Italian Music Terminology
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Italian Music Terminology
Italian music terminology consists of words and phrases used in the discussion of the music of Italy. Some Italian music terms are derived from the common Italian language. Others come from Spanish, or Neapolitan, Sicilian, Sardinian or other regional languages of Italy. The terms listed here describe a genre, song form, dance, instrument, style, quality of music, technique or other important aspect of Italian music.''New Grove Encyclopedia of Music'', pp 637–680Keller, Marcello Sorce, Roberto Catalano and Giuseppina Colicci, "Italy" in the ''Garland Encyclopedia of World Music'', pp 604–625 Dances *''alessandrina'': A skipping dance from the area around Pavia *''alta danza'': Early Spanish name for the ''saltarello'' *''argismo'': A Sicilian term for the ''tarantella'' healing ritual, from ''argia'', ''spider'' *''ariosa'': A Carnival dance *: A Carnival dance *''ballarella'': A variant name for the ''saltarello'' *''ballo dei Gobbi'': A Carnival dance, ''dance of the hun ...
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Italian Musical Terms Used In English
Many musical terms are in Italian because, in Europe, the vast majority of the most important early composers from the Renaissance to the Baroque period were Italian. That period is when numerous musical indications were used extensively for the first time. Italian terms and English translations Musical instruments Voices Tempo Dynamics – volume Moods Musical expression (general) Patterns within the musical score Directions Techniques Roles Criticism Musical direction and staging See also * Musical terminology * Sheet music References External links 8notes glossary {{English words of foreign origin *Italian Musical Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ... Glossaries of music ...
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Liscio
Liscio or ballo liscio ("smooth" or "smooth dance" respectively in Italian) is a genre of music originating in the 19th century in the northern Italian region of Romagna under the influence of Viennese ballroom dances including the mazurka, waltz, polka, schottische, march. It later became popular and spread to the rest of the country. The accordion, which was also a 19th-century invention, features prominently. The tradition contrasts with older Italian folk dances in which the fiddle was the primary instrument. Ballo liscio in Romagna In Romagna, the phenomenon of the public and popular dance called "liscio" has created a unique universe and it has revolutionised the approaches to social, community and festive contexts, because it managed to blend different social strata and to allow a broad and inclusive identification process for higher but also more humble social classes. Nowadays, this universe is home to many different protagonists: it gives employment to a huge number of mu ...
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Trallalero
Trallalero is a kind of polyphonic folk music from the Ligurian region of Genoa, in northern Italy. It is traditionally performed by men, though there have been some female performers in the modern era. The name derives from the monosyllabic vocables (non-lexical vocalizations), ''tra-la-le-ro'' , which feature heavily in the repertoire of the groups or ''Squadre''. These are typically sections of songs without words during which the melody is sung on nonsense syllables. In the 1950s, American musicologist Alan Lomax and Diego Carpitella recorded trallalero. Lomax later claimed he was blown away, and called it the most significant work in his long and storied career. Edward Neill worked to revitalize the tradition in the middle of the 20th century, with a wide range of works by musicologist Mauro Balma making up the majority of modern academic study on the subject. Trallalero groups consist of tenor, baritone and bass parts, accompanied by a contralto and a singer whose voic ...
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Hammered Dulcimer
The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more traditional styles may sit cross-legged on the floor, or in a more modern style may stand or sit at a wooden support with legs. The player holds a small spoon-shaped mallet hammer in each hand to strike the strings. The Graeco-Roman ''dulcimer'' ("sweet song") derives from the Latin ''dulcis'' (sweet) and the Greek ''melos'' (song). The dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, originated from the psaltery, in which the strings are plucked. Hammered dulcimers and other similar instruments are traditionally played in Iraq, India, Iran, Southwest Asia, China, Korea, and parts of Southeast Asia, Central Europe (Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland (particularly Appenzell), Austria and Ba ...
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Cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, scientific pitch notation, C2, G2, D3 and A3. The viola's four strings are each an octave higher. Music for the cello is generally written in the bass clef, with tenor clef, and treble clef used for higher-range passages. Played by a ''List of cellists, cellist'' or ''violoncellist'', it enjoys a large solo repertoire Cello sonata, with and List of solo cello pieces, without accompaniment, as well as numerous cello concerto, concerti. As a solo instrument, the cello uses its whole range, from bassline, bass to soprano, and in chamber music such as string quartets and the orchestra's string section, it often plays the bass part, where it may be reinforced an octave lower by the double basses. Figure ...
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Bifora
The bifora or ''pifara'' was a Sicilian double reed instrument of the oboe family, related to the ancient shawm and particularly to the piffero of the northern Italian Apennines. Much larger than the piffero, and made in one piece, it was employed together with drums in ceremonial processions, particularly in the town of San Marco d'Alunzio in the province of Messina Messina (, ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , which amounts to 12.6 percent o .... Its use seems to have died out during the twentieth century. References * Mario Sarica, ''Strumenti Musicali Popolari in Sicilia'', Assessorato alla cultura, Provincia di Messina 1994. Excerpted iIl Flauto in Sicilia , from AESS: Archivio di Etnografia e Storia Sociale, RegioneLombardia Sicilian musical instruments Single oboes with conical bore {{Double ...
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Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest such woodwind family, with more than a dozen types, ranging from the BB♭ contrabass to the E♭ soprano. The most common clarinet is the B soprano clarinet. German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet sometime after 1698 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, an earlier single-reed instrument. Over time, additional keywork and the development of airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Today the clarinet is used in classical music, military bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles. It is a standard fixture of the orchestra and concert band. Etymology The word ''clarinet'' may have entered the English language via the Fr ...
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Viggiano
Viggiano is a ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Calvello, Corleto Perticara, Grumento Nova, Laurenzana, Marsicovetere, and Montemurro. Viggiano is known for migrant street musicians who have brought their music to Italy and worldwide through the centuries, as well as renowned for the construction of harps. Many Viggianesi had the opportunity to play in many symphonic orchestras in Europe, United States and Australia. The street musicians from Viggiano are cited as an influence on Hector Malot's '' Sans Famille''. Today Viggiano is known to be home to Europe's largest onshore hydrocarbon field that makes Italy the third-largest oil producer of the continent, behind Norway and United Kingdom. The comune hosted from 1997 to 2013 the International Flute Competition "Leonardo De Lorenzo", some the jury members over the years included Jean-Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker, Jindřich Feld, Susan Milan, Ca ...
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Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although many other members of the same infraorder (Mygalomorphae) are commonly referred to as "tarantulas" or "false tarantulas". Some of the more common species have become popular in the exotic pet trade. Many New World species kept as pets have setae known as urticating hairs that can cause irritation to the skin, and in extreme cases, cause damage to the eyes. Overview Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support.Pomeroy, R. (2014, February 4). Pub. Real Clear Science, "Spiders, and Their Amazing Hydraulic Legs and Genitalia". Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/02/spiders-their-amazing-hydraulic-legs-and-genitals.html. Like other Arachnida, ...
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Russi
Russi ( rgn, Ròss) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ravenna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about east of Bologna and about southwest of Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap .... References External links Comune di Russi {{EmiliaRomagna-geo-stub ...
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Pizzica
Pizzica () is a popular Italian folk dance, originally from the Salento peninsula in Apulia and later spreading throughout the rest of Apulia and the regions of Calabria and eastern Basilicata. It is part of the larger family of tarantella. Dancing the pizzica The traditional pizzica is a couple dance. The couple need not necessarily involve two individuals of opposite sexes, and often two women can be seen dancing together. Nowadays it has become rare to see two men dancing an entire pizzica. An exception with a pizzica between two men can still be found in the town of Ostuni, where one of the two men who dance jokingly pretends to be a woman. Another exception is where two men pretend to be engaged in a duel. The most important book about pizzica and tarantism is ''The Land of Remorse'', written by the Italian philosopher, anthropologist and historian of religions Ernesto De Martino. There are several traditional pizzica groups, the oldest being Officina Zoé, Uccio Aloisi gr ...
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Rendena
The Rendena is a breed of cattle from the Trentino, in north-eastern Italy, now raised principally in the provinces of Padova, Trento, Verona and Vicenza. It is particularly suited to transhumant management; almost all the stock in the Trentino spends the summer months on the mountain pastures of the Val Rendena, and more than half of that in the Veneto summers on the Altopiano di Asiago. History The Rendena originates from the area of the Val Rendena and the Giudicarie, where the first documented importation of stock from Switzerland was in 1712. By the end of the nineteenth century the breed numbered more than 200,000 head, was distributed throughout the Trentino and the Veneto, and had become the principal milk breed of the area. It suffered a major decline in the early 20th century, both as a result of the two World Wars and because of political pressures to replace it with the Bruna Alpina breed. From 1942, use of Rendena bulls for breeding was forbidden by law, and the pop ...
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