Meaning

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Music Words Meaning

R

RACKETT

The rackett was an old musical wind instrument of the double bassoon kind, having ventages but not keys. It was not of an extended compass, being incapable of producing harmonics. It was a double-reed instrument, the reed being at the end of a tube through which the player blew. The tone was nasal and produced with difficulty. The rackett was improved by Denner at the end of the 18th century, but was replaced by the bassoon.

RAGTIME

Ragtime is a style of musical time characterised by syncopation, and common in many Negro melodies.

RALLENTANDO

In music rallentando is a direction to perform a passage with a gradual decrease in time and force.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Ralph Vaughan Williams was acomposer. He was born in 1872 and died in 1958. He composed Fantasiz on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, symphonies, vocal music.

REBEC

The Rebec is an obsolete form of stringed musical instrument of Middle Eatern origin which was popular during the Middle Ages. It was the precursor of the viol, was shaped somewhat like a mandolin, had three gut strings and was played with a bow. Henry VIII included the instrument in his state band, but later it was rarely used except by street musicians.

RECITAL

A recital is a musical vocal or instrumental performance by one person as distinguished from a concert.

RECITATIVE

A recitative is a species of musical recitation in which the words are delivered in a manner resembling that of ordinary declamation.

RECORDER

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument. It is an end-blown flute with a fipple mouth-piece and eight finger holes, producing a soft mellow tone.

REED

In music a reed is a small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube. The term reed also describes one of the thin pieces of metal, the vibration of which produce the tones of a melodeon, accordion, harmonium, or seraphine and are also attached to certain sets or registers of pipes in an organ.

REED ORGAN

In music a reed organ is an organ in which the wind acts on a set of free reeds, as the harmonium, melodeon, concertina, etc.

REED PIPE

In music a reed pipe describes a pipe of an organ furnished with a reed.

REED STOP

In music the term reed stop describes a set of pipes in an organ furnished with reeds.

REEDWORK

Reedwork is a collective name for the reed stops of an organ.

REGAL

The regal was a 16th and 17th century small portable organ, played with one hand, the bellows being worked with the other,

REGISTER

In music the register is the compass of a voice or instrument or a specified portion of the compass of a voice, or a series of vocal tones of a given compass, for example the upper, middle, or lower register; the soprano register; the tenor register. In respect to the vocal tones, the thick register properly extends below from the F on the lower space of the treble staff. The thin register extends an octave above this. The small register is above the thin. The voice in the thick register is called the chest voice; in the thin, the head voice. Falsetto is a kind of voice, of a thin, shrill quality, made by using the mechanism of the upper thin register for tones below the proper limit on the scale.

RELEVE

In ballet, releve is rising up off the heels.

REPEAT

In music a repeat is a mark, or series of dots, placed before and after, or often only at the end of, a passage to be repeated in performance.

RESOLUTION

In music resolution is the passing of a dissonant into a consonant chord by the rising or falling of the note which makes the discord.

RETARDATION

In music retardation is the keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows. It differs from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards.

RHAPSODY

A rhapsody is a musical composition irregular in its form, like an improvisation.

RHYTHM

Rhythm is the movement in musical time, with periodical recurrence of accent; the measured beat or pulse which marks the character and expression of the music; symmetry of movement and accent.

RICHARD BYRD

Richard Evelyn Byrd was an American scientist and explorer. He started his career in the navy, but took up flying. In 1926 he flew over the North Pole. He was born in 1888 and died in 1957. William Byrd was an English composer. He was born in 1543 and died in 1623.

RICHARD STRAUSS

Richard Strauss was a German composer. He was born in 1864 and died in 1949.

RICHARD WAGNER

Richard Wagner was a German composer. He was born in 1813 and died in 1883. He composed Rienzi, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde.

RINFORZANDO

In music, rinforzando is a direction indicating a sudden increase of force.

RIPIENO

Ripieno is a term applied to those instruments which only swell the mass or tutti of an orchestra, but are not obligatory.

RITORNELLE

In music a ritornelle is a short return or repetition; a concluding symphony to an air, often consisting of the burden of the song. The term also describes a short intermediate symphony, or instrumental passage, in the course of a vocal piece; an interlude.

RITORNELLO

In music, a ritornello is a short instrumental composition which is sometimes introduced to fill the interval between the scenes of an opera. The name is also given to the instrumental symphonies performed between the verses or phrases of songs or anthems.

ROBERT FRANZ

Robert Franz was a German song-composer. He was born in 1815 at Halle and died in 1892. In 1841 he was appointed city organist in Halle and in 1859 master of music to the university and director of the symphony concerts. He wrote around 250 songs and also edited some of the work of Bach and Handel before deafness compelled his retirement in 1868.

ROBERT SCHUMANN

Robert Schumann was a German composer. He was born in 1810 at Zwickau and died in 1856.

RODOLPHE KREUTZER

Rodolphe Kreutzer was a French composer. He was born in 1766 and died in 1831. He composed 40 Etudes for violin.

ROGER QUILTER

Roger Quilter was a British composer. He was born in 1877 at Brighton and died in 1953.

RONDO

A rondo is an early form of instrumental composition, in which the first and principal subject alternates with other subsidiary subjects. At first they seldom contained more than two subjects, but Mozart, Beethoven and later composers introduced three, the second and third, when reappearing, being always in new keys, and frequently developed or varied to a considerable extent.

ROOT

In music a root is the fundamental tone of any chord; the tone from whose harmonics, or overtones, a chord is composed.

ROSALIA

A rosalia is a form of musical melody in which a phrase or passage is successively repeated, each time a step or half step higher.

ROTA

The Rota was a species of zither, played like a guitar, and used in the Middle Ages for church music.

ROTE

The rote was a kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement.

ROULADE

A roulade is a smoothly running passage of short notes (such as semiquavers, or sixteenths) uniformly grouped, and sung upon one long syllable, as in Handel's oratorios.

ROUND

In music a round is a short vocal piece, resembling a catch in which three or four voices follow each other round in a species of canon in the unison.

ROUNDELAY

In music a roundelay is a tune in which a simple strain is often repeated; a simple rural strain which is short and lively. The term also describes a dance in a circle.

ROY HARRIS

Roy Harris was an American composer. He was born in 1898 and died in 1979. He composed Symphonies.

RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO

Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian composer. He was born in 1857 and died in 1919. He composed Pagliacci.

RUGGIERO LEONCAVALLO

Ruggiero Leoncavallo was an Italian composer. He was born in 1858, dying in 1919. He composed the opera pagliacci.