Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nichifor, Şerban

(b Bucharest, 25 Aug 1954). Romanian composer. After studying the cello with Serafim Antropov at the Bucharest Academy, graduating in 1972, he took private composition lessons with Stroe and Walter Mihai Kleper. Nichifor continued his composition studies in Darmstadt and Breukelen with Ton de Leeuw (1978, 1980) and in Munich with Celibidache. Musical secretary of the George Enescu Philharmonic, he has also taught in the chamber music class at the Bucharest Academy, where he took the doctorate in music (1995) and in theology (1996). Developing from a neo-romantic stylistic basis, Nichifor has remained firmly convinced of the continuing relevance of conventionally composed music. He has experimented with new techniques of sound organization and structure, notably in his opera Domnişoara Cristina, which includes tape recordings. His eclectic compositonal language extends to jazz elements in his Third and Fourth Symphonies. In his compositions after 1990 he has developed a simplified style employing themes reminiscent of Byzantine chant. Further information is given in G. Tartler: Melopoetica (Bucharest, 1984).

WORKS

(selective list)

Op: Domnişoara Cristina [Miss Cristina] (2, after M. Eliade), 1980–81, Timişoara, Opera Română, May 1996

Vocal-orch: Izvoare 2050 [Wellsprings], chorus, orch, 1978; Gloria Heroum Holocausti, 1979; Oratoriu de Crăciun [Christmas Orat.], 1979; Messa da requiem, 1990

Orch: Constelaţii, 1977; Sym. no.1, orch, tape, 1980; Sym. no.2 ‘Via lucis’, 1983–5; Sym. no.3 ‘Ecouri şi vise din Est-America’ [Echoes and Visions from Eastern America], 1985–6; Sym. no.4, 1986–7; Sym. no.5 ‘Pro patria’, chorus, orch, 1987; Sym. no.6 ‘Arcuri în timp’ [Arc in Time], 1988

Chbr and solo inst: Baroque Variations, hpd, 1974; Sonata, 2 vc, 1975; Anamorfose, str qt, 1976; Retro-Qnt, cl, tpt, trbn, prep pf, perc, 1976; Chimoero, sax, vib, 1984; Sonata Rag-Time, fl, b rec, 1984; Challenger, lament, ens, 1986; 7 colinde [7 Carols], 4 tpt, 4 trbn, tuba, org, 1986; Str Qt no.2 ‘Văile uitării’ [The Valleys of Forgetting], 1988; Sonata ‘sopra aqua e pictra’, pf, 1988; Anastasis, sextet, 1989; Poem bizantin, 1989; Mezoomkion, a Byzantine Poem, 1990

Dionysies, cycle of ancient music: I Perpetuum mobile, cl, 1976; II Carols, trbn, perc, 1978; III Memento, va, cel, 1979; IV Invocation, fl, cel, 1979; V Signalis, brass qnt, tape, 1987; VII Băttuta, perc, 1989

Songs: 4 schiţe pentru un lied neterminat [4 Sketches for an Unfinished Lied] (M. Dinescu), 1980; Pisicile din Vatican [The Vatican Cats] (Dinescu), 1985–6; Aurora borealis (E. Saideler), 1992

OCTAVIAN COSMA

Nicholas de Merques.

See Merques, Nicolas.

Nicholl, Horace (Wadham)

(b Tipton, nr Birmingham, 17 March 1848; d New York, 10 March 1922). English organist and composer. A descendant of the founder of Wadham College, Oxford, Nicholl was taught music by his father and Samuel Prince. He was organist at Dudley near Birmingham (1867–70) and at Stoke-on-Trent (1868–70); while there he was persuaded to go to Pittsburgh, where he became organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, and afterwards at a Presbyterian church. He lived in New York from 1878 onwards and was organist at several churches in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Nicholl was an editor for the firms of Schuberth and Schirmer and also wrote for the Musical Courier. He remained in the USA except for visits to London and Berlin in 1900 and 1901.

As a composer Nicholl united great contrapuntal skill with a contemporary taste; his organ pieces include 12 symphonic preludes and fugues, a symphonic poem called Life in six movements and a Symphonische Fantasie über Psalm 130. Among his vocal works are the first four of a projected cycle of 12 oratorios, Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (1880–90), all in manuscript; a setting of Longfellow's The Golden Legend; a Cloister Scene for chorus and orchestra (op.6) and a Mass in E major, which were published. His orchestral works are reflective of the harmonic styles of Wagner and Liszt and anticipate Richard Strauss in their virtuoso orchestration. They include a Suite op.3; Symphonic Fantasies opp.5 and 7; a Symphony in G minor, The Nation's Mourning, op.8; another in C major, op.12; symphonic poems, Tartarus op.11 and Hamlet (after Shakespeare) op.14, and a Scherzo-Fugue for small orchestra op.15. Besides these he wrote numerous piano pieces, songs, anthems, and some chamber music and textbooks. (GroveA (D. Kelleher))

J.A. FULLER MAITLAND/CHRISTOPHER KENT

Nicholls, Agnes

(b Cheltenham, 14 July 1877; d London, 21 Sept 1959). English soprano. In 1894 she won a scholarship to the RCM, London, where she studied with Albert Visetti, and a year later played Purcell’s Dido at the Lyceum Theatre. While still a student, she took part in three performances given privately before Queen Victoria, and also sang Anne Page in the first English-language production of Falstaff. Her Covent Garden début (1901) was as the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel; in the 1904–6 seasons she sang with distinction in the great international casts assembled for Don Giovanni and Carmen. In 1906 she also appeared as Venus, thus marking the start of a notable series of Wagner roles, including Sieglinde and the Siegfried Brünnhilde in the first English-language Ring productions under Richter in 1908. She continued to sing at Covent Garden until 1924, and was also a principal of the British National Opera Company, of which she became a director. Throughout her career Nicholls was a leading soloist at music festivals, in concert and oratorio. At the 1906 Birmingham Festival she sang in the first performance of Elgar’s The Kingdom; several British composers wrote for her, including Parry and Hamilton Harty (whom she had married in 1904). Though she rarely appeared outside Britain, she undertook a North American concert tour in 1904, singing at the Cincinnati Festival. Her recordings, few and mostly scarce, enable one to appreciate the purity of tone and soundness of technique, and to sense the considerable power of her voice. (P. Lewis: ‘Agnes Nicholls: Columbia Records and 78 rpm Discography’ Record Collector, xxx (1985), 275–8)

J.B. STEANE