Scan 60
The New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians 5 Ed. 2nd, 1904
41 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Crescendo
3Crescendo (It. 'growing', 'becoming louder'; gerund of crescere, to grow). A performance instruction appearing in sources from the 18th century on, abbreviated in earlier sources cresc but now cresc and sometimes expressed by means of a 'hairpin'. The forms crescendo al forte ('increasing in loudness') and crescendo sm'al forte ('growing to forte') also appear. The effect is one normal to musical performance though it was indicated in notation scarcely until the 17th century, when words and signs for it gradually became common (see TEMPO AND EXPRESSION MARKS, §5). Domenico Mazzocchi, in the preface to his Madrigali (Rome, 1638), stated that the signs there used for piano (P) and forte (F), etc., were for 'common things, known to everyone', his use of forte followed by piano and then by pianissimo to indicate a decrescendo, and in reverse order a crescendo, was or became a familiar practice, as explained by W M Mylius in his Rudimenta musices (Gotha, 1686, p.49). Locke used the expression 'Lowder by degrees' (1675). The terms 'crescendo' and 'decresecendo' are in Leopold Mozart's standard list of terms (Violinschule, 1756).
5The customary 'hairpin' signs for crescendo and decrescendo became prevalent in the 18th century (at least from Giovanni Antonio Piani's op 1, Paris, 1712), and in spite of the evidence for an early beginning to expressive playing it is likely that the very layout of Baroque ensemble music made such swelling a relatively peripheral phenomenon before that date. Sometimes, as in Gluck's and Rossini's printed scores, the 'hairpin' forms appeared as in the illustration. The opinion expressed by Burney (The Present State of Music in Germany, 1773, i, p.94) that 'crescendo and diminuendo had their birth under Stamitz in the Mannheim school is incorrect; both Corelli and Lully had similar reputations in the previous century. But the particular problem solved by the Mannheim orchestra, according to J F Reichardt (Ueber die Pflichten des Ripien-Violinisten, 1776), was to develop an ensemble capable of graduating dynamics with the sensitivity and accuracy of a soloist. It is possible that even the style of the Mannheim orchestra was derived from that of NICOLÒ JOMMELLI in Stuttgart. A later famous exponent of a particularly long and sustained crescendo was Rossini. What attracted attention in all such cases was not so much the crescendo itself as the precision and persistence with which it was executed, and the systematic deliberation with which it was introduced. So also, some idea of the difference between a natural crescendo (whose history must be limitless) and the studiedly affective crescendo appears in the well-known piece of musicians' lore which says that crescendo means 'quiet': it cannot make its point strongly unless the player or players make a deliberate effort to begin quietly. one of two readings
6The customary 'hairpin' signs for crescendo and decrescendo became prevalent in the 18th century (at least from Giovanni Antonio Piani's op 1, Paris, 1712), and in spite of the evidence for an early beginning to expressive playing it is likely that the very layout of Baroque ensemble music made such swelling a relatively peripheral phenomenon before that date. Sometimes, as in Gluck's and Rossini's printed scores, the 'hairpin' forms appeared as in the illustration. The opinion expressed by Burney (The Present State of Music in Germany, 1773, i, p.94) that 'crescendo and diminuendo had their birth under Stamitz in the Mannheim school is incorrect; both Corelli and Lully had similar reputations in the previous century. But the particular problem solved by the Mannheim orchestra, according to J F Reichardt (Ueber die Pflichten des Ripien-Violinisten, 1776), was to develop an ensemble capable of graduating dynamics with the sensitivity and accuracy of a soloist. It is possible that even the style of the Mannheim orchestra was derived from that of NICOLÒ JOMMFELLI in Stuttgart. A later famous exponent of a particularly long and sustained crescendo was Rossini. What attracted attention in all such cases was not so much the crescendo itself as the precision and persistence with which it was executed, and the systematic deliberation with which it was introduced. So also, some idea of the difference between a natural crescendo (whose history must be limitless) and the studiedly affective crescendo appears in the well-known piece of musicians' lore which says that crescendo means 'quiet': it cannot make its point strongly unless the player or players make a deliberate effort to begin quietly. one of two readings
8For bibliography see TEMPO AND EXPRESSION MARKS
9ROBERT DONINGTON
11Crescentini, Girolamo (b Urbania, nr. Urbino, 2 Feb 1762; d Naples, 24 April 1846). Italian mezzo-soprano. He studied singing in Bologna with L. Gibelli and was engaged for Sarti's Didone abbandonata at the Teatro Nuovo in Padua in 1782. In 1783 he appeared at the Argentina in Rome and in Cherubini's Artaserse in Livorno, in 1784 he sang in Venice and in Turin, where he had great success in Tarchi's Il ritorno di Bacco delle Indie. He then spent six months in London, but Mount-Edgecumbe (who was abroad during Crescentini's London engagement) reported that he was not well received. For the next ten years Crescentini appeared at all the major opera houses of Europe, and became known as 'l'Orfeo italiano' at La Scala, Milan, in 1786 (Rispoli's Ipermentra, Tarchi's Artarte), 1796 (the première of Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo), 1797 (Zingarelli's Meleagro), 1803 (Mayr's Alonzo e Cora, Federici's Ifigenia) and 1804; at San Carlo, Naples, in 1788-9, at Padua in 1790 (Gazzaniga's Idomeneo), at Bologna in 1791, at the Teatro Argentina again in 1791, 1793 and 1796, at La Fenice, Venice, again in 1794 and 1796 (Cimarosa's Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi, written for him), at Reggio Emilia in 1796 and Piacenza in 1804. From 1799 to 1803 he was engaged by the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon.
13Besides being one of the last great castrato singers, Crescentini was also a composer, and had inserted his own prayer Ombra adorata aspetta into Giulietta e Romeo with such effect that Romeo became his most famous role. Napoleon heard him sing it in Vienna in 1805 and invited him to Paris to become singing teacher to his family. He lived in Paris from 1806 to 1812, retiring from the stage in the latter year. He returned to Italy, first to Bologna, then Rome and finally Naples, where he taught singing at the conservatory. Among his pupils was Isabella Colbran.
15WORKS
161' arlette e l'arlette per acc (Vienna 1797)
17Raccolta di esercit per il canto all uso del vocalizzo (Paris c.1810)
186 cantate e 18 arlette, lv. pf (Bologna c.1820)
191' lutto e nuovo raccolta di 24 solfeggi all uso del vocalizzo, S (Milan, 1835)
2012 solfeggi, B (Milan, 1840)
21[25] Nuovi esercizi ossia Studi di canto per uso del vocalizzo op. 2 (Milan, n.d.)
223 cavatine, lv. pf, op 50 (Bologna, n.d.)
23Ombra adorata aspetta, aria (Naples, n.d.), inserted in Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo
24Duetto notturno, 2 S b / A-B-c
25Arias and ariettas publ singly
27BIBLIOGRAPHY
28R. Edgecumbe Musical Reminiscences (London 4.1834 R1972), 451
29G. Monaldi Cantati e varie celebri (Rome, 1920) 1031
30C. Sartori Il Conservatorio di Bologna (Florence, 1942), 23ff. 461f. 172
31'Crescentini, Girolamo', LS
32BRUCE CARR
34Cresci, Orazio. See CRISCI, ORATIO one of two readings
35Cresci, Orazio. See CRISCI, ORAZIO one of two readings
37Crespel, Jean. Flemish 16th-century composer. Only a few of his works survive complete. Four motets were published by Susato in Antwerp (RISM 155316, 15548, 15549), and another by Berg and Neuber in Nuremberg (15641); nine chansons by Susato (154929, 15528, 15529, 155511) and 21 by Phalèse in Louvain (155212, 155211, 155211, 155211, 155324, 155325, 155422, 155421). A motet is in MS in PL-WRU and six chansons are in D-Mbs
38P ANDRIESSIN
40Crespin, Régine (b Marseilles, 23 March 1927). French soprano. She studied with Jouatte and Cabanel at the Paris Conservatoire, and made her operatic début at
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