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Full text of "Harvard Dictionary Of Music"

THE BOOK WAS 
DRENCHED 



CO >; DO 

8], . Ex. i (Mozart, 
Symphony in G minor) shows an irregu- 
lar dynamic accent which, at the same 
time, is tonic and agogic also. Frequently, 
the emphasis on the weak beat is en- 
hanced by means of striking dissonances, 
as in Ex. 2. The *tonic accent has played 
a role in the discussions on Gregorian 
chant and on other types of medieval 
monophonic music. 

(2) [F.]. In French music of the i7th 
and 1 8th centuries, an ornamentation be- 
longing to the class of *Nachschlage. 

(3) Signs used in ancient Greek liter- 
ature (probably also in Hebrew poetry, 
e.g., Psalms, Book of Job) to indicate a 
change of pitch of the voice in recitation: 
accentus acutus ^, for a raising; a. gravis 
\ for a lowering; a. circumftexus A , 
for an inflection (raising followed by low- 
ering) of the voice. These signs are 
considered today as the origin of the 
neumes (accent neumes; see *Neumes 
II) and of certain other related systems 



[6] 



ACCENTUATION 

of notation, called *ekphonetic notation. 
Cf. WoHN i, 61. 

(4) The notational signs used in Jew- 
ish chant [see * Jewish music II]. 

Accentuation. The proper placement 
of accents, especially in music set to a 
text. See ^Declamation; *Text and music. 

Accentus, concentus. The terms are 
used in liturgical music in two different 
though related meanings: (a) liturgi- 
cally, as referring to the chanting of the 
priest (accentus) and to that of the 
schold) i.e., the choir, the soloists, or both 
(concentus)\ (b) stylistically, as referring 
to two opposite types of plainsong, the 
syllabic recitation, largely on a monotone 
with slight inflections, as in the psalm 
tones (accentus)) and the melismatic 
type found in the alleluias, graduals, etc. 
(concentus). The chant of the priest is 
usually of the simpler type; that of the 
schola of the more elaborate. See P. 
Wagner, Einjuhrung in die Gregoria- 
nischen Melodien, iii (1921), p. 4. 

Acciaccato [It.]. "Crushed," i.e., 
brusquely, forcibly. 

Acciaccatura [It. acciaccare, to crush], 
Italian name for an ornament of harpsi- 
chord music (c. 1675-1725) which calls 




for the lower second of the normal note 
to be simultaneously struck and immedi- 
ately released. It usually occurs in con- 



ACCIDENTALS 

nection with chords; either written out 
as an ordinary note, but to be played as 
described above [Ex. i, Domenico Scar- 
latti, Sonata; Ex. 2, Scherzo in Bach's 
Partita no. 3] ; or indicated by a diagonal 
dash, in which case arpeggio execution 
is usually intended, particularly in slow 
tempo. The direction of the dash indi- 
cates the direction of the arpeggio [Ex. 
3 ] . The French name for this ornamen- 
tation was arpegement figure. For an 
erroneous usage, frequent in modern 
writings, of the term acciaccatura, see 
under *Appoggiatura III. 

Accidentals. I. General. The signs of 
chromatic alteration momentarily intro- 
duced for single notes or measures, as 
opposed to those given in the ^signature. 
The signs of chromatic alteration to- 
gether with their names in English, 
French, German, and Italian are given 
in the following table: 



E: 
F: 
G: 
It: 



E: 
F: 
G: 
It: 



* 

sharp 
diese 
Kreuz 
diesis 

bb 

double-flat 
double bemol 
Doppcl-Bc 
doppio bemolle 



b 

flat 
bemol 
Be 
bemolle 



X 

double-sharp 
double diese 
Doppelkreuz 
doppio diesis 



natural 
becarre 

Auflosungszeichcn 
bequadro 

The sharp raises the pitch one semitone, 
the flat lowers it one semitone; the 
double-sharp and double-flat raise and 
lower two semitones respectively; the 
natural cancels any of the other signs. 
The use of the compound signs W, tlb, 
W to cancel partly or entirely a previous 
X or bb is quite frequent but unneces- 
sary. The simple signs #, b, $ answer 
the purpose [Ex. i]. In modern practice 
a sign affects the note immediately fol- 
lowing and is valid for all the notes of 
the same pitch (but not in different oc- 
taves) within the same measure. Recent 
composers frequently add bracketed ac- 

C^) 



I 



ir T 



cidentals to those demanded by this rule, 
in order to clarify complicated passages 
or chords. 



[7! 



ACCIDENTALS 

II. History. All the signs used for 
chromatic alteration developed from the 
same sign, namely, the letter b which 
indicates the whole tone above a. The 
fact that in the diatonic scale c-d-e 
... no perfect fourth above f is avail- 
able necessitated, as early as the loth 
century, the introduction of another b, 
a semitone lower than the diatonic b 
[see *Hexachord]. These two b's were 
distinguished by their shape, the higher 
one being written in a square form and 
called b durum (durus, hard, angular), 
the lower in a round form and called 

f b B durum 
E . b B molle 

sh'apes -S * Shar P 

$& Double sharp 

L *fc Double sharp 

b molle (mollis, soft, round). It is from 
these designations that the German 
names Dur and Moll for major and 
minor mode are derived. When in the 
ensuing period the introduction of other 
chromatic tones became necessary, the 
sign b durum and its later modifications 
\ $ were used to indicate the higher of 
two semitones; the sign b molle or b, the 



ACCOMPANIMENT 

doubled lines, either in a straight or in 
a diagonal position. The present sign is 
a simplification of the latter. 

In music prior to 1700 an accidental 
is not valid for the entire measure, but 
only for the next note and immediate 
repetitions of the same note. See Ex. 3. 



T 



c o 



Cf C 



lower one. Thus, in early music, ^ f is 
not F-natural (canceled), but F-sharp; 
likewise, b f is not F-flat, but F (in dis- 
tinction from a previous F-sharp); [see 
Ex. 2, from Frescobaldi's Canzone 
(1628)]. Bach continued to use the 
sign b for the cancellation of a previous f#. 
In Germany, during the i6th century, 
the sign b durum was erroneously inter- 
preted as the letter h, to which it bears 
some visual resemblance. Hence, in Ger- 
man terminology h denotes the B-natural, 
and b the B-flat. 

In the printed books of the i6th cen- 
tury the sharp sign usually occurs in a 
diagonal position. The double-sharp (in- 
troduced in the early i8th century; cf. 
Bach's Well-tempered Clavier, 1722, and 
J. G. Walther's Musi\ Lexicon, 1732) 
originally appeared as a sharp with 




For the problem of accidentals in 
music of the i3th to the i6th centuries, 
see *Musica ficta. Cf. F. Niecks, "The 
Flat, Sharp, and Natural" (PMA xvi). 

Acclamation. A type of Byzantine 
poetry and music which served as a 
salutation for the emperor in the cere- 
monial of the Byzantine court of the 
9th and loth centuries. The acclama- 
tions are practically the only type of non- 
liturgical Byzantine music known to us. 
Acclamations are still used today in Rus- 
sia and the Balkans for welcoming high 
dignitaries of the church. Those begin- 
ning with the traditional phrase "Many 
be the years*' were called polychronion 
[cf. the examples in ReMMA, 77 and 
in MQ xxiii, 207]. 

Lit.: AdHM i, 128; E. Wellesz, Byzan- 
tinische Musi\ (1927); H. Tillyard, in 
The Annual of the British School of 
Athens, xviii. 

Accolade [F.]. *Brace. 

Accompagnato. Accompanied. See 
*Recitative II (c). 

Accompaniment. I. The musical 
background provided by a less important 
for a more important part. For instance, 
in piano music, the chords or other sub- 
sidiary material of the left hand, as 
against the melody of the right hand. 
The term also refers to the support given 
to a soloist (singer, violinist) by a pianist 
or an orchestra. The auxiliary role of 
the accompaniment frequently leads to 
an underestimation of its musical and 
artistic importance, on the part of the 
soloist as well as the audience. Vocalists, 
especially, are inclined to demand an un- 
due subordination of .their accompanists, 
8] 



ACCOMPANIMENT 

condemning them to complete slavery in 
questions of interpretation, of tempo, of 
dynamics, etc. This situation is the more 
dangerous, since the possession of an 
outstanding voice and vocal technique is 
no guarantee of musical taste and artistic 
discrimination. 

The modern church organist as well 
as the leader of a choir is frequently con- 
fronted with the problem of providing 
suitable accompaniment for the singing 
of the congregation or the chorus, either 
improvised or written out. Following 
are a number of books on this subject: 
J. F. Bridge, Organ Accompaniment 
(1886); D. Buck, Illustrations in Choir 
Accompaniment (1877); C. Forsyth, 
Choral Orchestration (1920); W. Hickin, 
Pianoforte Accompaniment', A. H. 
Lindo, The Art of Accompanying 
(1916); Ch. W. Pearce, The Organist's 
Directory to the Accompaniment of the 
Church Service (1908); A. M. Richard- 
son, Modern Organ Accompaniment 
(1907). See also *Vamp. 

II. References to instrumental accom- 
paniment of songs are not infrequently 
found in the Bible (harp-accompani- 
ment is suggested by the remark "on 
eight strings," given with Psalms 6 and 
12) and in the writings of the ancient 
Greeks. Pictorial reproductions and lit- 
erary documents of the Middle Ages 
show the use of harps, fiddles, bells, 
small drums, trumpets, etc., in connec- 
tion with the monophonic songs of the 
troubadours and Minnesinger, and in 
conjunction with dance music. Neither 
in ancient nor in medieval music was 
this improvised type of accompaniment 
ever of a harmonic nature; it was merely 
a unison- (or octave-) doubling of the 
voice part, with occasional *heterophonic 
elements. The same type of accompani- 
ment is to be found with the Oriental 
nations, especially in *China, *India, 
* Arabia. While the polyphonic music 
of the 9th to the i3th centuries (organa, 
motets) does not admit the separation of 
the polyphonic fabric into parts of 
greater or lesser importance, such a sepa- 
ration takes place in the French secular 
compositions of th^ i4th and early i5th 



ACCOMPANIMENT 

centuries (ballades, virelais by G. de 
Machaut and his successors, sec *Ars 
Nova; chansons of Dufay and his con- 
temporaries, see *Burgundian School). 
It disappears again with the rise of 
Flemish sacred music and of Flemish 
counterpoint (Ockeghem, Obrecht), 
which is essentially opposed to any dis- 
tinction between principal and auxiliary 
parts. The instrumental doubling of 
vocal parts, such as was occasionally 
practiced in this period, can scarcely be 
considered an accompaniment. In the 
1 6th century the renewed shift to secular 
things immediately led to a revival of 
accompanied melody, e.g., in the lute- 
songs of the German Schlick (1512), of 
the Spanish Valderrabano (1547), and of 
the English Dowland (1597). 

III. A new era of accompaniment 
began with the period of thorough-bass 
(Baroque period, 1600-1750), which 
calls for a harmonic accompaniment to 
be improvised upon the notes of the bass. 
Moreover, the growing interest in florid 
and singable melody brought about a 
gradually increasing separation of the 
musical substance into a predominant 
melody with subordinate accompaniment 
(e.g., in the aria). Whereas, throughout 
the Baroque period, the written-out ac- 
companiment (and, consequently, the 
improvised one, too) shows many traits 
of contrapuntal and harmonic interest, 
it degenerated, in the second half of the 
1 8th century, into a stereotyped pattern 
of plain chords, arpeggios, *Alberti-bass 
figures, etc. As a curiosity it may be 
mentioned that, about 1760, sonatas were 
frequently written for the "pianoforte 
with the accompaniment of a violin or 
flute" (Mondonville, 1734, see ^Editions 
XXIV, 9; Schobert, see DdT 34), that is, 
with the violin or flute merely duplicat- 
ing the upper part of the pianoforte. In 
this connection it is interesting to note 
that Samuel Wesley speaks of }. S. Bach's 
"Six sonatas for harpsichord with an ob- 
bligato violin accompaniment." 

IV. About 1780 Haydn and Mozart 
evolved a new type of accompaniment 
known as accompanimento obbligato, 
characterized by a greater individuality 



[9] 



ACCORD 

of the lower parts, by the occasional in- 
troduction of fugal elements, by the oc- 
casional shift of the melody from the 
higher part into a lower part, etc. This 
style is particularly evident in the 
quartets written in this period. Because 
of -these efforts Beethoven was able to 
say of himself: "Ich bin mit einem obli- 
gaten Accompaniment auf die Welt 
gekommen." What Haydn and Mozart 
did in the field of instrumental music, 
Schubejrt achieved in the field of song, 
by freeing the pianoforte accompaniment 
from the slavery of mere chord-filling 
and making it an independent, some- 
times the most interesting, part of the 
composition. Composers such as Schu- 
mann, Brahms, and H. Wolf adopted 
his method, whereas others (e.g., Tchai- 
kovsky) rarely went beyond a chordal 
accompaniment in lush harmonies of a 
rather ephemeral interest. More recent 
composers (Mahler, Strauss) have re- 
peatedly used the whole orchestra as an 
instrumental background for a solo 
singer. 

V. The extraordinary growth of ac- 
companied melody .as it occurs in the 
songs of the ipth century has had a de- 
plorable effect upon the minds of musi- 
cal scholars and editors engaged in the 
study and publication of early mono- 
phonic music, such as Greek music, ex- 
otic melodies, Gregorian chant, the songs 
of the trouveres, Minnesinger, etc. Nu- 
merous volumes have been published in 
which the melodies of the pre-Christian 
era or of the Middle Ages are coupled 
with cheap accompaniments in the styles 
of Schumann, Brahms, or Debussy. Even 
well-known scholars have not withstood 
this temptation [cf., e.g., O. Fleischer, 
Rcste der altgricchischen Tontytnst 
(1899)]. More recent attempts to give 
these accompaniments an "antique" air 
[see reference under *Quartal harmony] 
are only more dangerous and misleading. 
For literature on the 17th-century ac- 
companiment see *Thorough-bass. See 
also * Additional accompaniment. 



ACOUSTIC BASS 

ments such as the lute for which various 
systems of tuning were in use during the 
i;th century [cf. WoHN ii, 91; ApNPM, 
7if]. See *Scordatura. 

Accordare [It.], accorder [F.]. To 
tune. 

Accordatura [It.]. See *Accord (2). 

Accordion. A portable musical instru- 
ment consisting of a rather large rec- 
tangular bellows with reeds in the two 
headboards. It has pushed-out and 
drawn-in reeds, the former sounding by 
expiration, the latter by inspiration. The 
modern accordion has a piano keyboard 
at the right side for the playing of mel- 
ody notes, while buttons on the left side 
operate bass notes and full chords. The 
earliest instruments of this type were 
made by Buschmann (1822), Buffet 
(1827), and Damian (1829). 

A similar instrument, preferred to the 
accordion in England, is the concertina 
invented by Wheatstone in 1829. This 
is of hexagonal shape and is provided at 
each side with a number of studs. It 
possesses a full chromatic scale and pro- 
duces the same note whether the bellows 
are pressed or drawn. Artistically, this 
instrument is superior to the accordion. 
A good deal of solo music has been writ- 
ten for it by virtuosos such as G. Regondi, 
W. B. Molique, G. A. Macfarren, and 
E. Solas, and it has occasionally been used 
in the orchestra (Tchaikovsky, Orches- 
tral Suite op. 53). The bandoneon is an 
Argentine variety of the accordion with 
buttons on each side, each of them for a 
single tone. 

Accordo [It.]. Chord. 
Accuse [F.] . With emphasis. 
Achromatic. *Diatonic. 

Achtel, Achtelnote, Achtelpause 

[G. achtel, one-eighth]. See *Notes and 
rests. 

Achtfuss [G.]. Eight-foot (stop) [see 
*Foot (2)]. 



Accord [F.]. (i) Chord. (2) Man- Acoustic bass (also called resultant 
ner of tuning, especially that of instru- bass). On organs, a 32-foot stop which 

[10] 



ACOUSTICS 

is obtained as a differential tone of a 16- 
foot stop and a io%-foot stop. Accord- 
ing to the acoustic phenomenon of the 
differential tones [see Combination 
tones] the simultaneous sounding of C 
(produced by the i6-foot) and of G (pro- 
duced by the io%-foot) produces the 
tone Ci (32-foot). The acoustic bass is 
frequently used where the great expense 
of the large 32-foot pipes is prohibitive. 

Acoustics. The science which treats 
of sounds. From the standpoint of the 
musician the most important problems 
of acoustics are: (i) the nature of the 
musical sound; (2) ^intervals; (3) Con- 
sonance and dissonance; (4) ^resonance; 
(5) *architectural acoustics. Only the 
first problem will be treated here; for the 
others, see the respective entries.. 

I. Vibration. The generation of sound 
is invariably bound up with the vibra- 
tion of an elastic body, i.e., of a body 
which, when its equilibrium is disturbed, 
develops inner forces which try to restore 
the equilibrium. Such a process does not 
end at once, since the body upon return- 
ing to its initial position still has a certain 
amount of kinetic energy which causes 
it to go beyond this position so that a 
new contrary disturbance results. This 
leads to a repetition of the whole move- 
ment in the reverse direction and, in fact, 
to a succession of movements back and 
forth which would continue indefinitely 
were it not for friction, which causes 
them to diminish and finally to stop. A 
tongue of steel fastened at one end may 
serve as an example [Ex. i]. 

The movement A-B-A (or A-C-A 
or B - A - C) is called "single vibration" 
(half-vibration); the movement A-B- 
A-C-A (or B-A-C-A-B) is 
called "double vibration" or simply "vi- 
bration" or "cycle" (in modern writings 
usually the double vibration is used as 
the unit of measurement). The distance 
B-C is called "amplitude." The num- 
ber of vibrations made in one second is 
called "frequency." Example 2 repre- 
sents a vibration of 3 cycles. 

(In order to understand the relation of 
this graph to the vibration it is meant to 



ACCOMPANIMENT 
represent, one iu*v imagine me itrvycsi 

point of the tongue, A, to be made lumi- 
nous and then photographed. If for this 
purpose a single exposure of film is used, 
a horizontal dash ( ) will appear. If, 





Ex. i: Vibration of Elastic Body; O, fixed end; 
A, position of equilibrium; B, position of initial 
disturbance; C, reverse position. Ex. 2: Vibration 
of 3 Cycles; a = amplitude; v= (double) vibration; 
s = single vibration. Ex. j: Path of Vibrating 
Tongue. Ex. 4: Vibration of 6 Cycles. Ex. 5: Fad- 
ing Sound. Ex. 6: Vibrating String; A, B, fastened 
ends of the string; C, point of plucking. 

however, a quickly moving film is used, 
this dash will appear drawn out into an 
oscillating curve [Ex. 3] ). 

If the same tongue is plucked with 
different degrees of force, the ear will 
notice different intensities of sound, and 
the vibration curve will show different 



ACOUSTICS 

amplitudes, corresponding to the differ- 
ent magnitudes of the initial disturbance. 
This leads to the first law of acoustics: 
The intensity of a sound defends upon 
the amplitude of the vibration [see *Bel] . 
Therefore a fading sound will show a 
vibration curve of gradually diminishing 
elongations [see below]. 

Still more important is another ele- 
ment of variety, namely, that which en- 
ters if sounds of different pitch are 
studied. If the photographic experiment 
described above is repeated with a shorter 
tongue, a higher tone will be heard and 
the resulting curve will show vibrations 
of narrower width (provided that the 
speed of the moving film remains un- 
altered) [Ex. 4], This means that the 
single vibration of the higher-pitched 
tongue takes a shorter time than that of 
the lower-pitched one. In other words, 
the higher sound makes more vibrations 
per second, i.e., has a greater frequency, 
than the lower sound. This is the basis 
of the second law of acoustics: The pitch 
of a sound depends only upon the fre- 
quency of the vibration. A sound is audi- 
ble if its frequency is approximately be- 
tween 1 6 and 20,000 cycles; the tones of 
the piano vary from about 30 to 4,000, 
those of the violin from about 300 to 
3,000. The frequency of a middle A (a'), 
i.e., of concert pitch, is 440 (or 880, if 
single vibrations are counted). 

In the above law, the word only is of 
particular importance. It expresses the 
fact, known to every musician, that the 
pitch of a vibrating string is not altered 
by the greater or lesser force with which 
the string is plucked, or, in other words, 
that the pitch does not depend upon the 
amplitude. The piano player obtains a 
tone of the same pitch regardless of 
whether he uses a pianissimo or a fortis- 
simo touch. The same principle is borne 
out by the fact that a sound does not alter 
its pitch when it gradually decreases in 
intensity. This means that a curve rep- 
resenting a fading sound [Ex. 5] will 
always have the form a, not the form b. 

II. Vibrating Strings. If a violin is 
plucked or bowed, each single point of 
the string will make an up-and-down 



ACOUSTICS 

vibration comparable to that made by the 
lowest point of the steel tongue previ- 
ously described. All these vibrations have 
the same frequency, but differ in ampli- 
tude. For the purpose of our explana- 
tions, the vibration of the string can be 
considered as being represented by that 
of its point of highest vibration ampli- 
tude, i.e., of the point at which the string 
is plucked. If this is the middle point of 
the string, the resulting phenomenon can 
be roughly illustrated by Example 6. 

III. Frequency, Vibrating Length, and 
Pitch. The pitch produced by a vibrat- 
ing string depends upon its material 
(steel, copper, etc.), its diameter, its ten- 
sion, and its length. For the present pur- 
pose it is sufficient to consider only the 
latter factor, the others being regarded as 
constant. These conditions are realized 
in the case of a single string whose vibrat- 
ing length can be changed by stopping 
(violin) or by means of a movable fret 
(*monochord). The following funda- 
mental law results: The frequency is 
in inverse proportion to the vibrating 
length. This means that if the whole 
string (e.g., one yard) gives a sound of 
the frequency 600, the string of the half 
length (one-half yard) gives a sound of 
the double frequency, 1200, while a 
string of two-thirds of a yard produces 
the frequency 600 X % = 900, etc. 
More important from the musical point 
of view is the relation between a given 
vibration and the pitch of the sound it 
produces. This problem was investigated 
and solved by Pythagoras, who estab- 
lished the law relating the pitch of a note 
to the length of the string by which it 
is obtained. The results have a more 
general application, however, if they are 
expressed in frequencies rather than in 
vibrating lengths. Thus expressed, they 
remain unchanged regardless of whether 
the sound is produced by a pipe or by a 
string, and they do not depend upon ad- 
ditional factors such as the tension, thick- 
ness, or material of the string. The 
fundamental principle is as follows: // 
the frequency of a tone is n, that of the 
octave is 2n, that of the fifth, %n, and 
that of the major third, %n. From these 



ACOUSTICS 

tones, all the others of the diatonic scale 
can be derived [see intervals, Calcula- 
tion of, II]. The result is as follows: 

cdefgabc' 
Frequency ( = i): i % % % % % 15 6 2 
Frequency ( = 24): 24 27 30 32 36 40 45 48 
Vibrating length: x ft ft ft ft ft 9b K 

The illustration [Ex. 7] shows a num- 
ber of frequencies calculated for the tone 
= 360 (the correct frequency for f is 
352). It must be noted that these fre- 
quencies give the tones of *just intona- 
tion, not of equal temperament [see 
*Temperament] . 

IV. Harmonics. The acoustic effect 
produced by a single vibration of the 
type described above is called a pure 
sound; but practically no vibrating body 
produces a pure sound. All the musical 
instruments produce composite sounds, 



8. ^ 



5" 6 7 6 9 iO II (2. >3 



Iff 16 




Frequency; Harmonics 

consisting of the main sound, or funda- 
mental, plus a number of additional pure 
sounds, the so-called overtones, which, 
however, are not heard distinctly be- 
cause their intensity (amplitude) is 
much less than that of the main sound. 
The frequencies of the overtones are 
exact multiples of the frequency of the 
fundamental. In other words, an instru- 
ment which produces the tone of the fre- 
quency n actually produces vibrations 
(pure sounds) of the frequencies n, 2/1, 
3, 4/2, . . . (up to 200 and more). The 
illustration [Ex. 8] shows the first 15 
overtones of the tone C.^ A^morc com- 
mon designation for these tones is par- 
tials or harmonics. It should be noted, 



ACOUSTICS 

however, that these terms (if properly 
used) include the fundamental, while the 
term overtone (if properly used) ex- 
cludes it. Thus, the first overtone is the 
second harmonic, etc. Although the 
terms harmonics and partials arc fre- 
quently used as interchangeable, the lat- 
ter has, in scientific studies, a wider 
significance, since it includes also non- 
harmonic overtones, such as occur in 
noises, also in bells. With the exception 
of the octaves (2,4,8) none of the har- 
monics arc tones of equal temperament. 
Those which result from the factors 3 
and 5 (3,5,6,9,10,12, etc.) are tones of 
*just intonation (see the above table of 
frequencies) whereas the harmonics 7, 
ii and 13 (indicated by black notes) can 
only approximately be identified with 
tones available in our system of tuning 
and notation. As can easily be seen, the 
7th harmonic, which is 7 = 6 %, is lower 
than the B-flat of just intonation which 
is *% X 4 = 6 %; this, in turn, is 
slightly lower than the B-flat of equal 
temperament (in *cents, the three tones 
are: 972, 996, 1000, respectively). Simi- 
larly, the nth harmonic, which is n = 
4 %, is lower than the F-sharp of just 
intonation (*%X% = 4 %) and, in 
fact, nearer to the F than to the F-sharp 
of equal temperament. Finally, the i3th 
harmonic is 13 = 3 %, whereas the A of 
just intonation is % X 8 = 4 %. 

The physical cause of the harmonics 
is to be found in the fact that a vibrating 
body, such as a string, vibrates simul- 
taneously as a whole and in sections of 
one-half, one-third, one-fourth, etc., of 
the entire length. The secondary vibra- 
tions, however, have a much smaller am- 
plitude, approximately between one-fifth 
and one-fiftieth of that of the fundamen- 
tal [Ex. 9]. 

The existence of these additional tones 
in what the ear believes to be a single 
sound was shown first by Helmholtz 
( 1 821-94), by means f *resonators of 
various sizes which reinforce one fre- 
quency and eliminate all the others. The 
harmonics can easily be demonstrated by 
the following simple experiment on the 
pianoforte: Depress the key of C with- 



ACOUSTICS 

out producing a sound, i.e., merely raise 
the damper of the key of C; then strike 
forcefully the key of Ci and release it 
at once; the higher C, corresponding to 
the tone of the depressed key, will 
clearly be heard. The experiment can 
be repeated by depressing the keys of G, 
c, e, g, etc., and striking each time the 
key of Ci. In every case, the tone cor- 
responding to the depressed key will be 
heard. The explanation of the phenome- 
non is found in the fact that the har- 
monics C, G, c, . . . produced by the 
fundamental tone Ci generate, by way 
of resonance, sympathetic vibrations in 
the shorter strings corresponding to these 
tones. The harmonics are the cause of 
three important musical phenomena, 
namely, *timbre, the *natural tones of 
wind instruments, and the *harmonics 
of the violin. 

V. Pipes. In pipes (organ pipes, and 
all wind instruments) an enclosed air 
column is caused to vibrate in what is 
technically termed "stationary waves." 
These are characterized by a regular 
alternation of places of highest density 
(nodes) and highest rarefaction (anti- 
nodes or loops) between which the den- 
sity of the air decreases from the maxi- 
mum to the minimum. At the place of 
maximum density the amplitude of the 
vibrating particles of air is at a mini- 
mum, and vice versa. The whole phe- 
nomenon can conveniently be described 
by graphs similar to that used for a vi- 
brating string, if the point of highest 




Open and Closed Pipes 

amplitude is interpreted as the loop, the 
stationary point as the node. In an open 
pipe, a loop develops at each end, with a 
node in the middle; in a *stopped pipe, 
a node develops at the closed end, a loop 
at the open end. From the accompany- 



ACOUSTICS 

ing drawing it appears that an open 
pipe generates a sound the wave length 
of which is double the length of the pipe 
(N'N" = 2 AB), while a stopped pipe 
generates a sound the wave length of 
which is four times the length of the pipe 
(N'N" = 4 AB) and which, therefore, 
is an octave lower than that produced by 
an open pipe of the same length. An 
open pipe sounding C measures approxi- 
mately eight feet [see *Foot (2)]. 

Like a vibrating string, an air column 
vibrates not only as a whole but also in 
parts (y 2> Y^ %, %, etc., of its length), 
thus producing harmonics. While an 
open pipe produces all the harmonics 
(as does a string), a stopped pipe seg- 
ments so as to give out only the odd- 
numbered harmonics, 1,3,5, etc - T ne rea " 
son is that an even harmonic (e.g., 2) 
would call for a loop (or a node) at both 
ends of the pipe, while in a stopped pipe 
there is always a loop at the open end, a 
node at the closed end [see *Wind instru- 
ments III; *Organ IX], 

VI. Interference. This is the technical 
term (not a very fortunate one) for the 
numerous phenomena resulting from the 



B 




INTERFERENCE 

Ex. A: Vibrations of the Same Frequency. Ex. B: 
Vibrations of Different Frequencies: I, of 12 cycles; 
II, of 14 cycles; III, resulting vibration showing 
2( = i4-i2) maximum vibrations per second 
(beats). 

superposition of two or more air vibra- 
tions. The general principles of the very 
complex phenomenon can be grasped 
from the drawing [Ex. A], showing two 
original vibrations (I, II) of the same 
frequency as well as the result of their 
superposition (III = I -f II). More im- 

14] 



ACTION 

portant is the interference of vibration? 
of different frequencies, e.g., of 2 and 3 
cycles per second, or of 12 and 14 cycles 
per second [Ex. B]. The example illus- 
trates the manner in which *beats are pro- 
duced, in the present case 2 (14-12) per 
second. For a more complicated phenom- 
enon of interference, see *Combination 
tones. 

Related articles: Architectural acous- 
tics; Beats; Bel; Cents; Combination 
tones; Comma; Consonance and Disso- 
nance; Intervals, Calculation of; Just in- 
tonation; Pitch; Pythagorean scale; Reso- 
nance; Savart; Temperament; Timbre. 

Lit.: W. T. Bartholomew, Acoustics 
of Music (1942; bibl.); P. C. Buck, 
Acoustics for Musicians (1918); J. Broad- 
house, Musical Acoustics (1926); E. G. 
Richardson, The Acoustics of Orchestral 
Instruments and of the Organ (1929); 
}. Jeans, Science and Music (1937); 
D. C. Miller, Science of Musical Sounds 
(1916); J. Redfield, Music: a Science and 
an Art (1928); Stevens and Davis, Hear- 
ing (1938); A. H. Davis, Modern Acous- 
tics (1934); N. W. McLachlan, The New 
Acoustics (1936); Olson and Massa, Ap- 
plied Acoustics (1934). See also under 
* Architectural acoustics; *Electronic mu- 
sical instruments. Additional bibliog- 
raphy in D. H. Daugherty, A Bibliog- 
raphy of Periodical Literature in Musi- 
cology . . . (1940), pp. nyff. 

Action, (i) Any kind of mechanism 
used in instruments as a means of trans- 
mitting the action of the fingers to the 
sound-producing parts; in other words, 
a sort of artificial prolongation of the 
fingers (or feet). On keyboard instru- 
ments, the action forms an essential, even 
the characteristic, part of the instrument 
[see *Pianoforte I; *Organ II]. The 
term is also applied to the key-mechanism 
of wood-wind instruments which en- 
ables the player to control holes which 
are out of reach of the hand (e.g., the 
*Boehm-action of the flute). The action 
of the harp is the mechanism controlled 
by the player's feet upon the pedals by 
which a transposition of a semitone or a 
whole tone can be effected [see *Harp], 



ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENT 

(2) In modern French usage the word 
action sometimes is used for an opera, 
e.g., in Vincent d'Indy's Fervaal (1897). 

Act tune. See *Entr'acte. 

Adagietto [It.], (i) A tempo some- 
what faster than adagio. (2) A short 
adagio. 

Adagio [It., comfortable, easy], (i) 
Slow tempo, slower than andante and 
faster than largo. (2) A movement 
written in slow tempo, especially the sec- 
ond (slow) movement of sonatas, sym- 
phonies, etc. See *Tempo marks. 

Adagissimo. Extremely slow. 
Adaptation. * Arrangement. 

Added sixth. The sixth added to a 
triad, or the entire chord thus obtained 
e.g., c-e-g-a. In classical harmony, 
the chord of the added sixth occurs pref- 
erably on the fourth degree, i.e., with a 
subdominant function (f-a-c' d' in 
C major; also f-ab -c' d'). It is usu- 
ally explained as the first inversion of 
the seventh-chord on the second degree 
(d- f-a-c'). Although according to 
strict rules the chord must be resolved 
into the dominant or the tonic, it is used 
in more recent works [impressionism] 
as a color-modification of the triad which 
does not call for resolution. Jazz writers 
have abundantly availed themselves of 
this over-sweet effect, especially for the 
final chord of a piece. 

Additional accompaniment. Desig- 
nation for 19th-century revisions or en- 
largements of earlier orchestral scores, 
especially those of the i8th century (Han- 
del, Bach). With the ever-increasing 
size of the 19th-century orchestra and 
concert hall, men felt the need of ex- 
panding the instrumentation; but with 
the ever-diminishing understanding of 
true Baroque style, many stylistic incon- 
gruities were allowed to enter. Thus, not 
only were admissible and sometimes 
necessary changes made (replacement of 
obsolete instruments by newer ones, 
doubling of certain parts, etc.), but also 
the voice leading was changed, the writ- 

IS] 



ADDOLCENDO 

ing was "improved," new parts were 
added, and in many instances the original 
intention of the composer was thor- 
oughly misunderstood or disregarded. 
The composers whose works were most 
frequently subjected to arrangement 
were Handel and Bach. The Messiah of 
Handel has been particularly unfortu- 
nate in this regard. Mozart was among 
the first to make a more modern arrange- 
ment of it; subsequently various other 
musicians made further arrangements of 
Mozart's arrangement. Many other 
works of Handel have fared similarly, 
e.g., under the hands of Mendelssohn, 
who later expressed regret for having 
published his arrangements. Bach's can- 
tatas suffered mistreatment from Robert 
Franz. Wagner made arrangements of 
Beethoven's Ninth, of Gluck's Ifhigenie 
en Aulide, etc. Recent times have wit- 
nessed a growing understanding of the 
Baroque style and a consequent demand 
for authentic, unarranged, performances. 
See *Auffiihrungspraxis. Cf. N. Kil- 
burn, "Additional Arrangements to 
Handel's Adi 9 (SIM iii). 

Addolcendo [It.]. Becoming dolce. 
Addolorato [It.]. Sadly. 
A deux [F.]. See*A due. 
Adirato [It.]. Angered, infuriated. 

Ad libitum [L., at will]. An indica- 
tion which gives the performer the lib- 
erty: (i) to vary from strict tempo (con- 
trast a *battuta)\ (2) to include or omit 
the part of some voice or instrument 
(contrast *obbligato); (3) to include a 
*cadenza according to his own inven- 
tion. 

A due [It.]. Direction in orchestral 
parts indicating that two instruments 
notated on one staff (e.g., Flute i and 2) 
are to sound in unison [see *AH'uni- 
sono]. However, the term is also used 
in the almost opposite meaning, synony- 
mous with *divisi. The same ambiguity 
exists with the French term a deux. 
A due cordey see *Due corde. A due 



AEOLOPANTALON 

iy for two hands. A due vod (con, 
stromentiy etc.), for two voices (choirs, 
instruments, etc.). 

Aengstlich [G.]. Anxiously. 

Aeolian, aeolian mode. See *Church 
modes; *Modality. 

Aeolian harp [Gr. Aeolos, the God of 
the Winds]. An instrument comprising 
a long narrow box, with six or more gut 
strings stretched inside over two bridges. 
The strings are tuned in unison, but 
vary in thickness and, therefore, tension. 
If the box is placed in a free current of 
air (preferably in an open window), the 
strings, according to their different ten- 
sion, vibrate differently and thus pro- 
duce a great variety of harmonics over 
the same fundamental (cf. the "singing" 
of the telephone wires). The sound 
varies considerably with the changing 
force of the wind and produces a highly 
romantic, mysterious effect. The instru- 
ment was known in ancient China and 
India, and in Europe during the Middle 
Ages. It enjoyed special popularity in 
the Romantic period around 1800. The 
intimate charm of this instrument is most 
beautifully set forth in Eduard Moerike's 
poem Die Aeolsharfe and in its musical 
settings by Brahms and (especially) 
Hugo Wolf. 

Various attempts have been made to 
harness this elusive sound to a keyboard, 
with an artificial jet of wind provided 
by footbellows (Schnell's Antmochord 
or Aero-clavichord, 1789; H. Herz's 
Piano tolien, 1851). Cf. SaRM, 16. 

Aeoline. Old name for *mouth-har- 
monica. Also an early type of Harmo- 
nium (aeolodicon) . 

Aeolopantalon. An instrument in- 
vented in 1825 by Dlugosz, Warsaw; it 
was a combination of a harmonium-like 
instrument (Aeolomelodityn, with brass 
tubes affixed to the reeds) and a piano- 
forte, so that both instruments could be 
used in alternation. Its only claim to re- 
membrance lies in the fact that the young 
Chopin played on it in various recitals. 

16] 



AEQUALSTIMMEN 

Aequalstimmen [G.]. (i) The eight- 
foot pipes of the organ. (2) *Equal 
voices. 

Aerophones. Sec *Instruments III. 

Aerophor (aerophon). A device in- 
vented by B. Samuels in 1912 by which 
the player of a wind instrument is pro- 
vided with additional air from small 
bellows operated with the foot. The air 
is pressed, through a tube with mouth- 
piece, into the mouth of the player when- 
ever his breath does not suffice, e.g., for 
long-held tones or long melodies in full 
legato. R. Strauss has written passages 
requiring the use of the aerophon (Al- 
pine Symphony and Festal Prelude). 

Aesthetics of music. I. Aesthetics is 
generally defined as the philosophy or 
study of the beautiful. Musical aesthetics, 
therefore, should be the study of the 
beautiful in music, the ultimate goal of 
such a study being the establishment of 
criteria which would allow us to say 
whether or why one particular composi- 
tion is beautiful while another is not. 
The main objection to such a point of 
view is that beauty is by no means the 
only (and probably not even the fore- 
most) criterion of what may be roughly 
described as "quality" or "artistic value." 
At least the possibility must be admitted 
that music, like other works of art, may 
be "valuable" without necessarily being 
"beautiful" unless the term beauty is 
interpreted so broadly as to include fea- 
tures which may well be much closer to 
its opposite. Therefore, a definition such 
as the following provides a much better 
basis for the study in question: Musical 
aesthetics is the study of the relationship 
of music to the human senses and intel- 
lect. This definition corresponds exactly 
to the original meaning of the Greek 
word aisthesis, i.e., feeling, sensation. 
The following words by R. Schumann 
(Gesammelte Schrtften uber Musi^ und 
Mustier, i, 44) adequately describe die 
peculiar problem of musical aesthetics 
[translation by the writer]: 

"In no other field ii the proof of the 
fundamentals as difficult as it is in music. 



AESTHETICS OF MUSIC 

Science argues with mathematics and 
logic; poetry possesses the decisive, 
golden word; other arts have chosen 
nature as their arbiter, borrowing their 
forms from her. Music, however, is a 
poor orphan whose father and mother 
nobody can name. But, perhaps, it is pre- 
cisely this mystery of her origin which 
accounts for the charm of her beauty." 

II. For more than 2000 years philoso- 
phers have tried to solve the mystery of 
music. Among them we find Pythagoras 
(550 B.C.), who explains music as the ex- 
pression of that universal harmony which 
is also realized in arithmetic and in as- 
tronomy; Plato (400 B.C.), for whom 
music is the most appropriate means of 
social and political education [also Con- 
fucius; see *Chinese music I]; Plotinus 
(d. 270), who interprets music as a mys- 
tic and occult power; Boethius (d. 524), 
who divides music into three fields, 
musica mundana (the Pythagorean har- 
mony of the universe), musica humana 
(the harmony of the human soul and 
body), and musica instrumental^ (music 
as actual sound), a classification which 
prevailed in musical theory for more 
than 1000 years; }. Kepler (Harmonices 
mundi libri v, 1619), who in a great 
structure of thought correlates the musi- 
cal tones and intervals with the move- 
ments of the planets and their astrological 
functions; W. Leibniz (1646-1716), who 
paves the way for the psychological 
method of musical aesthetics by interpret- 
ing music as the "unconscious exercise in 
arithmetic"; A. Schopenhauer (Die Welt 
als Wille und Vorstellung, 1819), who 
considers music the purest incarnation 
of the "absolute will" and as the expres- 
sion of human feelings (love, joy, hor- 
ror) in their abstract interpretation as 
metaphysical ideas; then G. T. Fechner 
(180187), who insists that music is the 
expression of "general mood" rather than 
specific "feelings"; and finally C. Stumpf 
(Tonpsychologie, 1883-90), who inaugu- 
rated the scientific study of musical psy- 
chology on the basis of experiments and 
statistics, especially with regard to the 
problem of *consonance and dissonance. 
Stumpf s procedure has been the point 



[171 



AESTHETICS OF MUSIC 

of departure for many investigations 
along similar lines, especially in Amer- 
ica, e.g., C. E. Seashore, The Psychology 
of Music (1938); M. Schoen, The Effects 
of Music (1927), and others [see *Tests] . 
For a criticism of these methods, cf. 
C. C. Pratt, The Meaning of Music 



It will be seen that not until the ad- 
vent of the ipth century did these theo- 
ries of music begin to accord with the 
present-day interpretation of musical 
aesthetics as defined above, a statement 
which should not be construed as a de- 
preciation of the much broader and, in 
a sense, "greater" views cosmic, po- 
litical, or theological held by the phi- 
losophers of antiquity and of the Middle 
Ages. While in those periods music 
found its proper place and justification 
in the universe, in the state, or in God, 
for us it has lost these transcendental 
affiliations, but has instead gained a se- 
cure place in everyday life. 

III. With the foregoing survey of the 
theories and views held by philosophers 
and psychologists as a general back- 
ground, we may now turn to a study of 
the contributions to our problem made 
by the musicians themselves. As might 
be expected, these contributions aim at a 
more detailed penetration into the ques- 
tions of musical aesthetics and are usu- 
ally concerned with the study of indi- 
vidual composers or works rather than 
with music in the abstract. The various 
theories can be conveniently divided into 
two groups, according to whether they 
consider music (a) as a heteronomous 
art, i.e., as the expression of extramusical 
elements, or (b) as an autonomous art, 
i.e., as the realization of intrinsic prin- 
ciples and ideas (F. Gatz). 

(a) In the former class we find the 
*AffeI(tenlehre of the i8th century and 
its 16th-century predecessors, the *Musica 
reservata and the *Maniera. In the lyth 
century, music was frequently inter- 
preted as an oratorical art, by relating its 
structural and stylistic elements (such as 
figura, rcpetitio^ fuga, climax) to cor- 
responding principles of speech [cf. A. 
Schering, in KJ, 1908], In the late Ro- 



AESTHETICS OF MUSIC 

mantic period the interpretation of musi- 
cal compositions was largely based upon 
programmatic and allegorical concepts. 
Music was understood as a sort of psy- 
chological drama and explained in terms 
such as "desperate struggle," "the knock- 
ing of Fate," "threatening fortissimo," 
"gloomy minor," etc. An early exponent 
of this school of thought is A. B. Marx, 
in his L. van Beethoven (1875). A more 
intelligent use of this approach was at- 
tempted by H. Kretzschmar, the inventor 
of musitylische Hermeneuti^ [see *Her- 
meneutics]. He considers music not as 
a substitute for the pictorial arts or for ob- 
jects of nature, but rather for poetry, i.e., 
as a SprachJ{unst of lesser clarity, but of 
finer shades and deeper effects, than the 
ordinary language. He goes back to the 
"affects" of the i8th century which, ac- 
cording to him, must be based upon the 
study of the musical detail (themes, in- 
tervals, rhythm, etc.). He also relates the 
music to the life of the composer (Bee- 
thoven's "period of happiness," etc.). 
The latter point was emphasized by H. 
Riemann, who maintains that the writ- 
ten composition as well as the actual per- 
formance is nothing but a means of trans- 
ferring a psychological situation (Erleb- 
nis) from the fancy of the composer to 
that of the listener. Kretzschmar's 
method has been elaborated by Schering 
[see under *Hermeneutics] . A recent 
American publication, E. Sorantin, The 
Problem of Musical Expression (1932), 
may be mentioned as an example of 
20th-century Affefyenlehre (expression of 
joy, grief, longing, etc.). 

(b) In strong contrast to all these con- 
tributions is the more recent school of 
thought, which rejects the allegorical, 
emotional, programmatic, poetical foun- 
dation of musical aesthetics, and explains 
music as a purely musical phenomenon, 
as an autochthonous and autonomous 
creation which can be understood only 
in its own terms. The founder of this 
school was E. Hanslick who, in his Vom 
musil(alisch Schonen (1854), formulated 
the sentence: "Musik ist toncnd bewegte 
Form" music is form moving in 
sounds (the term *form, naturally, must 

18] 



AEVIA 

be taken in its widest sense, including all 
structural and stylistic elements of 
music). He admits the use of designa- 
tions such as "powerful," "graceful," 
"tender," "passionate," but only in order 
to illustrate the musical character of the 
passage, not to suggest a definite feeling 
on the part of composer or listener. Still 
farther in this direction went August 
Halm (Von zwei Kulturen der Musi^ 
1913), who must be considered the most 
outstanding representative of musical 
aesthetics of the present day. The follow- 
ing quotation from the Talmud, given 
at the beginning of his book, is an ade- 
quate expression of the central thought 
of musical autonomy: "If you want to 
understand the invisible, look carefully 
at the visible." Halm, as well as his suc- 
cessors, E. Kurth, H. Hermann, F. Joede, 
and others, advocated the separation of 
the musical work from the emotional 
world of both the composer and the 
listener, and the emancipation of the 
musical thought from "sensuous intoxi- 
cation and hallucination." 

See also *AfIektenlehre; *Hermeneu- 
tics; *Musica reservata; *Maniera. 

Lit.: F. M. Gatz, Musi^Aestheti^ in 
ihren Hauptrichtungen (1929); H. H. 
Briton, Philosophy of Music (1911); 
H. Riemann, Catechism of Musical Aes- 
thetics (1895); R. Schaefke, Geschichte 
der Musi^-aesthetif^ (1934); H. Besseler, 
"Grundfragen der Musik-aesthetik" 
(JMP xxxiii). For a bibliography of re- 
cent psychological studies, cf. D. H. 
Daugherty, A Bibliography of Periodical 
Literature in Musicology . . . (1940), 
pp. io8ff. Cf. also MoML y 538^ 

Aevia. An artificial word, consisting of 
the vowels of "alleluia (u = v). It is 
occasionally used as an abbreviation in 
manuscripts of Gregorian chant. Sec 
"Euouae. 

Affabile [It.]. In a pleasing manner. 



AFRICAN MUSIC 
A ff anno so [It.]. Sadly. 

Affektenlehre [G.; doctrine of affec- 
tions] . The aesthetic theory of the *emp- 
findsamer Stil (sensitive style) of the 
later i8th century, formulated by J. 
Quantz and Ph. Em. Bach, according 
to which the chief aim of music is to 
portray certain typical emotions, such as 
the tender, the languid, the passionate, 
etc. This theory, which is realized in the 
works of Ph. Em. Bach, marks an im- 
portant advance over the superficiality 
of the Italian "stile galante" (*gallant 
style) and, in spite of its rationalistic 
nature and schematic methods, paves the 
way for the free expressiveness of the 
Beethoven style. See * Aesthetics III (a); 
*Musica reservata. 

Lit.: W. Serauky, Die musi\alische 
Nachahmungsaesthetif^ im Zeitraum 
1700-1850 (1929); M. Kramer, Beitra'ge 
zu einer Aesthetil^ der Affectenlehre in 
der Musi^ von 15501700 (Diss. Halle 
1924); H. Goldschmidt, Die Musityies- 
theti^ des 18. Jahrhunderts (1915); G. 
Frotscher, Bach's Themen-bildung unter 
dem Einfluss der Affektenlehre (1926); 
R. Schaefke, "Quantz als Aesthetiker" 
(AMW vi); H. Abert, in AMW v; H. 
Kretzschmar, in JMP xviii, xix; F. Stege, 
in ZMW x; A. Schering, in JMP xlv. 

Affetti [It.]. The term appears as a 
title of various publications around 1600 
[Dolci Affetti (1595); S. Bonini, Affetti 
spirituals in istile di Firenze or recitative 
. . . (1615); B. Marini, Affetti musicali, 
op. i (1617)], probably in order to em- 
phasize the emotional character of the 
music. It is also used in early violin 
sonatas to designate a certain type of 
ornamentation, either tremolo or arpeg- 
gio [cf. SchGMB y no. 183; RiHM ii. 2, 
120]. 

Affettuoso [It]. Affectionate, with 
warmth. 

Affrettando [It.]. Hurrying. 



Affaiblissant [F.]. Weakening, di- 
minuendo. A - . o *r . 

African music. See "Primitive music; 

*Arabian music; "Ethiopian Church 
music; "Coptic Church music. 

[19] 



Affanato [It]. "Panting," i.e., as in 
distress. 



AFTERNOON OF A FAUN, THE 

Afternoon of a Faun, The. Sec 
Symphonic poem IV. 

Agende [L. agenda, that which has to 
be done]. The Protestant counterpart of 
the Catholic liturgy or of the Anglican 
rites, i.e., the entire ritual of the service 
of the German Protestant Church. Cf. 
H. Kretzschmar, Die musifylische 
Agende (1894); R. v. Liliencron, Musi- 
folisch-liturgische Geschichte des evange- 
lischen Gottesdienstes 1525-7700 (1892). 

Agevole [It.]. Lightly and easily. 
Aggradevole [It.]. Agreeably. 

Agilmente; conagilita [It.]. Lively, 
speedily. 

Agitato [It.]. Agitated, excited. 

Agnus Dei. The last item (except for 
the *Itc missa est) of the Ordinary of the 
Mass [see *Mass A and B III]; there- 
fore, the final movement in Mass com- 
positions. It consists of three invocations: 
"Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: 
miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, . . . mise- 
rere nobis. Agnus Dei, . . . dona nobis 
pacem." The musical structure of the 
chant is usually A A A (sometimes with 
a different beginning for the middle A), 
or A B A. See *Gregorian chant IV. 

Agogic. An accent is said to be agogic 
if it is effected, not by dynamic stress or 
by higher pitch, but by longer duration 
of the note [see * Accent]. In German 
writings the term Agogi^ is used to de- 
note all the subtleties of performance 
achieved by modification of tempo, as 
distinct from Dynami^ i.e., gradations 
which involve variety of intensity. Thus, 
the use of rallentando and accelerando, 
of tempo rubato, the dwelling on certain 
notes, also rests, breathing signs, fer- 
matas, etc., all fall under Agogi^. The 
term was introduced by H. Riemann 
(Musitylische Dynami\ und Agogi^ 
1884) particularly in order to describe 
those deviation's from strict tempo and 
rhythm which are necessary for an in- 
telligible rendering of the musical phrase. 

Agr6ments. The ornaments intro- 
duced in French music of the i7th cen- 



AIR 

tury, which were finally adopted into all 
European music and were generally indi- 
cated by stenographic signs or as notes 
in small type. The agrements are char- 
acterized by a definitely stereotyped me- 
lodic contour, a close relationship with a 
single note of the melody to be orna- 
mented, and a small melodic range. See 
Ornamentation H. P. A. 

Aida. Grand opera by Giuseppe Verdi 
(1813-1901), libretto by A. Ghislanzoni; 
commissioned by the Khedive of Egypt 
for the new Opera House at Cairo and 
produced there in 1871, The plot has an 
ancient Egyptian background and centers 
around the love of the Egyptian warrior 
Radames (Tenor) for the captive Ethi- 
opian princess Aida (Soprano), and the 
jealousy of Amneris (Mezzo-soprano), 
daughter of the king of Egypt Amonasro 
(Bass). Amneris, repudiated by Rada- 
mes, discovers a treacherous plot of the 
two lovers designed to aid Ethiopia, and 
both die. 

Although reputedly making use of a 
few Egyptian musical themes, the gen- 
eral style of the opera is that of the Italian 
grand opera. Striking features are the 
brief atmospheric prelude (in place of 
a conventional operatic overture) and the 
use of a few *leitmotifs (e.g., Amneris' 
jealousy). 

Aigu [F.]. High, shrill. 

Air [F.]. (i) French iSth-century term 
for song in general [see under *Chan- 
son]. (2) In French opera and ballet 
of the I7th-i8th centuries, an instrumen- 
tal or vocal piece designed to accompany 
dancing, but not cast in one of the stand- 
ard dance patterns such as the minuet, 
gavotte, etc. Sometimes (e.g., Rameau) 
it is qualified as air tcndre, air gracieux, 
etc. (3) In the *suites around and 
after 1700, a movement, found in the 
optional group, of a melodic rather than 
dance-like character in a way, a "song 
without words" [cf. Bach's Partitas nos. 
IV and VI], As yet, no clear connection 
between these airs and those described 
under (2) has been discerned, probable 
as it is that such a connection existed. 



[20] 



AIR DE COUR 

(4) See *Ayre. For air de charactere, 
etc., see *Aria. 

Air de cour [F., court song]. Short 
strophic songs, sometimes with a refrain, 
for one or more voices with lute accom- 
paniment, which were cultivated in 
France in the late i6th and in the iyth 
century. They are in simple syllabic 
style and in binary form. The texts are 
chiefly love-poems in affected precieux 
language, some of them in *vers me sure. 
The repetition of each of the two sections 
was frequently ornamented at will by the 
singer. Principal composers are Pierre 
Guedron (c. 1565-1625); Antoine Boe's- 
set {c. 1585-1646); Jean de Cambefort 
(d. 1661); Michel Lambert (1610-96). 
Cf. Th. Gerold, L'Art du chant en France 
au XV He siecle (1921); L. de la Lau- 
rencie, ^Chansons au luth et airs de cour 
au XV le siecle (1931); A. Arnheim, in 
SIMx. D.J.G. 

Ais, aisis [G.]. See *Pitch names. 

Akademie [G.]. *Academy. See also 
under * Academic. 

Akkord [G.]. Chord. 

Akoluthia [Gr.]. The order of the 
service of the Byzantine Church, particu- 
larly that of the office, thus usually not 
including the Mass, which was called 
leiturgeia (liturgy). Cf. E. Wellesz, By- 
zantinische Musi\ (1927), p. 23. 

Akzent [G.]. Accent. A\zentneumen y 
accent neumes [see *Neumes II], 

Alala. A type of Galician folk song 
expressing passion and longing. Older 
examples use syllables such as la-la or 
ai-le-lo-la and are interesting because of 
the preservation of plainsong-like ele- 
ments. Cf. F. Pedrell, "\Cancionero mu- 
sical popular espanol (1918-22), ii, 2171!. 

A la mi re, alamire. See *Hexachord 
III. 

Alba, albe, aube [F., dawn]. In the 
repertoire of the Provencal *troubadours, 
a poem dealing with the departure of the 
lover in the early morning. It usually is 
a dialogue between the lover and a 



AL FINE 

guardian friend who warns him of some 
approaching danger [cf. GeHM, 301; 
ReMMA, 215], The German Minne- 
singer counterpart of the alba is the 
Tagelied (day-song) or Wdchterlicd 
(guardian-song) which Wagner revived 
in the second act of his Tristan (Bran- 
gane's warning call). Many examples of 
Tagelied, however, are of a more devo- 
tional nature, serving as a sort of morn- 
ing prayer [cf. F. Runge, fD/> Sanges- 
weisen der Colmarer Liederhandschrtft, 
p. 173]. See also *Alborada; *Aubade. 

Albert! bass. Stereotyped figures of 
accompaniment for the left hand of the 
piano player, consisting of broken chords 
[see also *Murky bass] . They are named 
after Domenico Alberti (1710-40?) who 
used them extensively in his harpsichord 



sonatas. An early example occurs in the 
fourth variation of the G minor aria in 
Pachelbel's Hexachordum Apollinis of 
1698 [cf. DTB 2.i; TaAM ix, 64]. They 
are still frequent in the works of Haydn, 
Mozart, and the early Beethoven. 

Albisiphone. See *Flute I (d). 

Alborada [Sp., dawn song]. A type 
of Spanish (particularly, Galician) music, 
played on the dulzaina (rustic oboe) and 
tamboril (small drum), originally a 
morning serenade [cf. G. Chase, The 
Music of Spain (1941), p. 237]. Ravel's 
Alborada del Gracioso (1912) derives cer- 
tain features from the Spanish alborada. 
See also *Alba; *Aubade. 

Albumblatt [G.], album leaf. A 
fancy name for short pieces of 19th-cen- 
tury salon music such as might have 
served as a contribution to an autograph 
album. 

Alcuna licenza, Con [It.]. With a 
little license, specifically regarding the 
tempo. 

Al fine [It.]. To the end (for repeti- 
tion of a piece from the beginning). 



ALIQUOT STRINGS 

Aliquot Brings, aliquot scaling. 
*Sympathfcitic strings added by some 
pianoforte* makers (Bliithner) above the 
strings of the upper register in order to 
produce a 'fuller sound by resonance. 

Alia breve [It.]. A tempo mark (ebcndem Zfengen." 



use of short running figures which arc 
passed through the various voices of a 
pseudo-contrapuntal fabric. Our three 
examples (i. Ammerbach, 1571; 2. Pur- 
cell, c. 1660; 3. J. K. F. Fischer, c. 1690) 
illustrate the stylistic development of the 
dance. 

In the late i8th century the name al- 
lemande was used in South Germany as 
an equivalent for Deutscher Tanz, a 
quick waltz-like dance in 3/4- or 3/8- 
time. Cf. Beethoven's "A Tallcmande" 
in his Bagatellen, op. 119, and his 12 
Deutsche Tdnze fur Ore/tester (1795). 
See *Dance music III. 

Lit.: E. Mohr, Die Allemandc in der 
deutschen Klaviersuitc (1932). 

Allentando [It.]. Slowing. 

Alliteration. A characteristic feature 
of ancient Germanic poetry (e.g., Beo- 
wulf, Edda), consisting of the use of 



Allmahlich [G.]. Gradually. 
Allonger [F.]. To slacken in speed 
All'ottava [It.]. See *Ottava. 

AH'unisono [It.]. In orchestral scores 
this term indicates that two instruments 
for which the same staff is employed 
(e.g., two flutes) play in unison, i.e., the 
same notes. See *A due. 

Alman, almayne. Sixteenth-century 
English corruption of *allemande. 

Alpensinfonie, Eine (An Alpine 
Symphony). See *Symphonic poem III. 

Alphabet (in music). See *Pitch 
names; *Letter notation; *Tablature. 

Alphorn, alpine horn. A primitive 
wind instrument, still used by the herds- 
men in the Alps for signaling over great 
distance and for simple melodies. It is 
made of wooden staves bound with strips 
of birch bark, is 5 to 10 feet long, and 
appears in various shapes, straight or 
bent. The tones produced are the har- 
monics [see *Acoustics IV], somewhat 
modified by the material and by the ir- 
regular width of the inner tube. In par- 
ticular, the fourth (nth harmonic) is 
halfway between F and F-sharp (Alp- 
horn-fa) [see *Ranz de vaches]. Similar 
instruments are to be found in Scandi- 
navia, Poland, and Rumania, and among 
the South American Indians. Cf. SaRM, 
7; Szandrowsky, in Jahrbuch des Schwei- 
zer Alpenclubs iv; K. Nef, in DC Mu- 
zie^ v. 

Al solito [It.]. As usual. 

Alt. (i) In English usage the term is 
sometimes applied to the tones of the 
octave above the treble staff (g" to f "), 
which arc said to be "in alt." The tones 
of the next higher octave are called "in 
altissimo." (2) In German, the lower 
of the two female voices, i.e., the con- 



[23] 



ALTERATION 

tralto [see *Ako]. In connection with 
instruments (Alttyarinctte, Altsaxo- 
phon), the term denotes the second high- 
est member of the family (alto clarinet, 
alto saxophone). See the various instru- 
ments. Altgeige is the viola alta [see 
Violin family (d)], rarely the ordinary 
viola. 

Alteration, (i) See *Mensural nota- 
tion. (2) The raising or lowering of 
a note by means of a sharp or flat; also 
called chromatic alteration. See *Acci- 
dentals; *Chromaticism; *Altered chord. 

Altered chord. See *Harmonic analy- 
sis V. 

Alternative [It.], alternativement 
[F.]. In the suites of the Bach period, 
an indication found with a pair of dances 
(e.g., Bourree I, alternativement Bour- 
ree II), calling for repetition of the 
first dance after the second, thus leading 
to the ternary arrangement A B A [cf. 
Bach's English Suite no. 2]. This struc- 
ture persists in the Minuet (Scherzo) 
with Trio of the classical sonata [see 
*Trio]. 

Altgeige [G.]. See under *Alt (2). 
Althorn. See *Brass instruments III (f). 
Altistin [G.]. A contralto singer. 

Alto [It., high], (i) A female voice of 
low range, also called contralto. See 
* Voices, Range of. (2) Originally the 
alto was a high male voice (hence the 
name) which by use of the *falsetto 
nearly reached the height of the female 
voice (contralto). This type of voice, 
also known as *counter-tenor, was espe- 
cially cultivated in England, where the 
church music of the i6th and i7th cen- 
turies definitely implies its use. For the 
explanation of the term, see Contra- 
tenor. (3) The second-highest part of 
the normal four-part chorus; L. altus. 
(4) In French and Italian, the second- 
highest instrument of the violin family, 
i.e., the viola. (5) In connection with 
clarinet, flute, saxophone, etc., the term 
refers to the third- or fourth-highest 
member of the family. 



'AMBROSIAN CHANT 



Lit.: G. E. Stubbs, The Adult 
Alto or Countertenor (1908); A. H. D. 
Prendergast, "The Man's Alto in Eng- 
lish Music" (ZIM i); J. Hough, "The 
Historical Significance of the Counter- 
tenor" (PMA Ixiv). 

Alto clef. See *Clefs. 
Altra volta [It.]. Encore. 
Altschlussel [G.]. Alto-clef. 
Altus [L.]. See*Alto (3). 

Alzati [It.]. "Raised," indication to 
take off the mutes. 

Amabile [It.]. Lovable. 

Amarevole [It.] . With bitterness, sadly. 

Ambitus [L., compass, range]. The 
range of the melodies of Gregorian chant. 
It varies from a fourth (in the psalm 
tones) to an octave or ninth in the more 
melismatic chants (graduals, alleluias) 
[see also *Gregorian chant V (b)]. In 
the theory of the church modes, the am- 
bitus is the chief mark of distinction 
between an authentic and a plagal mode. 
See *Church modes. Cf. Krasucki, 
"Ueber den Ambitus der gregorianischen 
Messgesange" ( Veroffentlichungen der 
Gregorianischen Academic zu Freiburg, 
Schweiz, i. Heft). 

Ambo. In early Christian churches a 
special platform on the steps of which 
the gradual was sung. 

Amboss [G.]. *Anvil. 

Ambrosian chant. The liturgical 
chant, established by St. Ambrose, bishop 
of Milan (333-397), and still in use today 
in the cathedral of that city; therefore 
also called Milanese chant. It is one of 
the four "dialects" of Christian chant 
[see *Chant], and probably is closer to 
its original form than *Gregorian (Ro- 
man) chant. The Ambrosian melodies 
are usually more ornamented than the 
corresponding Gregorian melodies [cf. 
the comparative examples in HAM, no. 
10; SchGMB, no. 2; BeMMR, 58; LavE 
i.i, 561; O. Ursprung, Katholische Kir- 



[24] 



AMBROSIAN HYMNS 

chenmusi^ 20; H. Gastoue, Cours du 
chant gregorien y 67, 128, 149]. Vocaliza- 
tions including up to 200 notes are not 
rare. On the other hand, the Ambrosian 
psalm tones are simpler and lack the 
methodical arrangement to be found with 
the Gregorian psalm tones [cf. GD v, 
267]. The Ambrosian rite occasionally 
differs from the Gregorian, for instance, 
in the names given to the chants: in- 
gressa for introitus, psalmellus for grad- 
ual, transitorium for communion, etc. 
The use of the term "Ambrosian modes" 
for the four authentic church modes (in 
distinction from the "Gregorian," i.e., 
plagal, modes) is without any historical 
justification. For more details see 
*Church modes II. The earliest sources 
of Ambrosian chant (nth century) con- 
tain chants in the plagal as well as in the 
authentic modes. 

Lit.: P. Wagner, Einfuhrung in die 
Gregorianischen Melodien (1911-21), 
vols. i and iii; G. Bas, Manuale di canto 
Ambrosiano (Torino, 1929; bibl.); ^An- 
tiphonale Ambrosianum [see *Editions, 
XXIII, A, 5/6]; K. Ott, "Le Ingresse (II 
Psalmellus) della liturgia ambrosiana" 
(Rassegna Gregoriana viii). 

Ambrosian hymns. The hymns of 
the Roman and Ambrosian rites writ- 
ten and possibly composed by St. Am- 
brose. 

I. Text. Formerly all the hymns (c. 
120) of the Antiphonarium were ascribed 
to Ambrose, under the generic name of 
hymni Ambrosiani. Actually the number 
of true Ambrosian hymns is much small- 
er, about 20 [see Lit., Dreves]. With 
four of them Ambrose's authorship is 
placed beyond doubt by the testimony of 
St. Augustine (De Musica)\ these are: 
Aeterne rerum conditor\ Deus creator 
omnium; Jam surgit hora tertia\ Veni 
redemptor gentium. All the Ambrosian 
hymns are written in the simple scheme 
of eight stanzas; each consisting of four 
lines in iambic tetrameters, e.g.: 

Venf redemptor gentium 
Ostendc partum virginis 
Miretur 6mne sc*culum 
Talis dece*t partiis deum. 



AME 

Regarding the early history, see *Hymn 
I, II. 

II. Music. About a dozen melodies of 
Ambrosian hymns are preserved in 
sources none of which is earlier than the 
1 2th century (an exception is the melody 
for the Aeterne Christi munera, given in 
*Daseian notation in the *Musica en- 
chiriadis, c. 850; cf. GS i, 154 and RiHM 
i.2, 17). Under these circumstances the 
question as to whether these melodies are 
compositions of Ambrose or as has 
been surmised "early Christian folk 
songs," or products of a later period, re- 
mains entirely open, the more so since in 
a number of cases different melodies are 
given for the same hymn. The melodies 
are syllabic, with occasional groups of two 
or three notes; the latter are usually 
omitted in modern transcriptions which 
try to give the melodies in what is believed 
to be their "original form." No less prob- 
lematic is the question as to the true 
rhythm of these hymns, i.e., whether they 
are to be interpreted in duple or in triple 
time. The answer probably depends upon 
whether they are considered as melodies 
of the Ambrosian era or of the late Middle 
Ages (nth, i2th centuries). According 
to St. Augustine, the iambic feet of the 
Ambrosian hymns were "tria temporum" 
(in three beats). The accompanying ex- 
ample shows a hymn (a) in its 9th-cen- 
tury form and (b) in its hypothetical 
original state [cf. also HAM, no. 9], 



A-tr-neQiastl muncra et mar-ty- nun vie-to- K- 

The term "Ambrosian hymn" [G. 
Ambrosianischer Lobgesang] is errone- 
ously used for the *Te Deum. 

Lit.: Biraghi, Inni sinceri di S. Am- 
brogio (1862); G. M. Dreves, "Aurelius 
Ambrosius . . ." (Stimmen aus Maria 
Laachy Ergdnzungsheft 58, 1893); G. Bas, 
in Musica Divina xvii; J. Jeannin, in TG 
xxvi, 115. 

Ame [F., soul]. Sound post. 



AMEN 

Amen. A Hebrew word, meaning "so 
be it," which is widely used in the Chris- 
tian rites. It is usually spoken by the con- 
gregation (or recited by the choir) as a 
confirming answer to the lection or the 
prayer of the priest [cf. AR, 35*]. Espe- 
cially important is its occurrence at the 
end of the minor *doxology, in the con- 
nection ". . . seculorum. Amen" [see 
*Evovae] and, in the Mass, at the end of 
the Gloria (". . , in gloria dei patris. 
Amen") as well as of the Credo (". . . et 
vitam venturi saeculi. Amen"). In the 
polyphonic Masses of the i7th and i8th 
centuries the confirming character of the 
Amen led to the writing of extensive 
finales in fugal style, called Amen-fugue 
or Amen-chorus, in which the word is re- 
peated over and over again. This prac- 
tice occurred first with Antonio Bertali 
(1605-69; cf. AdHM i, 516), and contin- 
ued throughout the periods of Handel 
(famous Amen-chorus), Bach, Mozart, 
Beethoven, etc. In Cherubim's D minor 
Mass at the end of the Credo, the soprano 
alone repeats the word 107 times. For 
Amen-cadence see *Plagal cadence. 

Amener [F.]. A 17th-century dance in 
moderate triple time with phrases of six 
measures (three plus three or four plus 
two) as a characteristic feature. It occurs 
in the suites of Heinrich Biber, J. K. F. 
Fischer, Alessandro Poglietti, in the in- 
strumental suites edited by ficorchcville 
( 1906), etc. The derivation of the amener 
from the *basse dance, given in most ref- 
erence books, is very questionable. More 
likely, it is one of the numerous species of 
the *branlc, a branle & mener, i.e., a branle 
in which one pair was leading while the 
others followed. See also *Minuet. 

American Guild of Organists. See 
*Societies, Musical I, i. 

American Indian music. Although 
the collection and scientific study of tribal 
songs of the American Indians did not 
commence until the latter i9th century, 
there arc numerous references to the music 
of the Indians from the early I7th cen- 
tury, shortly after the coming of English 
colonists. In William Wood's account of 



AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC 

his visit to Plymouth and Massachusetts 
Bay (London, 1634), he wrote of the In- 
dians' singing: "To hear one of these 
Indian's unseene, a good care might easily 
mistake their untaught voyce for the war- 
bling of a well tuned instrument. Such 
command have they of their voices." 
Travelers and explorers occasionally re- 
ported that the Indians were musical, 
among them the Frenchman F. G. Sagard 
in his Le grand Voyage du Pays dcs Hu- 
rons (1632). 

In the 1 8th century F. W. Marpurg, 
the German music historian, published 
Remarks on Three Songs of the Iroquois 
(Berlin, 1760), and William Beresford 
printed an Indian melody in his A Voy- 
age around the world; but more particu- 
larly to the northwest coast of America 
(London, 1789). One of the early at- 
tempts at adaptation of an actual Indian 
melody was first published in London in 
1784, and was called Al)(nomoo\ (Al^- 
moono!(), "The death song of the Chero- 
kee Indians, an Original Air, brought 
from America by a gentleman long con- 
versant with the Indian tribes, and par- 
ticularly with the Nation of the Chero- 
kees. The Words adapted to the Air by 
a Lady." The identity of the "Gentle- 
man" is unknown, but the "Lady" was 
identified by Frank Kidson as Anne Hone 
Hunter, who was Haydn's hostess during 
his London visit. In America, James 
Hewitt included All(moono^ in the score 
he arranged and composed for the ballad- 
opera Tammany (1794), and in 1800 Gil- 
fert in New York and von Hagen in 
Boston published sheet-music editions of 
the song. Both American and English 
editions presented the melody in thor- 
oughly conventional form. 

The first serious study of Indian music 
by a musician was undertaken by Theo- 
dore Baker, a German-American who in 
1880 was a student at the University of 
Leipzig. As a subject for his doctor's thesis 
he chose the music of the North Ameri- 
can Indians, and visited the Seneca Reser- 
vation in New York State and the Indian 
school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1882 
the thesis was published at Leipzig: Vber 
die Musil( dcr Nordameri1(anischen Wil- 



AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC 

den. It analyzed some sixty melodies ac- 
cording to their poetry, vocalization, 
scales, melodic progressions, rhythm, no- 
tations, and instruments for performance. 

Baker's studies were soon followed by 
those of Alice C. Fletcher, who visited the 
Omaha tribe, where she was assisted by 
John C. Fillmore of Harvard, who pro- 
vided piano accompaniments for the mel- 
odies Miss Fletcher transcribed. Her find- 
ings were published at intervals from 
1883 to 1911 by the Peabody Museum of 
American Archaeology and Ethnology 
and by the Bureau of American Ethnol- 
ogy in Washington. 

B. J. Oilman and J. W. Fewkes were 
pioneers in applying scientific methods to 
analysis of Indian melodies. Gilman ac- 
companied the Hemenway Southwestern 
Expedition among the Zufii, Pueblo, and 
Hopi Indians, and measured the interval 
structure of their melodies by a mechani- 
cal device. Fewkes was one of the first to 
use the phonograph to record Indian sing- 
ing (1890), and in 1891 Gilman published 
a study based on these records of Zufii 
songs. Further studies of Zuni, Pueblo, 
and Hopi songs were made by Natalie C. 
Burlin, while music of the Ojibways in 
Minnesota and Wisconsin was taken down 
and annotated by Frederick R. Burton. 

The United States Government first 
undertook the perpetuation of Indian 
tribal melodies in 1911, by appointing 
trained investigators to collect the melo- 
dies with the aid of the phonograph and 
place them on record, with annotations, 
in the Smithsonian Institution. Reports 
on the research have been issued by the 
Bureau of American Ethnology. The 
most prominent worker under these aus- 
pices has been Frances Densmore, who 
has studied the music and customs of the 
Chippewas, Teton Sioux, Northern Ute, 
Mandan, Hidatsa, and others. 

The question as to whether the music 
of the Indians is to be considered Ameri- 
can folk music is open to debate. Cer- 
tainly, if Western culture is considered 
predominant among the inhabitants of 
the nation, American Indian music is ex- 
otic and far different in conception from 
that which has been influenced by the 



AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC 

parent nations of the white settlers and 
their descendants. When Indian melodies 
are reduced to the diatonic scale, and har- 
monized according to Western practice, 
the character of most of them is lost in the 
process. It is also inaccurate to refer to 
American Indian music as a unified body 
of folk-material. Originally there were 
more than fifty basic linguistic stocks, 
each of them divided into separate tribes. 
The government Office of Indian Affairs, 
even at the present time when the Indians 
seem to be approaching tribal extinction, 
deals with three hundred and forty-two 
tribes, a number which does not include 
the sub-tribal divisions. Each of these 
tribes had its own customs, religion, and 
characteristic music. 

There are, however, a number of traits 
which arc common to the music of vari- 
ous tribes. Music is rarely performed by 
the Indians for its own sake; generally 
songs belong to some tribal custom, and 
are sung only for the performance of that 
custom. A visitor to one of the tribes 
could not persuade the Indians to sing a 
hunting song for him because they were 
not actually hunting at the time. There 
are songs for treating the sick, war songs 
designed to bring success in battle, re- 
ligious ceremonial songs, game songs, 
many of them for gambling, dream and 
vision songs, children's songs, and love 
songs for courtship. Among most of the 
tribes, three classes of songs exist. First, 
the old, traditional songs, which have 
been handed down from generation to 
generation. Second, the old ceremonial 
and medicine songs which are rarely per- 
formed because they belonged to men now 
dead, but which can still be sung by those 
who remember their owners' singing of 
them. Third, there are the comparatively 
modern songs, which show the influence 
of civilization. The property idea regard- 
ing songs is common to many tribes, and 
the individual owner of a song was often 
known to sell it to another member of the 
tribe. It could then be sung only by the 
purchaser. 

Many of the Indian songs, like those of 
primitive races generally, are character- 
ized by a descending melodic line. The 



[27] 



AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC 

descent may be interrupted, but it con- 
tinues to the end. According to a tabu- 
lation of 820 songs by Frances Densmore, 
67 per cent begin with a downward pro- 
gression, and in 87 per cent the last tone 
is the lowest of the entire melody. Al- 
though many of the melodies cannot be 
accurately represented in diatonic nota- 
tion, many of them approximate the pen- 
tatonic major or minor modes. Densmore 
found also that 67 per cent of 340 Chip- 
pewa songs end on tones which provide 
the' ear with satisfactory keynotes. Rhyth- 
mically, Indian music is complex and ir- 
regular. The Indian is capable of per- 
forming involved polyrhythms, although 
Burton believed that the performers are 
unaware that their songs and the accom- 
panying drum beats are cast in conflicting 
rhythms. See the examples under *Primi- 
tive music. 

The musical instruments of the various 
tribes are flutes, whistles, rattles, and 
drums. Although flutes are commonly 
pictured as aiding in courtship, they are 
as frequently used for warning against the 
approach of an enemy. Whistles are part 
of the medicine man's equipment for 
treating the sick. Rattles are often re- 
garded as sacred articles, for use in wor- 
ship. Some of them are merely notched 
sticks, rubbed over a second stick, while 
others are receptacles holding loose ob- 
jects. The drums are essential to Indian 
music, some tribes cannot sing without 
them. They are made in various sizes, 
from hand drums to immense kegs partly 
filled with water. 

The effect of Indian music on the art 
music of the United States has been ex- 
tensive, but limited. Edward MacDowell 
used Indian melodies in his Second Or- 
chestral ("Indian") Suite of 1890; C. S. 
Skilton in his Indian Dances and Suite 
Primeval; C. W. Cadman in Thunderbird 
Suite and other works; Frederick Jacobi 
in his Indian Dances; C. T. Griffes in 
Two Sketches for String Quartet; Victor 
Herbert in the opera, Natoma; while 
H. W. Loomis, Arthur Farwell, Thurlow 
Lieurance, Carlos Troycr, Henry F. Gil- 
bert, and others have made many settings 
of tribal material. Among non-American 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

composers, Dvordk, with his symphony 
"From the New World," and Busoni, 
with his Indianisches Tagebuch, may be 
mentioned. 

Lit.: F. R. Burton, American Primitive 
Music (1909); Natalie Curtis, The Indi- 
an's BooJ^ (1907); Frances Densmore, 
Chippewa Music, Nos. i and 2 (1910 and 
1913), Man dan and Hidatsa Music 
(1923), Northern Ute Music (1922), 
Teton Sioux Music ( 1918) ; A. C. Fletcher, 
Indian Story and Song from North Amer- 
ica (1900); F. Densmore, "The Study of 
Indian Music" (MQ i); id., in MQ xvii, 
xx; F. W. Galpin, "Aztec Influence on 
American Indian Instruments" (SIM iv); 
M. Barbeau, "Asiatic Survivals in Indian 
Songs" (MQ xx) ; J. Tiersot, "La musique 
chez les peuples indigenes de I'Amerique 
du nord. . . ." (SIM xi; bibl.). An ex- 
tensive bibliography is found in G. Her- 
zog, Research in Primitive and FolJ^ 
Music in the United States (1936). 

J.T.H. 

American music. This term is gener- 
ally accepted as applying to music which 
is composed or has its origin in the United 
States, Similarly, an American composer 
is one who is either a native of the United 
States or has adopted the nation prior to 
his or her mature production. For other 
musical cultures of the American hemi- 
sphere see * American Indian music; 
*Latin American music; *Negro music; 
^Canadian music. 

I. ijth and i8th Centuries. The his- 
tory of American music begins in the 
early i7th century, with the arrival of the 
first white settlers and colonists: James- 
town, Virginia, in 1607, and Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, in 1620. Little is known 
about the musical habits of the Virginia 
settlers, but a number of records exist to 
show the part music played in the lives 
of the New England colonists: the Pil- 
grims at Plymouth and the English Puri- 
tans who came to Massachusetts Bay 
(Boston), starting in 1630. Until the close 
of the century, musical activity was con- 
fined almost exclusively to psalm-singing. 
The only printed music used was con- 
tained in the psalters the Puritans brought 

28] 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

with them (Sternhold & Hopkins, Ains- 
worth, Raven scroft, etc.), for the *Bay 
Psalm Boo\ (Cambridge, 1640) contained 
no music until a few tunes were added to 
a later edition at the end of the century. 

Two factors were chiefly responsible for 
the small amount of music before 1700: 
one of them was the lack of opportunity 
in pioneer surroundings, and the other, 
the Puritan attitude towards music. The 
latter phase of early New England life has 
been the subject of considerable contro- 
versy in recent years. Percy Scholes, in 
his book The Puritans and Music (1934), 
claims that the Puritans in England, and 
those who came to America, were not hos- 
tile to music and that the tradition that 
they did not tolerate musical activity in 
the American colonies is fallacious. How- 
ever, the available evidence shows that 
while musical activity did become more 
general at the beginning of the i8th cen- 
tury, it was almost negligible in the iyth; 
and that while there are references in con- 
temporary records to a few musical instru- 
ments, the Puritan colonists viewed with 
suspicion and distrust secular amusements 
and pleasures, which they considered un- 
godly and sinful. 

At the beginning of the i8th century, 
psalm-singing in the churches had become 
a haphazard practice. The lack of printed 
tunes had forced the worshipers to sing 
from memory, led by a deacon or elder. 
There was so little standardization of the 
few tunes in use that when several con- 
gregations met together the musical re- 
sults were bedlam. This condition led to 
reforms as well as to controversy. Several 
instruction books for singing appeared: 
John Tufts's A very plain and easy intro- 
duction to the whole Art of Singing Psalm 
Tunes, in 1720, and Thomas Walter's 
Grounds and Rules of Music Explained, 
in 1721, which at first met strong opposi- 
tion. Gradually the opposition was over- 
come, and singing schools were estab- 
lished to teach the rudiments of singing 
from note. Toward the latter part of the 
century there was considerable publication 
of tune and instruction books. Among 
the early ones were an American edition 
of William Tans'ur's A Complete Melody 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

in Three Parts (1755); James Lyon's 
Urania (1761, containing six original 
works by Lyon); and Josiah Flagg's 
A Collection of the Best Psalm Tunes 
(1764). In 1770 appeared the first of six 
books by William Billings (1746-1800), 
entitled The New England Psalm Singer. 
Billings is important in American music 
history because he was something of a 
radical. A number of his anthems, which 
he called "fuguing pieces" [see *Fugue- 
tune], were attempts at imitative coun- 
terpoint, and while he was largely un- 
tutored musically, his work had a rugged 
vitality which reflected vividly the back- 
ground of pioneer surroundings. 

The controversies over music that 
troubled the Puritan denominations did 
not disturb the Anglican churches. Or- 
gans were used in the Episcopal services 
from an early date (the first was installed 
in King's Chapel, Boston, shortly after 
1713), and such men as William Selby, 
who came to Boston from London about 
1771 and became organist of King's 
Chapel, and William Tuckey, who came 
to New York from Bristol Cathedral in 
1753 to become organist and choirmaster 
at Trinity Church, not only devoted their 
skill and energies to their church duties 
but were also active as composers and pro- 
moters and conductors of choral concerts. 
Tuckey directed the first American per- 
formance of excerpts from Handel's Mes- 
siah in 1770. 

Some of the settlements to the south of 
New England were from their beginnings 
more musically inclined. In 1694 a group 
of German pietists founded a colony be- 
side the Wissahickon River, near Phila- 
delphia. These people had musical in- 
struments, and acquired a reputation for 
their singing. The Swedish Gloria Dei 
church, also near Philadelphia, had an 
organ as early as 1703, possibly earlier, 
and its pastor, Julius Falckner, was the 
author of several hymns. 

The first known composer on American 
soil, according to present knowledge, was 
Conrad Beissel (1690-1768), a German 
mystic and founder of the "Seventh Day 
Dunkers." He was successively a baker, 
a violinist, and a theologian, and in 1720 



[29] 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

he was banished for holding pietistic 
views. He emigrated to America and 
settled first in Germantown, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he founded the Dunker sect, 
and in 1735 established the "Order of the 
Solitary" and a communistic settlement at 
Ephrata, Pennsylvania, which became 
known as the Ephrata Cloister. Here the 
worshipers sang hymns and chorals in 4, 
5, 6, and 7 parts, and it is said that Beissel 
composed over 1000 of them. Benjamin 
Franklin published an Ephrata Hymn 
Collection in 1730. 

At Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a Mo- 
ravian colony was established in 1741. 
These people were intense music lovers. 
They brought instruments with them, and 
their orchestra, chamber music groups, 
and choruses performed the best music 
from Europe works by Haydn, Mozart, 
etc. A number of composers among the 
Moravians wrote for various chamber 
music combinations. When George 
Washington visited Bethlehem in 1782 
he was serenaded by the trombone 
choir. 

Conceit life in the American colonial 
cities commenced in the i8th century. 
According to newspaper announcements, 
the first concert of record was held in Bos- 
ton in 1731; the second in Charleston, 
South Carolina, in 1732; the third in New 
York, 1736; and the fourth in Philadel- 
phia, 1757. From these dates on, each of 
these cities enjoyed an increasing number 
of concerts, at which the programs were 
similar in content to those abroad, par- 
ticularly in London, from which city the 
latest published music was sent regularly 
to America [see *Concert]. 

Philadelphia has the credit for produc- 
ing the first native-born American com- 
poser of music, according to known rec- 
ords, in the person of Francis Hopkinson 
OyST-iTP 1 )* a signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, Judge of the Admiralty 
from Pennsylvania, and a talented ama- 
teur musician. Hopkinson composed a 
number of songs in the current English 
style of Arnold, Shield, Storace, and 
others. The manuscript of the first of 
them, "My^Days Have Been So Won- 
drous Free," bears the date 1759. Hop- 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

kinson's songs, and his musical activities, 
were characteristic of the taste and the 
customs of the period. He was one of a 
group of musical amateurs who met regu- 
larly in each other's homes to play to- 
gether, and who joined with the profes- 
sional musicians who were beginning to 
emigrate from abroad in giving public 
concerts. 

The War of the Revolution interrupted 
musical activities for a number of years, 
but at its conclusion they began again, 
and more intensively. In the last fifteen 
years of the century the nation experi- 
enced a wholesale immigration from 
Europe, bringing musicians from Eng- 
land, and, after the French Revolution, 
from France. These men were generally 
well trained, and they accordingly took 
over the musical life of the new nation 
and became its principal concert-artists 
and teachers. The names of the few 
native composers who had been active up 
to this time (Hopkinson, James Lyon, 
Billings, etc.) disappeared almost com- 
pletely from the concert programs which 
were printed in the newspapers, and were 
replaced by those of the newcomers 
Benjamin Carr, Alexander Reinagle, 
James Hewitt, Raynor Taylor, Gottlieb 
Graupner, and dozens of others. Ameri- 
can music doubtless benefited from the 
infiltration of better-trained musicians, 
but its growth as a native expression was 
arrested. 

II. igth Century. By the early years of 
the 1 9th century these foreigners had be- 
come Americans, and gradually native- 
born composers began once more to come 
into prominence. The most widely known 
of them was Lowell Mason (1792-1872), 
a composer of hymn-tunes and a pioneer 
in music education. Mason succeeded in 
persuading the Boston school board to 
make the study of music a regular part of 
the curriculum (1836) and he established 
"musical conventions" in various parts of 
the country where teachers could have 
training. Another native composer was 
Oliver Shaw (1779-1848), who, although 
blind from early manhood, was active as 
a teacher and organist in Providence, 
Rhode Island. He was a composer of 



[30: 



AMERICAN MUSIC 

anthems, songs, and a number of instru- 
mental pieces which were widely used. 

B