Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/401

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CONCERTO.
CONDUCTOR.
389

delssohn, in whose pianoforte concertos in G minor and D minor all the movements follow continuously. Beethoven, moreover, in his concertos in G and E flat, broke through the custom of commencing the work with a long tutti for the orchestra; in the former the piano begins alone, and in the latter it enters at the second bar. It is worthy of remark that the same experiment had been once, and only once, tried by Mozart, in his little-known concerto in E♭ (Köchel, 271), where the piano is introduced at the second bar. One more innovation of importance remains to be noticed. In his concerto in E♭, op. 73, Beethoven, instead of leaving a pause after the 6-4 chord for the customary cadenza, writes his own in full, with the note 'Non si fa una Cadenza, ma attacca subito il seguente'—'do not make a cadenza, but go on at once to the following.' His cadenza has the further peculiarity of being accompanied from the nineteenth bar by the orchestra. Another curious example of an accompanied cadenza is to be found in that which Beethoven has written for his pianoforte arrangement of his violin concerto, op. 61, through a considerable part of which the piano is accompanied by the drums, which give the chief subject of the movement.

It is evident that the example of Beethoven in his E♭ concerto led the way to the disuse of the introduced cadenza in the first movement. Neither Mendelssohn nor Brahms in their pianoforte concertos have inserted one at all; and where such is intended, composers mostly write out in full what they wish played, as for example Mendelssohn in his violin concerto, op. 64 (where, it may be remarked in passing, the cadenza is the middle of the first movement, and not at the end). Schumann (concerto in A minor, op. 54) and Raff (concerto in C minor, op. 185) have also both written their cadenzas in full.

The concertos written since those of Beethoven have been mostly constructed upon the lines he laid down. The introductory tutti has been shortened (as in Mendelssohn's, Schumann's, and Raff's concertos), though occasionally works are still written in the older form, the most striking example being Brahma's concerto in D minor, in which the piano does not enter till the ninety-first bar. Sometimes also a quickening of the tempo is introduced at the end of the first movement (Schumann, op. 54; Grieg, op. 16). Various other modifications have been made by different composers, of which it is not necessary to speak in detail, as they are merely isolated examples, and have not, at least as yet, become accepted as models of the form. The two concertos for piano and orchestra by Liszt are constructed upon a plan so different from that generally adopted that they should rather be described as fantasias or rhapsodies than aa concertos in the ordinary meaning of the term.

Sometimes concertos are written for more than one solo instrument, and are then known as double, triple, etc., concertos as the case may be. The construction of the work is precisely the ame as when composed for only one instrument. As examples may be named Bach's concertos for two violins, and for two, three, and four pianos; Mozart's Concerto in E♭ for two pianos, and in C for flute and harp; Beethoven's triple concerto, op. 56, for piano, violin, and violoncello; Maurer's for 4 violins and orchestra. Mendelssohn's autograph MSS., now in the Imperial Library at Berlin, contain 2 Concertos for 2 pianos and orchestra, and one for piano and violin, with strings.

[ E. P. ]

CONCORD is a combination of notes which requires no further combination following it or preceding it to make it satisfactory to the ear. The concords are perfect fifths, perfect fourths, major and minor thirds, and major and minor sixths, and such combinations of them, with the octave and one another, as do not entail other intervals. Thus the combination of perfect fifth with major or minor third constitutes what is known as a common chord, as (a). And different dispositions of the same notes, which are called its inversions, give, first a bass note with its third and sixth, as (b); and, secondly, a bass note with its fourth and sixth, as (c).

Besides these a chord composed of the third and sixth on the second note of any scale is regarded as a concord, though there is a diminished fifth or augmented fourth in it according to the distribution of the notes, as (d) or (e)

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \cadenzaOn \relative c'' { <c a f>1^"(a)" <c aes f> \bar "||" <f c a>^"(b)" <f c aes> \bar "||" <a, f c>^"(c)" <aes f c> \bar "||" <d, b' f'>^"(d)" \bar "||" <d f b>^"(e)" \bar "||" } }

—since the naturally discordant quality of the diminished fifth and augmented fourth is considered to be modified by placing the concordant note below them, a modification not effected when it is placed above them. This combination was treated as a concord even by the theorists of the old strict diatonic style of counterpoint. [See Harmony.]

CONDELL, Henry, [App. p.596 "date of birth, 1757" was a violinist in the orchestras at the Opera House and Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres early in the present century. In 1811 he gained a prize at the Catch Club for his glee, 'Loud blowe the wyndes.' He composed the music for the following dramatic pieces:—'The Enchanted Island,' ballet, 1804; 'Who wins?' musical farce, 1808; and 'Transformation,' musical farce, 1810; and was one of the six contributors to the comic opera, 'The Farmer's Wife,' 1814. He died in June 1824. [App. p.596 & 7 "He wrote overtures to 'The House to be sold' (1802), Dimond's 'Hero of the North' (1803), 'Love laughs at Locksmiths'; incidental music to 'Aladdin,' and Reynolds's 'Bridal King' (1810). He died at Battersea, June 24, 1824. (Dict. of Nat. Biog.)"]

[ W. H. H. ]

CONDUCTOR—the English equivalent for the German 'Capellmeister,' and the French 'Chef d'orchestre'—has to study the score, correct the parts and see that they are clearly marked, beat the time for the band and chorus at rehearsal and performance, animate them with the spirit of the work, and generally be responsible for the due interpretation of the composer's intentions and for the success of the music.

A separate conductor, standing in [1]front of the

  1. In Germany the conductor does not now stand, as with us, exactly in the centre of the orchestra with his back to the audience, but a trifle to the right, with his left side towards the room.