Solo

(so'lo.) [It., alone.] (Mus.) A pa age, or perfect piece in which a single voice or instrument performs without accompaniment. Peculiar freedom, ease, distinctne , and power of execution, are required to perform the S. with correctne , taste, and feeling. Solomon, (solo-mon.) (Script.) The most celebrated of all the kings of Israel, the son of David, and named byGod, through the prophet Nathan, Jedediah, or " Beloved of the Lord." About 1015 B. c., by order of David, he was anointed and proclaimed king, and on the death of David soon after ascended the throne. Having punished the enemies of his father and married the king of Egypt's daughter, he formed a strict alliance with Pharaoh. The chief features of Solomon's reign will be found in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. His great prosperity and power led, however, to his corruption, and awoke the anger of the Almighty, who threatened to destroy,by disunion and strife, the greatne he had given to the kingdom of Israel. The coming ruin was early foreshadowed by the rebellion and conspiracies which broke out around his throne; and Solomon, conscious ofhis sins, poured out his contrition in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The other works under his name are the Song of Solomon, the Psalms, from lxxii. to cx xvii., and the Proverbs. [s. 837]