Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nonat, Joseph Waast Aubert.

See Nonot, Joseph Waast Aubert.

None

(Lat. nona, hora nona, ad nonam).

One of the Little Hours of the Divine Office, recited at about three o’clock in the afternoon, or at the ‘ninth hour’. See also Liturgy of the Hours.

Nonesuch.

American record label. It was founded by Elektra in 1964 as a low-priced classical and world music label. It began by licensing recordings of music of the Baroque and earlier periods from European labels such as Club Français du Disque and Tono Zürich (Concert Hall). Under the direction of Teresa Sterne, it then began an adventurous programme of new recordings of American avant-garde composers such as George Crumb and Morton Subotnick, as well as issuing recordings of little-known 18th-century works, including symphonies by Haydn and J.C. Bach. Joshua Rifkin was the musicological adviser. After Sterne left at the end of 1969, its programme was reduced. The Explorer series was devoted to non-Western music. Rifkin played the piano music of Scott Joplin and conducted his influential, innovatory version of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor using one voice to a part. With the advent of the compact disc Nonesuch became a full-priced label. The parent firm was acquired by Warner Records, and that company's later acquisition of Teldec and Erato made Nonesuch a component part of the firm's strong presence in the classical market.

JEROME F. WEBER

Nonet

(Fr. nonette; Ger. Nonett; It. nonetto).

By analogy with the sextet, septet and octet, the term ‘nonet’, first used early in the 19th century, denotes a composition in the nature of chamber music for nine solo instruments. While in works by such composers as Haydn (HII: 9, 17 and 20) and Ignace Pleyel (b111) the addition of ‘a nove stromenti’ or ‘à neuf instruments’ specifies the size of the ensemble required in connection with such generic terms as divertimento, serenade or sinfonia concertante, in 1813 Louis Spohr was the first to mention the number of instruments employed in the actual title of a piece of music. His popular Grand nonetto op.31 to some extent defines the constituents of the ensemble still regarded as standard today: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass. Two works by Clementi for the same combination of instruments, both entitled Nonetto (wo30 and wo31), cannot be dated, but since they were never published they had no influence.

Spohr's outstanding nonet, which brings out in an exemplary manner the qualities of each instrument ‘in accordance with its character and nature’ (as requested by Johann Tost, who commissioned it), inspired other composers to write nonets of their own. They included Louise Farrenc (op.38, 1849), Georges Onslow (op.77, 1851), Franz Lachner (1875), Joseph Rheinberger (op.139, 1884), C.V. Stanford (Serenade op.95, 1905), René Leibowitz (Chamber Concerto op.10, 1944) and Tilo Medek (Nonet in Nine Movements, 1974). Within the nonet repertory, already a small one, the nonets of Josef Bohuslav Foerster (op.147, 1931) and Alois Hába (entitled Fantazie: op.40, 1931, and op.41, 1932) form a separate line of tradition closely connected with the Czech Nonet; Martinů dedicated his 1959 Nonet to the ensemble on its 35th anniversary. Nonets for string instruments have been written by Nicolai von Wilm (op.150, 1911) and Copland (1960), and nonets with piano were composed by Jan Bedřich Kittl (perf. 1836, lost) and Henri Bertini (op.107, 1845).

Further works for nine instruments other than the classic Spohr ensemble have been written, particularly in the 20th century, but have not as a rule been described by their composers as nonets. In addition, their texture is often more reminiscent of a concerto or symphony, and breaks the chamber music mould, for instance in works by Milhaud (chamber symphony Le printemps op.43, 1917), Egon Kornauth (Kammermusik op.31, 1924), Krenek (Sinfonische Musik for nine solo instruments op.11, 1922), Bruno Stürmer (Suite op.9, 1923), Villa-Lobos (Nonet with percussion and chorus, 1923) and Webern (Symphony op.21, 1928, and Concerto op.24, 1931–4).

For bibliography see Chamber music.

MICHAEL KUBE

Non-harmonic note.

In part-writing, a note that is not consonant with the other notes of the chord with which it is sounded and must therefore be ‘resolved’, usually by step, to a note that is consonant. Non-harmonic notes are in a sense melodic ornaments, and many of the names used to describe them have been borrowed from the terminology for ornamentation (e.g. appoggiatura, broderie, Vorschlag). The following discussion is intended to clarify the meaning of the most important of these names as they are now used.

A passing note or passing tone (Ger. Durchgang) leads from one note to another in a single direction and by conjunct motion, supported either by a single or changing harmony (ex.1a–b), diatonically or chromatically (ex.1c), by itself or in pairs (ex.1d). Some writers restrict the term ‘passing note’ to unaccented notes only, preferring to call all accented non-harmonic notes appoggiaturas (see below); the expression ‘accented passing note’, however, is an acceptable description of ex.1e. Occasionally ‘free passing note’ is used for an unaccented non-harmonic note approached by leap and resolved in the same direction by step (ex.1f).

An anticipation is an unaccented note that belongs to and is repeated in the chord that immediately follows it (ex.2a). This term has been extended to include the notion of ‘rhythmic anticipation’, whereby the entire harmony on a strong beat is stated on the preceding weak beat, for instance at the beginning of the Minuet from Schubert’s Octet in F (outlined in ex.2b).

An auxiliary note (Fr. broderie; Ger. Hilfsnote) ornaments a ‘main note’ that lies a half or whole step above or below it by being approached from and returning to the main note, either singly (ex.3a), or in groups of two or three notes that may be said to form an ‘auxiliary chord’ (Ger. Hilfsklang; ex.3b). Auxiliary notes are sometimes referred to as ‘neighbour notes’ or ‘neighbouring notes’ but some writers following Schenker in his Der freie Satz (1935) restrict the lower neighbour to the note lying a half-step below the main note. In German the term Nebennote refers not only to the auxiliary note but to any other non-harmonic note that is approached from its main note by step.

Some unaccented non-harmonic notes intervene in a melodic resolution but, unlike the passing note or the anticipation, are not contained in the interval circumscribing the resolution. When such a note is approached in the direction opposite that of the resolution it is called an ‘échappée’ (ex.4a), and when it is approached in the same direction – that is, when the resolution is ‘overshot’, so to speak – it is called a ‘cambiata’ (ex.4b). The term Nota cambiata is often confused with ‘cambiata’ when it is used as a noun; it would be preferable to restrict the former to a particular group of configurations in which an unaccented non-harmonic note is quitted by downward leap of a 3rd.

Any non-harmonic note that occurs on a relatively strong beat is an appoggiatura (Fr. appoggiature; Ger. Vorschlag), though it is generally understood that the note must be articulated on that beat, as in ex.5a–e; when it is tied over, as a consonant note, from the previous chord (ex.5f) it is called a Suspension(Fr. suspension; Ger. Vorhalt; It. sospensione). An appoggiatura is often approached by leap, either in the same direction as the resolution (ex.5a) or the opposite one (ex.5b); or it may be an accented passing note, diatonic (ex.5c) or chromatic (ex.5d). When it occurs in the previous chord as a consonant note but is not tied over, it is called a prepared appoggiatura. Because they are accented, appoggiaturas form the most expressive category of non-harmonic notes. Moreover, they usually tend towards a specific note of resolution and thus create an expectation which is fulfilled in their resolution; the simplest diatonic resolution, for instance that of the leading note to the tonic, becomes the most vivid of melodic progressions when approached by leap and presented in a strong-to-weak rhythmic position, as in ex.6.

WILLIAM DRABKIN