Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/839

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PREFACE.


Lest a Dictionary of articles arranged in alphabetical order should be thought to require no Index, it is necessary to remind readers of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians, not only that it makes mention of very many persons and things to which no separate articles are devoted, but also that with regard to names and subjects which have their own articles further information and illustration are supplied in other articles. Articles also occasionally occur out of the order of strict alphabetical sequence. The object, therefore, of the present Index is to enable readers to find with ease all the information which the Dictionary affords upon any specific point of inquiry or study.

A few remarks explanatory of details in the arrangement of the Index will facilitate its use.

1. When a heading in the Index is immediately followed by a reference to volume and page (as Aaron, P., i. 1a), the reader will understand that the heading has an article to itself in the Dictionary. Succeeding entries under the heading indicate other articles where it is spoken of; and "etc." appended to a reference signifies that the article contains further allusions to the heading. If, on the other hand, a heading is not immediately followed by a reference to volume and page (as Aalst J. A. van; Hist. of Mus., iv. 674b), the subject has no article of its own, but information about it may be gathered from the articles to which the entries point.

2. So many musicians have borne the same surnames, and there is so much uncertainty about their Christian names and initials that it is often impossible to identify them with precision, and thus perfect accuracy cannot be ensured in the indexing of names. But,—subject to the condition of invariably making the headings in the Index identical with headings of articles in all cases where there is a separate notice of a musician,—the rule observed in the present Index is to state Christian names or initials, whenever known, in the headings. In the entries Christian names and initials are not stated, except to avoid confusion when the same surname has been borne by more than one musician mentioned in the Dictionary. Where, however, one musician has been indisputably more eminent than all others of the same name, it has not been deemed necessary to insert his initials in the entries. Again, in cases where musicians are known under different names (as Genet, alias Il Carpentrasso), or their names are spelt in different