Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/102

86 1776 he was forced to leave England for debt. In a year, however, he found means to return, and remained in London many years longer, singing with success as long as his voice lasted, and even when it had almost disappeared. In 1785 he took part in a revival of Gluck's 'Orfeo,' and appeared at Drury Lane Theatre as late as 1790. He also sang at the Handel Commemoration Festivals at Westminster Abbey, in 1784 and 1791. Ultimately he returned to Italy, and died there early in this century.

Tenducci was on friendly terms with the Mozart family during their visit to London in 1764. In 1778, at Paris, he again met Mozart, who, remembering their former intercourse, wrote a song for him, which has been lost. He was the author of a Treatise on Singing, and the composer of an overture for full band (Preston, London), and of 'Ranelagh Songs,' which he sang at concerts. [ F. A. M. ]

TENEBRÆ (Literally, ). The name of a Service appointed, in the Roman Breviary, for the three most solemn days in Holy Week, and consisting of the conjoined Matins and Lauds, for the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, which are sung 'by anticipation' on the afternoons of the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The name is taken from the opening sentence of the Responsorium which follows the Fifth Lesson on Good Friday, Tenebræ factæ sunt—There was darkness.

The Service begins with three Nocturns, each consisting of three Psalms, with their doubled Antiphons, a Versicle and Response, and three Lessons, each followed by its appropriate Responsorium. The Psalms and Antiphons are sung in unisonous Plain Chaunt; and, at the conclusion of each, one of the fifteen candles on the huge triangular Candlestick by which the Chapel is lighted is ceremoniously extinguished. The Lessons for the First Nocturn on each of the three days are the famous 'Lamentations,' which have already been fully described. The Lessons for the Second and Third Nocturns are simply monotoned. Music for the Responsoria has been composed by more than one of the greatest Polyphonic Masters; but most of them are now sung in unisonous Plain Chaunt. The Third Nocturn is immediately followed by Lauds, the Psalms for which are sung in the manner, and with the ceremonies, already described. Then follows the Canticle, 'Benedictus,' during the singing of which the six Altar Lights are extinguished, one by one. And now preparation is made for the most awful moment of the whole—that which introduces the first notes of the 'Miserere.' The fifteenth candle, at the top of the great Candlestick, is removed from its place, and hidden behind the Altar. The Antiphon, 'Christus factus est obediens,' is sung by a single Soprano Voice; and, after a dead silence of considerable duration, the Miserere is sung, in the manner, and with the Ceremonies described in vol. ii. pp. 335–338. The Pope then says an appointed Prayer; the Candle is brought out from behind the Altar; and the Service concludes with a trampling of feet, sometimes said to represent the passage of the crowd to Calvary, or the Jews seizing our Lord.

The Services proper for Holy Week are described, in detail, in the 'Manuel des Cérémonies qui ont lieu pendant la Semaine Sainte,' formerly sold annually in Rome, but now very difficult to obtain. The Music was first published by Dr. Burney, in 'La Musica della Settimana Santa,' now very scarce, and has since been reprinted, by Alfieri, in his 'Raccolta di Musica Sacra.'

A minute and interesting account, though somewhat deformed by want of sympathy with the ancient Ritual, will be found in Mendelssohn's letter to Zelter, of June 16, 1831. [ W. S. R. ]

TENERAMENTE; CON TENEREZZA—'tenderly'; a term slightly stronger and used more emphatically than dolce, but having very much the same meaning and use in music. A good instance of the distinction between the terms is found in the lovely second movement of Beethoven's Sonata in E minor, op. 90, where the subject, at its first entry labelled dolce, is subsequently directed to be played teneramente. From the whole character of the movement it is evidently intended to become slightly more impassioned as it goes on; and it is generally understood that the second and following entries of the subject should be played with more feeling, and perhaps in less strict time, than the opening bars of the movement. [ J. A. F. M. ]

TENOR (Fr. Taille; Ger. Tenor Stimme}. The term applied to the highest natural adult male voice and to some instruments of somewhere about the same compass. Its etymology is accepted to be teneo, 'I hold,' and it was the voice that, in early times, held, took, or kept the principal part (originally the only real part), the plainsong, subject, air, or motive of the piece that was sung. It holds the mid-position in the musical scale. Its clef is the C clef on the fourth line of the stave (in reality the middle line of the great stave of eleven lines ) generally superseded in the present day by the treble or G clef, which however does not represent or indicate the actual pitch, but gives it an octave too high.

The average compass of the tenor voice is C to A or B (a), though in large rooms notes below F (b) are usually of little avail. In primitive times,

before true polyphony or harmony were known, it was natural that what we now call the tenor voice should hold the one real part to be sung, should lead, in fact, the congregational singing, for the reason that this class of voice is sweeter and more flexible than the bass voice, and also would most readily strike the ear, as being the higher voice in range, until boys were employed;