Baroque Flashcards
What are opera and oratorio and how are they related?
Operas are secular, about non religious stories, with acting, costumes, and scenery. Oratorios are secular about religious texts, without costumes, acting, and scenery. Operas and oratorios both have arias. Operas are musical theater, and oratorios are concert pieces. Operas have acting and characters interact with each other, oratorios do not. Opera=Orfeo, Oratorio=Messiah
Affections
emotion, feeling, sentiment
Terraced Dynamics
abrupt shift
Basso Continuo
an accompanying part that includes a bass line and harmonies, typically played on a keyboard instrument and with other instruments such as cello or bass viol
Figured Bass
bass part with numbers
Movement
sounds like its own piece, but is part of a larger work
Fugue
composition with one main theme
Aria
a long, accompanied song for a solo voice`
Libretto
text of an opera
Overture
short composition, purely instrumental, introduces an opera or any longer work
Suite
a set of instrumental compositions, originally in dance style, to be played in succession.
Opera
a dramatic work in one or more acts, set to music for singers and instrumentalists
Oratorio
(Messiah) Large-scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra, usually set to a narrative text, but without acting, scenery, or costumes; often based on biblical stories
What does the term baroque mean?
Bizarre, flamboyant, ornamented
Baroque time period?
1600 - 1750
George Frideric Handel?
Went to England for 47 years, composer, Messiah, started in Germany, wrote opera and oratorios, queen Anne’s favorite composer, 3,000 mourners
Johann Sebastian Bach?
Organist, organ teacher, composer, most eminent organ player
When does instrumental music become as important as vocal?
late
What are the affections?
Emotion of the performer
What does repeated rhythmic patterns provide in music?
Energy and drive
Describe baroque melodies?
Heavily ornamented
A melodic sequence is?
Where melody is repeated at different pitch level
What were the keyboard instruments of the baroque era? Which one was considered for home use?
Harpsichord, clavichord, pipe organ. Clavichord.
What is basso continuo?
Continuous bass, keyboard and low string instruments make a continuous bassline
Which bass part has numbers that tell a musician what to play?
Figured bass
What instrument family becomes the major part of the orchestra?
strings(violin family)
What is a music director’s responsibilities? And what is their social standing?
Pay was high, was a high class servant
Why does Bach write the harpsichord into the Brandenburg Concertos as a soloist?
Employer bought brand new instrument, so he wrote it in as a solo to feature it
What is the main theme of a fugue called? And what is it called when it is restated in the dominant key?
Subject, answer
What is set to music, accompanied by an orchestra, has scenery, costumes, action, and is full of drama?
opera
What is the text of an opera called?
libretto
An opera song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment is called?
aria
In opera if two main voices are singing it is called a…?
duet
In opera if three or more main voices are singing it is called an…?
ensemble
What is the conductor’s role with an opera?
Shapes work with tempos, cues, dynamics
When is an overture played during an opera?
The beginning
When and where did the first public opera house open?
Venice in 1637
What is the name of Orpheus’s wife?
Eurydice
What are the castrati?
Group of male singers who were castrated before puberty
Where is Henry Purcell buried, and why did he get that honor?
Beneath the organ in Westminster Abbey, because he was the organist for the church, and he was a great opera writer.
Where did Vivaldi spend his life teaching?
Pieta in Venice, a school for orphaned girls
What piece of program music is Vivaldi famous for?
Spring
What did Bach do when he was in Leipzig?
DIrector of music at St. Mark’s church
Bach was the most ________ of his day?
Eminent organ player
Where did Bach pull his musical style from?
Italian concertos, French dance, German church music
What are suites?
sets of dance inspired movements
What is like an opera, but draws its material from the bible and doesn’t have acting or costumes?
oratorios
What composer was born the same year as Bach?
Handel
Where did Handel take an extended leave to?
England
