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D. -
Like the K. numbers for Mozart, except D. stands for Deutsch, the scholar who catalogued Schubert's works. You will impress everyone at parties by mentioning Deutsch numbers.
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Da capo -
"To the head." Return to the beginning of the piece and play until the word "Fine"* appears in the music (or in much baroque music the Fermata* sign appears).
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Da capo aria (See *Da capo.) -
An aria in ABA form in which the second A is a duplicate of the first. It is common for the second time through to be extemporaneously elaborated by the soloist. The style is a product of the baroque period, used in opera and cantatas. The abandonment of the da capo aria in opera marked a new freedom to have arias carry the plot forward rather than be contemplations of a scene or situation.
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Damper -
The mechanism which causes a string to cease vibrating. On a piano it is a complicated device in which the piece of wood holding a felt damper can be controlled by the key or by two of the three pedals. On a simpler instrument like the harpsichord, the damper is a piece of felt which simply drops on to the vibrating string as the key is released.
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Danny Boy or Londonderry Air -
The words to Danny Boy are by Frederick E. Weatherly and date from 1913.
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Darmstadt school -
The group including Stockhausen which produced many formal and textural experiments including the use of electronically altered or generated sound during the 50s through the 70s. Their long-term influence is yet to be determined.
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Davidsbündlertänze -
David's Club Dances. Schumann associated the Biblical story of David vs. the Philistines (the best known of which was Goliath) with high art vs. the crassly and unthinkingly popular.
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Debussy, Claude (1862 - 1918) -
French composer generally considered to represent the beginning of 'modern' music because of his use of an expanded harmonic language.
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Decay -
The reduction in volume of a plucked or struck tone from the activating of the vibration to its final cessation. Decay speeds are far longer on the modern piano than on the earlier fortepiano. The decay time is a function of the length of the string and its tension.
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Declamatory -
In speech rhythms.
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Decoration (stage) -
What is placed within a stage setting to make it achieve the desired effect.
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Decrescendo -
Becoming gradually softer.
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Delius, Frederick (1862-1934) -
English composer of quasi-impressionist pastoral music.
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Dello Joio, Norman -
An American composer born in 1913, now living in Florida in retirement.
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Der Erlkönig (The Elf-king) -
This poem plays with an odd piece of superstition. Erle means Alder, so the Alder-king would be another translation. And the alder is a tree to which supernatural powers have been ascribed. Dowsing is done with an alder, and a magic wand or staff to be effective should be of that wood. So the quality of the German Erlkönig has a far more sinister quality than the word'Elf-king' can convey.
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Der Freischütz -
The most famous of von Weber's operas (1821). It, like Fidelio, has spoken dialogue. Also like Fidelio, it contains roles for what would become the Heldentenor and the 'Wagnerian' soprano.
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Der Leiermann -
"The organ grinder" is often a shady, even evil, character in eastern European lore. He is often a sinister character rather in the manner of Charon.In the Franz Krasa's children's opera Brundebar the title character is an organ grinder who is the personification of the Nazi regime.
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Des Knaben Wunderhorn -
The Boy's Wonder (or Magic) Horn, a collection of folk poems and tales by Brentano. It had a deep effect on Mahler, who used many poems from the collection early in his career.
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Descant -
A second melody placed above a hymn-tune or chorale, usually given to the sopranos. On occasion a descant may be given to another voice and heard within the harmony.
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Decrescendo -
Gradually becoming softer. Synonym: *Diminuendo.
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Desk -
Synonymous with 'music stand'.
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Detached playing -
With a slight gap of silence between successive tones.
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Development section -
Where a composer plays around, often in a complex way, with the musical material already presented. It is usually the central section of a *sonata allegro.
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"... devices and desires of our own hearts"
from a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, is the source of the title of a P. D. James Inspector Dalgliesh novel.
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Diatonic scale -
Any scale structure which uses the white keys of a keyboard or their equivalent relationships.
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'Did Mahler know Sousa?'
- They both were famous at the same time. It would have been difficult for each to have not heard of the other. Mahler's fixation on marches could easily have led him to give Sousa a listen. But of course the piccolo obbligato was not invented by either composer, but was long before a fixture of fife tunes where one would play the melody and another play an elaborate counter melody above.
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Dies Irae -
The medieval chant melody has been used by Berlioz in his Symphonie fantastique and by Rachmaninoff in several works, most notably the Paganini Variations.
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Diminished chord -
All the distances between its tones are the same - a minor third. A - C- E-flat is a diminished chord. In traditional tonal language, they always demand resolution.
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Diminuendo -
Gradually becoming softer. Synonym: Decrescendo.
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Disjunct lines -
Characterized by extreme leaps so that no sense of flowing melody emerges.
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Dissonances, dissonant -
Tones which clash because of the tensions between pitches. These tensions are generally caused by the great distance in the *harmonic series from the lower tone to the upper.
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Divertimento -
A multi-movement work originally of the 18th century. It was filled with dance movements and intended as background music. The divertimento could be for as few as two players and for as many as a chamber orchestra. Virtuosic writing was often employed as an ear-catching bit of entertainment. Since that period other composers have often used the divertimento as an idea.
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Divisi -
Divided. Used to tell orchestral string players, who usually sit with two players to one music stand, that the two notes on the staff are to be played by separate people, not as *double stops. Typically the person sitting toward the audience plays the upper note or the one with the up-stem and the inside player takes the lower or down-stem note.
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"Dizzy" -
The nickname of John Berks Gillespie, the great seminal bop trumpeter. Known for having the bell of his instrument angle upward.
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Dodecaphonic -
The official term for 'twelve-tone' music in which, to grossly simplify, each of the twelve tones is democratically equal, having no innate tendency, as happens in tonal music. This is enforced through various 'rules' which act to keep tonal centers from developing.
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Doll on a stick -
The thing that Rigoletto carries with him as a sign of being a jester. It is really called a Bauble.
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Dominant -
Concerning the fifth step of any scale. Because the ear best hears where step one (I) is by first hearing step five (V), it is said to "dominate" a key, becoming the "dominant" force in drawing the ear toward "home" tonic.
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Dorian mode -
One of the early church modes, characterized by half-steps between steps two and three, and steps six and seven. This can be played on the white keys of a piano by starting and ending on D. Sibelius composed his Symphony no. 6 using the Dorian mode. The Dorian mode is often used in modern jazz.
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Dotted rhythm -
Signifies a first note three times as long as the note which follows. Count 1-2-3-1-1-2-3-1-1-2-3-1 saying 1 louder than the other numbers to gain the rhythmic effect.
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Double -
An old term for variation springing from the idea of doubling the number of notes per beat. Doubling the notes required invention of variations.
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Double bar -
Two bar lines next to each other, often of different thicknesses. There are several kinds, with different meanings. Each, however, signifies the end - of a section or of the piece.
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Double exposition -
The opening section of a piece of music in which the material to be used is 'exposed', thus the term. In the classical period it was common for the exposition to be repeated. In a concerto the first time through is without the soloist and the second time the soloist is featured. In the case of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto he reverses the process by making the violin prominent the first time through and the orchestra the second time.
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Double fugue -
see Fugue, double
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Double stops -
Required when a stringed instrument plays two tones at once using no open strings. Stopping in string playing is pressing a string down on the finger board to change the string length and thus raise the pitch from the natural pitch of the full-length string.
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Double tonguing -
Instead of the usual "ta-ta-ta" movement of the tongue behind the teeth to initiate a sound on a brass instrument (or "tu-tu-tu" on a woodwind), the tongue makes a "ta-ka-ta-ka" (or "tu-ka-tu-ka") movement. This of course means that the tongue is making two differently placed *attacks.
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Double-dotted rhythms -
If a dot following a note increases the note's value by half again (X. = x +x/2), then a note with a second dot can be represented by X.. = X + x/2 +x/2/2). Thus the final note of the pattern is very short.
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Doubled or Doubling -
Two (or more) voices or instruments playing the same pitches at the same time.
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Doubly inflected thirds
see Thirds, doubly inflected
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Downbeat -
The first beat of a measure, so named because a conductor indicates this primary beat with a downward gesture of the right hand.
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Downbow -
A stroke of the string player's bow starting with contact near the hand and pulling the hand away. It makes for a strong attack then a lessening sound.
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Downstage -
Toward the front of the stage. In ancient times stages went up the sides of hills for better visibility, or were raked in imitation. Thus the closest was down hill or downstage.
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Dramma per musica -
A drama with music. Rather than just being a synonym for opera, it refers to allegorical scenes in baroque music. When in Bach Christ and the Soul converse or when each of the Four Winds speaks its homage to the prince, it is said to be a dramma per musica.
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Drone -
One or two low pitches which continue while a tune is played or sung above. Bagpipe and Indian Sitar music are well known for their drones.
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Dropped notes -
The term means 'not hitting the correct keys' or pitches. When there have been a lot of misses, the remark goes, 'better get out the broom and sweep them up.'
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Duet -
Two players only. See also Piano duets.
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Dufay, Guillaume (c. 1400 - 1474)
One of the greatest composers of the early Renaissance.
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Dumka experience -
'Reflections", in the sense of remembering things in the company of others who share the remembrance.
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Duple meter -
The accents alternate, as in ONE-two, ONE-two, or ONE-two-THREE-four.
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Dutchman -
The title character of Wagner's famous opera The Flying Dutchman is a dramatic bass-baritone role.
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Dux -
The leading voice in a canon or other example of imitative counterpoint. It means "leader," related to the English word "duke."
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Dvorák's 'American' Quartet -
Even in the 1950s it was all too often referred to as the "Nigger Quartet", including in major reference books, because of its hints at banjo music.
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Dynamic nuance -
Refers to not just loud and soft, the meaning of dynamics, but to little expressive touches gained by using slight shadings of loud and soft to shape phrases or even single tones.
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Dynamic range or scope -
The degrees of loud and soft used in a performance or piece.
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Dynamics -
Gradations of loud and soft. Dynamic means changeable, not static. Thus the "Dynamic Duo" of Batman and Robin are always on the move. The most difficult effect to achieve in music prior to ca. 1765 was loud and soft. So its use was astonishing in its time, the larger the change the more amazing. It was then the most Dynamic effect in music.