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Scan 79
Harvard Dictionary Of Music(1950), 1950
28 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1BAJAZZO
3ton of the conductor and the stick of the violin bow.
5Bajazzo, Der [G.]. See *Pagliacci, Gli.
7Balalaika. A popular Russian instrument of the guitar family, characterized by a triangular body, a long fretted neck, and (usually) three gut strings tuned in fourths. It is played with a plectrum and is made in six sizes which constitute a balalaika band. [Illustration on p. 314.] The forerunner of the balalaika was the *domra [cf. SaRM]. Cf. A. S. Rose, in PMA xxvii.1; W. v. Kwetzinsky, in DM xxii.12.
9Balancement [F.]. Eighteenth-century name for the *tremolo. Sometimes used synonymously with *Bebung.
11Balg [G.]. Bellows of an organ.
13Balinese music. See *Javanese music. Cf. C. McPhee, in BAMS vi.
15Ballabile. A name given occasionally to dance-like pieces (ballets) in 19th-century operas.
17Ballad [from L. ballare, to dance]. The term derives from medieval words such as *chanson balladé, *ballade [F.], *ballata, all of which originally denoted dancing songs but lost their dance connotation as early as the 13th century and became stylized forms of solo song. In England this process of change went still farther, and eventually (16th century) "ballad" came to mean a simple tale told in simple verse. There may have been a transitional period during which the recitation of the poems was still accompanied by some sort of dancing. Most ballads are narrative, and many deal with fabulous, miraculous, or gruesome deeds. Ballad singers made a living by singing their newest productions in the streets and at country fairs and by selling the printed sheets to the people. In its more recent (19th-century) meaning, a ballad is a popular song usually combining narrative and romantic elements, frequently with an admixture of the gruesome. These ballads are mostly written in common meter (4.3.4.3). Today the term "ballad" is loosely applied to any kind of cheap modern song. For art ballad, see *Ballade [G.].
19The word ballad is also used as an Anglicized form of ballade [F.], ballata [It.], or Ballade [G.]. Such usage, however, is misleading in view of the fact that these terms denote entirely different things.
21Lit.: S. Foster Damon, †Series of Old American Songs (1936); C. Sandburg, †The American Songbag (1927); Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 2 vols. (1932); John A. Lomax, Our Singing Country (1941); R. Smith, South Carolina Ballads (1928); A. K. Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia (1929); M. O. Eddy, Ballads and Songs from Ohio (1939); M. E. Henry, A Bibliography for the Study of American Folksongs (1937); J. W. Hendren, A Study of Ballad Rhythm (1936); C. A. Smith, "Ballads Surviving in the U. S." (MQ ii).
23BALLADE
25Ballade [F.]. A form of trouvère poetry and music. The poem usually has three stanzas, each of seven or eight lines, the last one or two of which are identical in all the stanzas, thus forming a *refrain. The musical form of the stanza is: a b a b c d E or a b a b c d E F [capital letters indicate the refrain], a scheme which, as far as the music is concerned, can be simplified as follows: A A B (A = ab; B = the remaining lines). This form is identical with that of the Provençal (troubadour) *canzo and of the German (Minnesinger) Bar [see *Barform], which, however, lack the refrain. Sometimes the form is enlarged to A A B B, usually in connection with enlarged stanzas of 12 or more lines.
27The songs of the trouvères include a considerable number of monophonic ballades [see Lit., Gennrich i, nos. 356, 357, 362, 366, etc.]. In the 14th century, G. de Machaut revived the ballade as a polyphonic composition of great refinement and subtlety [cf. F. Ludwig's edition of his works; also AdHM i, 270]. His example was followed by the French musicians of the late 14th century (Soulage, Trébor, Cuvelier, etc.; see *Ars nova)
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