Dictionary of Music - Birding America

130 entr’acteability, or of balance of the different parts and unityof presentation. In this sense, “good ensemble”means playing together well, and “poor ensemble”means playing together poorly (which may occureven when the individual players of the group performwell). 3 In opera, a piece for several soloists,either with or without the chorus.entr’acte (äN trAkt′) French: “between the acts.”Also, interlude, intermezzo. Music, usually instrumental,that is performed between the acts of a playor opera.entschieden (ent shē′d ə n) German. Also,entschlossen (ent shlôs′ ən). A direction to performin a decided resolute manner.entschlossenSee ENTSCHIEDEN.envelope The attack-sustain-decay-release patternof a sound signal. In physical terms this is the amplitude(loudness) of a sound from start to finish. Anenvelope generator is a circuit that allows manipulationof the characteristics of an envelope, that is,attack time, sustention time, decay time, releasetime; it is an important component in the SYNTHE-SIZER.environmental musicSee SONIC ENVIRONMENT.épinette (ā pē net′). A French word meaning“spinet” (see SPINET, def. 1) or HARPSICHORD.episode 1 In a FUGUE, a passage occurringbetween expositions of the subject by the differentvoice-parts. The music of the episode may or maynot be based on a portion of the subject or answer,and often it will modulate to another key, in whichthe subject is to be presented next. Not all fuguescontain episodes. 2 In a RONDO, a name for sectionsthat appear between repetitions of the first main section.Thus, a rondo might consist of sections A B AC A, in which A is the main section and B and C areepisodes.Epistle (i pis′əl). In the Roman Catholic rites, thesecond section of the Proper of the Mass (see MASS.)equal temperament A system of tuning keyboardinstruments so that all the half tones are equal,that is, the difference in frequency (pitch) between Cand C-sharp, for example, is exactly the same as thedifference between C-sharp and D, D and D-sharp,D-sharp and E, etc. (see SOUND for an explanation offrequency), so that D-sharp and E-flat, for instance,are identical on keyboard instruments. In equal temperament,all the intervals except the octave areslightly out of tune. However, the modern listener isso accustomed to this phenomenon that the tonessound perfectly normal to the ear. Although there areother systems of tuning (see TEMPERAMENT) inwhich the intervals are perfectly in tune, the systemof equal temperament has one major advantage thatoutweighs its drawbacks: with equal temperament,intervals have the same value in all keys. Thus,music may be played in any key, and one may modulate(change from one key to another) with completefreedom. (In other systems, some keys arefavored at the expense of others, and modulationmay be difficult or impossible.)Although equal temperament was known muchearlier and came into general use in lutes and otherfretted instruments, most musicians before 1800favored systems that provided better-tuned intervalsin those keys that were more commonly used, and thesystem was not universally adopted until about 1850.It is often stated that Bach strongly favored equal temperamentand composed The Well-Tempered Clavier,with its preludes and fugues in all of the major andminor keys, to show the advantages of the system, butthere is no concrete evidence for this view.equal voices 1 Voices of the same kind, that is,men’s voices or women’s voices (as opposed toMIXED VOICES). 2 Voices of the same range, forexample, all tenor or all soprano.ergriffen (er grif′ən) German. A direction to performin a highly expressive, emotional manner.erhu (er′hoo — ) Chinese. A fiddle with a smallhexagonal body, two strings looped to the handle,and a tubular neck that pierces the body. The bowpasses between the strings, which are tuned a fifthapart, so that they sound simultaneously.