Baroque Terms

Question 0

Basso continuo/Figured bass

Answer 0

Italian for continuous bass. Independent bass line continues throughout the piece. Includes materials indicating the harmony to be supplied by the performer. Basso continuo (not figured bass) also refers to a performance group with a bass chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ) and a bass melody instrument (cello, viola da gamba).

Ex. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Le Quattro stagioni)
Handel: Messiah

Question 1

Barroco

Answer 1

Portuguese for pearl of irregular shape. Baroque derived from barroco. Art, including music, created in 1600-1750 is known as Baroque style.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 2

Binary form

Answer 2

Two parts based on a statement and a departure, without return to the opening. A and B normally repeated AABB. Common in Baroque short pieces such as suites.

Ex. Handel: Water Music

Question 3

Collegium musicum

Answer 3

Association of amateur musicians, mainly university students, that gave regular concerts.
During Bach’s Leipzig years he was director of the collegium musicum.

Bach: Coffee Cantata

Question 4

Concertino

Answer 4

A small group of instruments that played the solo.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2

Question 5

Concerto

Answer 5

A concerto is an instrumental form based on the opposition between two dissimilar bodies of sound. Baroque composers produced two types of concerto: The solo concerto and the concerto grosso

Ex. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Le Quattro stagioni)

Question 6

Concerto grosso

Answer 6

Baroque concerto type based on the opposition between:

1. a small group of solo instruments called the concertino
2. a larger group, the orchestra called the tutti or ripieno (Italian for “full”)

Ex. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2

Question 7

Counterpoint

Answer 7

A termed derived from the Latin word that means “point (note) against point (note)”. It means the combining in a single texture of two or more melodic lines. Same as polyphony.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 8

Da capo aria

Answer 8

Lyric song in ternary ABA form commonly found in Baroque operas, cantatas, and oratorios. Composer did not write the third part. Da capo (italian for “from the head”) is found at the end of the second section indicating that performer must repeat first section, freely elaborating with ornamentation.

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 9

Doctrine of the affections

Answer 9

Union of music and poetry in the Baroque period. Composers believed that the aim of music was to move the passions – joy, anger, love, hate, or fear. In Baroque an entire piece or movement was normally built on a single affection.

Ex. Vivaldi: “Spring”, from The Four Seasons

Question 10

Equal temperament

Answer 10

A tuning system based on the division of the octave into 12 equal semitones. The quality of semitones means that all other intervals are tempered, as compared with their frequency ratios. First used in Baroque, normal tuning of Western instruments today, easy to play in any key and modulate.

Ex. Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 11

French overture

Answer 11

• baroque instrumental introduction to an opera, oratorio, ballet or suite
• in two sections:
  1. slow opening section (often repeated), marked by stately dotted rhythms
  2. lively (allegro) fugal second section

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 12

Fugue

Answer 12

• polyphonic form popular Baroque era
• one or more themes developed by imitative counterpoint
• consists of: exposition, middle entries, closing section
• includes main theme (subject), answer (real or tonal, second statement of theme in dominant key), counter subjects (recurring figures accompanies subject or answer), episodes
• use of pedal point, stretto, tierce de Picardie

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 13

Harpsichord

Answer 13

Early Baroque keyboard instruments, strings plucked by quills instead of being struck with hammers like piano, its tone cannot be sustained like that of a piano. Pressure of fingers on keys vary the tone slightly producing subtle dynamic differences but not the piano’s extremes of loud and soft.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 14

Homophonic texture/homophony

Answer 14

Texture with principal melody and accompanying harmony, as distinct from polyphony where two or more melodic lines combined into a multivoice texture.

Ex. Handel: Messiah, No. 15 (Chorus)

Question 15

Improvisation

Answer 15

Creation of musical composition while being performed. Baroque singers and players added own embellishments and ornamentation to what was written down as creative contribution to work.

Ex. Vivaldi: Spring, from The Four Seasons

Question 16

Major-minor tonality

Answer 16

Use of 12 major and 12 minor keys as the tonal basis of music. Definite establishment of this total system took place during the 17th century in the Baroque period. Prior to this, music was based on the church modes.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 17

Melismatic (Melisma)

Answer 17

Melodic style characterized by many notes sung to a single text syllable.

Ex. Handel: Messiah (melismatic passages are heard on the word “rejoice”)

Question 18

Oratorio

Answer 18

Large-scale dramatic genre originating in the Baroque, based on the text of religious or serious character, performed by solo voices, chorus and orchestra; similar to opera but without scenery, costumes or action.

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 19

Ornamentation

Answer 19

Melodic decoration, addition of embellishing notes to existing melody notes such as trills, turns, and other ornaments. Common feature in Baroque music especially in wanted text singing, opera seria aria, and harpsichord works.

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 20

Pedal point

Answer 20

Sustained or repeated note (tonic or dominant), in bass above other parts and harmonies that move or change.

Ex. Vivaldi: Spring, first movement, from The Four Seasons

Question 21

Polyphony/polyphonic texture

Answer 21

Two or more melodic lines combined into multivoice texture.
Distinct from monophonic where there is only a single line or melody without accompaniment.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I
Handel: Messiah

Question 22

Prelude

Answer 22

Fairly short piece of instrumental work (harpsichord or organ) intended to proceed a larger work. Based on continuous expansion of melodic or rhythmic figure. In Baroque, Prelude was used to introduce a group of dance pieces or Fugue.

Ex. Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 23

Recitativo (Secco, Accompagnato)

Answer 23

• solo vocal declamation in opera, cantata or oratorio
• musically spoken rather than sung
• used to explain plot and action
• Secco: simple accompaniment, moves with great freedom
• Accompagnato: accompanied by orchestra

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 24

Ritornello form

Answer 24

Short instrumental passage that returns again and again in the manner of a refrain.
Common in aria and concerto in the Baroque period.

Ex. Vivaldi: Spring, first movement, from The Four Seasons
(Orchestral ritornello suggests spring returns again and again in alternation with the episodes which feature the solo violin)

Question 25

Solo concerto

Answer 25

Instrumental form based on the opposition between solo instrument and accompanying group, the orchestra. Good medium for virtuosity playing. In Baroque, violin featured most frequently in solo concerto, consisted of three movements, allegro-adagio-allegro.

Ex. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni)

Question 26

Stretto

Answer 26

Fugal device in which entry of answer occurs before subject completed, overlapping with it. Effect is one of voices crowding upon each other creating heightening of tension, brings fugue to climax.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 27

Ternary

Answer 27

ABA form based on statement A, contrast for departure B, and repetition A. The da capo aria and the minuet an trio are examples. Also found in slow movements of classical sonatas, symphonies and concertos and among 19th-century pieces.

Ex. Handel: Messiah

Question 28

Terraced dynamics

Answer 28

• expressive Baroque music style
• volume level shifts abruptly from soft to loud and back without gradual crescendos and decrescendos

Ex. Vivaldi: Spring, first movement, from The Four Seasons

Question 29

Tierce de Picardie

Answer 29

French for Picardy third.
Use of major triad for final cadence of composition in minor key, converting expected minor chord into major, giving ending greater sense of finality.

Ex. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, from the Well tempered Clavier, Book I

Question 30

Tutti (Ripieno)

Answer 30

Italian for everybody, Italian for full, played the accompaniment.

Ex. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2

Question 31

Word painting

Answer 31

Baroque inherited from Renaissance the technique of word painting, in which the music vividly mirrored the words as an expressive device.

Ex. Vivaldi: Spring, first movement, from The Four Seasons
Handel: Messiah
Schubert: Erlkonig