SONG

an art-form combining poetry © and music, usually for vocal solo and accompaniment. The first phase of the modern art of S. is to be found in the troubadour period (10th to 14th centuries) although folk-songs, chants, and other forms of intoned declamation of verses had been known from the first. By the early 18th century the concert aria was well established; and during that century the ground was prepared for the art-song of the Romantic period. Schubert with his wealth of melody, and Mendel ohn with his exquisite finish constituted the transition to the ultimate perfection of S. with Schumann and Brahms. The modern art-song is more a poem for voice and piano than a vocal tune with just an accompaniment. negro people occupying a large tract of country on both sides of the Middle Niger, below Timbuktu. They number c. 2,000,000.