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Scan 21
Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944
25 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1ABSTOSSEN
2luten Gehörs" (ZIM xiv); N. Slonimsky, in American Mercury xxi.
4Abstossen [G.]. (1) In violin playing, same as *abgestossen.—(2) In organ playing, to take off a stop [see *Ab].
6Abstract music. Same as *absolute music.
8Abstrich [G.]. Down-bow.
10Abzug [G.]. *Scordatura.
12Academic Festival Overture (Akademische Festouvertüre). The title of Brahms's op. 80, an orchestral composition written for the University of Breslau as a recompense for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy conferred upon him (1879). It is a presentation of various German student songs, much in the manner of a *potpourri.
14Académie [F.]. *Academy. In the early part of the 19th century the term was used for concerts or recitals. Beethoven in one of his letters says: "Heute keine Akademie," i.e., "No concert tonight."
16Academy [Gr., derived from the olive grove of Academe, the meeting place of Plato and his disciples near Athens]. A term applied to scholarly or artistic societies and to musical organizations of various types. The movement started in Italy around 1600 [see *Accademia]. The societies outside of Italy include: (a) Learned associations, part of whose activity is the promoting of musical studies. They usually have a membership limited to those of demonstrable ability, maintain periodic discussions and proceedings which are often gathered into publications, and generally offer honors, medals, or prizes for achievement in composition or research. Many of these are state-supported: Paris, Institut de France, division Académie des Beaux Arts; Berlin, Akademie der Künste; Brussels, Académie Royale; others in Stockholm and Moscow. (b) Organizations for the giving of operas and concerts: Paris, Académie de Musique; London, Royal Academy of Music and Academy of Ancient Music; Munich, Akademie der Tonkunst; New York, Academy of Music (today the Metropolitan Opera); Brooklyn, Academy of Music (founded 1861), etc. [see *Concert halls; *Opera houses]. (c) Institutions of musical education: London, Royal Academy of Music; Berlin, Staatliche Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik; Munich, Königliche Akademie der Tonkunst (founded 1846); Philadelphia, Academy of Music (1870); New York, Academy of Allied Arts (School of Music, 1928). See also *Societies.
18A cappella [It. cappella, chapel]. Music written "for the choir of a chapel," i.e., choral music without instrumental accompaniment. The music of Palestrina [see *Palestrina style] is usually considered the model of a cappella music. An a cappella choir is one formed for the cultivation of unaccompanied singing. Historians of the 19th century held the idea that all "early music"—i.e., music before 1600—was a cappella. Such a statement is correct, however, only with respect to strictly liturgical music, such as masses and motets. Secular music, whether for a soloist or a choral group, was frequently accompanied or duplicated by instruments, particularly in the period 1300–1450 [see *Ars nova; *Burgundian School].
20Lit.: J. Handschin, Die Grundlagen des a-cappella-Stils (1929); Th. Kroyer, in Kretzschmar Festschrift (1918), AMW ii; AM vi, no. 4.
22Acathistus [Gr., not seated]. A hymn of praise of the Byzantine Church, sung in honor of the Virgin upon the Saturday of the fifth week in Lent by the whole congregation standing. Both text and music were written by the patriarch Sergios in A.D. 626, on the occasion of the deliverance of Constantinople from the Persians. The poem consists of 24 stanzas the initial letters of which represent the alphabet (acrostic). It belongs to the general species of Byzantine poetry known as kontakion [see *Byzantine chant II].
24Lit.: H. J. W. Tillyard, Byzantine
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