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Scan 108
A dictionary of musical terms, 1889
45 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Coi bassi (It.) With the basses.
2Coi violini. With the violins.
3Col (It.) With; e.g.:
4 Col arco, with the bow.
5 Col basso, with the bass.
6 Col canto, with the melody.
7 Colla destra, with the right hand.
8 Coll’ arco, with the bow.
9 Colla parte, with the principal part.
10 Colla punta dell’ arco, with the point of the bow.
11 Colla sinistra, with the left hand.
12 Colla voce, with the voice.
14College of Organists. A modern institution established in London, for the purpose of improving the position of organ players, granting diplomas, and of providing suitable performers for the service of the church.
16College Youths. A Society of bell ringers established in 1637, at the church connected with the college of St. Spirit and Mary, Upper Thames Street, London.
18Collegno (It.) With the wood. A direction to strike the strings of a violin with the back or wood of the bow.
20Collet de violon (Fr.) Neck of a violin.
22Collinet. (Fr.) A flageolet, so called after a celebrated player of that name.
24Colophony. Colofonia (It.) Colophonium (Lat.) Colophonie (Fr.) Resin. The gum used for making the hair of bows rough, so as to set the strings freely into vibration. So called from Colophon in Greece (κολοφωνία, and ῥητίνη, gum.)
26Color (Lat.) Colour. A term variously employed in mediæval treatises on music to represent: a repetition of a sound in part music (repetitio ejusdem vocis); purity of tone (pulchritudo soni); a movement of the voice from the part (florificatio vocis); an alteration of rhythm by different voices (idem sonus repetitus in tempore diverso a diversis vocibus); a discord purposely introduced for the sake of variety (aliquando unus eorum ponitur in discordantiam propter colorem musicæ). Some have gathered from the definition—"Repetitio diversæ vocis est idem sonus repetitus in tempore diverso a diversis vocibus," that a musical canon is meant to be described. (2) The coloured lines first used for the purpose of rendering neumes more intelligible. "Quamvis perfecta sit positura neumarum, cæca omnino est et nihil valet sine adjunctione literarum vel colorum" (Guido). [See Clef and Notation.]
28Coloratura (It.) Divisions, runs, trills, cadenzas, and other florid passages in vocal music.
30Coloscione or Colachon. A species of guitar, called also Bichordon or Trichordon, according as it was strung.
32Come (It.) As, like; e.g.: Come prima, as at first; Come sta, as it stands; Come sopra, as above.
34Comes (Lat.) The answer to the Dux or subject. [Fugue.]
36Comic opera. An opera in which the incidents are of a humorous description. The comic opera is of Italian origin and French development, each subject treated by musicians of other nations owing its rise either to some one or other theme already taken by French composers of comic operas, or from the vaudevilles which preceded, and formed the pattern of, the comic operas. Boieldieu, Herold, Auber, Adam, Thomas, Offenbach, Lécocq, are the most successful representatives of the modern school of comic opera writers. [Vaudeville, Opera, &c.]
38Comic song. A song developing in humorous verse some ludicrous idea or incident set to a tune already popular, or with a melody easy to be caught up by the hearers, in order that they may be ready when called upon to join in the chorus which usually accompanies such songs. Songs of a humorous description are of high antiquity, but as their humour is generally of a bad character, specimens of this class of literature are not fitted either for general or for particular readers. The ballads and stories which would please an audience of a past age and which have found their way into many collections of ancient songs, are scarcely respectable even for their antiquity.
40Comma. The small interval between a major and a minor tone, that is between a tone whose ratio is 8:9 and one whose ratio is 9:10. The ratio of a comma is therefore 80:81. A Pythagorean comma is the difference between the note produced by taking 7 octaves upwards and 12 fifths.
42Common chord. A note accompanied by its major or minor 3rd and perfect 5th. [Harmony.] In thorough bass, the figure 3, a sharp, flat or natural, as the case may be, or the absence of any letter, character, or figure, denotes the common chord of the bass note. When there is more than one chord on the same bass note, the common chord is figured 5.
44Common or Duple time. Time with two beats in a bar, or any multiple of two beats in a bar. The beats may be of the value of any note or rest or compound of notes and rests, providing the sum required by the time sign be exactly contained in each bar. Common time is of two kinds, simple and compound. Simple common time is that which includes four beats in a bar, or any division of that number, or square of the number or its divisions. The signs used to express simple common time are the following: 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 8, and the characters C and C. In these signs the upper figure denotes the quantity of notes required in the bar, and the lower figure the quality of the
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