melodic on

A variety of piano invented by P. sensational incidents, and was usually Riffelsen, of Copenhagen, in 1803, in given with picturesque costumes and which the tone was produced from scenery. It differs from opera in that tuning forks or steel bars instead of the action is carried on in dialogue wires. rather than recitative and aria. melodic on, psalm 2. A kind of dramatic composition See psalm melodic on. in which the actor recites his part in melodies ordinary speaking voice and is ac- That branch of musical science companied by an elaborate and appropriate orchestral composition. which is concerned with the pitch It. adj. and succe ion of tones; or technical me lod ram matico(ma-lo-dra-ma'-te-ko) ly, the theory of melody. melody Melodramatic in character. melodie (ma-16-de') Fr. n. Melody; air; tune. A well-ordered series of tones melodie bien sentie (ma-16-de' be-aii heard succe ively and dependent for safi-te') Fr. its distribution of sounds upon the The melody well accented or exchanges of pitch; a succe ion of pre ed, tones of different elevation. A melody melodieuse (ma-lod-yiiz') Fr. adj. may be pleasing and finished in itself Melodious; tuneful; smooth, or it may be a seemingly homely melodi Fr.eusemeadv. nt (ma-lod-yiiz man') phrase but found to contain great Melodiously; musically; sweetly. po ibilities' for later development. It is made up of the repetition of small melodi Meloeux dious;(ma-lo tunefd-yuh' ul. ) Fr. adj. units, phrases, periods, motives, and melodiograph in large compositions it in turn is repeated and forms a central large A melograph; an electrical app a raun it from which the entire compos it us for recording the order and duration is developed. Modern melody is 345 326 melody me lot rope either derived from or representative parts. Music written under such rules. of harmony. It forms either the upper 2. Poetical or rhetorical melody; outline of a series of different chords words and music combined, the vocai or is constructed of different notes declamation or chant of the drama. taken from the same chords. It is melophare the chief characteristic of compos i- A lantern, inside of which is placed tion, music paper, oiled to make it trans melody, authentic parent so that the notes may be read One whose range extends between when the lamp is lighted; it is used the keynote and its octave. The term for serenades. authentic melody is used only in melopiano ecclesiastical modes or scales used by A piano invented by Caldera, of early church writers, and so called Turin, in 1870, containing a device because it is the foundation melody. for sustaining the tone. A bar, to It is opposed to plagal melody. which were attached small hammers, melody, chromatic was placed above the strings at right A melody in which flats or sharps angles. When a tone was to be pro that do not belong to the key are longed the player set the extra hamused, mers into motion by means of a melody, diatonic treadle so that they struck the string A melody in which no flats or rapidly. sharps foreign to the key in which me lop last the melody is written are used, meloplaste melody, leading An instrument, invented in 1818 by The principal melody, the one Pierre Galin, by means of which vocal which is usually carried by the music could be taught from a staff soprano in part songs. without either clef or notes. He used melody, plagal only the five lines of the staff, sing- A melody whose range extends a ing familiar airs to the syllables do, fourth below and a fifth above its re, mi, at the same time pointing to keynote. The plagal is so called the position on the staff of the notes because it is based on the authentic. sung. The instrument for teaching The term is used only in ecclesiast i rhythmical relations was like a double cal music. metronome, marking both measures melograph and beats. See me lop last. From the Greek words melody and melopoeia (mel-6-pe'-ya) Grk. n. write. An electrical contrivance Music in general. The art or sys which is attached to a piano to record tem of making a tune. In ancient the melody. When the keys of the music the name for the rules of com piano are struck, this instrument position in melody; these were direcords the order and duration of the vided into three parts, the hyp a to ides notes on a strip of paper very much or lowest sounds, the mesoides or as a Morse telegraph instrument does. middle sounds, and the netoides or This record is then worked out. high sounds, these being again divided melographic pianoforte according to their character, as sad, See pianoforte melographic. melologue gay, comic. A combination of recitative and melopomenos Grk. n. (mel - 6 - pom' - € - nos) music. Vocal melody; vocal music, meloman (meT-o-man) Grk. n. melos (me'-los) Grk. n. melomane (ma'-lo-man) Fr. n. Melody; tune; a succe ion of mus i melomaniac Eng. n. cal sounds, as opposed to noises. A person who is pa ionately fond me lot rope of music. A mechanical attachment to the melomanie (ma-lo-ma-ne') Fr. n. piano into which may be placed a melomany Eng. n. melograph stencil. ^ By means of Melomania; exce ive love of music, treadles the stencil is pa ed over a vacuum so that air is drawn through melopea (ma-l5-pa'-a) It. n. each perforation as it pa es and melopee (ma-lo-pa')theFr.artn. of forming 1. Counterpoint; causes the digitals to be depre ed as melody; certain rules governing the if by the player's fingers. See also writing of music having a number of melograph. 346 327 ffleme mensural signature meme (mem) Fr. adj. mensura (men'-shii-ra) Lat. n. The same; as used in the phrase, Measure; time. meme movement, in the same move mensurable music ment. The old plain chant was written in meme mouvement (mem moov-man) notes which were of equal duration. Fr. In the Twelfth Century this no longer In the same movement, satisfied the needs of musicians, and meme mouvement que precede ment notes with their corresponding rests were devised to indicate a difference (mem moov-man kuh pra-sad in time. These notes were modeled mafi') Fr. after the plain chant notes, which In the same movement as the pre were black squares; and just as in ceding, modern music, every measured note men Le allegro lively;(man al-la'-gro) It. le mirthful, was equal to two notes menaaneim Heb. n. of the next lower value. ^ A word which occurs in the Holy Scriptures, but once, in II Sam. vi, 5, The longest measurable note was called the 1 where it is improperly translated maxima, or large; the next lower the longa, or N H cymbals. From the derivation of the word which points to a root meaning long; next the brevis, or • o to and fro, to vibrate, it is probable, breve; then the semi that it was a sistrum, or form of rattle, used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. brevis, or semi-breve, and the minim and the semi-minim. These notes were black notes; i i