Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] 83

Fliyer, Yakov (Vladimirovich)

(b Orekhovo-Zuyevo, 21 Oct 1912; d Moscow, 18 Dec 1977). Russian pianist and teacher. He graduated from Igumnov's class at the Moscow Conservatory in 1934 and two years later was awarded first prize at the Vienna Competition, in which Gilels was placed second. Fliyer taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1937, and in 1945 was appointed professor, a post he held with great distinction until his death. An impeccable virtuoso, whose style was equally suited to large- and small-scale works alike, his international career was eclipsed by the Cold War. He did not make his United Kingdom début until 1962. Notable among the relatively few recordings he left is Khachaturian's Piano Concerto, with the composer as conductor. In latter years his reputation rested largely on his abilities as a teacher. A man of wide culture, he paid much attention to imaginative use of tone quality, and in matters of interpretation was sufficiently objective to allow the student's own response to the music to be the guiding force. Among his best-known pupils are Lev Vlasenko, Viktoria Postnikova, Mikhail Pletnev and the composer Rodion Shchedrin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G.M. Tsïpin: Ya.V. Fliyer (Moscow, 1972)

JAMES METHUEN-CAMPBELL

Flodin, Karl (Theodor)

(b Vaasa, 10 July 1858; d Helsinki, 29 Nov 1925). Finnish writer on music, critic and composer. After attending Helsinki University (MA 1883) he studied music theory and composition in Helsinki with Richard Faltin, and in Leipzig (1890–92) with Jadassohn. He was music critic for the Swedish-language Finnish daily papers Nya pressen (1883–98, 1900, 1906–8) and Aftonposten (1899) and editor of Helsingfors posten (1900–05). In 1901 he founded the art and literature periodical Euterpe (1901–5), which supported the avant garde. Subsequently he moved to Buenos Aires (1908–21), where he was music critic for the German paper La Plata. He was one of the founders of professional music criticism in Finland (in Swedish); his judgments, though often dogmatic, were based on a wide knowledge of music, literature and the arts. His compositions include four cantatas, Helena (a lyric scene from Goethe's Faust), Luca Signorelli (a ballade for baritone and orchestra), Cortège for wind orchestra, and about 30 solo songs, 20 choral songs and over 80 piano pieces. They are less original than his writings, but show a refined lyrical taste and a strong Wagnerian influence in the harmony.

WRITINGS

Die Musik in Finnland (Helsinki, 1900; Fr. trans., 1900)

Finska musiker och andra uppsatser i musik (Helsinki, 1900)

‘Die Entwicklung der Musik in Finnland’, Die Musik, ii/2 (1902–3), 355–62

Om musiken till Runebergs dikter (Helsinki,1904)

Martin Wegelius (Helsinki, 1922)

Musikliv och reseminnen (Tampere, 1931)

Richard Faltin och hans samtid (Helsinki, 1934) [completed by O. Ehrström]

ERKKI SALMENHAARA

Flonzaley Quartet.

American string quartet. It was established in 1902 in New York by Edward J. De Coppet, a banker of Swiss descent, for private performances in his house; there was a stipulation that the members, all trained in Belgium, should devote themselves entirely to rehearsing and playing together. They were Adolfo Betti, Alfred Pochon, Ugo Ara and Iwan d’Archambeau. Ara left in 1917 to join the Italian army, and was replaced first by Louis Bailly, then in 1924 by d’Archambeau’s brother Felicien, and in 1925 by Nicolas Moldavan. ‘Flonzaley’ was the name of De Coppet’s summer estate, near Lake Geneva, where the first rehearsals were held. In 1904 the quartet gave a European tour with great success, and from then onwards it gave public concerts regularly in the USA and Europe. The finish, brilliance and beautiful tone quality of its playing were widely admired, and made it one of the most important quartets in the USA in the first quarter of the century. Its performances were, however, generally regarded as elegant and graceful rather than especially powerful or profound. The quartet was disbanded in 1928 and gave its last London concert in April of that year. It was one of the first quartets to make recordings; among them were works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms (including the Piano Quintet with Harold Bauer), Dohnányi, Schubert and Schumann (including the Piano Quintet with Gabrilovich).

RICHARD ALDRICH/ROBERT PHILIP/R

Flood, W(illiam) H(enry) Grattan

(b Lismore, Co. Waterford, 1 Nov 1859; d Enniscorthy, 6 Aug 1928). Irish music historian, organist and composer. He received his first musical education from his mother and was then educated at Mount Melleray Roman Catholic University, All Hallows College, Dublin, and Carlow College. Although intended for the priesthood he turned to antiquarian studies (chiefly musical) and was organist of Belfast Pro-Cathedral from 1876, Thurles Cathedral from 1882 and Enniscorthy Cathedral from 1895 to his death. He also taught music at St McCartan's College, County Monaghan, St Kieran's College, County Kilkenny, and Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare. Devoting himself to raising the standard of church music, he wrote three masses and numerous other church compositions. The National University of Ireland awarded him an honorary DMus (1907) and his services to Catholic church music were recognized by the award of the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice and his elevation to the Order of St Gregory (1922). He was a member of the Coleraine Harp Festival and the Musical Antiquarian Society, vice-president of the Irish Folksong Society and president of the music section of the Celtic Congress, Brussels, in August 1910 and July 1913.

Flood is chiefly remembered for his work on the history of Irish music and for his studies on Tudor composers. Among his Irish works are studies of folksong, music theatre and visiting musicians as well as biographies of John Field and Vincent Wallace. He also published books on local history. Now regarded as unreliable for missing sources, his studies are characterized by an enthusiastic rather than thorough appreciation of detail. In some of his claims, such as the Irish origin of Dowland or Purcell, his patriotism led him to confuse clues with evidence. Flood was, however, a pioneer in the areas he touched upon. He had access to sources which were later burnt during the Irish civil war (1921–3) and he was the first to point out facts which were of immense value to later historians.

WRITINGS

A History of Irish Music (Dublin, 1905, 4/1927); chaps 1–8 org. pubd in Irish Music Monthly; i (1902–3)

The Story of the Harp (London and New York, 1905/R)

‘The English Chapel Royal under Henry V and Henry VI’, SIMG, x (1908–9), 563–7

‘Crow St. Music Hall, Dublin, from 1734 to 1754’, SIMG, xi (1909–10), 442–69

‘Domenico Scarlatti's Visit to Dublin, 1740–1’, MA, i (1909–10), 178–81 [from notes contributed by Flood]

‘Dr. Arne's Visits to Dublin’, MA, i (1909–10), 215–33

‘Dublin “City Music” from 1456 to 1786’, SIMG, xi (1909–10), 33–41

‘Irish Musical Bibliography’, IMusSCR IV: London 1911, 359–63; see also SIMG, xiii (1911–12), 458–62

The Story of the Bagpipe (London and New York, 1911/R)

‘Master Sebastian [Westcote] of St Paul's’, MA, iii (1911–12), 149–57

William Vincent Wallace: a Memoir (Waterford, 1912)

‘Entries Relating to Music in the English Patent Rolls of the Fifteenth Century’, MA, iv (1912–13), 225–35

‘Fishamble St. Music Hall, Dublin, from 1741 to 1777’, SIMG, xiv (1912–13), 51–7

‘Gild of English Minstrels under King Henry VI’, SIMG, xv (1913–14), 66–8

‘Eighteenth-Century Essayist on Poetry and music’, MQ, ii (1916), 191–8

‘“Fair Harvard”: Irish Origin of the Tune’, MQ, v (1919), 463–8

Introductory Sketch of Irish Music History (London, 1921)

John Field of Dublin, Inventor of the Nocturne (Dublin, 1921)

‘The Beggar's Opera and its Composers’, ML, iii (1922), 402–6

‘Eighteenth-Century Italians in Dublin’, ML, iii (1922), 274–8

‘Irish Ancestry of Garland, Dowland, Campion and Purcell’, ML, iii (1922), 59–65

‘The Beginnings of the Chapel Royal’, ML, v (1924), 85–90

‘New Light on Late Tudor Composers’, MT, lxv (1924)–lxx (1929)

Early Tudor Composers: Biographical Sketches of Thirty-Two Musicians and Composers of the Period 1485–1555 (London, 1925/R) [orig. serialized in MT, lx (1919)–lxv (1924)]

‘The Eschequier Virginal: an English Invention’, ML, vi (1925), 151–3

‘Quelques précisions nouvelles sur Cambert et Grabu à Londres’, ReM, ix/7–11 (1927–8), 351–61

John and William Neale, Music Printers, 1721–1741 (Wexford, 1928)

Contributions to Grove3, DNB The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–12)

AXEL KLEIN