Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/428

416 answering in its construction to the principles of ancient Hebrew poetry. The chant most commonly used is a very simple one by Tallis (see p. 337 a). There have been many others specially written for it both in ancient and modern times. It has never been customary to adapt it to more elaborate forms of composition. [ C. H. H. P. ]

CREMONA, a considerable town in Lombardy, on the river Po, was for the space of two centuries, from about 1550 to 1750, the seat of the famous Cremona school of violin-makers. The shape and construction of the violin, and the other instruments belonging to the tribe, having been finally settled by the great makers of Brescia, Caspar de Salo and Paolo Maggini (see those names), It was at Cremona that the last step in the art of violin-making was made, which led to that point of perfection from which no further progress has yet been possible or perhaps desirable. The numerous makers of the Amati family (see that name) chronologically head the list of the masters of Cremona: Antonio Stradivari and Josef Guarnerius (see those names) are the greatest of all, and their instruments have never been rivalled. The names of Andreas, Petrus, and Josef Guarnerius (brother of Andreas), Carlo Bergonzi, Guadagnini, Montagnana, Ruggieri, Storione, and Testore (see all these names) make up the list of the masters of this school, whose violins are still highly valued.

The term 'a Cremona,' or 'a Cremonese violin' is often incorrectly used for an old Italian instrument of any make.

'Cremona,' as applied to an organ stop, is a mere ignorant corruption of 'Krumhorn.' [ P. D. ]

CREQUILLON or CRECQUILLON, one of the most distinguished musicians of the Netherland school in the period between that of Josquin des Prés and that of Lassus and Palestrina (1520–1560). He was attached to the chapel of the Emperor Charles V at Madrid. His compositions are even more numerous than those of his contemporaries Clemens non Papa and Gombert. His masses, motets and chansons appear in all the great collections printed at Louvain and Antwerp in the second half of the 16th century, and some of his works were printed in 1544 (i.e. probably in his life time) at Venice by Gardano. [ J. R. S. B. ]

CRESCENDO—increasing, i. e. in loudness. One of the most important effects in music. It is expressed by cresc. and by the sign. Sometimes the word is expanded—cres … cen … do—to cover the whole space affected. As with so many other things now familiar, Beethoven was practically the inventor of the crescendo. In the works of his predecessors, even in such symphonies as the G minor and 'Jupiter' of Mozart, it is very rarely to be found. Among the most famous instances in Beethoven are that in the 'working out' (after the double bar) of the first movement of the Symphony in B&#x266d; (No. 4). This immortal passage, which so excited the wrath of Weber, begins in the strings and drum ppp, and continues so for 13 bars; then a shade louder, pp, for 31 bars; and then a crescendo of 8 bars with the same instruments, ending in the reprise of the subject fortissimo, and with full orchestra.

Another instance, on a still more extended scale, is in the coda to the last movement of Schubert's Symphony in C (No. 9), where the operation is divided into distinct steps—first 8 bars ppp; then 24 bars pp; then 12 bars p; then 16 bar crescendo to mf; then 12 bars crescendo to f; then a crescendo of 8 bars to ff fz; and lastly a final advance of 36 more to fff.

A short crescendo of remarkable effect is found in the Finale to Schumann's D minor Symphony.

In the overtures of Spontini and Rossini the crescendo is employed, with a repetition of the same figure, in a manner at once so effective, so characteristic, and so familiar, that it is only necessary to allude to it here. [ G. ]

CRESCENTINI,, a very celebrated Italian sopranist, who was born in 1766 [App. p.601 "Feb. 2"] at Urbania, near Urbino. At the age of ten, he began the study of music, and was afterwards placed with Gibelli, to learn singing. Possessed of a beautiful mezzo soprano voice, and a perfect method of vocalisation, he made his début at Rome in 1783. He then obtained an engagement as primo uomo at Leghorn, where he appeared in Cherubini's 'Artaserse.' In the spring of 1785 he sang at Padua in the 'Didone' of Sarti, and was engaged for Venice. In the following summer he was at Turin, where he sang Sarti's 'Ritorno di Bacco.' He now came to London, and remained sixteen months. He was here thought so moderate a performer that, before the season was half over, he was superseded by Tenducci, an old singer, who had never been first-rate, and had scarcely any voice left. 'It is but justice,' says Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, 'to add that, when he was here, Crescentini was very young, and had not attained that excellence which has since gained him the reputation of a first-rate singer. He never returned to this country.' In 1787 he was engaged for the carnival at Milan, and sang for two whole years at the San Carlo in Naples. In 1791 and 93 he appeared at the Argentina at Rome, and in 94 at Venice and Milan. In this last city he arrived at the highest degree of excellence in Zingarelli's 'Romeo e Giulietta.' In 1796 Cimarosa composed expressly for him 'Gli Orazzi e Curiazzi' at Venice. An amusing story is told, that on one occasion, fancying that the dress of the primo tenore (Curiazzio) was more magnificent than his own (as Orazzio), he insisted on its being given up to him. An exchange was therefore made, in spite of the remonstrances of the manager; and throughout the evening a Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which looked as if it would burst at any moment, while a diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, with its skirt trailing on the ground. After singing at Vienna, he returned to Milan for the carnival of 1797, for the 'Meleagro' of Zingarelli. At the end of this season he engaged