Dictionary of Music - Birding America

melody 237(passages of notes sung to a single syllable) wereoften used.The Meistersinger and their most famous composer,Hans Sachs (1494–1576), have been immortalizedin Wagner’s opera, Die Meistersinger vonNürnberg (“The Meistersinger of Nuremberg”). Thereal Hans Sachs wrote more than six thousandsongs, some of which are very lovely. Today mostMeistersinger songs, however, seem stilted and unoriginal.Thus, the main contribution of the Meistersingerappears to have been in spurring musicalactivity outside the church, among ordinary middleclasspeople.melisma (mə liz′mə) Greek: “song.” A group ofseveral notes or even a lengthy musical passage sungto one syllable of text. Usually the music is expressive,and does not consist merely of elaborate ornaments,as in a coloratura passage. Melismas are particularlyimportant in Gregorian chant, in which awhole group of chants is classified as melismaticowing to the extensive use of them. (See alsoCLAUSULA; SYLLABIC.)mellophone (mel′ə fōn′′). Also, especially British,tenor cor. A brass instrument that is used as a substitutefor the French horn in marching bands, schoolbands, and occasionally dance bands. The mellophone,which has three valves, looks much likea French horn but is much easier to play. Themellophone may be pitched in E-flat or in F and hasa range of about two and one-half octaves. (Theaccompanying example shows the range of the E-flatmellophone.)melodeonSee under ACCORDION.fig. 155 p/ufrom p. 243Melodica (mə lō′di kə). The trade name for atype of chromatic harmonica (see HARMONICA, def.1) that has a beaked mouthpiece like a recorder anda two-octave keyboard. The player blows into themouthpiece while fingering the white keys with theright hand and the black keys with the left to producethe desired notes.melodic inversion See INVERSION, def. 3.melodic minor scale A minor scale having thesixth and seventh steps raised when ascending, butidentical to those of the natural minor whendescending. See also MINOR, def. 1.melodic motion See MOTION, def. 1.melodic sequenceSee under SEQUENCE.mélodie (mā lô dē′). The French term for nineteenth-and twentieth-century ART SONG. Composersof mélodies include Gounod, Franck, Massenet,Roussel, Fauré, Duparc, Debussy, and Ravel.melodrama A musical form, generally usedwithin an opera or other larger form, in which theprotagonist of a drama tells the story (or part of it)during pauses of or over an orchestral accompaniment.Examples are found in Mozart’s The Abductionfrom the Seraglio, Beethoven’s Fidelio (in thedungeon scene), Weber’s Der Freischütz, and elsewhere.melody A group of musical tones sounded oneafter another, which generally have a characteristicrhythm and musical shape. The total melody makessense to the ear; usually it can be remembered, atleast in part. However, a melody is not precisely thesame as a tune. A tune is a kind of melody that canreadily be sung. In a composition for orchestra, forexample, the tune is usually the melody that is mosteasily heard, but other melodies may be present aswell.A melody is a succession of pitches, and thereforeit involves two principal factors: intervals (thedistance between each pitch and the next) and duration(how long each pitch lasts, or is held). The formeris often referred to as melodic motion, ormelodic movement, since it describes the pattern ofpitches—up, down, or continuing on the same pitch.(See also MOTION, def. 1.) The relative duration ofthe pitches produces a pattern of long-short, which