Interlude - is it? What is an interlude?

Interlude is an episode, a performance, a play or a stage. Such an interpretation of this term is given in the Dictionary of Russian Synonyms. For a more precise analysis of this question, let us analyze the definition from other sources.

Explanatory Dictionary of Ephraim

This source gives two interpretations of the term of interest to us. According to the first, an interlude is a small-sized musical piece that is performed in the gaps formed between parts of a certain piece of music.

Now let us turn to the following interpretation. According to him, we are talking about a small play of religious-moralizing, later and farcical character. This phenomenon is typical for the English theater at the decline of the Middle Ages, as well as at the dawn of the Renaissance.

The Great Encyclopedic Dictionary

We continue to understand the question of what an interlude is. Let us turn to the Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary for help. This source indicates that the term comes from two Latin words "between", and also "game". In the theatrical art is synonymous with an interlude. In music we are talking about a small play or a connecting construction, performed between the main parts of a certain work.

Other sources

Now we turn to the "Small Academic Dictionary" for help. According to this source, it is a small play or passage, which serves as a liaison between other parts of the work. In the publication of foreign words it is said that an interlude is a musical piece of small dimensions that is performed in breaks of a more extensive work. Also this term can define the organ game between the individual chorale stanzas.

According to the "Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov," an interlude is an excerpt from a musical work that acts as a ligament between a pair of other parts of the play. Let us turn to the next source.

According to "Explicit Dictionary Ushakov", it is a small musical play. Further definition is similar to the above.

Let's consider one more edition. According to the "Etymological Dictionary of Fasmer," we are talking about a comic scene, which is played out during the intermission.

Now let's turn to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. This source specifies that such musical works can be performed both between acts of drama and opera. Interlude can be an improvisation performed on an organ. Also in a certain meaning can occur under the term intermezzo.