Around the turn of this century, a composer named Camille Saint-Saens wrote a satirical zoological-fantasy called "Le Carnaval des Animaux." Aside from one movement of this piece, "The Swan", Saint-Saens didn't allow this work to be published or even performed until a year had elapsed after his death. (He died in 1921.) Most of us know the "Swan" movement rather well, with its smooth, flowing cello melody against a calm background; but I've been having this fantasy... What if he had written this piece with lyrics, as a song to be sung? And, further, what if he had accompanied this song with a musical saw? (This instrument really does exist, often played by percussionists!) Then the piece would be better known as: SAINT-SAENS' SAW SONG "SWAN"!
In the 20th century- an age in thrall to the new- women turn out to be the newest thing of all; still packed up in cellophane, still folded up in the box, having played dead for the length of history. But now we are the new species!We are the tulip- America- the Hula Hoop- the moon shot- cocaine! Everything we do is going to be, implicitly,amazing.
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The practical compass of the double bass extends from [Illustration: 8va bassa.] (real sounds) with all chromatic intervals. In order to avoid using numerous ledger lines the music is written an octave higher. The quality of tone is very powerful but somewhat rough, and varies greatly in its gradations. The notes of the lowest register, when played _piano_, sound weird and sometimes grotesque, and are sometimes used instead of the kettledrum; when played _forte_ the tone is grand and full. The lowest octave is mainly used as a fundamental octave bass to 'cello, bassoon or trombone. The tone of the _pizzicato_ is full and rich owing to the slowness of the vibrations, and it changes character according to the harmonies which lie above it: with a chord of the diminished seventh above it, for instance, the _pizzicato_ sounds like a menace, but with the common chord calm and majestic. Both natural and artificial harmonics are possible on the double bass, the former being the best; but they are seldom used in orchestral works. As an instance of their use may be cited the scene by the Nile at the beginning of the third act of Verdi's _Aida_, where harmonics are indicated for both 'cellos and double basses. Entry: DOUBLE
The pianoforte trios of Haydn are perhaps the only works of first-rate artistic importance in which there is no doubt that the earlier stages of the new art do not admit of sufficient polyphony to give the instruments fair play. Haydn finds the pianoforte so completely capable of expressing his meaning that he is at a loss to find independent material for any accompanying instruments; and the violoncello in his trios has, except perhaps in four passages in the whole collection of thirty-three works, not a note to play that is not already in the bass of the pianoforte; while the melodies of the violin are, more often than not, doubled in the treble. Yet there is a certain difference between this and the work of a poor artist whose designs are threadbare. It would be impossible to add a note to Haydn's trio; the only question is how to account for the superfluity of much of the string parts and how to make the trios effective in performance. It is sometimes suggested that the 'cello part is best omitted and these works played as violin sonatas. But experiment shows that in this condition much of the violin part sounds incomplete; and the truth appears to be that Haydn is thinking, like any modern composer, of the opposition of two solid bodies of tone--the pianoforte and the stringed instruments. And it will be found that the method of performance which most nearly justifies the instrumental effect of these otherwise beautiful works is that in which the pianoforte player regards himself as frequently doubling the stringed instruments, and not vice versa. He should therefore in all such passages play extremely lightly, so as to give the violin and 'cello the function of drawing the main outline. In the time of Bach such writing was beautifully suited to enliven the dry glitter of the harpsichord, and Bach's duets for clavier and violin seem to have been sometimes played as trios with a violoncello playing from the clavier bass. But this was ineffective with the pianoforte, and is only explicable in Haydn as a survival. His trios were, indeed, published under the title of "pianoforte sonatas with accompaniment of violin and violoncello"; but this in no way militates against the above remarks as to their proper method of performance nowadays, when we take into consideration the greater strength of tone of the modern pianoforte, especially in the bass, and the fact that in no case could a violinist consent to play as an accompaniment such melodies as that at the beginning of the G major trio known as No. 1. Entry: INSTRUMENTATION
BORODIN, ALEXANDER PORFYRIEVICH (1834-1887), Russian musical composer, natural son of a Russian prince, was born in St Petersburg on the 12th of November 1834. He was brought up to the medical profession, and in 1862 was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the St Petersburg academy of medicine. He wrote several works on chemistry, and took a leading part in advocating women's education, helping to found the school of medicine for women, and lecturing there from 1872 till his death. But he is best known as a musician. His interest in music was indeed stimulated from 1862 onwards by his friendship with Balakirev, and from 1863 by his marriage with a lady who was an accomplished pianist; but in his earlier years he had been proficient both in playing the piano, violin, 'cello and other instruments, and also in composing; and during life he did his best to pursue his studies in both music and chemistry with equal enthusiasm. Like other Russian composers he owed much to the influence of Liszt at Weimar. His first symphony was written in 1862-1867; his opera _Prince Igor_, begun in 1869, was left unfinished at his death, and was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazounov (1889); his symphonic sketch, "In the Steppes" (1880) is, however, his best-known work. Borodin also wrote a second symphony (1871-1877), part of a third (orchestrated after his death by Glazounov), and a few string quartets and some fine songs. His music is characteristically Russian, and of an advanced modern type. He died suddenly at St Petersburg, on the 28th of February 1887. Entry: BORODIN
On the downfall of the Roman empire, the bag-pipe, sharing the fate of other instruments, probably lingered for a time among itinerant musicians, actors, jugglers, &c., reappearing later in primitive guise with the stamp of _naiveté_ which characterizes the productions of the early middle ages, and with a new name, chorus (_q.v._). An illustration of a Persian bag-pipe dating from the 6th century A.D. (reign of Chosroes II.) is to be found on the great arch at Takht-i-Bostan (see fig. 2). This very crude representation of the bag-pipe can only be useful as evidence that during centuries which elapsed between the moulding of the figurine found in the _tell_ at Susa, mentioned above, and the carving in the rock at Takht-i-Bostan, the instrument had survived. The reign of Chosroes was noted for its high standard of musical culture. The fault probably lies with the draughtsman, who drew the sculptures on the arch for the book. Nothing more is heard henceforth of the tibia utricularis. If the drawings of the early medieval bag-pipes, which are by no means rare in MSS. and monuments of the 9th to the 13th century, are to be trusted, it seems hard to understand the _raison d'être_ of the instrument shorn of its drones, to see how it justified its existence except as an ill-understood reminiscence. What could be the object of laboriously inflating a bag for the purpose of making a single chaunter speak, which could be done so much more satisfactorily by taking the reed itself into the mouth, as was the practice of the Greeks and Romans? There is a fine psalter in the library of University Court, Glasgow,[36] belonging co the Hunterian collection, in which King David is represented, as usual in the 12th century, playing or rather tuning a harp, surrounded by musicians playing bells, rebec, guitar fiddle (in 'cello position), quadruple pipes or ganistrum, and a bag-pipe with long chaunter having a well-defined stock. The insufflation tube appears to have been left out, and there are no drones to be seen. Entry: II
The technical capabilities of the double bass are necessarily somewhat more limited than those of the violoncello. Quick passages, though possible, are seldom written for it; they cannot sound clear owing to the time required for the strings to vibrate. An excellent effect is produced by what is known as the _intermittent tremolo_: owing to the elasticity of the bow, it rebounds several times on the strings when a single blow is sharply struck, forming a series of short tremolos. The double bass is the foundation of the whole orchestra and therefore of great importance; it plays the lowest part, often, as its name indicates, only doubling the 'cello part an octave lower. It is only since the beginning of the 19th century that an independent voice has occasionally been allotted to it, as in the Scherzo of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in C minor:-- Entry: DOUBLE
The double bass sometimes has three strings tuned in England and Italy in fourths; [Illustration: notes][1] in France and Germany to fifths. [Illustration: notes] Owing to the scoring of modern composers, however, it was found necessary to adopt an accordance of four strings in order to obtain the additional lower notes required, although this entails the sacrifice of beauty of tone, the three-stringed instrument being more sonorous. Some orchestras make a compromise dividing the double basses into two equal sections of three and four-stringed basses. The four strings are tuned in fourths:--[Illustration: notes]. Mr A. C. White, finding that an additional lower compass was required, first tuned his double bass with three strings to [Illustration: notes] afterwards adding a fourth string, the lower D. By this accordance the third and fourth strings gain additional power and clearness from the fact that the first and second, being their octaves higher, vibrate in sympathy, obviating the necessity of making the 'cello play in octaves with the double basses to increase the tone when the lowest register is used. In order to obtain equal sonority on his double bass with four strings, Mr White[2] found it necessary to have a wider bridge measuring about 5 in., so that the distance between the strings should remain the same as on a double bass with three strings, thus allowing plenty of room for vibration. The neck was also widened in proportion. A five-stringed double bass was sometimes used in Germany tuned either to [Illustration: notes] or to [Illustration: notes] but such instruments have been almost superseded by those with four strings. A somewhat larger double bass with five strings by Karl Otho of Leipzig was introduced between 1880 and 1890 with the following accordance:-- Entry: DOUBLE
2:13. And he took by assault the renowned city of Melothus, and pillaged all the children of Tharsis, and the children of Ismahel, who were over against the face of the desert, and on the south of the land of Cellon.
2. _Benzene Derivatives._--These are generally oxy and oxyaldehydic compounds. Arbutin, C12H16O7, which occurs in bearberry along with methyl arbutin, hydrolyses to hydroquinone and glucose. Pharmacologically it acts as a urinary antiseptic and diuretic; the benzoyl derivative, cellotropin, has been used for tuberculosis. Salicin, also termed "saligenin" and "glucose," C13H18O7, occurs in the willow. The enzymes ptyalin and emulsin convert it into glucose and saligenin, ortho-oxybenzylalcohol, HO·C6H4·CH2OH. Oxidation gives the aldehyde helicin. Populin, C20H22O8, which occurs in the leaves and bark of _Populus tremula_, is benzoyl salicin. Entry: 2
APPENZELL, one of the cantons of north-east Switzerland, entirely surrounded by the canton of St Gall; both were formed out of the dominions of the prince abbots of St Gall, whence the name Appenzell (_abbatis cello_). It is an alpine region, particularly in its south portion, where rises the Alpstein limestone range (culminating in the Säntis, 8216 ft.), though towards the north the surface is composed rather of green hills, separating green hollows in which nestle neat villages and small towns. It is mainly watered by two streams that descend from the Säntis, the Urnasch joining the Sitter (on which is the capital, Appenzell), which later flows into the Thur. There are light railways from Appenzell to St Gall either (12½ m.) past Gais or (20½ m.) past Herisau, as well as lines from St Gall to Trogen (6 m.) and from Rorschach to Heiden (4¼ m.). Since 1597 it has been divided, for religious reasons, into two half-cantons, which are quite independent of each other, and differ in many points. Entry: APPENZELL