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rallentando

Rallentando (Italian: becoming slower) is a direction to a performer to play gradually slower.

recitative

A vocal number that mimics the inflections of speech, found primarily in opera or oratorio.

Recorder

The recorder (= German: Blockflste; French: flte bec; Italian: flauto dolce), the straight flute, exists in a variety of sizes, the principal of which are the descant or soprano, the treble or alto, the tenor and the bass, the first and third of which have a range upwards from C and the second and fourth of which have a range upwards from F, with similar fingering. Other sizes of recorder include the smallest, the sopranino, an octave higher than the treble and the great bass, an octave lower than the tenor. An even larger family of recorders existed in the later 16th century. The earlier recorder was used in consort music, while it was used rather as a solo instrument in music in the later 17th and early 18th centuries, with sonatas for the instrument by Handel and solo parts in the second and fourth of the Brandenburg Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach. The revival of the instrument in the 20th century has led to a number of new solo works for recorder.

Reed

Reeds, made either from traditional material or from plastic or metal, are used to produce a musical sound from their vibration by means of an air column. The clarinet uses a single reed, fastened to a hollow mouthpiece, while the oboe and bassoon use a double reed, one side vibrating against the other. The reed-pipes of the organ are generally made of metal, with a thin vibrating tongue to produce the sound. Similar laminae are used in the mouth-organ and harmonica. Some instruments, like the bagpipes or the crumhorn, use covered double reeds, set inside an air chamber

Register

The register of a voice or instrument is a distinct part of its range. The clarinet, for example, has a distinctive lower register known, from the origin of the instrument, as the chalumeau register, and an upper register of more flute-like timbre.

Registration

Registration is the choice of stops used by an organist or harpsichordist, a much more elaborate matter for the former.

Renaissance

“Rebirth.” The era from the mid-15th century to the end of the 16th century. The music was charactarized by freer forms, and a progression from modes toward major and minor scales and harmony.

Requiem Mass

A version of the Mass performed to commemorate the dead. The sections are: Introit, Kyrie, Gradual and Tract, Sequence (Dies Irae), Offertory, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, Communion and Responsory.

resolution

The progression of chords or notes from the dissonant to the consonant or point of rest.

rhapsody

The title rhapsody (= French: rapsodie) came into general use in music of the mid-19th century, notably with the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Liszt. It implies a work free in form and inspiration, often an expression of national temperament, as in the Slavonic Rhapsodies of Dvork and the Rapsodie espagnole of Ravel.

rhythm

Rhythm, an essential element in music in one way or another, is the arrangement of notes according to their relative duration and relative accentuation.

riguadon

The French folk-dance, the rigaudon, is occasionally found in instrumental dance suites of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was normally in a brisk duple metre.

ritardando

Ritardando (Italian: becoming slower) abbreviated often to rit., is often used as a direction to players.

ritenuto

Ritenuto (Italian: held back) directs a player to slow down at once.

ritornello

The ritornello, a recurrent phrase or passage, is a feature of baroque form, where an aria may be punctuated by re-appearances of a short instrumental phrase. It became a frequent element in baroque solo concertos by composers such as Vivaldi, and works with operatic connotations.

rococo

Rococo, a term borrowed, as are so many other terms in musicology, from architecture and the visual arts, is used in particular to describe the light decorative French style as found in the work of Couperin and Rameau in the first half of the 18th century.

Romantic

The musical period roughly from 1820-1900, in which music progressed to a freer, more subjective form with increasing chromaticism, the use of folk themes, the introduction of more virtuosic solo music, and larger orchestras.

rondo

Rondo (= French: rondeau) form involves the use of a recurrent theme between a series of varied episodes, often used for the rapid final movement of a classical concerto or symphony.

rubato

Rubato, (Italian: stolen), is a direction to allow a player a measure of freedom in performance. The phrase tempo rubato is also found.

root

The fundamental note (I) of a chord or scale.