Dictionary of Music - Birding America

322 pousséremarkable gift for writing melody, lively sense ofrhythm, and sense of humor. Poulenc studied inParis and became a friend of Erik Satie, who hadgreat influence on him. He later became one of theinfluential group called Les Six (see SIX, LES). Agreat lover of poetry, Poulenc wrote some outstandingmusical settings of modern French poems, bysuch writers as Guillaume Apollinaire, JeanCocteau, and Paul Éluard; among these are the songcycles Le Bal masqué (“The Masked Ball”), TelleJour telle nuit (“Like Day, Like Night”), and Le Travaildu peintre (“The Painter’s Work”), and the cantataLa Figure humaine (“The Human Face”). Othernotable works are the opera Les Mamelles deTirésias (“The Breasts of Tiresias”), which uses, in asatirical fashion, wrong notes, barroom songs, andparodies of sentimental songs; the opera Les Dialoguesdes Carmélites (“Dialogues of the CarmeliteNuns”); the ballet Les Biches (translated as “TheHouseparty”); Concert champêtre for harpsichordand orchestra; Babar the Elephant (the children’sstory) for narrator and piano; and some large sacredchoral works, among them a Mass in G for a cappellachoir, a Stabat Mater, and a Gloria.pousséSee POUSSEZ.poussez (poo — sā′). Also, poussé. The French termfor up-bow (see under BOWING).ppAlso, ppp. An abbreviation for PIANISSIMO.Praetorius (prē tôr′ē əs), Michael, 1571–1621.A German composer and theorist who is rememberedfor his many vocal compositions and for athree-volume book, Syntagma musicum (“MusicalSyntax”), which is one of the most importantsources of information about both earlier music andthe music of Praetorius’s time. Some of Praetorius’sworks use several choruses, in the elaborate POLY-CHORAL style of the Venetians. The others rangefrom simple settings of Lutheran chorales (hymns)to complex contrapuntal works in which eight ornine voice-parts are set against one another. The firstvolume of Praetorius’s book, which is written inLatin, tells about ancient music and church music,including a description of ancient instruments. Thesecond volume, in German, describes the musicalinstruments of the author’s own time, among themthe organ, and includes drawings of the most importantones. The last volume, also in German, gives anaccount of seventeenth-century secular music, notation,and details of performance.precentor (prē sen′tər). The musical director of acathedral, chapel, or monastery. See also CANTOR,def. 2.precipitando (pre′′chē pētän′dô) Italian. Also,precipitato (pre′′chē pētä′tô), precipitoso (pre′′chēpē tô′sô). A direction to perform in a hurried,impetuous manner.precipitatoprecipitosoSee PRECIPITANDO.See PRECIPITANDO.preclassic A term used for styles of music thatfall somewhere between the baroque (1600–1750)and the classical (1785–1820), in time as well asstyle. It takes in the gallant or rococo style (light,graceful, highly ornamented) of late eighteenthcenturykeyboard music (see GALLANT STYLE). Itencompasses the new instrumental style, with itsfast-slow and loud-soft contrasts, its melodies carriedby violins, and its individual treatment of windinstruments, as developed by STAMITZ and his followersat Mannheim, Germany (see MANNHEIMSCHOOL), by Georg Wagenseil (1715–1777) andGeorg Monn (1717–1750) in Vienna, and by GiovanniBattista Sammartini (1701–1775) in Italy.Further, the term preclassic is sometimes used for agroup of composers who worked in Berlin fromabout 1750 to 1790, also known as the Berlinschool or North German school of composers. Mostof them were employed by Frederick the Great ofPrussia, who hired many musicians and composersfor his court and was himself an accomplishedmusician and composer. Among them were JohannJoachim QUANTZ, Franz Benda (1709–1786), theopera composer Karl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759),the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg(1718–1795), and Karl Philipp Emanuel BACH. Ingeneral, preclassic music is no longer wholly