Books › The musiclover's handbook, containing (1) a pronouncing dictionary of musical terms and (2) biographical dictionary of musicians, 1911 › scan 126
Scan 126
The musiclover's handbook, containing (1) a pronouncing dictionary of musical terms and (2) biographical dictionary of musicians, 1911
16 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1curiously 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 neumæ, 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.
3Note. 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.
5Notenfresser (Ger.). "Note devourer." A humorous title for a ready sight-reader; generally implies one whose playing is more notes than music.
7Nourri (Fr.) (nour-ree). Nourished; un son nourri, a well-sustained sound. Generally applied to vocal sounds.
9Novelette. A name invented by Schumann and given by him to a set of pieces without formal construction, with numerous constantly changing themes, giving expression to a very wide range of emotions.
11Novemole (Ger.) (no-veh-mo'-leh). Nonuplet.
13Nuance (Fr.) (noo-ongs). Shading; the variations in force, quality, and tempo, by means of which artistic expression is given to music.
15Number. (1) A movement of a symphony or sonata. (2) A solo, chorus, or other separate part of an opera or oratorio, etc. (3) A given piece on a concert programme. (4) The "opus" or place in the list of an author's works as to order of composition.
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