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scherzo

(Encyclopedia)scherzo skĕrˈtsō [key] [Ital.,=joke], in music, term denoting various types of composition, primarily one that is lively and presents surprises in the rhythmic or melodic material. In 1607 a group ...

Piston, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Piston, Walter, 1894–1976, American composer and teacher, b. Rockland, Maine. Piston studied at Harvard and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris; he joined the faculty of Harvard in 1926. He became a Gugge...

Roussel, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Roussel, Albert älbĕrˈ ro͞osĕlˈ [key], 1869–1937, French composer, studied with Vincent D'Indy. His early works show the influence of impressionism. With the symphonic poem Pour une fête de p...

Carpenter, John Alden

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, John Alden, 1876–1951, American composer, b. Park Ridge, Ill.; pupil of J. K. Paine at Harvard and of Elgar. His music, refined and skillfully written, influenced by French impressionism,...

Aggrey, James Emman Kwegyir

(Encyclopedia)Aggrey, James Emman Kwegyir ĕmˈən kwĕgˈyĭr ăgˈrē [key], 1875–1927, African educator and missionary, b. Anamabu, Gold Coast (now Ghana). Educated at Livingstone College, he taught there for ...

Widor, Charles Marie

(Encyclopedia)Widor, Charles Marie shärl märēˈ vēdōrˈ [key], 1845–1937, French organist and composer. He was organist at St. Sulpice from 1869 until his retirement in 1934. In 1891 he succeeded César Fran...

Cage, John Milton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Cage, John Milton Jr., 1912–92, American composer, b. Los Angeles. A leading figure in the musical avant-garde from the late 1930s, he attended Pomona...

Fétis, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Fétis, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ fātēsˈ [key], 1784–1871, Belgian music theorist, historian, and composer. A teacher and librarian at the Paris Conservatory, he became (1833) direc...

Sembrich, Marcella

(Encyclopedia)Sembrich, Marcella sĕmˈbrĭk [key], 1858–1935, stage name of Praxede Marcelline Kochanska, Polish coloratura soprano. She studied piano and violin at the Lemberg Conservatory. Urged by Liszt to tr...

toccata

(Encyclopedia)toccata təkäˈtə, tō– [key] [Ital.,=touched], type of musical composition. Early examples were written for various instruments, but the best-known form of toccata originated about the beginning ...