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c. 1622–77 English composer While a chorister at Exeter Cathedral, where he learnt to play the organ, the young Matthew Locke met Christopher Gibbons (1615–76), with whom he later collaborated on the music for the masque Cupid and Death (1653). Locke’s revision of the piece in 1659 has survived in autograph and is the only known complete score of ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

of the Organs under Oliver Cromwell during the Republic. In 1677, Purcell was appointed ‘Composer in Ordinary with fee for the Violin to His Majesty’ in place of Matthew Locke (c. 1622–77). Purcell and Locke had been friends and neighbours, and on the latter’s death Purcell wrote a personal tribute: ‘What Hope for us Remains now he is Gone ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Civil War and his death at the Siege of Chester prompted many tributes. Recommended Recording: Consort Music, Phantasm (Channel Classics) Introduction | Early Baroque | Classical Personalities | Matthew Locke | Early Baroque | Classical ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

many Stuart masques these elements were designed by the famous architect Inigo Jones. The first masque for which a complete score survives is Cupid and Death (1659), with music by Locke and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625). Musical Drama The first English musical drama to be sung throughout was William Davenant’s The Siege of Rhodes (1656). The music, now lost, was ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composers of the early twentieth century sought out further percussion instruments to add to their sound palette. Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra (1913) requires a xylorimba: a composite instrument, with a top end sounding like a xylophone, the bass end like a marimba. Walton’s Façade (1926) requires wood blocks: stemming from Africa, these are a series of resonant ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

There are many different instrumental interfaces through which it is possible to control synthesized or sampled sounds – the most common being the piano-style keyboard. The electronic musician is also able to access a wide range of sounds through electric guitar, string, percussion and wind instruments. These devices are, to a large extent, quite recognizably conventional, ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

The celesta is a type of keyboard glockenspiel, with a range of four octaves upwards from middle C, and a damping pedal like a piano. Inside the body of the instrument is a series of chromatically tuned metal bars, which are struck with felt hammers when the performer plays the keyboard. Creation of the Celesta The celesta was ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

The history of musical instruments has always been very closely linked to the history of music itself. New musical styles often come about because new instruments become available, or improvements to existing ones are made. Improvements to the design of the piano in the 1770s, for instance, led to its adoption by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who have come together to play music. In theory, an ensemble could contain any number of instruments in any combination, but in practice, certain combinations just don’t work very well, either for musical reasons or because of the sheer practicality of getting particular instruments and players ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Keyboard percussion instruments include the western xylophone, marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel, the log xylophones and marimbas of Africa and Central America, and the barred instruments played in the Indonesian gamelan. The orchestral xylophone, marimba and glockenspiel have thin wooden or metal rectangular bars laid out like a chromatic piano keyboard. The back row of bars – ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Bass Drum The dominant feature of every military band is its big bass drum. Throughout the history of percussion instruments, this drum has been the mainstay of time-keeping, whether it is used for a marching army or in a late-twentieth century heavy metal band. Early versions of the bass drum (it was certainly known in Asia around 3500 BC) ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

The first known examples of the recorder date from the Middle Ages. It became hugely popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods and then, surpassed by the concert flute, it largely fell out of use in the professional arena. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, it was redesigned by Arnold Dolmetsch and subsequently enjoyed a ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

At its simplest, a reed-pipe is made by slicing a flap out of a length of hollow reed or cane near the closed end, so that the cut piece springs slightly outwards, still joined to the rest of the reed at one end. How Reeds Work The reed, including the blocked end and section with the flap ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

‘The Magic Flute’ The librettist of Die Zauberflöte, Emanuel Schikaneder, Mozart’s old friend and fellow freemason, drew on an eclectic variety of sources, including a French novel, Sethos, Paul Wranitzky’s magic opera Oberon (1789) and the oriental fairy tale Lulu. In the bird catcher Papageno, Schikaneder created for himself a character that could exploit ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composed: 1911 (re. 1912; 1918) Premiered: 1918, Budapest Libretto by Béla Balázs, after a fairy-tale by Charles Perrault Bluebeard and Judith appear in the doorway of his castle. She has left her family and declares she will never leave him. He closes the iron door. She offers to warm the stones and let in the light. There are no ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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