Baroque

Question 1

Le nuove musiche

Answer 1

A collections of monodies published by Caccini in 1602

Question 2

basso continuo

Answer 2

1) System of notation and performance practice, used in the Baroque period, in which an instrumental bass line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, lute, or similar instruments fill in the harmony with appropriate chords or improvised melodic lines. 2) The bass line itself

Question 3

basso ostinato

Answer 3

or ground bass. A pattern in the bass that repeats while the melody above its changes

Question 4

Monody

Answer 4

1) An accompanied solo song. 2) The musical texture of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments

Question 5

Seconda pratica

Answer 5

Monterverdi’s term for a practice of counterpoint and composition that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint (the prima pratica) to be broken in order to express the feelings of a text. Also called stile moderno

Question 6

cantata

Answer 6

1) In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a vocal chamber work with continuo, usually for solo voice, consisting of several sections or movements that include recitatives and arias and setting a lyrical or quasi-dramatic text. 2) Form of Lutheran church music in the 18th century, combining poetic texts with texts drawn from chorales or the Bible, and including recitatives, arias, chorale settings, and usually one or more choruses. 3) In later eras, a work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra in several movements but smaller than an oratorio

Question 7

Oratorio

Answer 7

Genre of dramatic music that originated in the 17th century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through arias, recitatives, ensembles, choruses, and instrumental music, like an unstated opera. Usually on a religious or biblical subject

Question 8

Tragedie en musique

Answer 8

French 17th and 18th-century form of opera, pioneered by Lully, that combined the French classic drama and ballet traditions with music, dances, and spectacles

Question 9

Suite

Answer 9

A set of pieces that are linked together into a single work. During the Baroque, a suite usually referred to a set of stylized dance pieces

Question 10

Opera seria

Answer 10

18th-century genre of Italian opera, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic character and scenes

Question 11

Zarzuela

Answer 11

Spanish genre of musical theater, a light, mythological play in a pastoral setting that alternates between sung and spoken dialogue and various types of ensemble and solo song