A Dictionary of Musica Terms

Music is Love in search of a word
SYDNEY LANIER.

Thoroughly Revised, and Augmented by an Appendix of 700 Additional Words and Phrases.

A
DICTIONARY
OF
MUSICAL TERMS

Containing upwards of 9,000 English, French, German, Italian, Latin and Greek words and phrases used in the art and science of music, carefully defined, and with the accent of the foreign words marked; preceded by rules for the pronunciation of Italian, German and French.

WITH A SUPPLEMENT CONTAINING
An English-Italian Vocabulary for Composers

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

DR. TH. BAKER

NEW YORK
G. SCHIRMER
1895

Copyright, 1895, by G. Schirmer, Inc.
Copyright renewal assigned, 1923, to G. Schirmer, Inc.

Printed in the U. S. A.

CONTENTS

PREFACE iii

HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION v

A DICTIONARY OF MUSICAL TERMS 1

A. 1

PREFACE

IT is the aim of this Dictionary of Musical Terms to furnish an accurate and concise explanation of any technical word or phrase which the student is apt to meet with. The English vocabulary will be found practically exhaustive. Want of space forbade making the foreign vocabulary equally so; but the editor has endeavored to preserve a proper balance by giving any terms, appearing in either German, French, or Italian, in each of those languages, thus maintaining a consistent polyglot character so far as necessary limitations permitted.

The scope of the work, which is rather a dictionary than a lexicon, rendered the editor's task more that of a compiler than of an original investigator. Most of the material here presented has been gleaned form numerous standard works of reference, such as those of Grove (Dictionary), Riemann (Musik-Lexikon), Gevaert (Instrumentation), Weitzmann (History of Pianoforte-Playing), Stainer and Barrett, Ambros (Geschichte der Musik), Paul (Handlexikon), Soullier (Dictionnaire), Helmholtz (Tonempfindungen), Niecks, The Century Dictionary, many English, German, French and Italian periodicals and musical journals, etc., etc. Literal quotations are duly credited to their sources; condensations and adaptations, however, are, for obvious reasons, not so credited, and must, therefore, be included under this general acknowledgment. The information so gathered has been carefully sifted, and supplemented by the personal researches of over ten years.

Due credit should be given to Dr. William Mason for suggesting the Supplement, containing and "English-Italian Vocabulary for Composers", to which Dr. Mason also contributed valued additions.

HINTS ON PRONUCIATION.*

ITALIAN

Vowels:

General rule: The vowels are very open, and never to be pronounced as impure vowels or dipthongs; they are long in accented syllables which they terminate,--short in unaccented syllables, or in accented ones ending with a consonant.

a like ah

e like ay in bay (without the vanishing i; e in bed; a in bare (before r).

i like ee in beet; i in bit; i before a vowel, like y as a consonant.

o like aw, or oh (without the vanishing u); o in opinion.

u like oo in boot; u in bull.

Consonants:

General rule: Even the hard consonants are somewhat softer than in English; the soft consonants are very delicate.

b, d, f, l, m, n, p, qu, s, t, v, as in English.

c like k, before a, o, u, or another consonant; except before l (pronounce gl like l-y [consonant], e.g. sugli, [pronounced sool'-ye]), and n (pronounce gn like ñ in cañon [kan'yon]).

c like ch in chair before e or i; cc like t-ch before e or i.

*These "hints" are offered as an aid for tyros, and not in the least as an exhaustive set of rules.

A
DICTIONARY
OF

MUSICAL TERMS.

A.

A.
1. (German A; French and Italian la). The sixth tone in the typical diatonic scale of C-major. The tone a¹ (see Pitch, absolute) is that sounded by the oboe or other fixed-tone instrument (pianoforte, organ) to give the pitch for the other instruments of the orchestra or military band.
2. In music theory, capital A often designates the A-major triad, small a the a-minor triad.
3. In scores, the capitals, or double letters (A a--Z z), are often set at the head of main divisions or at any critical point to facilitate repetition at rehearsal.
4. As an Italian (or French) preposition, a (or à) signifies to, at, for, by in, etc.
5. A sharp, A flat, A natural, see Sharp, Flat, Natural.
6. At the head of Gregorian antiphones, etc., A means that the first mode is to be employed.
7. In this Dictionary, an -a appended to an Italian word signifies, that in the feminine form a is substituted for the masculine termination o.

A Dictionary of Musical Terms
Compiled and edited by
Theodore Baker
New York
G. Schirmer
1895

First Internet Edition 1997

Rutgers University Libraries
ML108.B165

Omnipædia Polyglotta
Francisco López Rodríguez
[email protected]
[email protected]

PREFACE	iii
HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION	v
A DICTIONARY OF MUSICAL TERMS	1
A.	1

ITALIAN
Vowels:
	General rule: The vowels are very open, and never to be pronounced as impure vowels or dipthongs; they are long in accented syllables which they terminate,--short in unaccented syllables, or in accented ones ending with a consonant.
a	like ah
e	like ay in bay (without the vanishing i; e in bed; a in bare (before r).
i	like ee in beet; i in bit; i before a vowel, like y as a consonant.
o	like aw, or oh (without the vanishing u); o in opinion.
u	like oo in boot; u in bull.
Consonants:
	General rule: Even the hard consonants are somewhat softer than in English; the soft consonants are very delicate.
b, d, f, l, m, n, p, qu, s, t, v,	as in English.
c	*like k, before a, o, u,* or another consonant; except before l (pronounce gl like l-y [consonant], e.g. sugli, [pronounced sool'-ye]), and n (pronounce gn like ñ in cañon [kan'yon]).**
c	*like ch in chair before e or i; cc like t-ch* before e or i.**