Dictionary of Music - Birding America

Mahler, Gustav 227by Thomas Morley (the first English composer touse the name “madrigal” for his songs), ThomasWeelkes (c. 1575–1623), John Wilbye (1574–1638),and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625). The Englishmadrigal developed somewhat differently from theItalian; retaining the imitative contrapuntal style, itoften used word painting but seldom employed chromaticism.Although the madrigal reached othercountries, such as Spain and Germany, where HeinrichSchütz produced an outstanding collection(1611), it never became as important there. In thetwentieth century, Paul Hindemith, with his greatinterest in older forms, wrote a number of madrigalsto texts by Joseph Weinheber.madrigal comedy A series of twelve or moresecular madrigals and other vocal pieces groupedinto acts and scenes with a loose plot. The madrigalcomedy is important as a forerunner of opera, themost famous example being L’Amfiparnaso byOrazio Vecchi, published in 1597.madrigalist A composer of madrigals (seeMADRIGAL, def. 2).maestoso (mī stô′sô) Italian. A direction to performin a stately, dignified manner.maestro (mī′strô) Italian: “master.” An honorarytitle or form of address for distinguished musicians,composers, conductors, or teachers.maestro di cappella (mī′strô dē käp pel′lä)Italian. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,the musical director of a court or privateorchestra or choir.Magnificat (mäg nif′i kät′′) Latin. A setting ofthe Virgin Mary’s hymn of praise from the Gospel ofSt. Luke (“My soul doth magnify the Lord”). In theRoman Catholic rite the Magnificat is sung at Vespersto one of eight special chants, and in the Anglicanrite it is sung at Evening Prayer. Both the Latinand English versions have been set polyphonically(with several voice-parts, as opposed to the originalsingle part) by numerous composers, among the earliestsettings being those of Dufay, Dunstable, andBinchois (fourteenth century). During the Renaissance(1450–1600) it was customary to write musicfor only the even-numbered verses, leaving the oddnumberedverses in the original plainsong. Such settingswere written by Obrecht, Lasso, Palestrina, andothers. J. S. Bach’s fine setting of the Magnificat issimilar in form to some of his larger cantatas. Morerecent settings are those of Hovhaness (1959), Penderecki(1974), and Pärt (1989).Mahler (mä′lər), Gustav (goo s′täf), 1860–1911.An Austrian composer and conductor rememberedchiefly for his beautiful songs and his ten massivesymphonies. From the age of twenty Mahler workedas a conductor, mainly of opera, and eventually hewas given the most important musical post in hiscountry, director and conductor of the Vienna Opera.Mahler’s most important vocal works are four songcycles, which have orchestral accompanimentsinstead of the usual piano accompaniment: Liedereines fahrenden Gesellen (“Songs of a Wayfarer”),Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“Youth’s Magic Horn”),Kindertotenlieder (“Songs of the Death of Children”),and his masterpiece, Das Lied von der Erde(“The Song of the Earth”). Mahler expanded theform of the symphony in a number of ways. Heoften used an enormous number of instruments, usuallyindividually rather than all together, to obtain agreat variety of tone colors. The Symphony no. 8(“Symphony of a Thousand”) calls for a huge arrayof soloists, choruses, and orchestral instruments.Mahler’s symphonies also tend to be long; severalconsist of five or six movements, and some of themovements themselves—for example, the firstmovement of Symphony no. 3—are among thelongest ever written. Some of the movements areessentially songs with orchestra, and others includesolo voice and choral sections to emphasize theexpression of feelings. Other characteristic featuresof Mahler’s style are the use of counterpoint, the useof contrasting melodies (sometimes at the sametime), frequent modulation (changes of key) within amovement or composition, and alternation (sometimesmixture) of major and minor keys. Althoughhis music is strictly tonal, it constructs and shiftstonal material in ways that to some extent foreshadowthe atonal music of the twentieth century.