Mannheim rocket

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The Mannheim rocket is a series of rapidly ascending broken chords from the lowest range of the bass line to the very top of the soprano line. Composers of the Mannheim school introduced a number of novel ideas into the orchestral music of their day: sudden crescendos - the Mannheim Crescendo or (a crescendo developed via the whole orchestra) - and decrescendos; crescendos with piano releases; the Mannheim Roller (an extended crescendo passage typically having a rising melodic line over an ostinato bass line); the Mannheim Sigh (a mannered treatment of the Baroque practice of putting more weight on the first of two notes in descending pairs of slurred notes); the Mannheim Birds (imitation of birds chirping in solo passages) and the Grand Pause where the playing stops for a moment, resulting in total silence, only to restart vigorously.

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