BENEDICT

benedict, sir julius (1804-1885), musical composer, was born in stuttgart on the 27th of november 1804. he was the son of a jewish banker, and learnt composition from hummel at weimar and weber at dresden; with the latter he enjoyed for three years an intimacy like that of a son, and it was weber who introduced him in vienna to beethoven on the 5th of october 1823. in the same year he was appointed kapellmeister of the karnthnerthor theatre at vienna, and two years later (in 1825) he became kapellmeister of the san carlo theatre at naples. here his first opera, _giacinta ed ernesto_, was brought out in 1829, and another, written for his native city, _i portoghesi in goa_, was given there in 1830; neither of these was a great success, and in 1834 he went to paris, leaving it in 1835 at the suggestion of malibran for london, where he spent the remainder of his life. in 1836 he was given the conductorship of an operatic enterprise at the lyceum theatre, and brought out a short opera, _un anno ed un giorno_, previously given in naples. in 1838 he became conductor of the english opera at drury lane during the period of balfe's great popularity; his own operas produced there were _the gipsy's warning_ (1838), _the bride of venice_ (1843), and _the crusaders_ (1846). in 1848 he conducted mendelssohn's _elijah_ at exeter hall, for the first appearance of jenny lind in oratorio, and in 1850 he went to america as the accompanist on that singer's tour. on his return in 1852 he became musical conductor under mapleson's management at her majesty's theatre (and afterwards at drury lane), and in the same year conductor of the harmonic union. benedict wrote recitatives for the production of an italian version of weber's _oberon_ in 1860. in the same year was produced his beautiful cantata _undine_ at the norwich festival, in which clara novello appeared in public for the last time. his best-known opera, _the lily of killarney_, written on the subject of dion boucicault's play _colleen bawn_ to a libretto by oxenford, was produced at covent garden in 1862. his operetta, _the bride of song_, was brought out there in 1864. _st cecilia_, an oratorio, was performed at the norwich festival in 1886; _st peter_ at the birmingham festival of 1870; _graziella_, a cantata, was given at the birmingham festival of 1882, and in august 1883 was produced in operatic form at the crystal palace. here also a symphony by him was given in 1873. benedict conducted every norwich festival from 1845 to 1878 inclusive, and the liverpool philharmonic society's concerts from 1876 to 1880. he was the regular accompanist at the monday popular concerts in london from their start, and with few exceptions acted as conductor of these concerts. he contributed an interesting life of weber to the series of biographies of "great musicians." in 1871 he was knighted, and in 1874 was made knight commander of the orders of franz joseph (austria) and frederick (wurttemberg). he died in london on the 5th of june 1885. benedict biscop (628?-690), also known as biscop baducing, english churchman, was born of a good northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of king oswiu. he then went abroad and after a second journey to rome (he made five altogether) lived as a monk at lerins (665-667). it was under his conduct that theodore of tarsus came from rome to canterbury in 669, and in the same year benedict was appointed abbot of st peter's, canterbury. five years later he built the monastery of st peter at wearmouth, on land granted him by ecgfrith of northumbria, and endowed it with an excellent library. a papal letter in 678 exempted the monastery from external control, and in 682 benedict erected a sister foundation (st paul) at jarrow. he died on the 12th of january 690, leaving a high reputation for piety and culture. saxon architecture owes nearly everything to his initiative, and bede was one of his pupils.