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Scan 195
Harvard Dictionary Of Music(1950), 1950
27 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1CONTRA
2chord or organ, together with a viola da gamba or cello.
4Contra [It., against]. (1) Short for *contratenor. — (2) In connection with other terms the word appears in two meanings: (a) "Against"; e.g., in contrapunctus [see *Counterpoint] or in *contratenor, from which other terms such as contr'alto, haut-contre, basse-contre are derived. (b) Denoting the lower octave; this meaning is probably derived from the 16th-century manner of indicating the tones below the great octave (C, D …) by a dash written underneath (C, D …), i.e., in a position "contrary" to that used for the higher octaves (c, d … or, c', d'…). This led to the term contra-octave for the octave below the great octave and, consequently, to terms such as contrabasso [G. Kontrabass], contra-bassoon, contrabass-clarinet which denote instruments of the lowest range.
6Contra(b)basso [It.]. Double-bass.
8Contra-bassoon. See *Oboe family I, D.
10Contradanza [It.]. See *Contredanse.
12Contrafactum [L.; G. Kontrafact, Kontrafactur]. A vocal composition in which the original text is replaced by a new one, particularly, a secular text by a sacred one, and vice versa. This practice prevailed largely in the 13th century. Many trouvère songs are French contrafacta of liturgical chants, i.e., they use older liturgical melodies with a new French text. Still more frequent is the substitution of new texts in the motets of the 13th century [cf. AdHM i, 234]. The second important period of contrafactum is the 16th century. Probably the great majority of the earliest Protestant chorales used pre-existent melodies for their new texts, and many of the melodies used for the Calvinist psalmbooks were also borrowed from secular songs [see *Souterliedekens].
14Other terms designating a "change of text" are *parody and *paraphrase. Both of these, however, have side-meanings and should properly be used only where such side-meaning takes place. Parody usually implies caricaturing (except in the case of the 16th-century *parody mass), while paraphrase means simply free elaboration or free translation of an original text. For instance, the replacement of an original psalm-text (or, of its literal translation) by a free rhymed version which expresses the same thought is a paraphrase (psalm-paraphrase); the use of the original or paraphrased text in connection with a melody originally written for an entirely different (e.g., secular) text is a contrafactum. Cf. K. Hennig, Die geistliche Kontrafactur im Jahrhundert der Reformation (Diss. Königsberg 1909). See also under *Parody.
16Contralto [It.]. (1) Same as *alto voice (female). — (2) See *Violin family (c).
18Contra-octave. See under *Pitch names.
20Contrappunto [It.; L. contrapunctus]. *Counterpoint. C. doppio, double counterpoint. C. alla mente, extemporized counterpoint [see *Discantus supra librum].
22Contrapuntal. In the style of *counterpoint. The term is usually employed interchangeably with *polyphonic, although it may imply a certain individuality — rhythmic as well as melodic — of the parts which is not necessarily implied by the term polyphonic.
24Contrary motion. See *Motion.
26Contratenor, abbr. Contra. In compositions of the 14th and early 15th centuries, name for the third voice, in addition to the tenor and discantus. It has about the same range as the tenor with which it frequently crosses, so that the lowest note may fall to the tenor as well as to the contra. Its contour is usually much less melodic than that of the other two parts, to which it was added for harmonic completeness. With the establishment around 1450 (Ockeghem, Obrecht) of four-part writing and with the consequent separation of ranges, the contratenor split in two parts: the contratenor altus (high c.) or, simply, altus (alto), and the contratenor
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