What's the difference between harpsichord and recitative?

Harpsichord


Definition:

  • (n.) A harp-shaped instrument of music set horizontally on legs, like the grand piano, with strings of wire, played by the fingers, by means of keys provided with quills, instead of hammers, for striking the strings. It is now superseded by the piano.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Nicky's husband Chris is making a spinet at the moment, which is a little like a harpsichord, so we talked about how that was going.
  • (2) On the title track a harpsichord and echoes of children's laughter provide haunting backing for an instrumental that could easily have wound up as the theme to a 1970 TV detective serial starring Peter Wyngarde .
  • (3) But with hundreds of listeners getting their introduction to Beckwith's experimental harpsichord music, Young said she would "love" if this turned them on to other "non-traditional textures".
  • (4) Our current band is called Quattrio , in which I play recorder, Cath plays violin, Rita plays harpsichord and Jo played cello, but had to leave the group last year.
  • (5) Photograph: Fox Searchlight Plinking harpsichord music Almost the entire soundtrack is by Alexandre Desplat, so we’re going to assume it reeks of harpsichord.
  • (6) Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing, 'Subtle plans are here again!'
  • (7) It was born at 6pm on 29 September 1946, and its first cries were a light-hearted guide on How to Listen , a talk on world affairs, Bach harpsichord music, Monteverdi madrigals and a new work by Benjamin Britten .
  • (8) Left-handed professional musicians percentage is not significantly different from normal population, excepted for piano, organ and harpsichord players.
  • (9) John Beckwith has seen sales surge for his own composition of the same name, a 1997 duet for harpsichord and violin .
  • (10) People have used it to make a working version of the Antikythera mechanism, a 3D embodiment of Esher's "Relativity", a working harpsichord, a working V8 engine, and lots of modern art.
  • (11) We pay for a product, we’ve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches.” Westacott said he did not need earplugs in pit lane at the start of the race and described the sounds as being like harpsichords in a chamber orchestra.
  • (12) As an adult he also appears to have got to grips with the harpsichord, mellotron, flute and organ, because they're all part of his chamber-pop palette.
  • (13) "It's a 10-minute piece with quarter-tone glides for both violin and harpsichord.
  • (14) Working with arranger Jon Brion, West brought lush strings and even a harpsichord into hip-hop, and questioned the provenance of the bling he and his fellow rappers were wearing on the hard-hitting Diamonds from Sierra Leone .

Recitative


Definition:

  • (n.) A species of musical recitation in which the words are delivered in a manner resembling that of ordinary declamation; also, a piece of music intended for such recitation; -- opposed to melisma.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to recitation; intended for musical recitation or declamation; in the style or manner of recitative.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When accused of muttering it while reciting Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, during filming of BBC2s Top Gear, he said he had not, that he would absolutely never use "the most racist word of them all".
  • (2) For one day only, the criteria for success shift from the ability to do long division to the ability to do the long jump, a knack for reciting facts to a knack for running fast.
  • (3) As a central feature of every ceremony, Nepali shamans (jhãkris) publicly recite lengthy oral texts, whose meticulous memorization constitutes the core of shamanic training.
  • (4) These days large theatres such as the Met in New York still use the recitative, but most productions tend to opt for the original dialogue, while a few, including Sally Potter's production for ENO in 2007, attempt to make do without either.
  • (5) In fact, there are two – three if you count the recitation of the pledge of allegiance.
  • (6) He even recited Tennyson's poem to a classroom of Russian children in Moscow, possibly a tad insensitively, given that it was about an incident in the Crimean war, though they nodded politely.
  • (7) In the footage, published on the newspaper's website , Clarkson appears to recite the beginning of the children's nursery rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." before appearing to mumble: "Catch a nigger by his toe."
  • (8) In the unaired version – which was later passed to the Mirror – the presenter then appears to recite the children's counting rhyme and use the N-word under his breath before pointing at the Toyota and shrugging: "Toyota it is."
  • (9) Commuters streaming into the bustling streets of the capital Kuala Lumpur earlier in the morning were overwhelmingly black-clad, while state television aired recitations from the Qur’an and showed photos of the victims.
  • (10) There are no ahhs of amazement as though you’re a pet hamster who’s suddenly executed a triple backflip while reciting the spoken-word bit of Shake It Off .
  • (11) He could recite moral rules; he could even, when asked to do so in court, recite Kant's famous categorical imperative .
  • (12) Accessible to non-specialists, the system conveyed by these recitations acts to validate shamanic intervention as a significant and intelligible activity.
  • (13) At the time, it felt like a story I recited so I didn't go under.
  • (14) One woman turned from her seat to survey the crowd: “I think the whole town is here.” The meeting began only after men removed their farm hats and Stetsons to recite the Lord’s Prayer.
  • (15) It was delightful to explore the modernised, easier to navigate site and listen again to Tennyson reading his The Charge of the Light Brigade, Sylvia Plath reciting Parliament Hill Fields , Hillaire Beloc singing Tarantella .
  • (16) One female mummy is displayed with a translation of an offering inscription, which visitors will be invited to recite to ensure her food supply in the next world.
  • (17) The words recited with the eight strokes of the comb hint at the uneven path ahead: "First comb for luck, second for longevity, third for contentment, fourth for safety.
  • (18) Daniels is not a bad actor, but the show gives him nothing to do except recite Aaron Sorkin’s self-important lines in a self important voice.
  • (19) Evacuated to Bournemouth at the outbreak of war, Drummond went to hear the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and a recital by Kathleen Ferrier, whose biography he was to film 20 years later in what was probably his most successful television production.
  • (20) When you read, as a Swede, that we have the third highest number of reported cases of violence against women in the EU – 46% of the Swedish women surveyed had such experiences, just behind Denmark's 52% and Finland's 47% – it's almost instinctive to recite the reasons why this is actually a good thing.