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time , in music

(Encyclopedia)time, in music: see tempo; meter; rhythm; syncopation; metronome and musical notation. ...

barrel organ

(Encyclopedia)barrel organ, mechanical musical instrument requiring nothing but the regular rotary motion of a handle to keep it going. It probably originated at the beginning of the 18th cent., and was once used e...

Godey, Louis Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Godey, Louis Antoine gōˈdē [key], 1804–78, American publisher, b. New York City. He was joint founder in 1830 of the Lady's Book (known after his partner's withdrawal as Godey's Lady's Book), the...

Davis, Sir Colin Rex

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Sir Colin Rex, 1927–2013, English conductor. Davis began his musical career as a clarinetist, and was a self-taught conductor. After serving with the Sadler's Wells Opera, he was the conducto...

fantasia

(Encyclopedia)fantasia făntāˈzhə [key] [Ital.,=fancy], musical composition not restricted to a formal design, but constructed freely in the manner of an improvisation. In the 16th and 17th cent., however, the t...

Ade, George

(Encyclopedia)Ade, George, 1866–1944, American humorist and dramatist, b. Kentland, Ind., grad. Purdue Univ., 1887. His newspaper sketches and books attracted attention for their racy and slangy idiom and for the...

E, letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)E, fifth letter of the alphabet. It is a usual symbol for a mid-front vowel, such as ĕ in the English step. A mid-front vowel was represented by Greek epsilon [Gr.,=e without the aspirate], to which ...

Stradella, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Stradella, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō strädĕlˈlä [key], 1642?–1682, Italian composer of operas, cantatas, oratorios, and instrumental music. Few facts but many legends exist concerning his lif...

Burney, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Burney, Charles, 1726–1814, English music historian, composer, and organist. His General History of Music (1776–89; 2d ed. 1935) was one of the first important music histories in English. He wrote...

xylophone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Xylophone xylophone zīˈləfōn [key] [Gr.,=wood sound], musical instrument having graduated wooden slabs that are struck by the player with small, hard mallets. The slabs are usually arrange...