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Scan 214
Dictionary of music, 1908
18 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 206. See the scan on archive.org.
1Due corde (Ital.), two strings.
3Duet (Ital. Duetto, diminutive form for Duo) is, especially at the present day, a vocal composition for two voices of the same, or different kind, with accompaniment of one or several instruments. The D. occupies an important place in opera (dramatic D.), but without any definite form, as its development differs according to the situation. It consists of speech and rejoinder, sections of aria-like form for one or the other, or both voices; or it appears as a real double song, interrupted by recitative, etc. The church D. has a more definite form: it is either in aria form, and has a Da capo, or is in concertante style with fugal working. Duets of the latter kind are to be found, for instance, in Viadana's church concertos. For duets without bass (or continuo), one must hark back to the Bicinia of the 16th century. The so-called chamber D. attained to great importance towards the close of the 17th century, and in the second half of the last century, through Agostino Steffani and G. C. M. Clari; in form it does not differ from the church D. Of the latter kind Pergolesi's Stabat Mater offers a famous example. Duets like those of Mendelssohn are in song form. Modern composers, contrary to good taste, have frequently written songs which, from the sense of the words, are only suitable to one voice (male or female), as duets for soprano and tenor, etc. An instrumental composition for two different obbligato instruments, with, or without accompaniment, is generally named—not duet, but duo or concerto (chamber-concerto), sonata, etc., and only duet when written for two instruments of the same kind (violin duet, flute duet); but for two pianofortes the term duo, not duet, is employed. It would be more exact to make the difference one of extent—duo for works of large, duet for works of small compass.
5Due volte (Ital.), twice.
7Dufay, Guillaume (Du Fay). According to the most recent investigations of Fr. X. Haberl, Van der Straeten, and Jules Houdoy in the archives at Rome and Cambrai, the period at which this old French master lived has been fixed. It was not from 1380–1432 (as Baini, through a misunderstanding, supposed), but from 1400 to 1474; so that he can no longer be accounted the earliest, but was the latest of the three old masters, Dunstable, Binchois, and Dufay. Thus all contradictions, which hitherto have so puzzled learned heads, are explained. (See the "Vierteljahrsschrift f. Mus. Wiss., 1885, 4th book.) D. entered the Pope's Chapel as youngest singer in 1428; in 1437 he went to the court of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, took holy orders in Paris, spent seven years in Savoy, and ended his life, as canon, at Cambrai on Nov. 27, 1474. In the archives at Rome, Bologna, and Triest (now at Vienna), Haberl discovered 150 compositions, of which he makes mention in his work (among these are masses and numerous portions of masses, a magnificat, motets, etc., and some French chansons). Besides these, the following have been preserved: some masses in the Brussels Library, a mass and portions of masses at Cambrai, some motets and chansons in the Paris Library, and a motet à 4 at Munich. D. is said to have introduced white notes in place of the earlier usual black ones; anyhow, the former were adopted in the 15th century. According to the testimony of Adam von Fulda (1490), D. introduced many novelties into notation.
9Duhamel, Jean Marie Constant, b. Feb. 5, 1797, St. Malo, d. April 29, 1872, Paris, professor and head of the educational board of the Polytechnique and the École normale at Paris. He made a name by rearranging Dom Bedos de Celles' great work on the organ, "Nouveau manuel complet du facteur d'orgues" (1849).
11Duiffoprugcar (Tieffenbrucker), Caspar, the oldest known violin-maker, hence looked upon as the inventor of the violin (cf. for this Streichinstrumente and Violin); he came originally from the Tyrol, and settled in Bologna (1510). According to Wasielewski ("Die Violine im 17. Jahrhundert") there exist some genuine D. violins of the years 1511 to 1519, and Fétis names one of 1539. François I. of France drew him to Paris in 1515, and he afterwards settled in Lyons, where he died.—A certain Magno Duiffopruckhar was instrument-maker at Venice about 1607.
13Dulcan, Dulcian. (See Dolcan, Dolcian.)
15Dulcimer (Ger. Hackbrett, cimbal; Ital. Cembalo; Fr. Tympanon), an old stringed instrument, apparently of German origin, as it was called for a time in Italy by the name Salterio tedesco; this shows, at the same time, that the Psalterium of the early Middle Ages (Saltirsanch, Rotta) was probably played in the same way as the D. Virdung and M. Agricola (q.v.), already at the beginning of the 16th century, make mention of the instrument under its present name, and, indeed, ascribe as little importance to it as did Prætorius a hundred years later The D., a flat, trapezium-shaped soundboard on which steel strings are set, which are struck with two little hammers (one for each hand), was the precursor of the present pianoforte (q.v.). The D. (cimbalon, cf. Cymbal) is now only to be met with in gipsy bands. The Pantaleon (q.v.) of Hebenstreit was an attempt to improve the D. The insufficient muffling of the sound is the chief fault of the instrument. The sound is always confused and noisy, but in forte (in the orchestra) is of excellent effect.
17Dulcken, Luise, née David, pianist, b. Mar. 20, 1811, Hamburg, d. April 12, 1850, London, sister of Ferdinand David, pupil of Grund. She came with her husband in 1828 to London, where she attracted extraordinary notice as a
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