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 75
Scan 75
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
58 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. Printed page 71. See the scan on archive.org.
1Pezzo (It.) (pet'-so). A piece; phrase. Beethoven uses the following sentence as a direction in one of his pianoforte sonatas: "Questo pezzo si deve trattare con piu gran delicatezza,"—Every phrase must be treated with the greatest delicacy.
3Pfeife (Ger.) (pfei-feh). Pipe; fife.
5Phantasie (Ger.). See Fantasia.
7Phantasieren (Ger.) (fan-ta-see'-ren). To improvise.
9Phantasiestück. A piece devoid of form.
11Phrase. Technically, an incomplete musical sentence.
13Phrasing. The art of dividing a melody into groups of connected sounds so as to bring out its greatest musical effect, including also the placing of accent—cres. and decres., rall. and accel., rubato, etc.,—and in pianoforte music, the varieties of touch. In vocal music, it refers chiefly to the breathing places; in violin music, to the bowing.
15Phrygian Mode. One of the Greek scales, generally supposed to be E—E. In the ecclesiastical scales, the octave scale from
17Phrygian Cadence.
19Physharmonica. (1) The predecessor of the melodeon. (2) A free reed-stop in the organ.
21Piacimento (It.) (pe-aht-chee-men'-to). See Piacere.
23Piacere, à (It.) (pe-aht-chee'-reh). At pleasure, i.e., the tempo at the will of the performer.
25Piacevole (It.) (pe-aht-cheh'-vo-leh). Smoothly; quietly.
27Piacevolezza (It.) (pe-aht-cheh-vo-let'-za), con. With smoothness.
29Piacevolmente (It.) (pe-aht-cheh-vol-men'-teh). Smoothly.
31Pianette (Fr.), Pianino (It.) (pee-ah-nee-no). A small piano; upright piano.
33Piangendo (It.) (pee-an-jen'-do), Piangevole (pee-an-jeh'-vo-leh), Piangevolmente (pee-an-jeh-vol-men'-teh). "Weeping;" plaintively wailing.
35Piatti, A. (pee'-at-tee). Composer, 'cellist; Italy. B. 1822.
37Piano (It.) (pee-an'-no). Soft. (Abbreviation, P.; pianissimo, PP.)
39Pianoforte (It.) (for'-teh). In common usage, piano, without the forte. An instrument strung with steel wire (formerly brass wire was largely used), provided with a keyboard; the depression of the keys causes the hammers to strike the strings. The name pianoforte was given to it because the volume of sound was under the control of the performer. Three forms of pianoforte are made: The grand piano [in Fr., piano à queue, lit., "piano with a tail;" Ger., flügel, in allusion to its wing shape]; the square, and the upright. The pianoforte is descended from the dulcimer in the same sense that the harpsichord is descended from the psalterion. In form the dulcimer and psalterion were identical, differing only in that the former was played by means of hammers, the latter by means of "plectra." The adaptation of mechanism to control the hammers developed the piano out of the dulcimer, and the adaptation of mechanism to control the "plectra" developed the harpsichord out of the psalterion. The hammer action was first made practically effective by Cristofori of Padua, in 1711. About the same time an English monk, "Father Wood," made one in Rome. This instrument came into the possession of the celebrated Fulke Greville, and became well known as Mr. Greville's pianoforte. In 1717, a German youth of eighteen, named Schröter, invented the pianoforte independently; his invention was copied by Silberman of Strasburg, who submitted two of his instruments to Bach, who liked the mechanism but not the tone, preferring that of the clavichord. The growth of the pianoforte has been rapid since the beginning of the present century, and has now reached a point beyond which it hardly seems possible to advance.
41Piatti (It.) (pe-at'-tee). Cymbals.
43Pibroch. A sort of fantasia for the bag-pipe of the Scotch Highlanders; supposed to represent the incidents of a fight.
45Piccolo. A small flute an octave higher than the ordinary flute; a 2-foot organ-stop.
47Piccolo-piano. A small upright pianoforte.
49Picco-pipe. A small instrument resembling a flageolet; gets its name from an Italian peasant, Picco, who produced astonishing results from it.
51Piece. A composition; a single instrument, as, "a band of twenty pieces."
53Pièce (Fr.) (pee-ace). A member of a suite, q. v.
55Pieno-piena (It.) (pe-eh'-no). Full.
57Piccini, N. (pit-chee'-nee). Composer; Italy. B. 1728; d. 1800.
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