Early years Randegger was born in
Trieste,
Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of a musician mother and schoolteacher father. He studied the piano with Jean Lafont and composition with
Luigi Ricci. In 1854 Randegger was engaged to conduct a season of Italian opera in New York and was on his way there when news arrived of a
cholera outbreak in the city. Instead, he spent a month in Paris, and on the recommendation of his elder brother he moved on to London, which became his base for the rest of his life.
Alice Barth,
Liza Lehmann,
Greta Williams and
Ellen Beach Yaw; mezzo-soprano
Mary Davies; tenors
Arthur Byron,
William Hayman Cummings,
William Lavin and
Ben Davies; baritones
David Bispham,
Andrew Black,
Charles W. Clark,
David Ffrangcon-Davies and
Frederick Ranalow; and basses
Darrell Fancourt,
Putnam Griswold and
Robert Radford. As a composer, in addition to his early works, Randegger wrote a
comic opera,
The Rival Beauties (1864); a dramatic
cantata, the
150th Psalm, for soprano solo, choir, orchestra and organ (1872);
Fridolin (1873), with a libretto by
Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf; two scenas for
soprano and orchestra,
Medea (1869) and
Sappho (1875); a funeral anthem,
An Angel Came Out of the Temple, in memory of the
Prince Consort;
The Prayer of Nature (1887); and numerous other vocal pieces.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography observes that Randegger's compositions were distinguished by practical qualities, were always tasteful and externally effective, but had no deep originality, and soon fell into disuse. On the resignation of
Julius Benedict in 1881, Randegger became conductor of the Norwich Musical Festival, which he directed until 1905. There he conducted new works by
John Barnett,
Frederic Cowen,
Edward German,
Alexander Mackenzie,
Hubert Parry,
Ebenezer Prout,
Charles Villiers Stanford and others. At the 1905 Festival he invited 14 British composers to conduct performances of their own works. In his Mozart performances he removed the spurious orchestral parts added by his Covent Garden predecessors; a small collection of the composer's manuscripts was among his most treasured possessions. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the
Royal Philharmonic Society. Randegger died at his home in
Marylebone, London, at the age of 79, after a short illness. He was cremated at
Golders Green crematorium. ==Notes==