Books › Pronouncing dictionary of musical terms, giving the meaning, derivation, and pronunciation … of Italian, German, French, and other words; the names with date of birth and death and nationality of the leading musicians of the last two centuries; English vocabulary, with equivalents in Italian, Germ, 1896 › scan 68
Scan 68
Pronouncing dictionary of musical terms, giving the meaning, derivation, and pronunciation … of Italian, German, French, and other words; the names with date of birth and death and nationality of the leading musicians of the last two centuries; English vocabulary, with equivalents in Italian, Germ, 1896
48 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. Printed page 64. See the scan on archive.org.
1Ninth. An interval one degree beyond the octave, being the second removed an octave; it may, like the second, be minor, major, or augmented. The minor and major ninths are essential dissonances, that is, sounds derived from the fundamental; with the augmented ninth the lower sound is really the ninth, thus, G, B, D, F, A or A♭, are overtones of G, but C, D♯ arise from B, D♯, F♯, A, C, chord of ninth. A chord consisting of root major 3, per. 5, minor 7, and major or minor ninth may have either major or minor ninth in major keys, but only the minor ninth in minor keys
3Nobile (It.) (no-bee-leh). Noble; grand.
5Nobilita (It.) (no-beel'-lee-ta), con. With nobility.
7Nobilmente (It.) (no-bil-men-teh). Nobly.
9Noch (Ger.). Still; yet; as, noch schneller, still faster.
11Nocturne (Fr.) (noc-toorn), Notturno (It.), Nachtstück or Nokturne (Ger.) (nok-toor'-neh). Literally, night-piece; a quiet, sentimental composition, usually in Lyric form, but under the title Notturno important compositions for several instruments or full orchestra have been written containing several movements.
13Nocturns. Night services in the R. C. Church, at which the psalms are chanted in portions, also called nocturns.
15Node. A line or point of rest in a vibrating body. A node may be produced in a vibrating string by touching it lightly. (Cf. under Natural Horn.) The sounds thus produced, called harmonics, are often used on instruments of the violin family and on the harp.
17Noël (Fr.) (no-el), Nowell (Eng.). "Good news;" "Gospel." Christmas eve songs or carols.
19Noire (Fr.) (no-ar). Black; quarter note.
21Nonet [It., nonetto; Ger., Nonett]. A composition for nine voices or instruments.
23Nonuplet. A group of nine notes to be played in the time of six or eight of the same value.
25Normal Pitch. The pitch of a sound, generally A or C, adopted as a standard. This standard for the sound A, second space, has varied from 404 vibrations per second in 1699 to 455 in 1859. By almost universal consent the modern French pitch is now adopted, viz., A = 435 vibrations per second.
27Notation. The various signs used to represent music to the eye, as staff, clefs, notes, rests, etc. The earliest attempts at the representation of musical sounds of which we have any knowledge were made by the Greeks, who used the letters of their alphabet, modified in various ways to represent the series of sounds they employed. Their series of sounds is supposed to have begun on the note A, first space in the bass clef. From this system music has retained the name of A for this sound. The next development was the adoption of a series of signs called neumae. These signs, although curiously complicated, were yet very defective in precision, being inferior to the letters as indications of pitch. The great want, both of the letter system and the neumae, was that neither gave any indication of the duration of the sounds. The next step was the adoption of the staff. At first use was made only of the spaces between the lines, and, as notes had not yet been invented, the syllables were written in the spaces; this gave exactness to the relative pitch of the sounds but no indication of their duration. The next step was to use the lines only, indicating the sounds by small square notes called points. The letter names of the lines, of which eight was the number, were indicated by Greek letters placed at the beginning. This, though an improvement on the plan of dislocating the syllables, was still wanting in that no duration was indicated. This desideratum was secured by the invention of the notes, attributed to Franco of Cologne. Invention was now on the right track. The expression of pitch and relative duration were now determined with exactness. The system of notation now in use is substantially the same, modified and improved to meet the requirements of modern musical complexity.
29Note. A sign which, by its form, indicates the relative duration of a sound, and by its position on the staff the pitch of a sound.
31Notenfresser (Ger.). "Note devourer." A humorous title for a ready sight-reader; generally implies one whose playing is more notes than music.
33Nourri (Fr.) (nour-ree). Nourished; un son nourri, a well-sustained sound. Generally applied to vocal sounds.
35Novelette. A name invented by Schumann and given by him to a set of pieces without formal construction, with numerous con-
37Nicolini, E. (nik-o-lee'-nee). Tenor; France. B. 1834.
39Niedermayer, L. Composer; France. B. 1802; d. 1861.
41Nilsson, Christine. Soprano; Sweden. B. 1831.
43Nohl, Carl F. L. Author; Germany. B. 1831; d. 1885.
45Nottebohm, M. G. (not'-teh-bome). Composer, writer; Germany. B. 1817; d. 1882.
47Nourrit, Louis (noor-ree). Tenor; France. B. 1780; d. 1831.
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