Scan 44
The New Encyclopedia Of Music And Musicians, 1929
40 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1tones in their mutual relations and usually in simultaneous combination. Yet all melody rests upon the unconscious recognition of these relations and combinations. The defining of this epoch, therefore, is more for convenience than essentially valid.
3Compositions may be variously classified—as to form (dances, songs, sonatas, operas, etc.), as to purpose (for the church, the salon, the concert-room or the stage), as to style (lyric, comic, polyphonic, 'program', 'ultra-modern', etc.), as to the forces or implements used (for chorus, solo, piano, organ, orchestra, etc.), and so on.
5Composition-Pedal. Same as combination-pedal; see Organ. G.
7Compound. For compound interval, see Interval; for compound measure, rhythm and time, see Rhythm; for compound stop, see Organ and Stop. G.
9Concerto, Concentus. Harmony or concord, or music in which it is exemplified. G.
11Specifically, concerto is used as the opposite of arpeggio, denoting the simultaneous sounding of the tones of a chord. Concentus is the opposite of accentus, denoting the portion of a choral service that is sung by the choir.
13Concert. Originally, the union of several voices or instruments (usually the latter) in musical action; a consort or ensemble. Also extended to a particular group or combination of instruments; as a consort, concert or chest of viols. More specifically, a gathering of musicians for the performance of music for the entertainment of an audience, especially one that is open to the public for an admission-fee. Also applied to the program for such a performance. This meaning is still further restricted so as to limit it to a performance where the program is made up of several distinct elements or numbers; in this sense opposed to a church-service, an opera and an oratorio. G.
15Music intended or suitable for performance in a concert is concert-music; usually opposed to salon-music, church-music and stage-music. A place for concerts is a concert-hall or concert-room. One who arranges business details connected with concerts is a concert-manager. One who takes part in a concert (usually as a soloist) is a concert-performer, concertist, concert-singer or concert-player. The list of works performed make up the concert-program.
17The special institution or usage of the concert appeared late in the 17th century and became general by the middle of the 18th. Prior to this operas had begun to be given in public opera-houses in Italy from 1637, and a variety of entertainments had been privately provided by wealthy patrons or at courts. But the first concerts in the technical sense seem to have been those in London from about 1675 that were arranged by John Banister and Thomas Britton. Notable steps in advance were the starting in Paris in 1725 of the Concerts Spirituels (so called because given on Sundays, when the Opéra was closed), the many oratorio-performances of Handel in London from 1739 and the activities of various Collegia Musica in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Equally important, though under private auspices, were the intensified development of certain Kapellen, such as those of Frederick the Great at Potsdam, of the Elector Palatine at Mannheim, of Prince Esterházy at Eisenstadt and Esterház, etc. The vogue of the choral concert was stimulated in England by the Handel Commemorations (from 1874) and in Germany by the founding of the Berlin Singakademie (1790). Meanwhile concerts by instrumental soloists or virtuosi had steadily become more common, preparing the way for the numerous performances of noted violinists and pianists that were conspicuous throughout the 19th century. To these in time succeeded concerts by vocal soloists. See under Virtuoso.
19The concert is one of the means by which musical literature is made known or put into circulation. From the educational point of view, its function is parallel to that of the opera-stage and in a way comparable to a gallery of pictures or a museum, since through it works and performers are brought to public attention. Furthermore, as in the case of the opera, the concert as an institution reacts powerfully on musical progress, since style is constantly affected by what the public and the critics approve or disapprove. From the point of view of the composer and the performer (especially the latter) concert-giving is indispensable to the fullest success.
21Concertante. Originally, a work for solo-voices or instruments, or for these with an ensemble like an orchestra, in which the several solo-parts are made prominent. The term is now mostly used descriptively of passages or sections in a concerted work in which solo-parts are conspicuous. G.
23Concerted, Concertato. Denoting music for several voices or instruments, as in part-music, choruses, chamber-music and orchestral music, or any combination of voices and instruments.
25Concert-Grand. A grand-piano of the largest size, suitable for use in concerts.
27Concertina. A free-reed instrument, invented by Wheatstone of London in 1829 as a variant of the accordion, which it resembles except in having hexagonal ends, studs in place of keys and a refinement of reed-action. G.
29Concertinas have been made in several sizes, with a total range of nearly 7 octaves. Various elaborate works have been written for the instrument in conjunction with orchestra, chamber-ensemble or piano.
31Concertmaster. Specifically, in an orchestra, the leader of the violins. G.
33The concertmaster assists the conductor in drilling the players, often acting as assistant-conductor. Sometimes the leaders of the first and second violins are respectively called the first and second concertmasters.
35Concerto. Originally, a concerted work for voices and instruments or for several instruments. Specifically, in modern usage, an elaborate work for a solo instrument with orchestra. The diminutive is concertino. G.
37Like the term sonata, concerto has had several stages of meaning. It first appears as the name of motets with organ (the Gabrieli, 1587, Banchieri, 1595, Viadana, 1602). Hence came the concerto da chiesa or ecclesiastico. Even in Bach's time concerto still persists for that otherwise known as cantata. Parallel with this was the vocal concerto da camera (Arrigoni, 1635). But the latter term early began to be common for various forms of chamber-music for a small group of instruments. The modern usage of a work for a solo with ensemble first appears late in the 17th century (G. M. Bononcini, 1677, Torelli, 1866). Such works were closely associated with the advance of violin-virtuosity in the 18th century. They were also written for many other instruments. The terms double or triple concerto (one for two or three soloists) and concerto grosso (one for a chamber-ensemble) were early adopted in some form, combination with the orchestra belonging with both.
39The modern type of concerto dates from the time of the Mannheim school and of Mozart. It is virtually a three-movement sonata, but with a somewhat special distribution of sections in all movements so that the soloist shall appear alone at intervals and also in conjunction with the orchestra, usually with passages for the orchestra alone. The classical procedure is to provide two or three solo-passages in the first movement, at least one of them culminating in a cadenza (provided, improvised or interpolated), in the second
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