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virtuoso

  (vûr'chū-ō'sō, -zō) pronunciation
n., pl. -sos or -si (-sē).
  1. A musician with masterly ability, technique, or personal style.
  2. A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.
  3. A person with a strong interest in the fine arts, especially in antiquities.
  4. Archaic. A very learned person.
adj.

Exhibiting the ability, technique, or personal style of a virtuoso: a virtuoso performance.

[Italian, skilled, of great worth, virtuoso, from Late Latin virtuōsus, virtuous, from Latin virtūs, excellence. See virtue.]

virtuosic vir'tu·o'sic ('sĭk, -zĭk) adj.
virtuosically vir'tu·o'si·cal·ly adv.
 
 
Antonyms: virtuoso

n

Definition: expert
Antonyms: amateur, greenhorn, rookie


 

A musician of exceptional technical skill. Its early Italian application to music could imply a skilful theorist or composer as well as a performer. The term was used widely by Italian musicians of all kinds in northern Europe. In the late 18th century it came to mean a musician who pursued a solo career but in the 19th it was increasingly applied to performers of outstanding brilliance, notably Liszt and Paganini. Suspicion of technical skill, as opposed to other kinds of musical gift, have sometimes led to the term's being used pejoratively.



 
Word Tutor: virtuoso
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A person with great skill in one of the arts.

pronunciation A violin virtuoso was featured at the symphonic concert.

 
Wikipedia: virtuoso


A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, late Latin virtuosus, Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa. Virtuosi are often musical composers as well. During the age of Baroque music many, if not most, composers were also virtuosi on their respective instruments.

Virtuosity defined

In Music in the Western World by Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin we find the following definition of virtuoso:[1]

"...a virtuoso was, originally, a highly accomplished musician, but by the nineteenth century the term had become restricted to performers, both vocal and instrumental, whose technical accomplishments were so pronounced as to dazzle the public."

The defining element of virtuosity is the performance ability of the musician in question, who is capable of displaying feats of skill well above the average performer. Musicians focused on virtuosity are commonly criticized for overlooking substance and emotion in favor of raw technical prowess. Despite the mechanical aspects of virtuosity, many virtuosi successfully avoid such labels, focusing simultaneously on other musical aspects while writing and performing music.

The Italian term of "virtuoso" was also commonly used to describe the group of emerging ballistic experts, engineers, artillerists, and specialists in mechanics and dynamics that arose during the late 17th century in response to the spreading use of gunpowder in Europe.

In other contexts, virtuosity can be generalized to define a person who excels technically in some area of human knowledge, although its use is more commonly applied in the context of the fine arts.

History

The meaning of virtuoso has its roots in the Italian usage of the 16th and 17th centuries, signifying an honorific term reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field. The term evolved with time, simultaneously broadening and narrowing in scope as interpretations went in and out of fashion and debates unravel. Originally a musician was honored the classification by being a composer, theorist or famous maestro, more importantly than being a skilled performer. [2]

The 17th and 18th centuries saw a bastardization of the term, which started being self indulged by a great number of musicians, without considerations of merit. Sebastien de Brossard in his Dictionaire de Musique (Paris, 1703) [3] [4] approached the word virtuoso by its Latin root virtu emphasizing exceptional training, especially in theory. This position was also defended in Johann Gottfried Walther's Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) favoring the theorist over the performer. Johan Matthenson's Der brauchbare Virtuoso [1] (1720) maintained the respect for the traditional "theoretische Virtuosen" (virtuoso theoretical) but also paid tribute to the "virtuosi prattici" (performer virtuoso).

Johann Kuhnau in his Der musikalische Quack-Salber (1700) defined the "true virtuoso" once again emphasizing theory ("der wahre Virtuose") describing the "highly gifted musician" ("der glückselige Musicus") or "performer virtuoso" as having nothing more than practical facility.

In the late 18th century the term started to be used to describe the musician, instrumentalist or vocalist, who pursued a career as a soloist. The tension about the merit of practical virtuosity started to grow at the same time and intensified in the 19th century, only to remain an open debate since then. Franz Liszt declared that "virtuosity is not an outgrowth, but an indispensable element of music" (Gesammelte Schriften, iv, 1855–9). Richard Wagner opposed the triviality and exhibitionist talents of the performer voicing his opinion strongly: "The real dignity of the virtuoso rests solely on the dignity he is able to preserve for creative art; if he trifles and toys with this, he casts his honour away. He is the intermediary of the artistic idea" (Gesammelte Schriften; English translation, vii, 1894–9, p.112). Pejorative connotations started in this epoch exemplified by new German expressions such as "Virtuosenmachwerk" (piece of routine display) and "Pultvirtuoso" (orchestral player of virtuoso temperament).

References

  1. ^ Weiss, Piero; Taruskin, Richard (1984). Music in the Western World: A History in Documents. Schirmer, 430. ISBN 0-02-872900-5. 
  2. ^ Grove Music Online. Grove Music Online. Retrieved on 2006-03-14.
  3. ^ Sebastien, de Brossard (1703). Dictionaire de Musique, 2nd Edition, Paris: Christophe Ballard. 
  4. ^ Morton, Joëlle. Brossard. Joëlle Morton. Retrieved on 2006-08-24.
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Translations: Translations for: Virtuoso

Dansk (Danish)
n. - virtuos, kunstkender
adj. - virtuos

Nederlands (Dutch)
virtuoos, uitblinker, geleerde, meester/kenner van (fijn)kunst

Français (French)
n. - virtuose
adj. - de virtuose

Deutsch (German)
n. - Virtuose
adj. - virtuos

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δεξιοτέχνης, βιρτουόζος
adj. - δεξιοτεχνικός

Italiano (Italian)
virtuoso, virtuosistico

Português (Portuguese)
n., -
adj. - virtuoso

Русский (Russian)
виртуоз

Español (Spanish)
n. - virtuoso, aficionado, anticuario
adj. - virtuoso

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - virtuos, konstkännare
adj. - -virtuos

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
艺术品鉴赏家, 艺术爱好者的

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 藝術品鑒賞家
adj. - 藝術愛好者的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (예술의) 거장, 탁월한 기량의 소유자, 미술품 수집가
adj. - 거장 같은, 대가 같은, 명인의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 巨匠, 音楽の名手

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عازف بارع, متذوق للفن (صفه) بمستوى أستاذ في فن ما‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אמן הטכניקה והביצוע, במיוחד בייחוד במוסיקה, אדם בעל ידע או טעם מיוחדים ביצירות אמנות, וירטואוז‬
adj. - ‮בעל כישורים ביצועיים מצוינים באמנות, בייחוד במוסיקה‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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