Dictionary of Music - Birding America

attuta 35now used in virtually every part of the world exceptin France itself.Nearly every major composition for orchestrawritten since the eighteenth century includes a partfor the bassoon, which is also required in virtually allcompositions for wind ensemble. Important compositionsfor solo bassoon include concertos by Vivaldi,Stamitz, Mozart, Weber, and Amram; Prokofiev’sHumorous Scherzo for four bassoons; ArcadyDubensky’s Prelude and Fugue for Four Bassoons;sonatas for bassoon and piano by Hindemith andSaint-Saëns; Wellesz’s Suite for unaccompanied bassoon;and Alvin Brehm’s Colloquy and Chorale forbassoon quartet. Prominent parts for the bassoon arefound in Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, whichalso has an important part for double bassoon, inGrieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” from hisPeer Gynt Suite no. 1, and in Penderecki’s Adagio(from his Fourth Symphony). —double bassoonor contrabassoon The lowest member of the oboefamily, the double bassoon is pitched an octave lowerthan the bassoon and sounds an octave lower than themusic for it is written. It has a tube almost eighteenfeet long, which is doubled back on itself four times.fig. 28 p/u from p. 37basso profondo (bäs′sô prô fôn′dô) Italian.under BASS, def. 1.bass trombonebass trumpetSee under TROMBONE.See under TRUMPET.Seebass tuba 1 See under TUBA. 2 A name sometimesused for the bass size of the SAXHORN.bass viol 1 Name sometimes used for the DOUBLEBASS. 2 Also, viola da gamba. The bass member ofthe viol family (see VIOL).baton (ba ton′). A slender stick used by conductorsto beat time and to help indicate loudness,phrasing, etc. Some conductors use both hand andbaton, others the baton only, and still others use onlytheir hands.battle music A general term for musical compositionsin which the sounds of a military battle—cries, drum rolls, fanfares, etc.—are imitated. Thisform of program music was quite popular from thesixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Many such piecesare entitled Battle, Battaglia (Italian), or Bataille(French). One of the earliest is Clément Janequin’spart song of 1529, “La Guerre” (“The War”), andone of the latest is Liszt’s symphonic poem of1857, Die Hunnenschlacht (“The Battle of theHuns”). Other examples are Franz Kotzwara’s Battleof Prague for piano, and Beethoven’s WellingtonsSieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria (“Wellington’sVictory or The Battle of Victoria”), op. 91, fororchestra.basso ostinato (bäs′ sô ô′′stē nä′tô) Italian.under OSTINATO.Seebattuta (bät too — ′tä) pl. battute (bät oo — ′te) Italian:“beat.” A word originally used with reference to thestrong beat at the beginning of a measure, and byextension meaning MEASURE. A direction such asritmo di tre battute (“rhythm of three beats”) meansthat the measures are to be grouped together inthrees, the tempo being so fast that the main accentshould come at the beginning of every three measuresinstead of at the beginning of each individualmeasure. —a battuta (ä′ bä too — ′tä). A direction tothe performer to return to strict tempo after some