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king bolete or cep yellow morel

(Boletus edulis) (Morchella esculenta)

chanterelle

(Cantharellus cibarius)

cap (pileus)

.remains of universal veil

ring (annulus)

basidiospores

meadow mushroom (Agaricus campestris)

shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus)

A mushroom typically consists of a stalk (stipe) and a cap (pileus). As the mushroom develops from an underground mycelium and pushes upward, it is protected by a thin membrane (universal veil), which eventually ruptures, leaving fragments on the cap. Another membrane, attaching the cap to the stalk, also ruptures, allowing the cap to expand and leaving a remnant ring (annulus) on the stalk. Radiating rows of gills are found on the cap's undersurface; these bear the club-shaped reproductive structures (basidia) which form minute spores known as basidiospores, of which a single mushroom may produce millions.

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steel tongues. It was probably invented c. 1780 in Switzerland.

With its modular cylinders or disks, it was a popular domestic instrument until displaced by the player piano and phonograph.

music hall and variety the¬ atre Popular entertainment that fea¬ tured successive acts by singers, comedians, dancers, and actors. The form derived from the taproom con¬ certs given in city taverns in England in the 18th—19th centuries. To meet the demand for entertainment for the working class, tavern owners often annexed nearby buildings as music halls, where drinking and smoking were permitted. The originator of the English music hall as such was Charles Morton, who built Morton’s Canterbury Hall (1852) and Oxford Hall (1861) in London. Leading performers included Lillie Langtry, Harry Lauder (1870-1950), and Gracie Fields. Music halls evolved into larger, more respectable variety theatres, such as London’s Hippodrome and the Coliseum. Variety acts combined music, comedy acts, and one-act plays and featured celebrities such as Sarah Bernhardt and Herbert Tree. See also

VAUDEVILLE.

musica ficta Latin "feigned music" In medieval and Renaissance music, the practice of inserting unnotated chromatic notes (see chromati¬ cism) during performances. According to treatises of the times, it was left to the performers to “correct” certain intervals. Which intervals were to be changed, and how and under what circumstances, varied over time. This practice was responsible for the introduction of accidentals (sharps, flats, naturals) into musical notation. It also influenced the evolution of the major and minor keys on which most Western music came to be based, for it modi¬ fied the medieval church modes to resemble the major and minor scales.

musical or musical comedy Theatrical production that is charac¬ teristically sentimental and amusing in nature, having a simple but dis¬ tinctive plot and offering music, dancing, and dialogue. Its roots can be traced to 18th- and 19th-century genres such as ballad opera, singspiel, and opera comique. The Black Crook (1866), often called the first musical comedy, attracted patrons of opera and serious drama as well as those of burlesque shows. European composers such as Sigmund Romberg brought to the U.S. a form of operetta that was the generic source for musical comedy. George M. Cohan ushered in the genre’s heyday, and in the 1920s and ’30s it entered its richest period with the works of Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Ham- merstein. Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat (1927) was perhaps the first musical to employ music thoroughly integrated with the narrative. The genre flourished in the 1950s with works by composers such as Leonard Bernstein, but it began to decline in the late 1960s, by which time musi¬ cals had begun to diverge in many different directions, incorporating ele¬ ments such as rock music, operatic styling, extravagant lighting and staging, social comment, nostalgia, and pure spectacle. Later notable musical composers included Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

musical notation Written, printed, or other visual representation of music. There are two basic approaches to notating music. Tablature (such as guitar chord diagrams) depicts the actions a performer is to take (in particular, showing where to put the fingers to produce a given sound). Symbolic notation describes the sounds themselves and includes methods that vary from assigning pitches different letters of the alphabet to rep¬ resenting a given combination of notes by a graphic sign. The Western notation system combines rhythmic notation (the appearance of a note indicates its duration) with pitch notation (the line or space on a staff where a note is placed indicates its pitch). Thus, a single symbol shows both pitch and duration, and a string of these symbols notates both melody and rhythm. See illustration on following page.

musicology Scholarly and scientific study of music. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, such study was done by amateurs such as Lud¬ wig von Kochel. As interest in earlier music grew, greater professionalism was required, including the ability to decipher and assess musical manu¬ scripts and historical documents. Musicology’s first great monument was the first edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete works (1851-99). The scope of musicology may be summarized as covering the study of the history and phenomena of music, including (1) form and notation, (2)

German music box, with disk in play¬ ing position, from Leipzig, c. 1900

COURTESY OF THE MUSICAL WONDER HOUSE, WISCASSET, MAINE; PHOTOGRAPH, JOHN SPINKS

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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1316 I muskox ► Muslim Brotherhood

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staff and bar lines

time signatures

staff

bar line

measure, or bar

3 /4 t

C 4 /4 I

0 2 / 2 *

clefs

accidentals

&

treble, or G, clef

bass, or F, clef

alto, or C, clef

ft sharp l7 flat ^ natural X double sharp double flat

rests

O whole note

J.

J

J

J)

dotted half note

half note

quarter note eighth note

sixteenth note

whole rest

half rest

^ quarter rest 7 eighth rest *1 sixteenth rest

Common symbols used in modern musical notation.

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biography, (3) the development of musical instruments, (4) music theory (harmony, melody, modes, etc.), and (5) aesthetics, acoustics, and physi¬ ology of the voice, ear, and hand. In recent decades music theory has again become a separate specialization.

musk ox Arctic ruminant (bovid species Ovibos moschatus) with a musky odour, large head, and small ears. The neck, legs, and tail are short. Males stand 5 ft (1.5 m) tall and may weigh almost 900 lb (400 kg). Both sexes have horns. The broad-based horns of males, up to 2 ft (60 cm) long, start at the middle of the head, dip downward along the sides, and then curve upward. The shaggy, dark brown coat reaches nearly to the feet. Eskimos make a fine cashmerelike cloth from the thick wool under¬ coat, which is shed in summer. Musk oxen travel in herds of 20-30, eat¬ ing grass, lichen, willow, and other low-growing plants. See photograph above.

muskellunge Vmos-ko-.lsnjV Species (Esox masquinongy) of somewhat uncommon pike valued as a fighting game fish and, to a lesser extent, as a food fish. It inhabits weedy rivers and lakes of the North American Great Lakes region. It averages about 20 lbs (9 kg), but may grow to 6 ft (1.8 m) long and weigh 80 lbs (36 kg) or more, making it the largest fish in the pike family. The lower part of the cheeks and the gill covers are scaleless.

Musk oxen (Ovibos moschatus).

LEONARD LEE RUE III

musket Muzzle-loading shoulder firearm developed in 16th-century Spain. Designed as a larger version of the harquebus, muskets were fired with matchlocks until flintlocks were developed in the 17th century; flint¬ locks were replaced by percussion locks in the early 19th century. Early muskets were often handled by two persons and fired from a portable rest. Typically 5.5 ft (1.7 m) long and weighing about 20 lbs (9 kg), they fired a ball about 175 yards (160 m) with little accuracy. Later types were smaller, lighter, and accurate enough to hit a person at 80-100 yards (75-90 m). The musket was replaced in the mid-19th century by the breech-loading rifle.