this by his death. In 1869 he was 

 appointed Professor of the History of Art and 

 Music in the University of Prague. In 1872 

 he went to Vienna as musical critic of the 

 Wiener Abendpost, and as musical instructor 

 of the crown-prince, at the same time receiv- 

 ing an appointment in the Ministry of Justice. 

 Besides the larger works noticed before, he 

 composed numerous smaller pieces for the 

 piano, and songs. He also wrote " Bunte 

 Blatter" (first series, 1871), and numerous 

 traveling-sketches of Italian cities. An auto- 



