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 97
Scan 97
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
54 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. Printed page 93. See the scan on archive.org.
1Taste (Ger.) (tas'-teh). A pianoforte or organ key; pedal key.
2Tastenbrett (Ger.), Tastenleiter. Keyboard.
3Tastiera (It.) (tas-tee-eh'-ra). Fingerboard of violin, guitar, etc. Sulla Tastiera, a direction in violin music to play with the bow near the fingerboard,—the opposite of Sul ponticello, q. v.
4Tasto (It.) A "touch." (1) A key. (2) A fret. (3) Touch. (4) Fingerboard. The preceding words from Tastatur are all derived from Tasto.
5Tasto Solo. Literally, "key alone," i. e., one key or note at a time. A direction in figured bass that the notes are to be played without chords, i. e., unison or octaves.
6Tattoo or Taptoo. The drumbeat ordering soldiers to retire for the night.
7Technic, Technik (Ger.), Technique (Fr.). The purely mechanical part of playing or singing.
8Technicon. A mechanism for strengthening the fingers and increasing their flexibility.
9Techniphone. See Virgil Clavier.
10Tedesco or Tedesca, alla (It.). In German style.
11Tema (It.) (teh'-mah). Theme; subject; melody.
12Temperament. The division of the octave.
13Equal Temperament. The modern system of tuning divides the octave into twelve equal parts, called semitones. Unequal Temperament (which was formerly used for all keyed instruments, and retained until quite recently for the organ) tuned the natural notes true, and distributed the superfluous interval among the "black" keys. The discovery of the art of equally tempering the scale lies at the foundation of modern music. Without it, the sudden excursions into remote keys would be impossible. Although we have lost something in purity of intonation, the loss is more than made up in the gain of twelve keys, all equally well in tune. Some enthusiasts, generally acousticians, express great dissatisfaction with our modern scale. A sufficient reply is, that the scale that satisfied the ears of, and made possible the music of the great writers from Bach to Beethoven, must of necessity be the best musical scale.
14Tempestosamente (It.) (tem-pes-to'-sa-men'-teh). Impetuously.
15Tempestoso (It.) (tem-pes-to'-so). Tempestuous.
16Tempête (Fr.) (tam-peht). Tempest. A French dance—formerly fashionable—resembling a quadrille.
18Tempo (It.). Time. "Tempo" is universally used to signify "rate of movement."
19Tempo Indications—
20Slow { Largo, Grave, Lento, Adagio. Moderate { Andante, Moderato, Commodo.
21Fast { Allegro, Presto.
23Words used to modify the above: Poco, a little. Before a word meaning slow, signifies an increase of speed, as poco lento, a little slow; before a word meaning fast, it signifies a decrease of speed, as poco allegro, a little fast. Piu, more. Before a word meaning slow, signifies a decrease of speed, as piu lento, slower; before a word meaning fast, it signifies an increase of speed, as piu allegro, faster. Assai, very. After a word meaning slow, decreases the speed, as adagio assai, very slow; after a word meaning fast, increases the speed, as allegro assai. Molto, much; has the same meaning as assai.
25THE DIMINUTIVE Etto.
26Slow { Larghetto, a little faster than Largo. Adagietta, a little faster than [Adagio.
27Fast, Allegretto, a little slower than [Allegro.
29THE SUPERLATIVE Issimo.
30Slow { Larghissimo, Lentissimo, Adagissimo, } As slow as possible.
31Fast { Allegrissimo, Prestissimo, } Fast as possible.
33THE DIMINUTIVE Ino.
34Slow, Andantino, faster than Andante.
35Andante means "going" [from andare, to go], therefore Andantino means "going a little." A large number of words are used in conjunction with the tempo indications that refer more to the manner or style of the performance than to the speed, as Appassionata, with passion; Vivace, with life.
36The majority of these words are preceded by con, with; as—
37Con brio, . . . with vigor,
38Con calore, . . . with warmth,
39Con fuoco, . . . with fire,
40Con moto, etc., with motion,
41Con espressione with expression.
42Con dolcezza, . with sweetness,
43Con dolore, . . . with sadness,
44Con tristezza, . with sorrow,
45{ After words meaning fast.
46{ After words meaning slow.
48Tempo commodo. Convenient; easy movement.
49Tempo di ballo. Dance time.
50Tempo giusto. Strict; exact time.
51Tempo marcia. March time.
53Tausig, Carl. Composer, pianist; Poland. B. 1841; d. 1871.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.