Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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EENCONTRE IMPREVUE REPETITION 65
sang at the Gaite, in Paris, as Herod in Massenet's
H^rodiade,' and both there, and at the
'
Op^ra-Comique in 1904 as Don Juan, and the
Flying Dutchman, always with great success.
He sang at Monte Carlo in 1907 in Bruneau's
'Nais Micoulin.' A. c.
,
EENCONTRE IMPREVUE. SeePlLGEiMB
VON Mekka.
RENDANO, Alfonso, horn April 5, 1853,
at Carolei, near Cosenza, studied first at the
Conservatorio at Naples, then with Thalberg,
and lastly at the Leipzig Conservatorium. He
played at the Gewandhaus with marked success
on Feb. 8, 1872. He then visited Paris and
London, performed at the Musical Union (April
30, 1872), the Philharmonic (March 9, 1873),
the Crystal Palace, and other concerts, and much
in society ; and after a lengthened stay returned
to Italy. He was a graceful and refined player,
with a delicate touch, and a great command
over the mechanism of the piano. His playing
of Bach was especially good. He published
some piano pieces of no importance. G.
REPEAT, REPETIZIONE, REPLICA (Ger.
Wiederholwng ; Fr. iJ^^^iJMoro, which also means
'rehearsal'). In the so-called sonata form, there
are certain sections which are repeated, and
are either written out in full twice over, or are
written only
once, with the sign =4p^= at the
end, which shows that the music is to be repeated
either from the beginning or from the previous
occurrence of the sign. The sections which, according
to the strict rule, are repeated, are—the
first section of the first movement, both sections
of the minuet or scherzo at their first appearance,
and both sections of the trio, after which
the minuet or scherzo isgone once straight through
without repeats. Thelatterhalf of the firstmovement,
and the first, or even both, of the sections
in the last movement, may he repeated ;
see for
instance Beethoven's Sonatas, op. 2, No. 2 ; op.
10, No. 2 ; op. 78 ;
Schubert's Symphony No.
9. Also, where there is an air and variations,
both sections of the air and of all the variations,
should, strictly speaking, be repeated. This
undoubtedly arose from the facility with which
on a good harpsichord the player could vary the
qualities of tone, by using different stops ;
and
there was a tradition that, on that instrument,
a change of ' register ' should be made at every
repetition. Although it is a regular custom not
to play the minuet or scherzo, after the trio, with
repeats, Beethoven thinks fit to draw attention to
the fact that it is to be played straight through,
by putting after the trio
'
the words Da Capo
senza repetizione, ' or senza ' replica,' in one or
two instances, as in op. 10, No. 3, where, moreover,
the trio is not divided into two sections,
and is not repeated ; in op. 27, No. 2, where
the Allegretto is marked ' La primaparte senza
repetizione
' (the first part without repeat). In
his Fourth and Seventh Symphonies he has
VOL. IV
given the trio twice over each time with full
repeats. m.
REPjfeTITION. (Fr.) Rbheaesal.
REPETITION (Pianofoetb). The rapid
reiteration of a note is called repetition ; a
special touch of the player facilitated by mechanical
contrivances in the pianoforte action ;
the earliest and most important of these having
been the invention of Sebastian Erakd. [See
the diagram and description of Erard's action
under Pianofoete, vol. iii. p. 730..] By such
a contrivance the hammer, after the delivery of
a blow, remains poised, or slightly rises again,
so as to allow the hopper to fall back and be
ready to give a second impulse to the hammer
before the key has nearly recovered its position
of rest. The particular advantages of repetition
to grand pianos have been widely acknowledged
by pianoforte makers, and much ingenuity has
been spent in inventing or perfecting repetition
actions for them ; in upright pianos, however,
the principle has been rarely employed, although
its influence has been felt and shown by care in
the position of the 'check in '
all cheek action instruments.
The Frenohhave named themechanioal
power to repeat a note "rapidly, ' double
tehappement' ; the drawbacks to double escapement—which
the repetition really is—are found
in increased complexity of mechanism and
liability to derangement. These may be overrated,
but there always remains the drawback
of loss of tone in repeated notes ; the repetition
blow being given from a small depth of touch
compared with the normal depth, is not so elastic
and cannot be delivered with so full a, forte, or
with a piano or pianissimo of equally telling
vibration. Hence, in spite of the great vogue
given to repetition effects by Herz and Thalberg,
other eminent players have disregarded them,
or have even been opposed to repetition touches,
as Chopin and von Bulow were ; see p. 7, § 10
of the latter's commentary on selected studies
by Chopin (Aibl, Munich, 1880), where he designates
double escapement as a 'deplorable
innovation.
A fine example of the best use of repetition
is in Thalberg's A minor Study, op. 45
E L.H. " Z
'
-etc.
where the player, using the first two fingers
and thumb in rapid succession on each note, produces
by these triplets almost the effect of a
sustained melody with a tremolo. Repetition is
an old device with stringed instruments, having
been, according to Bunting, a practice with the
Irish harpers, as.we knowit was with the common
dulcimer, the Italian mandoline, and the Spanish
|)andurria.
A remarkable instance may be quoted of the