C

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C

The key of C.

C clef

A clef usually centered on the first line (soprano clef), third line (alto clef), fourth line (tenor clef) or third space (vocal tenor clef) of the staff. Wherever it is centered, that line or space becomes middle C.

Cabalistic Numerological Symbolism

A method of inbedding hidden messages in music, by using a code of numbers based on which notes are used, their durations, arrangement, subdivision, etc.—whereby the composer made symbolic reference to specific persons, places, or things and/or events in some way associated with the music.

cacophony

Discordant sound; dissonance.

cadence

The melodic or harmonic ending of a piece or the sections or phrases therein. A chord progression that “feels” like a conclusion.

cadenza

A solo passage, often virtuosic, usually near the end of a piece, either written by the composer or improvised by the performer.

cambiata

In counterpoint, a nonharmonic note inserted between a dissonance and its resolution.

camera

Secular chamber music, as opposed to church music, or chiesa.

camerata

Small art or music schools originating in the 16th century.

cancel

A natural sign, used to remove a previously accidental.

canon

“Rule.” In counterpoint, a melody that is repeated exactly by a different voice, entering a short interval after the original voice.

cantabile

(Italian: in singing style) appears often at the beginning of movements as in andante cantabile - at walking speed and in a singing style.

cantata

“Sung.” A multi-movement vocal work for concert or church performance by a chorus and/or soloists and an accompanying instrumental ensemble.

canticle

A non-metrical hymn or song.

canto fermo

A cantus firmus.

cantus firmus

“Fixed Song.” A pre-existing melody, usually an ecclesiastical chant, that serves as the theme or foundation of a polyphonic piece.

canzona, canzone

A song or ballad, or “in the style of a song”.

Cappella

See a cappella.

capricio

(Italian: caprice; = French: caprice) appears in a variety of musical meanings, used differently at different periods and by different composers. In the later 16th century and 17th century it generally indicated a fugal composition (see Fugue), but later came to signify dances or dance suites or any composition that allowed a relatively free play of fancy, as in the Capriccio espagnol (Spanish Caprice) of Rimsky-Korsakov or the Capriccio italien (Italian Caprice) of Tchaikovsky.

cassation

The word 'cassation' is of disputed origin and was used principally in the third quarter of the 18th century in South Germany to describe a piece of music akin to a divertimento or serenade, music intended primarily for entertainment. Mozart uses the word to describe three of his own serenades.

Celesta

A celesta (= French: céleste) is a small keyboard instrument developed in the later 19th century and using hammers that strike metal bars to give a ringing sound. Tchaikovsky used the celesta, then a new instrument, in his Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy in his Nutcracker ballet.

Cello

In the violin family, the tenor instrument, played while held between the knees.

cembalo

The word 'cembalo' is usually used to indicate the harpsichord.

chaconne

A chaconne (= Italian: ciaconna; earlier English: chacony) is in origin a dance popular in Spain in the early 17th century. It came to signify a form in which there are a series of variations over a short repeated bass or chordal pattern. Famous examples of the form are found in Bach's Chaconne for unaccompanied violin in his D minor Partita or the earlier Chacony in G minor by Henry Purcell.

chamber music

Music for small ensemble.

chamber orchestra

A chamber orchestra has come to indicate an orchestra smaller in size than the usual symphony orchestra.

chanson

A song.

chapel

The word chapel (= Latin: cappella, capella; French: chapelle; German: Kapelle) signifies, in the ordinary sense, a place of worship. In music it may be used to indicate a group of musicians employed by the church or by the court, as in the English Chapel Royal, the group of musicians employed by the English monarch, or, in later continental terminology, any musical establishment.

chiesa

“Church.” Church music, as opposed to chamber music, or camera.

choir

A choir is a group of singers. The word is generally used to indicate such a group in a church, or the part of the church in which such a group is normally placed.

chorale

A German Lutheran hymn tune.

chorale prelude

The chorale prelude, an introduction to a chorale, was developed in 17th century Germany as an organ composition based on a chorale melody. The form is found in the later 17th century in the work of Buxtehude and in the early 18th century most notably in the 45 chorale preludes of Johann Sebastian Bach.

chord

Three or more notes played simultaniously.

chorus

A chorus is a group of singers. The word is also used to indicate a refrain in a song.

chromatic

Motion by half steps; or pitches used outside of the diatonic scale in which they normally occur.

Clarinet

A clarinet is a woodwind instrument with a single reed, as opposed to the oboe, which has a double reed. The clarinet was developed from the year 1800 onwards from the earlier chalumeau, which played notes only in the lower register. The new instrument added notes in the higher register. Clarinets are built in different keys, most commonly in B flat and in A.

clarino

Clarino was the word often used in the 17th and 18th centuries for trumpet. Now the word describes the upper register of the trumpet, much used in the baroque period, when the trumpet, lacking valves, could only produce successive notes in the highest register, an art that later fell into temporary disuse.

Classical Era

The musical period from the late 18th century to the early 19th century.

Clavichord

The clavichord is a small early keyboard instrument with a hammer-action. The strings are struck by a tangent, a small oblong strip of metal, eliciting a soft sound. The limited dynamic range of the clavichord make it unsuitable for public performance, but it was historically much favoured by composers such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and a leading keyboard-player in the middle of the 18th century.

clef

The symbol at the beginning of a staff that indicates which lines and spaces represent which notes.

close harmony

Harmony in which notes of the chord are kept as close together as possible, often within an octave.

clusters

Groups of notes that are the interval of a second apart.

coda

A coda (Italian: tail) is the ending of a piece of music. This may be very short, but in a composition on a large scale may be extended. The diminutive codetta may be used to indicate the closing part of a section of a composition.

coloratura

“Coloring.” Elaborate ornamentation of the melodic line, usually by a vocalist. A voice type (especially soprano) specializing in demanding virtuosity.

comic opera

An opera with light-natured music, comedy, and a happy ending.

common chord

A chord composed of a root, third, and fifth.

common time

4/4 meter.

common tone

A note that remains constant between two chords.

compound interval

An interval wider than an octave, such as a ninth, or eleventh.

concert

A public performance of music.

concertante

A piece for two or more instruments with orchestral accompaniment.

concertino

The concertino is the small group of solo instruments used in a concerto grosso in contrast to the whole body of the orchestra, consisting of ripieno players (see Concerto grosso). A concertino may also be a small concerto.

concerto

A piece for soloist(s) and orchestra.

concerto grosso

The concerto grosso developed towards the end of the 17th century, particularly with the works in this form by Corelli, followed by Handel and many other composers. A small group of soloists, often two violins, cello and harpsichord, the concertino, is contrasted with the whole string orchestra, the concerto grosso, with its less skilled ripieno players. The concerto grosso may involve wind instruments as well as strings. The form has been revived by some 20th century composers, at least nominally.

consequent

The second phrase in a musical period, in a fugue, the answer.

consonance

Sounds that are pleasing to the ear.

consort

A Renaissance chamber group.

continuo

Basso continuo.

cor anglais

The cor anglais is the English horn, a tenor oboe that sounds a fifth lower than it is written.

Cornet

The cornet is a valved brass instrument, resembling a trumpet but with a wider bore. It was used in the second quarter of the 19th century before the full development of the valved trumpet, but is now principally found in brass bands.

cornetto

The cornetto or cornett is a wind instrument made of wood or ivory, or nowadays reproduced in fibre-glass. It has a cup-shaped mouthpiece, like brass instruments, but finger-holes, like a recorder, and was much used in the 17th and earlier 18th centuries, often to support or even replace treble voices. The bass of the cornetto family is the serpent, once found in village church bands in England and now revived.

counterpoint

The combination of two or more melodic lines played simultaneously. A horizontal structure of melody against melody rather than chords.

countertenor

“Against the tenor.” The highest male singing voice, above tenor.

courante

The French courante, a triple-time dance movement found frequently in the baroque dance suite, generally follows the allemande, the opening German dance. It is sometimes not distinguished from the Italian corrente, although the corrente is generally simpler in texture and rhythm than its French counterpart.

crab canon

A contrapuntal piece in which one part is identical to another, but backwards.

crescendo

A gradual increase in volume.

Credo

“I believe.” In the Mass, the third part of the Ordinary. The Creed.

cycle

A song cycle is a set of songs intended to be performed as a group, as in Schumann's Dichterliebe (The Poet's Love) or Schubert's Winterreise (Winter Journey). The 19th century Czech composer Smetana wrote a cycle of symphonic poems, Ma Vlast (My Country).

cymbals

Cymbals (= Italian: piatti, German: Becken, French: cymbales) are pairs of round metal plates, generally made of an alloy of tin and copper, which may be struck together. A single cymbal may be suspended and struck with a hard or soft stick. The instrument is of ancient origin, but its more modern use occurs first principally in the later 18th century, as part of the Turkish music used, for example, by Mozart in The Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail). It found much fuller and more varied use in the 19th and 20th centuries.