Dictionary of Music - Birding America

90 concert overtureA concerto grosso always consists of severalmovements, but their number and kind vary considerably.The chief distinguishing feature of the formis the contrast of concertino and tutti, which are constantlypitted against one another. The most importantcomposers of concerti grossi were Corelli,Torelli, Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach; Bach’s six BrandenburgConcertos are among the finest examples ofthe form. Some twentieth-century composers havewritten works modeled on the baroque concertogrosso. Among them are Ernest Bloch (two concertigrossi), Paul Hindemith (Concerto for Orchestra,op. 38), Béla Bartók (Concerto for Orchestra,1944), Samuel Barber (Capricorn Concerto),Stravinsky (Dumbarton Oaks), and Alfred Schnittke(five concerti grossi, 1977–1991).concert overture An orchestral composition thatresembles the overture to an opera but is meant tobe played in a concert hall and generally can standalone (with nothing following it). Such pieces mayhave a title or program to which the music supposedlyconforms (see PROGRAM MUSIC), or they mayhave been written in honor of a special occasion.The concert overture dates from the nineteenthcentury and was quite popular with romanticcomposers. Examples include Mendelssohn’sHebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave), Brahms’sTragische Ouvertüre (“Tragic Overture”) andAkademische Festouvertüre (“Academic FestivalOverture”), Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian EasterOverture, and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.concert pitch The PITCH of all notes that resultsfrom tuning A above middle C to a frequency of 440cycles per second. (For an explanation of pitch andfrequency, see SOUND.) In actual practice, orchestrastune to an A as low as 435 cycles per second (Russia)or as high as 449 (Berlin). Most Americanorchestras range 440–442.concitato (kôn′′chē tä′tô) Italian. A direction toperform in an excited, agitated manner.conducting The art of directing a group of musicalperformers (singers, instrumentalists, or both). Itis the conductor’s job to make the group performtogether, at the correct tempo (speed) and with theproper expression (dynamics, phrasing, articulation,etc.). Moreover, he or she must bring into balancethe different instruments or voices, so that, forexample, no one group or voice sounds too loud inrelation to the others. The conductor’s primaryobjective is to present a composition as a unifiedwhole, in a manner as close as possible to the composer’sintentions.Naturally, various conductors’ interpretations ofa composer’s intentions may differ; nevertheless, nomatter what their particular interpretation, conductorsmust be able to tell the performers how theywant them to perform. They do so in a variety ofways, the best known of which are their handmotions. Some conductors use only their hands, othersuse a BATON, and still others use both. In addition,conductors may use movements of the face,head, and even the whole body in order to indicatetheir wishes.Until the early nineteenth century, there was noseparate leader for an orchestra. Instead, a violinist,organist, harpsichordist, or pianist led the group, atthe same time playing their own instrument. Thefirst conductors who did not play an instrumentwhile conducting were composers who in the lateseventeenth century led musicians in performancesof their own works. Today the job of conductor isnearly always independent of playing, and itrequires a very advanced degree of musicianship.Conductors must be familiar with many differentmusical styles and periods (a work by Mozartrequires quite different treatment from a work byBach or Schoenberg), they must know everyminute detail of the work they conduct, and theymust be able to communicate their knowledge tothe performers.conductus (kən duk′təs) Latin. A type of song ofthe eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Its text was apoem in the Latin language, religious or secular(nonreligious) in subject, which was set to musicthat, unlike most other medieval forms, was not usuallybased on a preexisting melody. The earliestexamples were monophonic (with one voice-part),but the conductus of the thirteenth century was polyphonic,having two, three, and occasionally even