Elson's Music Dictionary

Ever since Tinctor, about 1475, wrote the first music dictionary -- the "Terminorum Musicae Diffinitorium" -- there has been an endless succession of books dealing with musical definitions. This is but natural and proper, since the musical art is constantly changing, and a music dictionary, unless frequently revised, easily drops behind the times. The author has endeavored, in these pages, to bring together and classify such material as the modern music teacher or student needs to have at hand in an accessible shape, and to give, as far as possible, the latest developments in the field. As the average teacher is often timid in the matter of pronouncing foreign words, an English phonetic spelling has been added in almost every instance. Yet it will be best for the student to familiarize himself with the rules for pronouncing each language (which are also given) since it is sometimes impossible to reproduce the exact sound of a foreign word in any English spelling. An attempt has also been made to give the pronunciation of the names of the chief composers, singers, pianists, conductors, etc. These points, and the presentation of some of the chief popular errors in music, the addition of a list of works of reference for the most important topics, and the inclusion of some of the most recent details of research, may be sufficient excuse for the making of yet one more music dictionary. - Preface.