Exam 2

Question 1

Romaticism

Answer 1

Term applied to music of the nineteenth century. Romantic music had looser and more extended forms, greater experimentation with harmony and texture, richly expressive and memorable melodies, improved musical instruments, an interest in music nationalism, and a view of music as a moral force, in which there was a link between the artists’ inner lives and the world around them.

Question 2

Lied, Lieder

Answer 2

Art song with German words, whether monophonic, polyphonic, or for voice with accompaniment; used especially for songs for voice and piano in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Question 3

Song Cycle

Answer 3

A group of art songs performed in succession that tells or suggests a story.

Question 4

Strophic Form

Answer 4

Of a poem, consisting of two or more stanzas that are equivalent in form and can each be sung to the same melody; of a vocal work, consisting of a strophic poem set to the same music for each stanza.

Question 5

Through-Composed Form

Answer 5

Composed throughout, as when each stanza or other unit of a poem is set to new music rather than in a strophic manner to a single melody.

Question 6

Modified Strophic Form

Answer 6

Variant of strophic form in which the music for the first stanza is varied for later stanzas, or in which there is a change of key, rhythm, character or material.

Question 7

Program music

Answer 7

Instrumental music that tells a story or follows a narrative or other sequence of events, often spelled out in an accompanying text called a program

Question 8

Idée fixe

Answer 8

Term coined by Hector Berlioz for a melody that is used throughout a piece represent a person, thing, or idea, transforming it to suit the mood and situation.

Question 9

Cyclic form

Answer 9

A group of related works, comprising movements of a single larger entity. An example of this is the song cycle of the nineteenth century.

Question 10

Nocturne

Answer 10

Type of short piano piece popular during the romantic period, marked by highly embellished melody, sonorous accompaniment, and contemplative mood.

Question 11

Etude

Answer 11

An instrumental piece designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique. Certain ninettenth-century etudes that contained significant artistic content and were played in concert were called concert etudes.

Question 12

Octatonic scale

Answer 12

A scale that alternates whole and half steps

Question 13

Developing variation

Answer 13

Term coined by Arnold Schoenberg for the process of deriving new themes, accompaniments, and

Question 14

chaconne

Answer 14

Baroque genre derived from the chacona consisting of variations over a basso continuo.

Question 15

Passacaglia

Answer 15

Baroque genre of variations over a repeated bass line or harmonic progression in triple meter.

Question 16

opera seria

Answer 16

Eighteenth-century genre of Italian opera, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic characters and scenes.

Question 17

opera buffa

Answer 17

Eighteenth-century genre of Italian comic opera, sung throughout

Question 18

bel canto

Answer 18

Elegant Italian vocal style of the early nineteenth century marked by lyrical, embellished, and florid melodies that show off the beauty, agility, and fluency of the singer’s voice.

Question 19

cantabile

Answer 19

1. Songful, lyrical, in a songlike style. 2. In the operatic scene structure developed by Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the first section of an aria or ensemble, somewhat slow and expressing a relatively calm mood.

Question 20

Cabaletto

Answer 20

In the operatic scene structure of the nineteenth century, the last part of an aria or ensemble, which was lively and brilliant and expressed active feelings, such as joy or despair.

Question 21

tempo di mezzo

Answer 21

In the early nineteenth century, the middle section of an aria or ensemble, usually an interruption or a transition, that falls between the cantabile and the cabaletta.

Question 22

tempo di attacca

Answer 22

The first fast movement, following the recitative, in a nineteenth-century operatic aria or duet. It usually contains dialogue and action and leads to a more lyrical and static second movement or section.

Question 23

reminiscence motives

Answer 23

In an opera, a motive, theme, or melody that recurs in a later scene, in order to recall the events and feelings with which it was first associated.

Question 24

French grand opera

Answer 24

A serious form of opera popular during the romantic era that was sung throughout and included ballets, choruses, and spectacular staging.

Question 25

Ballet

Answer 25

In sixteenth and seventeenth-century France, an entertainment in which both professionals and guests dance; later, a stage work danced by professionals.

Question 26

Music Drama

Answer 26

Nineteenth-century genre created by Richard Wagner in which drama and music become so interdependent as to express a kind of absolute oneness.

Question 27

Gesamtkunstwerk

Answer 27

Term coined by Richard Wagner for dramatic work in which poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music are integrated into one artistic expression.

Question 28

Leitmotif

Answer 28

In an opera or music drama, a motive, theme, or musical idea associated with a person, thing, mood, or idea, which returns in original or altered form throughout.

Question 29

Exoticism

Answer 29

Nineteenth-century trend in which composers sought to evoke the perceived glamour and strangeness of distant lands and foreign cultures.

Question 30

Nationalism

Answer 30

trend in music in which composers were eager to embrace elements in their music that claimed a national identity

Question 31

Tone Poem

Answer 31

Symphonic poem, or a similar work for a medium other than orchestra.

Question 32

Revolutions of 1848

Answer 32

Political upheaval all over the European continent, very few successfully

Question 33

Role of Music Publishing

Answer 33

Amateurism influences style: Simpler; less counterpoint, more tuneful; evocative titles; chord progressions both familiar and dramatic.

Question 34

Dies irae

Answer 34

Part of Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique fifth movement, it is a chant sequence from the Mass for the Dead that Is used as a symbol of death, the macabre. Berlioz.

Question 35

Romantic orchestration

Answer 35

Began with Berlioz and his huge ensembles he wrote for. He wrote the first work for over 100 performers.

Question 36

Pentatonic scale

Answer 36

Five adjacent notes on the circle of fifths, the black keys on a piano. Liszt.

Question 37

Third-related harmonies/key

Answer 37

Liszt experimented with these keys. They are keys contained in the piece that are related by a third instead of the more typical dominant-tonic relationship.

Question 38

Paris

Answer 38

Paris became the center of opera in the ninetennth century

Question 39

Cavatina

Answer 39

The first aria you hear from a character in an opera

Question 40

Patter songs

Answer 40

very rhythmic and sticks around one or two notes. Found in the cantabile from Rossina’s area. Comic opera pattern.

Question 41

Rossini crescendo

Answer 41

Gradually getting louder as a single phrase is repeated.

Question 42

viva Verdi

Answer 42

Although he was not a “nationalist” composer, his name became a patriotic rally cry and some of his music was viewed that way.

Question 43

Endless melody

Answer 43

Wagnerian arioso-like style of singing which allowed for musical continuity throughout an entire dramatic section. No more arias vs. recitative.

Question 44

Role of Folklore in opera

Answer 44

Simple folk-like melodies were a new twist to music. Weber.

Question 45

Chromatic harmony

Answer 45

A type of harmony that propels the music until the end of a scene or act. Wagner

Question 46

Realism

Answer 46

The idea that the musical drama and operas should reflect real life. Sometimes to the extremes of having real elephants on stage. Equivalent to an epic film today.