Dictionary: K - L

K
@305 K\Abbreviation of Kochel in cataloguing Mozart's works.

@306 kammer (Ger.)\Chamber. Kammerrnusik, chamber music.

@307 KB\Abbreviation of German Kontrabass, double-bass.

@308 keen (Ir. caoine)\An Irish funeral song accompanied by wailing.

@309 Key\Musical term to indicate the tonality of a piece based on the major or

minor scales and their relationship between the notes of the scale and chords

built around them. There are two traditional types of keys (major or minor)

depending upon whether they are based on the notes of the major or minor

scale.

@310 key signature\This indicates the precise key of the piece. Sharps or flats are

placed at the beginning of a composition after the clef. Any other alteration

(e.g. a brief modulation to another key, is indicated by accidentals. If there is

an extended passage in a new key, however, then a new key signature may

appear. The key signature must be represented at the beginning of every new

stave in a composition (although not always in popular music).

@311 klein (Ger.)\Little.

@312 lacrimoso (It.)\Mournful, sad.

L
@313 lai (Fr.) or lay\A type of trouvere song similar to the sequence with

sections of irregular length and melodic repetition.

@314 lament\Music signifying grief but especially describing bagpipe music

played at Scottish clan funerals.

@315 landler\Slow Austrian dance in waltz time popular in the late 18th and

early l9th centuries.

@316 largamente (It.)\Broad and deliberate in style.

@317 larghetto (It., 'a little largo')\Not quite as slow as a largo.

@318 largo (It., 'broad')\Slow and broad.

@319 leading note\The seventh degree of the major scale. This is so called

because it seems naturally to rise to the tonic a semitone above. In the minor

scale this note is used only when ascending, not descending.

@320 lebhaft (Ger.)\Lively.

@321 legato (It.)\Smoothly.

@322 leger (Fr.)\Light.

@323 Legerement\lightly.

@324 leggiero, leggieramente (It.)\Light, lightly.

@325 leyno (It . 'wood ')\(1) Direction in some scores to use the woodblock; (2)

Direction to string players to hit the string with the back of the bow.

@326 leicht (Ger.)\Lightly.

@327 leise (Ger.)\Soft, gentle. Leiser, softer.

@328 leitmotif (Ger.)\Leading motif. This is a recurring theme symbolising a

character, emotion or object and was first used by H. Von Wolzogen in a

discussion of Wagner's The Ring.

@329 lento (It.)\Slow.

@330 lesson\This term described a short, keyboard piece or a set of short pieces

in the 17th and 18th centuries.

@331 libretto (It., 'booklet')\The text of an opera or oratorio.

@332 licenza (It.)\Freedom, licence. Con akune licenze, with some freedom in

style.

@333 lied (Ger., plural lieder)\Song. This term is particularly applied to the

German romantic songs of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. A characteristic

is the importance paid to the piano part and the mood of the words.

@334 ligature\(1) In vocal music this is a slur mark indicating that a group of

notes is to be sung to the same syllable; (2) In instrumental music this is a slur

indicating notes which are to be phrased together.

@335 loco (It., 'place')\An indication to a performer that music is to be played at

the pitch written. This direction may (a) cancel previous indications to play at

a different pitch or (b) indicate a passage to be played in the normal position

as opposed to any other in string music.

@336 locrian mode\A mode represented on the white keys of the piano from B to

B.

@337 lontano (It.)\Distant.

@338 loud pedal\A nickname for the sustaining (right) pedal on the piano.

@339 lungo, lunga (It.)\Long.

@340 lusingando, lusinghiero (It.)\Alluringly.

@341 lustig (Ger. )\Cheerful, jolly.

@342 Iydian mode\(1) In Ancient Greek music this could be represented on the

white keys of the piano from C to C; (2) From the middle ages, the Iydian

mode can be represented on the white keys of the piano from F to F.

@343 Iyric\(1) Words of a song. (2) A fairly short but expressive piece (e.g. Lyric

Piece by Grieg; (3) Describes vocal performance with the lyre. (4) A Iyric

drama is an occasional synonym for opera.