Books › A dictionary of musical terms, 1889 › scan 105
Scan 105
A dictionary of musical terms, 1889
46 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1ment give out the same notes by employing a change in the signature, thus the passage for the A clarinet should be written:
3And for the B flat clarinet:
5when they will each give the sounds as written in No. 1.
7The kind of clarinet required is usually stated at the commencement, as clarinet in A, B flat, or C, and whenever a change is needed during the progress of a piece, the same is indicated during a period of rest for the instrument, by the words change to A, B, or C, as the case may be.
9The advantage of a change of clarinet is that complicated scales upon one instrument become easy upon another. For instance the scale of F sharp major which is very difficult on a C clarinet, when played upon an A clarinet is fingered as A major, the real sounds produced being those of the scale of F sharp major. Similarly the scale of D flat major would become the scale of E flat major on a B flat clarinet. This accounts for the fact that the clarinet part in a full score is sometimes in a flat key while the movement is in a sharp key. For example a piece in the key of E minor (one sharp) not uncommonly has a part for an A clarinet written, of course, in G minor with two flats.
11The favourite (because easy) keys of the clarinet are the keys of C, F, and G, B flat, E flat, A flat and D with their relative minors. Hence the skill of the composer is shown in writing for that clarinet capable of producing the best effects in certain keys.
13Clarinets are usually employed in pairs, and the parts are ordinarily written on one stave. They, in conjunction with the two bassoons similarly written, form a grand basis or support for all the other wind instruments. The small E flat clarinet (playing a minor third above the notes actually written) is used in military bands. Its tone is shrill and piercing. The introduction of the clarinet as a regular instrument in the orchestra of the opera is due to J. Christian Bach, who wrote special parts for a pair of clarinets in his opera "Orione, ossia Diana vendicata," which was produced in London in 1763.
15Clarinettista (It.) Clarinettiste (Fr.) A performer on the clarinet.
17Clarinetto (It.) [Clarinet.]
19Clarino (It.) (1) A trumpet. (2) An organ stop, consisting of reed pipes, generally of 4-ft. pitch.
21Clausula (Lat.) A close or cadence, e.g.:
23clausula falsa, a false cadence; clausula finalis, a final cadence, &c.
25Clavecin (Fr.) (1) A harpsichord. (2) The keys by means of which the carilloneur plays upon the bells. [Pianoforte.]
27Claviatur (Ger.) (1) The key board of an organ or pianoforte. (2) Fingering.
29Clavi-cembalum (Lat.) Clavicembalo (It.) [Pianoforte.]
31Clavichord. [Clarichord.]
33Clavicylinder. An instrument in the form of tubes or cylinders of glass, invented by Chladni. There was another instrument with the same name made of plates of glass of graduated lengths, the tone of which was produced by hammers set in motion by a key-board.
35Clavicytherium. [Clarichord.]
37Claviglissando. An instrument with a key-board, invented by C. W. Le Jeune, which is intended to combine the properties of the violin and harmonium—of the violin in obtaining a slide or portamento, and the harmonium in the capability of imitating the tones of various wind instruments.
39Clavier (Ger.) (1) The pianoforte. (2) A Clavier (Fr.) row of keys on an organ.
41Clavierauszug (Ger.) A pianoforte score, as opposed to Partitur, a full score.
43Clef (Lat. clavis.) The sign placed at the commencement of a staff or stave, showing the absolute pitch, the lines without it showing only the relative distances of sounds. When it was found that neumes could be better interpreted by the use of lines, a red and a yellow line were used, it being understood that the former bore the note F, the latter C. It is easy to see, that the fact having been once established that lines could represent notes, it would be found much easier to attach the letter itself to the commencement of the lines, than to colour the line. The coloured lines were invented by Guido, but Walter Odington (13th century) used one of the letters of the musical notes as a clef to his stave of four lines. At this period, it was not usual to employ leger lines, but if the voice exceeded in compass the limit of the stave, the position of the clef was altered; a practice still retained in plain-song books. [Notation.] The letters C and F were most commonly used in all ecclesiastical music up to the time of Palestrina, after which other clefs were introduced.
45There were five sorts of clefs in use in the 16th century, namely, the gamut Γ, from the Greek gamma, the F, C, g and d clefs. These were ultimately reduced to three, the gamut and the d clefs being found to be unnecessary. The position of the clefs was held to represent a certain pitch, and as it was supposed that the scale was incapable of extension beyond the notes indicated by the
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