Dictionary of Music - Birding America

SS. 1 In choral music, an abbreviation for SOPRANO.2 In sixteenth-century compositions, an abbreviationfor superius, the highest part. 3 An abbreviation forSEGNO. 4 An abbreviation for SINISTRA.Saariaho (sä′rē ä hō), Kaija (kī′yu), 1952– .Finnish composer who left her country in 1982 forParis to work at IRCAM. Her earliest output consistedof lyrical vocal works. About 1980 she shiftedfrom emphasizing melody to timbre and harmony,often exploiting the tone colors of instruments inunusual ways, along with combining acoustic elementswith live electronics, tape, and computerassistance. Until about 1990 she wrote mostly forchamber and solo instruments; she then turned towriting for large orchestras. Outstanding among herworks are Sept Papillons (“Seven Butterflies”) andSpins and Spells, for cello, and Lonh (“Afar”) forsoprano and live electronics; Aile du Songe (“Wingof the Dream”), a flute concerto; and Chateau del’âme (“Villa of Love”), a song cycle for sopranoand orchestra. She won international acclaim for theopera L’Amour de loin (“Love from Afar”; 2001), astory about a 12th-century French troubadour andhis love for a countess whom he had never met, forwhich she was awarded the prestigious 2003 GrawemeyerAward for contemporary composition.Sachs (säks), Hans (häns), 1494–1576. A Germanpoet and composer who is remembered as themost famous of the MEISTERSINGER. He wrote hundredsof poems and melodies.sackbut The ancestor of the modern TROMBONE,invented in the fifteenth century and built in numeroussizes. It had a somewhat narrower bore andsmaller bell than the trombone, giving it a softersound and more agility. It also had a wide dynamicrange and blended well with voices.Saint-Saëns (saN säN′), Camille (kA mē′y ə ),1835–1921. A French composer who is rememberedfor just a few of his hundreds of compositions.Of his dozen or so operas, only Samson et Dalila(1877) is part of the current repertory of most operahouses. Also well known are his instrumental suite,Le Carnaval des animaux (“The Carnival of the Animals”),which he wrote in 1886 but did not allow tobe published until after his death; the symphonicpoem Danse macabre (“Dance of Death”); and hisCello Concerto no. 1. Trained as a pianist and organist,Saint-Saëns became very influential in theFrench musical world. He performed, taught (hismost famous pupil was Gabriel Fauré), founded anational music society to encourage French composers,conducted, and wrote a number of books(most of them on music, but also two books ofpoems). His compositions are in the romantic traditionof Liszt and other nineteenth-century composers.Saint-Saëns was particularly skilled at359