CODETTA is the diminutive of Coda, from which it offers no material differences except in dimensions. It is a passage which occurs independently after the set order of a piece is concluded, as for instance in the combination of the minuet and trio, or march and trio; after the minuet or march has been repeated a short passage is frequently added to give the end more completness. [See Coda.] [App. p.594 "For the special meaning of the word in fugue, see vol. i. 568a, and vol. iv. 138b."]
[ C. H. H. P. ]
COL ARCO, Ital. 'with the bow.' See Arco.
COLBRAN, Isabella Angela, born at Madrid Feb. 2, 1785. Her father was Gianni Colbran, court-musician to the King of Spain. At the age of six she received her first lessons in music from F. Pareja, of Madrid. Three years later, she passed under the care of Marinelli, by whom she was taught until Crescentini undertook to form her voice and style. From 1806 to 15 she enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best singers in Europe. In 1809 she was prima donna seria at Milan, and sang the year after at the Fenice at Venice. Thence she went to Rome, and so on to Naples, where she sang at the San Carlo till 1821. Her voice remained true and pure as late as 1815, but after that time she began to sing excruciatingly out of tune, sometimes flat and sometimes sharp. The poor Neapolitans who knew her influence with Barbaja, the manager, were forced to bear this in silence. She was a great favourite with the King of Naples; her name became a party-word, and the royalists showed their loyalty by applauding the singer. An Englishman asked a friend one night at the San Carlo how he liked Mlle. Colbran: 'Like her? I am a royalist!' he replied. On March 15, 1822, at Castenaso near Bologna, she was married to Rossini, with whom she went to Vienna. In 24 she came with her husband to London, and sang the principal part in his 'Zelmira.' She was then entirely pasée, and unable to produce any effect on the stage; but her taste was excellent, and she was much admired in private concerts. On leaving England, she quitted the stage, and resided at Paris and Bologna. She was herself a composer, and has left a few collections of songs. She died at Bologna Oct. 7, 1845.
[ J. M. ]
COLLA PARTE or COLLA VOCE, 'with the part,' denoting that the tempo of the accompaniment is to be accommodated to that of the solo instrument or voice.
COLLARD. This firm of pianoforte-makers in Grosvenor Street and Cheapside, London, is in direct succession, through Muzio Clementi, to Longman and Broderip, music publishers located at No. 26 Cheapside, as the parish books of St. Vedast show, as long ago as 1767. Becoming afterwards pianoforte-makers, their instruments were in good repute here and abroad, and it is a tradition that Gieb's [App. p.594 "Geib's"] invention of the square hopper or grasshopper was first applied by them. Their business operations were facilitated by money advances from Clementi, whose position as a composer and pianist was the highest in England. The fortunes of Longman and Broderip do not appear to have been commensurate with their enterprise: Clementi, about 1798–1800, had to assume and remodel the business, and the Haymarket branch passing into other hands we find him in the early years of this century associated with F. W. Collard and others, presumably out of the old Longman and Broderip concern, pianoforte makers in Cheapside. There can be no doubt that the genius of this eminent musician applied in a new direction bore good fruit, but it was F. W. Collard, whose name appears in the Patent Office in connection with improvements in pianofortes as early as 1811, who impressed the stamp upon that make of pianofortes which has successively borne the names of 'Clementi' and of 'Collard and Collard.' The description of the improvements from time to time introduced by the house will be found under Pianoforte. The present head of the firm (1877) is Mr. Charles Lukey Collard.
[ A. J. H. ]
COLLEGE YOUTHS, Ancient Society of. This is the chief of the change-ringing societies of England. It dates back to the early part of the 17th century, and derives its name from the fact that the students at the college founded by the renowned Sir Richard Whittington about that date, having six bells in their college chapel, used to amuse themselves by ringing them; and the annals of the society show that, being joined by various gentlemen in the neighbourhood, the society was definitely started under the name 'College Youths' by the then Lord Salisbury, Lord Brereton, Lord Dacre, Sir Cliff Clifton, and many other noblemen and gentlemen connected with the city of London, on Nov. 5, 1637. There are books in possession of the society (which has gone through many vicissitudes) in which are recorded the performances of its members for the last 150 years. Of late years the society has been in a most flourishing condition; its books contain the names of many noblemen and gentlemen, not only as patrons but as actual performers, and there are few counties in England in which it has not members. It flourishes also in the ringing line, for there is no society of ringers in England who can equal some of its later performances, amongst the most important of which should be mentioned a peal of 15,840 changes of Treble Bob Major rung by eight of its members in 1868 at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, and which lasted without any pause for nine hours and twelve minutes.
[ C. A. W. T. ]
COL LEGNO, 'with the wood,' a term indicating that a passage is to be played by striking the strings of the violin with the stick of the bow instead of with the hair—the effect produced being something like that of guitar and castanets combined. Amongst others Spohr has employed it in the Finale all' Espagnola of his sixth violin-concerto, and Auber in Carlo Broschi's air in ' La part du diable.'
[ P. D. ]
COLMAN, Charles, Mus. Doc., was chamber musician to Charles I. After the breaking out of the civil war he betook himself to the teaching of music in London, and was one of those who
