Dictionary of Music - Birding America

338 recitalrecital A public performance by one or two performers(singer and accompanist, instrumental duet)as opposed to a concert, a performance by three ormore performers (trio, quartet, band, orchestra).Occasionally the terms “recital” and “concert” areused interchangeably, especially for small groups,such as a trio. For popular music the term recital israrely used.recitation toneTONE.See TONE, def. 3; also PSALMrecitative (res′′i tə tēv′). A style of singing thatclosely resembles speech, with relatively littlechange in pitch and the rhythm governed largely bythe rhythm of the text. It was first used in the latesixteenth century, and it soon played an importantpart in operas, oratorios, cantatas, and other vocalmusic. In accord with the new monodic style (seeMONODY, def. 1), most recitatives were accompaniedby an instrument playing simple chords (seeCONTINUO), usually a harpsichord or organ (with orwithout a cello or bass viol to strengthen the bassline). This kind of recitative was said to be in STILERAPPRESENTATIVO. Early operas actually consistedof a series of recitatives with instrumental accompaniment.In the first half of the seventeenth century,with Monteverdi, operatic music became moreexpressive and dramatic, and arias, with moremelody, were introduced. The recitative continued totell the basic events of the plot, while the characters’thoughts and feelings were expressed in arias. Theeighteenth-century opera was essentially an alternationof recitatives with arias and ducts and otherensemble numbers (see under OPERA). The style ofthe recitatives now so closely resembled speech, thescore often giving only approximate pitches andtime values of the notes, that it came to be calledrecitativo secco (literally “dry recitative”). Inchurch music, however, recitatives were often moredramatic and expressive, especially in Passions andcantatas, and often were accompanied by the orchestra;this style came to be called recitativo stromentatoor accompagnato (“instrumental” or “accompaniedrecitative”).Recitative was not a new invention of the 1590s.The chants of various churches, especially thoseused for psalms (see under PSALM), represent a similarstyle of singing. The general style of recitative,particularly its free rhythms, has occasionally beenused in instrumental works, by Bach, Haydn,Beethoven, and others. In the twentieth century,recitative began to play an increasingly importantpart in opera, quite apart from conscious attempts torevive the seventeenth-century style (as in Stravinsky’sopera The Rake’s Progress). Schoenberg calledfor a new vocal style, halfway between speech andsong, which he called SPRECHSTIMME, used also byBerg in his opera Lulu. Later composers, such asLuciano Berio, continued to combine speech andsong, often in quite novel ways. (See also PAR-LANDO, def. 1.)recitativo arioso (re′′chē tä tē′vô ä rē ô′sô) Italian.See under ARIOSO, def. 2.recitativo secco (re′′chē tä tē′vô sek′ô) Italian.See under RECITATIVE.recitativo stromentato (re′′chē tä tē′vô strô′′mentä′tô) Italian. See under RECITATIVE.recorder The most important of the end-blownflutes, that is, a flute that is held straight and blowninto at one end instead of sideways, like the orchestralflute. The recorder consists of a whistle mouthpiece(see FIPPLE FLUTE) and a body with a conicalbore (cone-shaped inside), which becomes narrowerat the lower end. It has seven to nine finger holes infront, some of which may be fitted with keys, andone thumb hole at the back. Used since the MiddleAges, recorders began to be built in a number ofsizes during the sixteenth century. Today thesoprano and tenor sizes are pitched in C and the altoand bass sizes in F, each with a range of two octaves.The soprano size (called descant in Great Britain; itis shown in the accompanying illustration) has onejoint (between the head and body); the alto (calledtreble in Britain) and tenor sizes both have twojoints, one between the head and body and a secondbetween the body and bell. The bass size usually hasthree joints (an extra section is between the head andbody). In addition, sopranino and contrabass sizesare available. To avoid excessive ledger lines, the