What is "calliope"

Calliope \Cal*li"o*pe\ (k[a^]l*l[imac]"[-o]*p[-e]), n. [L. Calliope, Gr. Kallio`ph, lit, the beautiful-voiced; pref. kalli- (from kalo`s beautiful) + 'o`ps, 'opo`s, voice.]

1. (Class. Myth.) The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.

2. (Astron.) One of the asteroids. See Solar.

3. A musical instrument consisting of a series of steam whistles, toned to the notes of the scale, and played by keys arranged like those of an organ. It is sometimes attached to steamboat boilers.

4. (Zo["o]l.) A beautiful species of humming bird ( Stellula Calliope) of California and adjacent regions.

1858, "steam-whistle keyboard organ," named for Calliope, ninth and chief muse, presiding over eloquence and epic poetry, Latinized from Greek Kalliope, literally "beautiful-voiced," from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + opos (genitive of *ops) "voice," related to Latin vox (see voice (n.)).

n. A musical organ, consisting of steam whistles played with a keyboard. Often used with merry-go-rounds.

A calliope (see below for pronunciation) is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or more recently compressed air, through large whistles—originally locomotive whistles.

A calliope is typically very loud. Even some small calliopes are audible for miles. There is no way to vary tone or loudness. Musically, the only expression possible is the pitch, rhythm, and duration of the notes.

The steam calliope is also known as a steam organ or steam piano. The air-driven calliope is sometimes called a calliaphone, the name given to it by Norman Baker, but the "Calliaphone" name is registered by the Miner Company for instruments produced under the Tangley name.

In the age of steam, the steam calliope was particularly used on riverboats and in circuses. In both cases, a steam supply was already available for other purposes. Riverboats supplied steam from their propulsion boilers. Circus calliopes were sometimes installed in steam-drive carousels, or supplied with steam from a traction engine. The traction engine could also supply electric power for lighting, and tow the calliope in the circus parade, where it traditionally came last. Other circus calliopes were self-contained, mounted on a carved, painted and gilded wagon pulled by horses, but the presence of other steam boilers in the circus meant that fuel and expertise to run the boiler were readily available. Steam instruments often had keyboards made from brass. This was in part to resist the heat and moisture of the steam, but also for the golden shine of the highly polished keys.

Calliopes can be played by a player at a keyboard or mechanically. Mechanical operation may be by a drum similar to a music box drum, or by a roll similar to that of a player piano. Some instruments have both a keyboard and a mechanism for automated operation, others only one or the other. Some calliopes can also be played via a MIDI interface.

The whistles of a calliope are tuned to a chromatic scale, although this process is difficult and must be repeated often to maintain quality sound. Since the pitch of each note is largely affected by the temperature of the steam, accurate tuning is nearly impossible; however, the off-pitch notes (particularly in the upper register) have become something of a trademark of the steam calliope. A calliope may have anywhere from 25 to 67 whistles, but 32 is traditional for a steam calliope.

In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; , Kalliopē "beautiful-voiced") is the muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. She is spoken of by Ovid as the "Chief of all Muses."

Calliope is the muse of epic poetry in Greek mythology.

Calliope, Kalliope or Kalliopi may also refer to:

Calliope is a children's program that showed various animated shorts. These often included European features and shorts such Cosgrove Hall's "Cinderella" and "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", and FilmFair's Paddington.

Calliope is a New York City-based band which plays Renaissance music and modern music using early music instruments.

Calliope won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1975. The band performed at the 1977 U.S. Presidential inauguration and later contributed to the soundtrack for R O Blechman's 1978 PBS holiday special Simple Gifts. The band released three albums: Calliope Dances: A Renaissance Revel ( Nonesuch Records, 1982); Calliope Festival (Nonesuch Records, 1984); and Diversions ( Summit Records, 1990). The band recorded Peter Schickele's composition Bestiary in 1984

Members:

• Lucy Bardo, viola, vielle, rebec;
• Lawrence Benz, sackbut, lute, recorders, krummhorn;
• Allan Dean, cornetto, sackbut, recorders, krummhorn;
• Ben Harms, percussion, viol, recorders, krummhorn, pipe, tabor

Calliope is a French classical record label originally based in Compiègne. It was founded in 1972 by Jacques Le Calvé, a record shop owner, upon the encouragement of Erato Records producer Michel Garcin. The label was named after Calliope, the muse of epic poetry and mother of Orpheus, and not the calliope organ. Its artists included the organists André Isoir and Louis Thiry and Jean-Claude Casadesus with the Orchestre de Lille.

Le Calvé closed the label in 2010, citing the death of the classical record as the main reason. The rights to some of the Calliope catalogue were then acquired by Phaia Records with a dozen reissues made available. In 2011 the label was bought by Indésens Records, an independent French label founded in 2006 by Benoit d’Hau and began to again issue both reissues and new recordings under the Calliope label.

Calliope is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

The four species in the genus were previously placed in the genus Luscinia. A large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that Luscinia as defined in 2003 by Edward C. Dickinson was not monophyletic. The genus Calliope, with the type species, Calliope calliope, was reinstated to accommodate a well-defined clade. Although the blackthroat (Calliope obscura) had not been included in the 2010 phylogenetic analysis, a subsequent study found that the firethroat and the blackthroat were sister species and not colour morphs of the same species as some publications had previously suggested.

The genus Calliope was introduced by the English ornithologist John Gould in 1836. Calliope, from classical Greek meaning beautiful-voiced, was one of the muses in Greek mythology and presided over eloquence and heroic poetry.

The genus contains the following four species:

• White-tailed rubythroat, (Calliope pectoralis)
• Siberian rubythroat, (Calliope calliope)
• Firethroat, (Calliope pectardens)
• Blackthroat, (Calliope obscura)