Chapter 14-20 Vocabulary

Question 1

Plainchant

Answer 1

Monophonic melody with a freely flowing, unmeasured vocal line; liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church. Also Plainchant or Plainsong.

Question 2

Liturgy

Answer 2

The set order of religious services and the structure of each service, within a particular denomination (e.g., Roman Catholic).

Question 3

Gregorian Chant

Answer 3

Monophonic melody with a freely flowing, unmeasured vocal line; liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church. Also Plainchant or Plainsong.

Question 4

Mode

Answer 4

Scale or sequence of notes used as the basis for a composition; major and minor are modes.

Question 5

Tonal

Answer 5

Based on principles of major-minor tonality, as as distinct from modal.

Question 6

Offices

Answer 6

A series of services celebrated in religious communities at various hours of the day.

Question 7

Mass

Answer 7

Central service of the Roman Catholic Church.

Question 8

Proper

Answer 8

Sections of the Roman Catholic Mass that vary from day to day throughout the church year according to the liturgical occasion, as distinct from the Ordinary, in which they remain the same.

Question 9

Ordinary

Answer 9

Sections of the Roman Catholic Mass that remain the same from day to day throughout the church year, as distinct from the Proper, which changes daily according to the liturgical occasion.

Question 10

Kyrie

Answer 10

The first musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass. Its construction is threefold, involving three repetitions of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy), three of “Christe eleison” (Christ, have mercy), and again three of “Kyrie eleison”.

Question 11

Antiphonal

Answer 11

Performance style in which an ensemble is divided into two or more groups, performing in alternation and then together.

Question 12

Verse

Answer 12

In poetry, a group of lines constituting a unit. In liturgical music for the Catholic Church, a phrase from the Scriptures that alternates with the response.

Question 13

Unison

Answer 13

“Interval” between two notes of the same pitch (for example, two voices on the same E); the simultaneous playing of the same note.

Question 14

Organum

Answer 14

Earliest kind of polyphonic music, which developed from the custom of adding voices above a Plainchant; they first ran parallel to the chant at the interval of a fifth or fourth and later moved more freely.

Question 15

Rhythmic Mode

Answer 15

A fixed pattern of long and short notes that is repeated or varied, over a sustained bottom voice taken from the chant of the same name.

Question 16

Troubadours

Answer 16

Medieval poet-musicians in southern France.

Question 17

Trouveres

Answer 17

Medieval poet-musicians in northern France.

Question 18

Ars Nova

Answer 18

New Art

Question 19

Ars Antiqua

Answer 19

Old Art

Question 20

Chanson

Answer 20

French monophonic or polyphonic song, especially of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, set to either courtly or popular poetry.

Question 21

Ballde/Ballad

Answer 21

A form of English street song, popular from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Ballads are characterized by narrative content and strophic form.

Question 22

Madrigal

Answer 22

Renaissance secular work (originating in Italy) for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England.

Question 23

Madrigalism

Answer 23

A striking effect designed to depict the meaning of the text in vocal music; found in many madrigals and other genres of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. See also Word Painting.

Question 24

Part Book

Answer 24

A bound music book– either print or manuscript– with music for a single vocalist or instrumentalist.

Question 25

Imitation

Answer 25

Melodic idea presented in one voice or part and then restated in another, each part continuing as others enter.

Question 26

Cantus Firmus (Fixed Melody)

Answer 26

“Fixed melody”, usually of very long notes, often based on a fragment of Gregorian chant, that served as the structural basis for a polyphonic composition, particularly in the Renaissance.

Question 27

Motet

Answer 27

Polyphonic vocal genre, often secular in the Middle Ages but sacred or devotional thereafter.

Question 28

Homorhythmic

Answer 28

Texture in which all voices, or lines, move together in the same rhythm.

Question 29

Gloria

Answer 29

The second musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass. (“Glory be to God on high”)
A joyful hymn of praise.

Question 30

Credo

Answer 30

The third musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass. (“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty”).
The confession of faith and the longest of the Mass texts

Question 31

Sanctus

Answer 31

The fourth musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass. (“Holy, Holy, Holy”).
A song of praise, which concludes with “Hosanna in the highest”.

Question 32

Agnus Dei

Answer 32

The last musical section of the Ordinary of the Mass (“Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world”).
Is sung three times, with different words for its conclusion

Question 33

Congregational Singing

Answer 33

Simple worship music, often monophonic, in which the church congregation participates; often associated with Lutheranism and Calvinism. See also Chorale

Question 34

Soft

Answer 34

Bas, or indoor

Question 35

Loud

Answer 35

Haut, or outdoor

Question 36

Recorder

Answer 36

End-blown woodwind instrument with a whistle mouthpiece, generally associated with early music

Question 37

Lute

Answer 37

Plucked-string instrument of Middle Eastern origin, popular in western Europe from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth century.

Question 38

Rebec

Answer 38

Medieval bowed-string instrument, often with a pear-shaped body,

Question 39

Shawm

Answer 39

A nasal-sounding ancestor of the oboe

Question 40

Sackbut

Answer 40

Early brass instrument, ancestor of the trombone.

Early version of the trombone

Question 41

Cornetto

Answer 41

Early instrument of the brass family with woodwind-like finger holes; developed from the cow horn but was made of wood.
A wooden instrument with fingerholes like a recorder but a cup-shaped mouthpiece

Question 42

Tabor

Answer 42

Cylindrical medieval drum

Question 43

Nakers

Answer 43

Small hand drums played in pairs

Question 44

Pavane

Answer 44

Stately Renaissance court dance in Duple meter.

Question 45

Saltarello

Answer 45

Group oriented ronde, a circle or line dance.

Question 46

Ronde

Answer 46

A circle or line dance.

Question 47

Embellishment

Answer 47

Melodic decoration, either improvised or indicated through ornamentation signs in the music.