Scan 99
The New Encyclopedia Of Music And Musicians, 1929
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1of smaller units, also equal, known by various names (in ancient verse as morae, in music as beats or pulses, in dancing as beats or steps). In modern verse, as in music and dancing, a measure is in some way organized around or held together by a principal accent, with which it may or may not begin. But, since in musical notation, the place of this accent is now marked by a vertical bar, it is usual to speak of the time-unit represented by the space between two bars (with whatever notes it contains) as a measure; in popular usage often called a bar. See Rhythm and Meter for other uscs. G.
3Measure in music is analogous to foot (monopody) or double-foot (dipody) in versification, and it is possible to transfer to music the poetic terms dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, etc., for the number of measures used in making up lines or phrases. But the ancient significance of these terms was not exactly the same as in modern musical theory, since feet were often made up of quantities in the syllables that were not equal. See Foot.
5In notation, the bar defining measures to the eye is sometimes called measure-bar or accent-bar to distinguish it from bars used for other purposes.
7Mechanical Instruments. See Automatic Appliances.
9Mechanism. The complex of parts or members constituting the apparatus of tone-production in any instrument or in the voice; in many of the larger instruments technically called the action. Sometimes extended to manner or style in piano- or violin-playing or in singing, and also to the detailed motions or efforts involved in a full mastery of technique.
11Mediant. In the Gregorian modes, one of the so-called regular modulations, being in authentic modes usually the third tone from the bottom and in plagal modes variably located. In modern harmony, the middle tone of the tonic triad, being in the major scale the major third of the tonic and in the minor scale its minor third. G.
13In Gregorian music the mediant was one of the tones with which any phrase might begin or end (except a final phrase). In general, it ranked as the third important tone in the mode (after the final and the dominant).
15In modern music the mediant is important as fixing whether a passage is to be construed in the major or the minor mode.
17Mediation. In Gregorian music, the cadence or intonation at the end of the first half of any of the regular 'tones.' In Anglican chants, the rhythmical cadence after the first recitation. G.
19Medicea, Editio. The title of the revision of the Roman Catholic musical service-books in accordance with the action of the Council of Trent that was finished in 1614. It is now superseded by the Editio Vaticana, begun in 1904.
21Medius. The middle voice-part in early three-part writing; also called motetus.
23Medley. See Pot-pourri.
25Meistersinger, Meistersänger. The name of a singular class of poet-singers that flourished in southern Germany during the 14–16th centuries. They followed the Minnesinger and regarded themselves as the successors of the latter. But they differed in being drawn wholly from the artisan and tradesman classes rather than from those of noble birth, in being organized into local fraternities or guilds that were kept exclusive by an elaborate code of regulations and in tending to exalt and foster not so much a free lyric and artistic spirit as a pedantic and artificial type of both verse and melody. The movement served usefully in emphasizing song as a dignified and worthy pursuit and in spreading a knowledge of rudimentary technical procedures. But its significance in the progress of musical art was slight and transient. G.
27The tradition is that the movement was started at Mayence in 1311 by Frauenlob (Heinrich von Meissen), the last of the Minnesinger. At all events among the early centers were Mayence, Frankfort, Strasburg, Würzburg and even Zwickau in Saxony and Prague in Bohemia, but later Ulm, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Munich and Ratisbon became prominent. The height of its popularity was in the later 15th and the 16th centuries. Its most famous leader was the Nuremberg cobbler Hans Sachs (d.1576).
29The name may have some connection with the use by the Minnesinger of the name Meister for those not entitled to be called Ritter. But it more likely came from the fact that the ordinary member, after initiation, was advanced through various grades (Schüler, Schulfreund, Sänger and Dichter) before being permitted to use the name Meister. The discipline and tests in the process of promotion were rigid and severe, though often fantastic.
31The topics most frequently taken for poetic treatment were those from the Bible. Of the stiff and stilted styles of verse devised there are many examples extant. But not much has survived of the melodies or Weisen.
33After 1600 the movement rapidly lost headway, though guilds continued for two centuries further. The last guild, that at Ulm, was dissolved in 1839, and the last known member died in 1876.
35Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg presents a picture of certain aspects of the organization, as well as of Sachs.
37Melisma. Originally, a song or melody; opposed to recitative or declamation. Usually a vocal passage with many embellishments or floriture. G.
39Melodeon. The name used for the early form of the American reed-organ or harmonium; often corrupted into melodium.
41Melodica. A small organ with a single set of flue-pipes and a compass of 3½ octaves, designed for use as a solo-instrument in connection with the harpsichord. It was invented by J. A. Stein of Augsburg in 1776.
43Melodicon. A keyboard-instrument, like a piano, but with tuning-forks or steel-bars instead of wires. It was invented by Peter Riffelsen of Copenhagen about 1800.
45Melodion. A keyboard-instrument, invented by J. C. Dietz of Emmerich in 1806, in which the tones were produced by pressing graduated steel-bars against a rotated cylinder.
47Melodrama. In general, any dramatic work in which music is used. Specifically, a play in which speech and song are used in alternation. Also, more technically, a dramatic text designed to be recited in speech while accompanied by instrumental music. G.
49The term is further used, without reference to music, for a play of an extremely sentimental or romantic character.
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