Relfe, John

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Relfe, John

Relfe, John , English music theorist and composer; b. Greenwich, 1763; d. London, c. 1837. He was a member of the King’s Band in 1810, and also an esteemed teacher of piano and harmony. He composed airs, sonatas, lessons, divertimentos, etc., for harpsichord or piano and songs. He publ. Guida armonica (3 parts, 1798; 2nd ed. as The Principles of Harmony, 1817), Remarks on the Present State of Musical Instruction (1819), and Lucidus ordo (1821). He proposed a reformed thoroughbass figuring, marking the root chord r., and the inversions ’ and “.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire