Books › Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1904 › scan 24
Scan 24
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1904
12 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1for the Virginals by Byrd and Gibbons in Parthenia. Numerous examples by these and other composers of the time, notably Giles Farnaby and Peter Phillips, occur in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Dr. Burney quotes Simpson's Compendium to the intent that in the year 1667 'this style of music was much neglected because of the scarcity of auditors that understand it, their ears being more delighted with light and airy music.'
3In the works of Bach there are a great number of Fantasias both as separate works and as the first movement to a Suite, or conjoined with a Fugue. In the latter capacity are two of the finest Fantasias in existence, namely that in A minor called 'Grosse Fantasie und Fuga' (B.-G. xxxvi. p. 81), and that in D minor, commonly known as the 'Fantasia cromatica' (B.-G. xxxvi. p. 71). Among his organ works also there are some splendid specimens, such as Fantasia et Fuga in G minor (B.-G. xv. p. 177), and a Fantasia of considerable length in G major, constituting a complete work in itself (B.-G. xxxviii. p. 75). Among the works of his sons and other contemporaneous German masters are also many specimens of Fantasias. Some of them are very curious, as the last movement of a Sonata in F minor by Philip Emanuel Bach, published in Roitzsch's 'Alte Klavier Musik,' in the greater part of which the division by bars is entirely dispensed with; and the same peculiarity distinguishes a Fantasia by Johann Ernst Bach which is published in the same collection. Mozart produced some fine examples of Fantasias, Beethoven apparently only two distinctly so called, namely opus 77 and the Choral Fantasia; and two of the Sonatas (op. 27) are entitled 'quasi una Fantasia,' which implies some irregularity of form. In more modern times, apart from Schumann's fine example dedicated to Liszt (op. 17), the name has been applied to various vulgar effusions which have little in common with real music; but the name has been restored to its former dignity by Brahms, who uses it as the collective name for his short piano pieces, op. 116. The name has also been commonly applied to those nondescript pieces of orchestral music which are not long enough to be called symphonic poems, and not formal enough to be called overtures. C. H. H. P.
5FANTASIESTÜCK. A name adopted by Schumann from Hoffmann to characterise various fancy pieces for pianoforte, alone and with other instruments (PF. solo, op. 12, 111; with clarinet, op. 73; with violin and violoncello, op. 88). They are on a small scale, but several of them of considerable beauty.
7FARANDOLE. A national Provençal dance. No satisfactory derivation has been given of the name. Diez (Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen) connects it with the Spanish Farandula, a company of strolling players, which he derives from the German fahrende. A still more unlikely derivation has been suggested from the Greek φάλαγξ and δοῦλος, because the dancers in the Farandole are linked together in a long chain. The dance is very probably of Greek origin, and seems to be a direct descendant of the Cranes' Dance, the invention of which was ascribed to Theseus, who instituted it to celebrate his escape from the Labyrinth. This dance is alluded to at the end of the hymn to Delos of Callimachus: it is still danced in Greece and the islands of the Aegean, and may well have been introduced into the South of France from Marseilles. The Farandole consists of a long string of young men and women, sometimes as many as a hundred in number, holding one another by the hands, or by ribbons or handkerchiefs. The leader is always a bachelor, and he is preceded by one or more musicians playing the galoubet, i.e. a small wooden flûte-à-bec, and the tambourin. [See TAMBOURIN.] With his left hand the leader holds the hand of his partner, in his right he waves a flag, handkerchief, or ribbon, which serves as a signal for his followers. As the Farandole proceeds through the streets of the town the string of dancers is constantly recruited by fresh additions. The leader (to quote the poet Mistral) 'makes it come and go, turn backwards and forwards … sometimes he forms it into a ring, sometimes winds it in a spiral, then he breaks off from his followers and dances in front, then he joins on again, and makes it pass rapidly under the uplifted arms of the last couple.'1 The Farandole is usually danced at all the great feasts in the towns of Provence, such as the feast of Corpus Domini, or the 'Coursos de la Tarasqu,' which were founded by King René on April 14, 1474, and take place at Tarascon annually on July 29. In the latter the Farandole is preceded by the huge effigy of a legendary monster—the Tarasque—borne by several men and attended by the gaily dressed 'chevaliers de la Tarasque.' The music of the Farandole is in 6–8 time, with a strongly accentuated rhythm. The following is the traditional 'Farandoulo dei Tarascaire' of Tarascon:—
9The Farandole has occasionally been used for
111 Ausèume Mathieu, La Farandoulo, published with a translation and notes by F. Mistral. Avignon, 1862.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.