Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Going to a concert or opera? Some musical terms

Going to a concert or opera? Reading the reviews in advance? Here are some words you might wish to translate for your own benefit or for your adult or child companions.

bass - low, could be an instrument such as the double bass, bass tubor, in jazz means the double bass string instrument
baton - stick for conducting
brio - liveliness, con brio means playing in a lively style. Gusto is a similar word.
caveat - warning
cogent
conundrum - puzzle
duplicitous - cheating
farcical - ridiculous, nonsensical randy or on heat
finale - final or end set-piece
ingenious - clever, intricate
libretto - from the word book, the book of the music
liturgy - scriptures
lubricious - randy or on heat
lyric - words to the song, verse
masquerade - masked, pretending
mezzo soprano - mezzo is middle as in mezzanine
oratorio - style of music, usually a liturgical setting (holy or church)
poignant - from the French, makes you want to cry, touching, pointed
potent - powerful
proliferate - found everywhere, scattered, numerous
soprano
tenor
trio - three singers or players
trope - received wisdom, like a cliché, a piece of folk wisdom, like an old wive's tale, but not necessarily wrong
viola - twice the size of the violin
virtuoso - expert, highly skilled performer, near genius
visceral to do with the guts
woodwind, clarinet, oboe, bassoon flute,
brass: trumpet,trombone, French horn, tuba
strings, stringed instruments (in increasing size): violin, viola, cello (short for violoncello) double bass (bass is just an abbreviation)
percussion four instrument, drums,
bells: xylophone, Glockenspiel, tubular bells, gamelan of Asia is part of the same family - and piano
groups of four instruments in an orchestra: piccolo is a soprano flute

German
lieder - song(s)

Other instruments and words in reviews
harp
contra bass
cor Anglaise (meaning English, French word for English, in recprocation for us speaking of a French horn)
Hogmanay - Scottish winter festival
Kabbalah - Jewish, to do with mystical scriptures, made popular in modern times by singer Madonna

ghoul - ghost
misanthropic - hating mankind

(Post being researched and written and expanded - come back tomorrow)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker

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