ABEGG. Schumann's op. I, published 1831, is entitled ‘Thême sur le nom Abegg, varié pour le Pianoforte.’ The theme itself is given in vol. iii. p. 408 a. It owed its origin to his introduction to a Miss Meta Abegg, of Mannheim, and was written to please one of his friends who was attached to the lady. The ‘Mademoiselle Pauline Comtesse d'Abegg,’ to whom the piece is dedicated, is a mythical personage. (See Letters, i. 156, 158; ii. 29.) [G].

ABELL, John. The date of the extract from Evelyn should be ‘Jan. 27, 1681–2.’ It is said that when Abell was at Warsaw he refused to sing before the court, but his objections were overcome by the somewhat summary method of suspending him in a chair in the middle of a large hall, while some bears were admitted below him. He was asked whether he preferred singing to the king and the court, who were in a gallery opposite to him, or being lowered to the bears; he not unnaturally chose the former alternative. He was Intendant at Cassel in 1698 and 1699. (Dict. of Nat. Biog.) For ‘Queen Anne’ in line 26 of article, read ‘William and Mary.’ [M.]

ABERT. Johann Joseph, born Sept. 21, 1832, at Kachowitz in Bohemia, began his musical education as a chorister in the church of Gastdorf.