Final Exam Flashcards
orchestral suite
late 17th-century German suite for orchestra patterned after the groups of dances in French (Lully) ballets and opera
sonata
(1) a piece to be played on one or more instruments (2) Baroque instrumental piece with contrasting sections or movements, often with imitative counterpoint (3) genre in several movements for one or two solo instruments
conservatory
school that specializes in teaching music (early 18th-century Naples had four conservatories for orphaned and poor boys-male equivalent of Venetian ospedali?)
castrato
male singers who were castrated before puberty to preserve their high vocal range, prominent in the 17th and early 18th- centuries, especially in opera
concerto
(1) in the 17th century, ensemble of instruments or of voices with one or more instruments, or a work for such an ensemble (2) composition in which one or more solo instruments (or instrumental group) contrasts with an orchestral ensemble
ritornello form
standard form for fast movements in concertos of the first half of the eighteenth century, featuring a ritornello (4) for full orchestra that alternates with episodes (3) characterized by virtuosic material
played by one or more soloists
baroque violin bow
The curve of the Baroque bow results in less tension on the bowhairs, and the shorter length makes it lighter and more agile
character piece/pièces de caractère
a piece of characteristic music, especially one for piano (eg. Couperin’s harpsichord pieces with evocative titles depicted in the music, often suggesting a mood, scene, or personality, like a character in a play)
Concert Spirituel and other public concerts
a French public concert serious founded in 1725; publich concerts to which one subscribed or paid admission first occurred in England in 1672, but the practice did not become widespread in Europe until the later 1700s
basso continuo
(1) system of notation and performance practice, used in the Baroque period, in which an instrumental bass line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, lute, or similar instruments fill in the harmony with appropriate chords or improvised melodic lines (2) the bass line itself
modulation
in tonal music, a gradual change from one key to another within a section of a movement
kapellmeister
music director (Bach was appointed as Kapellmeister in Cöthen in 1717)
prelude and fugue
introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an improvisation, or introductory movement in a multimovement work such as an opera or suite; composition or section
of a composition in imitative texture that is based on a single subject and begins with successive statements of
the subject in voices
The Well-Tempered Clavier
- explores the possibilities of playing in all keys on an instrument tuned in equal temperament
- pedagogical aims, technical abilities (like etudes)
The Musical Offering
contains a three- and a six-part ricercare for keyboard and ten canons, all based on a theme proposed by Frederick the Great of Prussia
collegium musicum
an association of amateurs, popular during the Baroque period, who gathered to play and sing together for their own pleasure
Lutheran cantata
its musical scheme
incorporated all the great traditions of the recent past—the chorale, the solo
song, the concertato medium—and added to these the dramatically powerful elements of operatic recitative and aria
Passion setting
- Bach wrote two surviving Passions, telling the story of Jesus’s crucifixion, for performance at Vespers on Good Friday in Leipzig
- employ recitatives, arias, ensembles, choruses, chorales sung by the chorus, and orchestral accompaniment
- drawing on elements from opera,
cantata, and oratorios - tenor narrates the biblical story in the style of recitative, soloists play the parts of Jesus and other figures, and the chorus sings the words of the disciples, the crowd, and other groups
Giulio Cesare
Messiah
recitativo semplice (simple recitative)/recitativo secco
style of recitative scored for solo voice
and basso continuo, used for setting dialogue or monologue in as speech-like a fashion as possible, without
dramatization
accompanied recitative/recitative accompagnato
recitative that uses orchestral
accompaniment to dramatize the text
prima donna
a soprano singing the leading female role in an opera
coloratura
florid vocal ornamentation (seen in Handel’s scores)
impresario
during the Baroque period, a businessman who managed and oversaw the production of operas;
today, someone who books and stages operas and other musical events
oratorio
- genre of dramatic music that originated in the seventeenth century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through arias, recitatives, ensembles, choruses, and instrumental music, like an unstaged opera
- usually on a religious or biblical subject
libretto
literary text for an opera
or other musical stage work
borrowing
- common practice
- Handel borrowed more than most
- When such instances of borrowing were discovered in the nineteenth
century, Handel was charged with plagiarism, because audiences and critics of that time valued originality and demanded original themes. In Handel’s time, simply presenting another composer’s work as one’s own was condemned, but borrowing,
transcribing, adapting, rearranging, and parodying were universal and accepted practices. When Handel borrowed, he more often than not repaid with interest, finding new potential in the borrowed material.
galant style
18th-century musical style that featured songlike melodies, short
phrases, frequent cadences, and light accompaniment
Enlightenment
popularization of learning
enpfindsam style
close relative of the galant style, featuring surprising turns of harmony, chromaticism, nervous rhythms, and
speech-like melodies
opera buffa
18th-century genre of Italian comic opera, sung throughout
intermezzo
18th-century genre of Italian comic opera, performed between acts of a serious opera or play
La serva padrona
opera seria
18th-century genre of Italian opera, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic characters and scenes
ensemble finale
at the end of an act, all the characters
were gradually brought on stage while the action continued, becoming more
and more animated until it reached a climax with all the singers taking part
Querelle des bouffons
- the battle between critics on the relative merits of French and
Italian music - Lullistes attacking Rameau for his baroque-styled operas, calling it “difficult, forced, grotesque, thick, mechanical, and unnatural”
- eventually his newer style became widely accepted
opera comique
in the 18th century, light French comic opera, which used spoken dialogue instead of recitatives
ballad opera
genre of 18th-century English comic
play featuring songs in which new words are set to borrowed tunes
singspiel
German genre of opera, featuring spoken dialogue interspersed with songs, choruses, and instrumental music
opera reform
- opera underwent changes that reflected Enlightenment thoughts
- sought to make the entire design more “natural”—that is, more flexible in structure, more expressive, less ornamented with coloratura, and more varied in musical resources
fortepiano
type of piano from the 18th or early 19th centuries, distinguished from later pianos by a variety of features, notably a smaller range and strings attached to a wooden rather than metal frame
natural horn
associated with hunting style (Mozart’s Sonata K332)
classical clarinet
single-reed wind instrument invented around 1710
string quartet
(1) standard chamber ensemble consisting of two violins, viola, and cello (2) multimovement composition for this ensemble
symphony
large work for orchestra, usually in four movements
sonata form
- typically used in first movements of sonatas, instrumental chamber works, and symphonies during the Classic and Romantic periods
- expansion of rounded binary form
- consisting of an exposition, development, and recapitulation based on a limited number of themes
binary form
- form composed of two complementary sections, each of which is repeated
- first section usually ends on the dominant or the relative major, although it may end on the tonic or other key; the second section
returns to the tonic
minuet and trio
form that joins two binary-form
minuets to create an ABA pattern, where A is the minuet
and B the trio
variations
form that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a variation) on a theme; the theme may be a melody, a bass line, a harmonic plan, or other musical subject
scherzo
a joking or particularly fast
movement in minuet and trio form
rondo
form in which the first or main section recurs, usually in the tonic, between subsidiary sections or episodes.
London Symphonies
Haydn Quartets, Op. 33
The Creation
music publishing
freelance music-making
mozart
musical topic/musical figure
in Baroque music, a melodic pattern or
contrapuntal effect conventionally employed to convey the meaning of a text
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Don Giovanni
