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Italian Musical Terms Used In English
Many musical terms are in Italian language, Italian because, in Europe, the vast majority of the most important early composers from the Renaissance music, Renaissance to the Baroque music, Baroque period were Italian. That period is when numerous musical indications were used extensively for the first time. Italian terms and English translations Musical instruments Voices Tempo Dynamics – volume Moods Musical expression (general) Patterns within the musical score Directions Techniques Roles Criticism Musical direction and staging See also * Musical terminology * Sheet music References External links 8notes glossary {{English words of foreign origin Musical terminology, *Italian Lists of English words of Italian origin, Musical Italian words and phrases, Music Glossaries of music, Italian Wikipedia glossaries using tables ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Terminology
A variety of musical terms is encountered in Sheet music, printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms Italian musical terms used in English, are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings of these phrases differ from the original or current Italian meanings. Most of the other terms are taken from French language, French and German language, German, indicated by ''Fr.'' and ''Ger.'', respectively. Unless specified, the terms are Italian or English. The list can never be complete: some terms are common, and others are used only occasionally, and new ones are coined from time to time. Some composers prefer terms from their own language rather than the standard terms listed here. 0–9 ; 1 : "sifflet" or one foot organ stop ; I : usually for Violin family, orchestral string instruments, used to indicate that the player should play the passage on the highest-pitched, thinnest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cavatina
(Italian for "little song") is a musical term, originally meaning a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to any simple, melodious air, as distinguished from brilliant arias or recitatives, many of which are part of a larger movement or scena in oratorio or opera. " Ecco, ridente in cielo" from Gioachino Rossini's opera ''The Barber of Seville'', "Porgi amor" and " Se vuol ballare" from Mozart's ''The Marriage of Figaro'' are well-known ''cavatinas.'' A famous piece that bears the name, although without words, is the 5th movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in B-flat major, Opus 130. Ralph Vaughan Williams also gave the title of "Cavatina" to the 3rd movement of his Symphony No. 8. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote a Cavatine for trombone and piano. In opera, the term has been described as: a musical form appearing in operas and occasionally in cantatas and instrumental music....In opera the cavatina i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermezzo
In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term has had several different usages, which fit into two general categories: the opera intermezzo and the instrumental intermezzo. Renaissance intermezzo The Renaissance intermezzo was also called the intermedio. It was a masque-like dramatic piece with music, which was performed between the acts of a play at Italian court festivities on special occasions, especially weddings. By the late 16th century, the intermezzo had become the most spectacular form of dramatic performance, and an important precursor to opera. The most famous examples were created for Medici weddings in 1539, 1565, and 1589. In Baroque Spain the equivalent entremés or paso was a one-act comic scene, often ending in music and dance, between ''jornadas'' (acts) of a play.L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermedio
The intermedio (also intromessa, introdutto, tramessa, tramezzo, intermezzo, intermedii), in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with music and often dance, which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts. It was one of the important precursors to opera, and an influence on other forms like the English court masque. Weddings in ruling families and similar state occasions were the usual occasion for the most lavish intermedi, in cities such as Florence and Ferrara. Some of the best documentation of intermedi comes from weddings of the House of Medici, in particular the 1589 Medici wedding (between Christina of Lorraine and Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany), which featured what was undoubtedly both the most spectacular set of intermedi, and the best known, thanks to no fewer than 18 contemporary published festival books and sets of prints that were financed by the Grand Duke. Interm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fioritura
In music, fioritura ( , , meaning "flourish" or "flowering"; plural ) is the florid embellishment of melodic lines, either notated by a composer or improvised during a performance. It usually involves lengthy, complex embellishments, as opposed to standardized local ornamental figures such as trills, mordents, or appoggiaturas, and its use is documented as early as the thirteenth century. The alternative term ''coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...'' is less accurate. It is closely related to the sixteenth-century practice of diminution or division. References Sources * * * * External links Virginia Opera glossary Italian opera terminology {{opera-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festa Teatrale
The term ''festa teatrale'' (Italian: , plural: ''feste teatrali'' ) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case ''feste teatrali'' tend to be split into two different sets: ''feste teatrali'' divided by acts are operas, while works in this genre performed without division, or merely cut into two parts, are serenatas. A ''festa teatrale'' is a dramatic work, performed on stage (unlike many serenatas, which are labelled ''drammatico'' but were not performed in dramatic contexts). The ''festa teatrale'' was always a fairly minor genre, born of courtly entertainments and the celebration of royalty – hence the abbreviated length of most ''festi teatrale'', and the focus on drama, spectacle and chorus, as opposed to elaborate music. The poet and librettist Metastasio applied the term to 9 of his libretti. All but one of these were first performed for the court at Vienna. The last of these was Johann Adolph Hasse's ''Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farsa
Farsa (Italian language, Italian, literally: ''farce'', plural: ''farse'') is a genre of opera, associated with Venice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is also sometimes called ''farsetta''. Farse were normally one-act operas, sometimes performed together with short ballets. Many of the recorded productions were at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice, often during Carnival. Musically they may have derived from the two-act dramma giocoso, although there were other influences, including the France, French ''comédie mêlée d'ariettes''. Few of the original 18th-century farse are now performed. The Germany, German composer Johann Simon Mayr, who lived in Northern Italy, wrote about 30 farse. Rossini wrote five examples: ''La cambiale di matrimonio'' (1810), ''L'inganno felice'' (1812), ''La scala di seta'' (1812), ''Il Signor Bruschino'' (1813), and ''Adina (opera), Adina'' (1818). In addition, his ''L'occasione fa il ladro'' (1812), though called a ''Burletta per music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasia (music)
A fantasia (; also English: ''fantasy'', ''fancy'', ''fantazy'', ''phantasy'', , ''Phantasie'', ) is a musical composition with roots in improvisation. The fantasia, like the impromptu, seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form. History The term was first applied to music during the 16th century, at first to refer to the imaginative musical "''idea''" rather than to a particular compositional genre. Its earliest use as a title was in German keyboard manuscripts from before 1520, and by 1536 is found in printed tablatures from Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. From the outset, the fantasia had the sense of "the play of imaginative invention", particularly in lute or vihuela composers such as Francesco Canova da Milano and Luis de Milán. Its form and style consequently ranges from the freely improvisatory to the strictly contrapuntal, and also encompasses more or less standard sectional forms. One of the most important composers in the development of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dramma Per Musica
The phrase ''dramma per musica'' (also spelled ''drama per musica''; Italian language, Italian, literally: 'play (or drama) for music', plural: ''drammi per musica'') is commonly found after the title in Italian opera librettos beginning in the 17th century and continuing into the 18th century. It indicates that the text was intended to be set to music by a composer.''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' at Internet Archive. By extension it has also been used to refer to the musical setting itself, but this is less common. In the 18th century, ''dramma per musica'' came to be most commonly used for librettos of serious Italian operas, today known as ''opera seria'' (a term that was little-used when they were created), while t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dramma Giocoso
''Dramma giocoso'' (Italian, literally: drama with jokes; plural: ''drammi giocosi'') is a genre of opera common in the mid-18th century. The term is a contraction of ''dramma giocoso per musica'' and describes the opera's libretto (text). The genre developed in the Neapolitan School, Neapolitan opera tradition, mainly through the work of the playwright Carlo Goldoni in Venice. A ''dramma giocoso'' characteristically used a grand ''buffo'' (comic or farce) scene as a dramatic climax at the end of an act (theater), act. Goldoni's texts always consisted of two long acts with extended finale (music), finales, followed by a short third act. Composers Baldassare Galuppi, Niccolò Piccinni, and Joseph Haydn set Goldoni's texts to music. The only operas of this genre that are still frequently staged are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, Da Ponte's ''Don Giovanni'' (1787) and ''Così fan tutte'' (1790), Gioachino Rossini, Rossini's ''L'italiana in Algeri'' (1813) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Da Capo Aria
The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio. According to Randel, a number of Baroque composers (he lists Scarlatti, Hasse, Handel, Porpora, Leo, and Vinci) composed more than a thousand da capo arias during their careers.Randel (2003:54) Form A da capo aria is in ternary form, meaning it is composed of three sections. The first section is a complete song with accompaniment, ending in the tonic key, and could in principle be sung by itself. The second section contrasts with the first in its musical key, texture, mood, and sometimes also tempo. The third section was usually not written out by the composer, who would instead simply note the instruction "da capo" (Italian for "from the head") - meaning from the beginning, i.e., the first section is to be repeated. The text ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concerto Grosso
The concerto grosso (; Italian for ''big concert(o)'', plural ''concerti grossi'' ) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the '' concertino'') and full orchestra (the '' ripieno'', '' tutti'' or ''concerto grosso''). This is in contrast to the solo concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra. History The form developed in the late seventeenth century, although the name was not used at first. Alessandro Stradella seems to have written the first music in which two groups of different sizes are combined in the characteristic way. The name was first used by Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori in a set of ten compositions published in Lucca in 1698. The first major composer to use the term ''concerto grosso'' was Arcangelo Corelli. After Corelli's death, a collection of twelve of his ''concerti grossi'' was published. Not long after, composers such as Francesco Geminiani, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
