D
da camera : (Ital. for "of the chamber.") Type of Baroque sonata or concerto somewhat more secular than its counterpart, the sonata or concerto da chiesa , in that it includes dance forms.
da capo : (Ital. for "from the top [head].") On reaching this instruction (or its abbreviation, D.C.) in the score, the performers go back to the beginning of the movement and play until the word " fine " ("end"). The instruction is most commonly encountered in the minuet-and-trio, where it occurs at the end of the trio to prompt the return of the minuet. By convention one omits the repeats the second time and concludes at the end of the minuet's second strain, fine or not. (See also dal segno .)
da capo aria : Baroque aria form involving an A part, a B part (often in reduced texture), and a da capo return to the opening material. It is customary for the soloist to add improvisation on the da capo.
da chiesa : (Ital. for "of the church.") Type of Baroque sonata or concerto somewhat more rigorous than its counterpart, the sonata or concerto da camera , in that it emphasizes fugal counterpoint.
decrescendo : (Ital.) Growing softer. Opp. is crescendo .
development : Section in sonata form, between the exposition and the recapitulation , which investigates the possibilities inherent in the material stated thus far. What's unique about the development is that it does not limit the themes to a particular horizontal succession nor any preconceived notion of key.
diatonic : (1) Succession of whole-tones and half-steps going to make up a major or minor scale . (2) An interval drawn from that succession. Opp. is chromatic .
Dies irae : A Gregorian plainchant for the dead, the sequence from the Requiem Mass . The simple and very famous tune is often used by Romantic composers--Berlioz (in the last movement of the Fantastique, GP 83), Liszt, Rachmaninov, and many others--to evoke thoughts of death and the macabre.
diminished interval : Diminished intervals are a half-step lower than the corresponding minor or perfect interval .
diminuendo : (Ital.) Growing softer, same as decrescendo. Abbreviated dim.
diminution : Musical diminution is generally accomplished by stating familiar melodic materials in shorter-than-ordinary note values: when a theme in quarter notes recurs in eighth notes, it is said to be "in diminution." The opposite procedure is augmentation .
dissonance : The unpleasantness or instability perceived in certain intervals and chords. The opposite is consonance . In classical Western music dissonant intervals require resolution to consonance before closure. Among the dissonant intervals are the tritone , the seventh , and the half step or semitone .
divertimento : (Ital.) A light work for chamber ensemble, popular as entertainment music in the Viennese Classical period. Later composers occasionally use the title as well. Fr. is divertissement.
divisi (Ital.) : Indication in an instrumental part that the section is to divide the lines between or among them. Abbrev. div. In the most common kind of divisi, a strings section (say, cellos) splits into two parts, the outside player on the stand taking the higher part and the inside player the lower.
Dixieland : New Orleans-style jazz for small combo (say, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, banjo, drums, string bass). Dixieland was a style favored by white musicians.
dominant : The fifth scale degree and/or the triad or seventh chord built on it. The dominant sonority has the strongest functional pull toward tonic , thus is central in defining tonal operations. The dominant pitch of a C-major scale is C. The dominant triad of in C major is the G-major triad.
double fugue : (1) A fugue where the subject and countersubject are of equal importance, thus suggesting simultaneous subjects; (2) a fugue where two subjects are treated independently, then together.
double stop : Playing two strings at once on a stringed instrument. One stops each of the strings with a different finger, then draws the bow across both strings. There are also triple and quadruple stops, though owing to the curvature of the bridge the effect the chord is broken anyway.
downbeat : The intial, and strongest, beat in a measure ; thus, the most significant beat provided by the conductor, always downward. (See also upbeat .)
drone : A line of constant pitch, or the instrument that plays it. Think "bagpipe effect": on a bagpipe the pipes without finger-holes (the ones that go across the shoulder) are drones.
dynamics : Degrees of loudness: piano , forte , and so forth.