Classical Flashcards
What time was the Classical Period?
Between 1750-1810
What are the tempos of the Symphony Movements?
Movement 1 - fairly fast tempo
Movement 2 - slow tempo
Movement 3 - minuet and trio (bright dance)
Movement 4 - fast tempo, light-hearted
What is a symphony?
A full orchestra, sounding together. Symphonies became explorations to find out what would happen if musicians experimented with melodies
What are the 4 different sections to the sonata form?
- Exposition
- Development
- Recapitulation
- Coda
Exposition
Tonic, transition, new key
Development
Ideas developed from the Exposition by adding new ideas and exploring new keys
Recapitulation
tonic, transition, tonic
Coda
Extended ending section
What is a cadenza?
A passage to give the soloist the opportunity to demonstrate their musical technique
What are the features of a cadenza?
It’s usually played without the orchestra and often ends in a trill. They were improvised and the soloist was often encouraged to base it off the theme of the concerto.
ow many sections does a concerto have?
1 - fast, cadenza
2 - slow, lyric/song
3 - fast, light-hearted
What is a concerto grosso?
A musical composition for a group of solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra
Chamber music
Written for a small group of musicians, for a small room. In most chamber ensembles, only 1 musician would be playing each part
Alberti bass
A kind of broken chord or arpeggiated accompaniment, where the notes of the chord are presented in the order lowest, highest, middle, highest
What were the three main chords composers used?
I, IV, V
What was the main focus of classical composers?
Melody was their main focus, not chords. They wanted to make their melodies clear and unfussy. They liked big blocks of one chord, then big blocks of another.
What are examples of classical musicians?
- Beethoven
- Schubert and the Lied
