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solfège

(Encyclopedia)solfège sōlfĕdˈjō [key] [Ital.], in music, systems of vocal exercises employing the solmization syllables of Guido d'Arezzo (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la). Solfège has the dual purpose of vocalizatio...

Petrucci, Ottaviano dei

(Encyclopedia)Petrucci, Ottaviano dei ōtˌtävyäˈnō dāˈē pātro͞otˈchē [key], 1466–1539, Venetian printer. Petrucci was the inventor of printing music by movable metal type. His patent for the process w...

Chadwick, George Whitefield

(Encyclopedia)Chadwick, George Whitefield, 1854–1931, American composer, b. Lowell, Mass., studied in Germany. In 1882 he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, of which he was director from...

castanets

(Encyclopedia)castanets kăsˌtənĕtsˈ [key], percussion instruments known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, possibly of Middle Eastern origin, now used primarily in Spanish dance music or imitations of it. Th...

O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar

(Encyclopedia)O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar ōshônˈəsē [key], 1844–81, English poet and naturalist. He was a member of the zoological department of the British Museum. He wrote four volumes of poetry—...

organum

(Encyclopedia)organum ôrˈgənəm [key], in music, compositional technique, developed in Europe during the 10th cent., in which each note of Gregorian chant melody was doubled by another note. In the earliest exam...

Bellman, Carl Michael

(Encyclopedia)Bellman, Carl Michael mēˈkäĕl bĕlˈmän [key], 1740–95, Swedish poet; protégé of Gustavus III. His early poetry was chiefly religious. His dithyrambic odes in Fredmans Epistlar (1790) and Fre...

Honegger, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Honegger, Arthur hŭnˈēgər, Fr. ärtür ônāgĕrˈ [key], 1892–1955, Swiss-French composer, studied at the conservatories of Zürich and Paris. One of the group of Parisian composers called Les ...

Caccini, Francesca

(Encyclopedia)Caccini, Francesca fränchĕsˈkä kät-chēˈnē [key] b. 1587, d. after 1641, Italian composer and singer, known as La Cecchina; daughter of Giulio Caccini. For most of her career she was a musician...

Stokowski, Leopold

(Encyclopedia)Stokowski, Leopold stəkŏfˈskē [key], 1882–1977, American conductor, b. London. Stokowski studied in England and at the Paris Conservatory. He was organist and choirmaster at St. Bartholomew's Ch...