Dictionary of Music - Birding America

330 quality, tonequality, toneSee TONE, def. 4; TONE COLOR.Quantz (kvänts), Johann Joachim (yō′hän yōä′KHim), 1697–1773. A German flutist and composerwho is remembered not only for his flutecompositions but for his book on flute playing,which contains much valuable information aboutthe music and instruments of his time. Quantzlearned how to play several instruments during hisboyhood. He became an oboist, but then he took upthe flute. Later, he taught Frederick the Great ofPrussia how to play the flute, and he was employedat his court for a number of years. Quantz wrotesome five hundred works for flute, among themabout three hundred concertos (for either one or twoflutes). His book, Versuch einer Anweisung dieFlöte traversiere zu spielen (“Essay on the Instructionof Flute-playing”), was first published in 1752.quarter note British, crotchet. A note, , equal intime value to (lasting as long as) one-fourth of awhole note. Thus, four quarter notes equal onewhole note, two quarter notes equal one half note,and one quarter note equals two eighth notes.quarter rest A rest, , indicating a silence lastingthe same length of time as a quarter note.quarter tone An interval equal to one-fourth of awhole tone or one-half of a half tone (a half tonenormally being the smallest interval in traditionalWestern music; see INTERVAL, def. 2). Since anoctave contains twelve half tones, it contains twiceas many quarter tones, twenty-four in all.The most commonly used of the microtones, thequarter tone was used in ancient Greece, again in theMiddle Ages, and by various twentieth-century composers.Since the ordinary keyboard instrument cannotbe tuned to produce any interval smaller than ahalf tone, special instruments are needed for performingquarter-tone keyboard music. Among themis the quarter-tone piano, a grand piano made inthe 1920s by several companies. The piano has twokeyboards, one above the other, and two sets ofstrings, tuned a quarter tone apart. Alois Hába(1893–1972) is the most prominent of the composerswho wrote for this instrument. Others wereJulián Carrillo and John Eaton. (See also MICRO-TONE.)quarter-tone pianoSee under QUARTER TONE.quartet 1 An ensemble made up of four instrumentsor voices. 2 A composition for four instrumentsor four voices. Since each voice or instrumenthas a separate part, the quartet is a form of chambermusic. —instrumental quartet A quartet forinstruments. There are numerous combinations, themost familiar of which is the STRING QUARTET, consistingof four stringed instruments (first and secondviolin, viola, cello). Others are the piano quartet(piano, violin, viola, cello), a wind instrument withthree stringed instruments (oboe quartet, flutequartet, and so on, depending on the kind of windinstrument; the strings are nearly always violin,viola, and cello), woodwind quartet (most oftenflute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon), brass quartet(either two trumpets, horn, and trombone, or twotrumpets and two trombones, or some other combination),and wind quartet (mixing brasses andwoodwinds, such as flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon).Piano quartets have been written since the time ofMozart (by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms,Fauré, and Copland, among others). Wind quartetsalso date from Mozart’s time, although they haveattracted relatively fewer composers. The most popularand oldest form is the string quartet. —vocalquartet A composition for four singers, each performinga separate part. The vocal quartet was probablythe earliest kind of four-part music, dating fromc. 1400. The most usual combination today is thequartet for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. However,there are quartets for first and second soprano withfirst and second alto, and quartets for first and secondtenor with baritone and bass. The latter combinationdescribes the barbershop quartet, which isassociated with a style of unaccompanied singing ofpopular songs in close harmony that was originallydeveloped in nineteenth-century American barbershops.Today there is a society for the preservationof this style, which has chapters nationwide and runsan annual contest for the national championship.The female counterpart of the barbershop quartet iscalled Sweet Adelines, named for the song, “Sweet