movement jeux
The violin is a wooden string instrument in the violin family . It is the smallest and highest - pitched instrument in the family in regular use . Smaller violin - type instruments are known , including the violino piccolo and the kit violin , but these are virtually unused in the 2010s . The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths , and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings , though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers ( pizzicato ). Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres . They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition and in many varieties of folk music . They are also frequently used in genres of folk including country music and ___MASK40___ and in jazz . Electric violins are used in some forms of rock music ; further , the violin has come to be played in many non - Western music cultures , including Indian music and Iranian music . The violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle , particularly in Irish traditional music and bluegrass , but this nickname is also used regardless of the type of music played on it . Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( 19 August 1929 ), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge , was a Russian art critic , patron , ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes , from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise . Joseph Maurice Ravel ( 7 March 1875  28 December 1937 ) was a French composer , pianist and conductor . He is often associated with ___MASK99___ along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy , although both composers rejected the term . In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France ' s greatest living composer . ___MASK32___ is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music , including both liturgical ( religious ) and secular music . While a more accurate term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820 ( the ___MASK27___ ), this article is about the broad span of time from roughly the 11th century to the present day , which includes the ___MASK27___ and various other periods . The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900 , which is known as the common - practice period . The major time divisions of Western art music are as follows : European art music is largely distinguished from many other non - European and some popular musical forms by its system of staff notation , in use since about the 16th century . Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches ( e . g ., melodies , basslines , chords ), tempo , meter and rhythms for a piece of music . This can leave less room for practices such as improvisation and " ad libitum " ornamentation , which are frequently heard in non - European art music and in popular - music styles such as jazz and blues . Another difference is that whereas most popular styles adopt the song ( strophic ) form , classical music has been noted for its development of highly sophisticated forms of instrumental music such as the concerto , symphony , sonata , and mixed vocal and instrumental styles such as opera which , since they are written down , can sustain larger forms and attain a high level of complexity . Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian ___MASK91___ courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia . It has since become a widespread , highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology . It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres . Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training . Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world , which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art . Achille - Claude Debussy ( 22 August 1862  25 March 1918 ), known since the 1890s as Claude - Achille Debussy or Claude Debussy , was a French composer . He and Maurice Ravel were the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music , though Debussy disliked the term when applied to his compositions . He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1903 . He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries , and his use of non - traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed . Jeux ( Games ) is the last work for orchestra written by Claude Debussy . Described as a `` poème dansé '' ( literally a `` danced poem '' ) , it was originally intended to accompany a ballet and was written for the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev to choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky . Debussy initially objected to the scenario , but reconsidered the commission when Diaghilev doubled the fee . Debussy wrote the score quickly , from mid - August to mid - September 1912 . Robert Orledge has analysed the chronology of Debussy ' s composition and preserved manuscripts of the score . Jeux premiered on 15 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs - Élysées , Paris , conducted by Pierre Monteux . The work was not well received and was soon eclipsed by Stravinsky ' s The Rite of Spring , which was premiered two weeks later by Diaghilev ' s company . The first commercial recording was made by Victor de Sabata with the Orchestra Stabile Accademica di Santa Cecilia in 1947 . A critical edition of the score , prepared by Pierre Boulez and Myriam Chimènes , was published in 1988 . The number of tempo markings in Jeux is around 60 , sufficient for Émile Vuillermoz to describe the score as changing `` speed and nuance every two measures '' . The thematic motifs of Jeux are likewise very short , often two measures long or constructed from two single - measure building blocks . L . D . Berman has analysed Jeux in the context of Debussy ' s earlier Prélude à l ' après - midi d ' un faune . Jann Pasler has analysed in detail Debussy ' s motivic construction . An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of ___MASK32___ , which features string instruments such as violin , viola , cello and double bass , as well as brass , woodwinds , and percussion instruments , grouped in sections . Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone , as may the concert harp and , for performances of some modern compositions , electronic instruments . The harp is a stringed musical instrument which has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard , which are plucked with the fingers . Harps have been known since antiquity in Asia , Africa , and Europe , dating back at least as early as 3500 BC . The instrument had great popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages and ___MASK91___ , where it evolved into a wide range of variants with new technologies , and was disseminated to Europe ' s colonies , finding particular popularity in Latin America . While some ancient members of the harp family died out in the Near East and South Asia , descendants of early harps are still played in Burma and in Sub - Saharan Africa , while other defunct variants in Europe and Asia have been revived by musicians in the modern era . The Italian ___MASK91___ was the earliest manifestation of the general European ___MASK91___ , a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century , marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe . The term ___MASK91___ is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century , in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt . Although the origins of a movement that was confined largely to the literate culture of intellectual endeavor and patronage can be traced to the earlier part of the 14th century , many aspects of Italian culture and society remained largely Medieval ; the ___MASK91___ did not come into full swing until the end of the century . The French word " ___MASK91___ " (" Rinascimento " in Italian ) means " Rebirth ", and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that ___MASK91___ humanists labeled the Dark Ages .