The two volumes of the 600 Words of Music cover most of the vocabulary of so-called “learned” Western music. Volume A contains the words concerning theory, compositional processes, practices, aesthetics and musical trends. This volume B focuses on genres (cantata, lied, symphony) and formal structures (rondo, sonata form, theme and variations). The terms relating to the instrumental making, which belong to another field, were therefore discarded, as well as the terminology specific to oral traditions, extra-European and popular music (song, jazz, pop, rock, etc.).
The most important words give their titles to the entries. But within the notices, additional terms are also defined (for example, “natural” appears in the page devoted to “alteration”): it seemed to us more relevant to immediately put closely related concepts into perspective and to avoid the dictionary formula which would have involved a large number of repetitions. The title of some entries associates two or three words (“ambitus, tessitura, register”, or “chaconne and passacaille”), when it turns out to be judicious to treat them together.
In this volume B, when the same term is declined in several categories (for example, the various types of concerto or symphony), the notices are arranged in chronological order in order to highlight the historical trajectory. In the index, however, the headings are listed in alphabetical order.
This index groups together all the terms and makes it easy to find those that do not have their own entry. In the body of the text, the sign ‡ designates those which are explained in volume A; the asterisk *, those commented on in volume B.
For the sake of readability and accessibility, musical examples of older works are printed in modern notation and the spelling of older quotes is updated.
The date indicated after a work corresponds to the year of its completion. When the composition extends over a significant number of years and it seems useful to us to give this information, the date of the start of composition is specified in addition to the end date. The date of publication replaces the date of composition when the latter remains unknown.
Brand reference number:
GB9983
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