Dictionary of Music - Birding America

HHThe German term for the note B natural.habanera (ä bä ne′rä) Spanish. A Cuban dance,named for the city of Havana. The habanerabecame very popular in Spain during the nineteenthcentury, and inspired a number of composers,among them Debussy, Emmanuel Chabrier(1841–1894), and Ravel. Perhaps the most famoushabanera of all is the aria “L’amour est un oiseaurebelle” (Love is a rebel bird) in Bizet’s opera Carmen,which actually is an adaptation of a song byanother composer. The habanera is in 2/4 meter andhas characteristic syncopated rhythms (see theaccompanying example), much like those of theTANGO.A kind of dul-Hackbrett (häk′bret) German.cimer (see under DULCIMER).hairpins See under SWELL, def. 2.fig. 121 p/u from p. 175Halévy (A lā vē′), Jacques (zhäk), Fromental(frô′′mäN tAl′), 1799–1862. A French composer,today remembered for a single opera, La Juive (“TheJewess,” 1835). During his lifetime, however, manyof his thirty-eight other operas, which are in the conventionalOPERA SERIA form of the time, were highlysuccessful. Halévy taught at the Paris Conservatory,where his pupils included Gounod and Bizet (whobecame his son-in-law).half cadence Another term for imperfect cadence(see under CADENCE).half note British, minim. A note, , equal in timevalue to (lasting as long as) one-half of a whole note.Thus, two half notes equal one whole note.half rest A rest, ■–, indicating a silence lasting thesame length of time as a half note.half stepSee HALF TONE.half tone Also, half step, minor second, semitone.The smallest interval used in traditional Europeanand American music. On the piano, a half tone is theinterval between any two adjacent keys—either twowhite keys, such as B and C or E and F, or a blackkey and a white key such as C and C-sharp or C-sharp and D.Hallelujah (hal′′e loo — ′yə) Hebrew: “Praise theLord.” A vocal composition in which the textconsists entirely or almost entirely of the word “Hallelujah”repeated over and over. The most famousexample is the “Hallelujah” Chorus in Handel’soratorio, Messiah. (See also ALLELUIA.)171