Cassation
Cassation
Hello, Dr G, I was at a concert the other night where, among other musical offerings, I heard played "Leopold Mozart - Cassation in G for Orchestra and Toys" - very enjoyable, of course, but it left me wondering about 'cassation', which I've only ever come across in a legal sense before, as in a court of cassation. Musically, it appears, it refers to an informal composition, often played outdoors. So how do we get from that fun-loving little diversion to the rather more sombre halls of a court of cassation? Thanks for any enlightenment, and warm regards from me down here in the gentle late-summer antipodes, Pattie
PattieT
Re: Cassation
Cassation in the legal sense and in the musical sense appear to be an example of convergent evolution.
Merriam Websters says
in the legal sense
Middle English cassacioun, from Middle French cassation, from casser to annul + -ation
in the musical sense
German kassation, from German dialect (originally students' slang) kassation, gassation serenade, from kassaten, gassaten (in the phrase kassaten gehen, gassaten gehen, gassatim gehen to roam the streets at night serenading ladies or looking for love affairs or fights), from German gasse street, from Old High German gazza
In the musical sense, the Wiktionary says
The etymology of the musical term is uncertain.[2] Mozart’s cassations K. 63 and K. 99 open with marches, and the term has been speculatively linked to the Italian word cassa, meaning "drum".[6] Hermann Abert was among those who thought that the term derives from the Italian cassare, meaning "to dismiss",[n 2] implying a musical farewell, or Abschiedsmusik.[2] The French word casser (to break) was also invoked, based on the notion that the movements could be freely broken up into any order.[2] A more likely derivation, reflecting the outdoor character of the genre, involves a transformation of the Austrian dialectal word gassatim: specifically, gassatim gehen was an expression commonly used by local eighteenth-century musicians to refer to street performance.
Remember, Mozart was born in Salzburg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and now part of Austria. Further, the cassations K. 63 and K. 99 were written when Mozart was approximately 12 1/2 and 14, so his title choice may reflect the youthful linguistic community he was living in at the time.
Finally, my Cassell's German dictionary says the English for"Die Gasse" is "street, alley, lane."
Merriam Websters says
in the legal sense
Middle English cassacioun, from Middle French cassation, from casser to annul + -ation
in the musical sense
German kassation, from German dialect (originally students' slang) kassation, gassation serenade, from kassaten, gassaten (in the phrase kassaten gehen, gassaten gehen, gassatim gehen to roam the streets at night serenading ladies or looking for love affairs or fights), from German gasse street, from Old High German gazza
In the musical sense, the Wiktionary says
The etymology of the musical term is uncertain.[2] Mozart’s cassations K. 63 and K. 99 open with marches, and the term has been speculatively linked to the Italian word cassa, meaning "drum".[6] Hermann Abert was among those who thought that the term derives from the Italian cassare, meaning "to dismiss",[n 2] implying a musical farewell, or Abschiedsmusik.[2] The French word casser (to break) was also invoked, based on the notion that the movements could be freely broken up into any order.[2] A more likely derivation, reflecting the outdoor character of the genre, involves a transformation of the Austrian dialectal word gassatim: specifically, gassatim gehen was an expression commonly used by local eighteenth-century musicians to refer to street performance.
Remember, Mozart was born in Salzburg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and now part of Austria. Further, the cassations K. 63 and K. 99 were written when Mozart was approximately 12 1/2 and 14, so his title choice may reflect the youthful linguistic community he was living in at the time.
Finally, my Cassell's German dictionary says the English for"Die Gasse" is "street, alley, lane."
Return to “Good Word Discussion”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Slava and 0 guests
