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Scan 95
A dictionary of musical terms, 1889
34 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1or poem singers in mediæval times, originally applied to the Provençal Cantadours.
3Chanteur (Fr.) A male singer.
4Chanteuse (Fr.) A female singer.
5Chant Gregorien (Fr.) Plain song.
6Chant pastoral (Fr.) A shepherd's song, or melody in imitation of one.
8Chantries. Endowed foundations in the Romish Church, instituted for the due performances of requiem masses for the repose of the soul of the founder and his family. Chantries were attached to existing parish churches, or more frequently to monastic establishments and cathedrals. At the Reformation the practice of soul-masses and the chantries became disused, and their revenues absorbed.
10Chant-royal (Fr.) A certain form of early French poetry set to music. Pasquier describes it as a song in honour of God, the Virgin, or the saints, or any other "argument of dignity, especially if coupled with distress." The chant-royal was written in heroic stanzas, and closed with a L'envoy or stanza containing a dedication, recapitulation, or moral.
12Chantry priest. A chaplain or singing priest attached to a chantry. One whose duty it was to sing masses for the speedy deliverance of the soul of a founder or benefactor from purgatory.
14Chant sur le livre (Fr.) A system of descant by which the part sung by one voice, as written in the open book, could be accompanied by another voice in counterpoint, more or less free, according to the movement of the canto fermo, which was sung generally by a bass voice, the déchant being taken by a tenor or other high voice. It was necessary that the singer of the canto fermo or plain-song should render it à la rigueur, that is, should not make those slight changes of the length of the notes which would be justifiable and usual when singing alone; nor could he hold out the rests (tenere punctum) as he otherwise would, lest the déchanteur should be upset in his calculations. The full rules of this system are to be found in early treatises. It was called in Italy contrappunto di mente, or alla mente.
16Chapeau Chinois (Fr.) A set of small bells arranged in the form of a Chinese hat. Pavillon chinois.
17Characteristischer Ton (Ger.) The leading note. (Fr.) Note sensible.
19Characters. A general name for the signs employed in music, such as brace, bind, bar, sharp, flat, natural, clef, stave, shake, turn, beat, and the signs of words indicating time and expression, e.g. < > C Ç, &c.
21Characterstücke (Ger.) Pieces of music written with the intention of describing certain impressions by means of sound. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony, and the overture and music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," are specimens of this style of composition.
23Charivari (Fr.) Mock music, clatter.
24Chasse (Fr.) Hunting; à la chasse, in the hunting style.
26Chatzozerah (Heb.) The chatzozerah is generally thought to have been a straight trumpet, with a bell or "pavillon" as it is termed. Moses received specific directions as to making them. "Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps." In Ps. xcviii. 6, the chatzozerah and shophar are brought into juxtaposition: "With chatzozerah and sound of shophar make a joyful noise before the Lord the King;" or, as it incorrectly stands in the Prayer-book version, "With trumpets also and shawms, &c." In this passage the Septuagint has it, 'Εν σάλπιγξιν ἐλαταῖς, και φωνῇ σάλπιγγος κερατίνης, "With ductile trumpets, and the sound of horn-trumpets." So, too, the Vulgate: "In tubis ductilibus et voce tubae cornea." The word mikshah, which is applied to the description of the chatzozerah in Num. x. 2, which means "rounded" or "turned," may either apply to a complete twist in the tube of the instrument, or, what is more probable, to the rounded outline of the bell. But if the former is the real interpretation of the epithet, it would make it more like a trombone, and similar in form to that depicted on the Arch of Titus. But, on the other hand, the account given by Josephus points out the latter characteristic of shape. He says, "Moses invented a kind of trumpet of silver; in length it was little less than a cubit, and it was somewhat thicker than a pipe; its opening was oblong, so as to permit blowing on it with the mouth; at the lower end it had the form of a bell, like a horn." It seems chiefly to have been brought into use in the Hebrew ritual, but was also occasionally a battle-call, and blown on other warlike occasions.
28Check-action. [Pianoforte.]
29Check-spring. A small spring added for the assistance of any weakness in the return of action in the mechanism of an organ.
31Chef d'attaque (Fr.) The leader of an orchestra, or chorus.
32Chef d'œuvre (Fr.) The master-work of any composer.
33Chef d'orchestre (Fr.) (1) The leader. (2) Conductor of an orchestra.
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