|
Largo (Handel)
"" ("Never was a shade…"), also known as "Largo from ''Xerxes''" or "Handel's Largo", is the opening aria from the opera ''Serse'' (1738) by George Frideric Handel. Context The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces. Handel adapted the aria from the setting by Giovanni Bononcini, who, in turn, adapted it from the setting by Francesco Cavalli. All three composers had produced settings of the same opera libretto by Nicolò Minato. Music Originally composed to be sung by a soprano castrato (and typically sung in modern performances of ''Serse'' by a countertenor, contralto or a mezzo-soprano; sometimes even by a tenor or high baritone an octave below), it has been arranged for other voice types and instruments, including solo organ, solo piano, violin or cello and piano, and string ensembles, often under the title "Largo from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aria
In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, or they can be stand-alone concert arias. The term was originally used to refer to any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. Etymology The Italian term ''aria'', which derives from the Greek ἀήρ and Latin ''aer'' (air), first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term 'aria' refers to an instrumental form (cf. Santino Garsi da Parma lute works, ('Aria del Gran Duca'). By the early 16th century, it was in common use as meaning a simple setting of strophe, strophi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voice Type
A voice type is a classification of the human singing voice into perceivable categories or groups. Particular human singing human voice, voices are identified as having certain qualities or characteristics of vocal range, vocal weight, tessitura, vocal timbre, and vocal transition points (''passaggio''), such as breaks and lifts within the voice. Other considerations are physical characteristics, speech level, scientific testing, and vocal register. A singer's voice type is identified by a process known as voice classification, by which the human voice is evaluated and thereby designated into a particular voice type. The discipline of voice classification developed within European classical music and is not generally applicable to other forms of singing. Voice classification is often used within opera to associate possible roles with potential voices. Several different voice classification systems are available to identify voice types, including the German ''Fach'' system and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vocal Range
Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech-language pathology, particularly in relation to the study of tonal languages and certain types of vocal disorders, although it has little practical application in terms of speech. Singing and the definition of vocal range While the broadest definition of "vocal range" is simply the span from the lowest to the highest note a particular voice can produce, this broad definition is often not what is meant when "vocal range" is discussed in the context of singing. Vocal pedagogists tend to define the vocal range as the total span of "musically useful" pitches that a singer can produce. This is because some of the notes a voice can produce may not be considered usable by the singer within performan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triple Metre
Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , and being the most common examples. In these signatures, beats form groups of three, establishing a triple meter feel in the music or song. The upper figure being divisible by three does not of itself indicate triple metre; for example, a time signature of usually indicates compound duple metre, and similarly usually indicates compound quadruple metre. Shown below are a simple and a compound triple drum pattern. \new Staff \new Staff Stylistic differences In popular music, the metre is most often quadruple,Schroedl, Scott (2001). ''Play Drums Today!'', p. 42. Hal Leonard. . but this does not mean that triple metre does not appear. In jazz, this and other more adventurous metres have become more common since Dave Brubeck's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time Signature
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the meter of a musical movement at the bar level. In a music score the time signature appears as two stacked numerals, such as (spoken as ''four–four time''), or a time symbol, such as (spoken as ''common time''). It immediately follows the key signature (or if there is no key signature, the clef symbol). A mid-score time signature, usually immediately following a barline, indicates a change of meter. Most time signatures are either simple (the note values are grouped in pairs, like , , and ), or compound (grouped in threes, like , , and ). Less common signatures indicate complex, mixed, additive, and irrational meters. Time signature notation Most time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other: * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
F Major
F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The F harmonic major and melodic major scales are: F major is the home key of the English horn, the basset horn, the horn in F, the trumpet in F and the bass Wagner tuba. Thus, music in F major for these transposing instruments is written in C major. These instruments sound a perfect fifth lower than written, with the exception of the trumpet in F which sounds a fourth higher. Scale degree chords The scale degree chords of F major are: * Tonic – F major * Supertonic – G minor * Mediant – A minor * Subdominant – B-flat majo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Key Signature
In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef at the beginning of the first line. If the piece contains a section in a different key, the new key signature is placed at the beginning of that section. In a key signature, a sharp or flat symbol on a line or space of the staff indicates that the note represented by that line or space is to be played a semitone higher (sharp) or lower (flat) than it would otherwise be played. This applies through the rest of the piece or until another key signature appears. Each symbol applies to comparable notes in all octaves—for example, a flat on the fourth space of the treble staff (as in the diagram) indicates that all notes notated as Es are played as E-flats, including those on the bottom line of the staff. Most of this article addres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viola
The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth higher) and the cello (which is tuned an octave lower). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to C3, G3, D4, and A4. In the past, the viola varied in size and style, as did its names. The word ''viola'' originates from the Italian language. The Italians often used the term '' viola da braccio'', meaning, literally, 'of the arm'. "Brazzo" was another Italian word for the viola, which the Germans adopted as ''Bratsche''. The French had their own names: ''cinquiesme'' was a small viola, ''haute contre'' was a large viola, and ''taile'' was a tenor. Today, the French use the term ''alto'', a reference to its range. The viola was popular in the heyday of five-part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the pochette (musical instrument), pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four strings (music), strings (sometimes five-string violin, five), usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a bow (music), bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno). Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical music, Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
String Section
The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In discussions of the Orchestration, instrumentation of a musical work, the phrase "the strings" or "and strings" is used to indicate a string section as just defined. An orchestra consisting solely of a string section is called a string orchestra. Smaller string sections are sometimes used in jazz, pop, and rock music and in the pit orchestras of musical theatre. Seating arrangement The most common seating arrangement in the 2000s is with first violins, second violins, violas, and cello sections arrayed clockwise around the Conductor (music), conductor, with basses behind the cellos on the right. The first violins are led by the concertmaster (leader in the UK); each of the other string sections also has a principal player (principal secon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instrumentation (music)
In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration. This juxtaposition of the two terms was first made in 1843 by Hector Berlioz in his ''Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes'', and various attempts have since been made to differentiate them. Instrumentation is a more general term referring to an orchestrator's, composer's or arrangement, arranger's selection of instruments in varying combinations, or even a choice made by the performers for a particular performance, as opposed to the narrower sense of orchestration, which is the act of scoring for orchestra a work originally written for a solo instrument or smaller group of instruments. Instrumental properties Writing for any instrument requires a composer or arranger to know the instrument's properties, such as: * the instrument's parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of music bounded by vertical lines, known as bar lines (or barlines), usually indicating one or more recurring beats. The length of the bar, measured by the number of note values it contains, is normally indicated by the time signature. Types of bar lines Regular bar lines consist of a thin vertical line extending from the top line to the bottom line of the staff, sometimes also extending between staves in the case of a grand staff or a family of instruments in an orchestral score. A ''double bar line'' (or ''double bar'') consists of two single bar lines drawn close together, separating two sections within a piece, or a bar line followed by a thicker bar line, indicating the end of a piece or movement. Note that ''double bar'' refers not to a type of ''bar'' (i.e., measure), but to a type of ''bar line''. Typically, a double bar is used when followed by a new key signature, whether or not it marks the beginning of a ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
