Dictionary of Music - Birding America

16 art songart song A term used to distinguish a serious vocalpiece for one voice written by a trained composerfrom (1) a popular song, written mainly to makemoney; and (2) a folk song, whose composer usuallyis not known and which changes in the course of performanceover the years. The art song literatureranges from the solo songs of the Middle Ages to thelute songs of the sixteenth century (see AYRE, def. 1),from the arias of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesto the lieder (see LIED, def. 1) of nineteenthcenturyGerman composers and their French counterparts—EmmanuelChabrier (1841–1894), HenriDuparc (1848–1933), Ernest CHAUSSON, and GabrielFAURÉ. Other composers noted for their fine art songsinclude Gounod, Debussy, Ravel, Mussorgsky,Grieg, Britten, Poulenc, Barber, Ives (see the separateentry for each of them), Ned Rorem, and PeterWarlock. Also see SONG CYCLE.a.s.SEGNO).An abbreviation for al segno (see underASCAP (as′kap). The abbreviation for AmericanSociety of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, anorganization of musicians. ASCAP was founded in1914 by the composer Victor Herbert in order tomake sure that the persons who wrote and publishedmusic would be paid when their works are performed.ascending motion See under MOTION, def. 1.ascending valveSee under VALVE.A-sharp One of the musical tones (see PITCHNAMES), one half tone above A and one half tonebelow B. On the piano, A-sharp is identical with B-flat (see ENHARMONIC for an explanation). For thelocation of A-sharp on the piano, see KEYBOARD.assai (äs sä′ ē) Italian: “much” or “very.” A wordused in musical directions such as allegro assai(“very fast”).assez (A sā′) French: “enough” or “quite.” A wordused in musical directions such as assez vite (“fairlyfast”).atonality (ā′′tō nal′i tē). A style of compositionin which a tonal center, or definite key (see KEY, def.3), is avoided. Almost all the music from about 1700to about 1900 was written in a determinable key, andwhile the notes and chords of other keys might beincluded in a piece, they were always somehowrelated to and were made to return to or resolve intothe basic key of the piece. Such music is calledtonal. In music composed prior to about 1700, however,this relationship of notes to a central key didnot always exist, and since about 1900 many composershave deliberately avoided it. Strictly speaking,tonality and atonality (literally, “without tonality”)are matters of degree. Thus, the works ofWagner and Debussy, although still tonal, show featuresof atonality—chords do not always resolveinto the basic key, for example. The first completelyatonal musical compositions were those of Schoenberg,written about 1909. Schoenberg considered alltwelve notes of the chromatic scale equally important,instead of emphasizing one or another as atonal center. He himself disliked the term “atonal,”preferring pantonal (“all tones”). About 1920,Schoenberg proposed the twelve-tone system as asubstitute for tonality (see SERIAL MUSIC). Someprefer the term nontonal.attacca (ät täk′kä) Italian: “attack.” Also,attacca subito (ät täk′kä soo — ′bē tô). A direction atthe end of a movement or section of a compositionindicating that the next movement or section is toproceed immediately, without pause. See alsoSEGUE, def. 1.attacca subitoSee ATTACCA.attack 1 Promptness in beginning a phrase or, in apiece for an ensemble (group), the entry of the differentinstruments or voices at precisely the righttime. 2 In electronic sound production, the time ittakes a signal to build from its minimum to its maximumlevel. See also DECAY.aubade (ō bAd′) French. A piece of instrumentalmusic to be played in the morning, as opposed to aSERENADE, played in the evening. In the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries, noblemen sometimes held