Final Exam Fall Flashcards
- Possente Spirto by Monteverdi
- opera aria from Orfeo
- Saul, Saul was verfolgs du mich? by Schutz
- concerted motet
-based on Saul/Paul story
- “Plorate, filii Israel” by Carissimmi
-chorus from oratorio - from Jephte (guy who had to sacrifice his daughter cuz of a promise he made to God)
- “in ecclesiis” by Gabrieli
- concerted motet
- Opus 4, No.1 1st movement by Corelli
- trio sonata
- Opus 4, No. 1 2nd movement by Corelli
- trio sonata
- Trumpet Sinfonia in D
- By Torelli
- Solo concerto
- Concerto Grosso No. 8, from Opus 3, “L’estro armonico”
- by Vivaldi
- concerto grosso
- “Lamento (Allemande) from Suite in C major
- by Froberger
- dance suite
- Overture from “Armide”
- Lully
- French overture
- La favorite
- Couperin
- harpsichord piece
- “When I am laid in earth” from Dido and Aeneas
- Henry Purcell
- opera aria
- Minuet and Trio from Water music
- Handel
- dance suite
- “V’adoro, pupille” from Giulio Cesare
- Handel
- opera aria
- Cleopatra trying to seduce Cesar
- Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern
- Buxtehude
- chorale fantasia
- “Durch Adams fall,” from the Orgelbuchlein
- Bach
- chorale prelude
- Brandenburg Conerto No. 5 in D major
- Bach
- concerto grosso
- “Zion hort die Wachter singen” from Wachet auf
- Bach
- chorus from chorale cantata
What is an opera aria?
a serious opera, depicted epic or mythological events involving larger than life Kings, Queens, gods and goddesses.
How is a concerted Motet constructed?
Choir 1: Four solo Voices
Choir 2: SATB choir
Choir 3: instruments
What is a chorus from an oratorio?
A multi-movement religious work done by solo voices using recitative, arioso, and aria, with commentary and summary provided by a chorus.
What is a trio sonata?
Two treble instruments (usually violins) and continuo
- Four people usually
What is a solo concerto?
composed a line for a single melody instrument (usually a violin) and basso continuo
- Three people usually
What is concerto grosso?
a large body of performers that contrast with a a smaller group of soloists
What is a dance suite?
an ordered set of dances for solo instrument or ensemble
What is a french overture?
opening; a distinctive type of instrumental prelude created by Lully
What is a Chorale fantasia
a lengthy composition for organ that takes a chorale tune as a point of departure but increasingly gives free rein to the composers imagination.
What is a chorale prelude?
An ornamented setting of a pre-existing chorale tune intended to be played on the organ before the singing of the chorale by the full congregation.
What is a chorale from chorale contata?
a story set to music sung by choir.
What was the basis of the feud between Artusi and Montverdi?
Artusi said that Monteverdi had a lot of errors and didn’t know how to use counterpoint. Monteverdi defended himself and said he uses seconda practica, a text driven approach to musical composition.
Whose side were the members of the Florentine camerata most likely on in the Artusi v Monteverdi feud?
Monteverdi’s side
What type of music was found in Giulio Caccini’s “Le nuove musiche” and what additional information does this publication contain for performers?
- talks about vocal technique
- provides invaluable information on performance practices for modern performers seeking to re-create the true spirit of early baroque vocal music.
Define Basso continuo
a bass line that provided a never-ending foundation, or “continuous bass,” for the melody above; also a small ensemble of usually two instruments that played this support
Define figured bass
a numerical shorthand that tells the player which unwritten notes to fill in above the written bass note
Define basso ostinato
a bass line that insistently repeats, note for note
What instruments may have been included in the ensemble that played the basso continuo?
lute or theorbo
In what city did Monteverdi compose his early opera “Orfeo”?
Mantua
What was Monteverdi’s last opera that he wrote?
“L’incoranazione di Poppea”
What building is Giovanni Gabrieli associated with?
the basilica of St. Mark
What was St. Mark’s significance for Giovanni Gabrieli’s musical style?
He avoided complex counterpoint and quick harmonic changes in favor of short units of homophonic declamation in which the text is clearly audible.
Textual clarity is particularly important in a large, stone building since it has muddy acoustics.
Who was the first composer to use the term “sonata”?
Giovanni Gabrieli
What was the relationship between Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Shutz?
Schutz went to Venice to study under Gabrieli.
What are the most important musical features of Schutz’s three collections of motets entitled “Symphoniae sacrae”?
- Concertato style
- Basso Continuo
- Text expression
How did Heinrich Shutz’s last two collections differ from the first one?
He wrote them after the war so they were larger.
What was the primary genre in which Barbara Strozzi composed?
Cantata
- something sung
What was the typical performance venue for Barbara Strozzi’s music?
Chamber cantata
- private residence; only select group of listeners
What is the difference between a toccata and a ricercar, as codified in the organ music of Girolamo Frescobaldi?
Toccota
- an instrumental piece to show off the creative spirit of the compuser and skill of performer. Free-form keyboard piece.
Ricercar
- an instrumental piece usually for a lute or keyboard. Similar in style to the 16th century imitative motet
Why did the genre of the oratorio develop in Rome? What is an oratorio?
To satisfy the Roman desire for dramatic music during Lent
A multi-movement religious work done by solo voices using recitative, arioso, and aria, with commentary and summary provided by a chorus.
How did Giacomo Carissimi contribute to the development of the oratorio?
He wrote the oratorio Jephte, the guy who had to sacrifice his daughter because of a promise that he made to God.
What were some of the factors that led to the rising status of the violin during the seventeenth century?
At first, it was an aristocratic regular/lower-class instrument. Then in the the 17th century, it became a “high-art” instrument because it was popular for both lower and high-class musicians. They started appearing on Baroque stages and were played by high-class musicians.
What were the defining characteristics of the sonata early in the Baroque period?
- A piece for a single instrument or small instrument ensemble
- Single movement
- Many instrumental parts
What contributions did Arcargelo Corelli make to the development of the sonata?
His sonatas were the most frequently reproduced collections in the history of music
Made the solo and trio sonata become the norm for sonatas until the end of the Baroque era.
What is the difference between a sonata da chiesa and a sonata da camera?
da chiesa: sonatas intended for church
da camera: sonatas for the private chamber
How does the Baroque trumpet differ from a modern trumpet?
- A baroque trumpet was a natural trumpet with no keys or valves. Mostly tuned to the key of D
- Played in a higher register
How does the music of Giuseppe Torelli take advantage of the brilliance of the Baroque trumpet?
- He wrote them in higher keys
- Clarino register
In what city and venue was Giuseppe Torelli’s music performed?
- Bologna, Italy at St. Petronio’s
What is the significance of Antonio Vivaldi’s position at the “Ospedale della Pieta, both in terms of musical style and social history?
- The “Ospedale della Pieta” was a combination of an orphanage, convent, and music conservatory providing for the care and education of young women.
- Vivaldi composed many of his concertos specifically for his female pupils at the Hospice of Mercy so that they might develop and demonstrate their musical skills.
What is a ripieno?
a larger ensemble, Italian for “full”
What is a concertino?
smaller ensemble of two three or four soloists
What is a ritornello?
Italian word for “return” or “refrain”
- begins with a distinct main theme, the ritornello, which returns again and again, invariable played by the ripieno.
What are the four main dances of the dance suite, as standardized by Johann Froberger?
- Allemande: stately dance in 4/4 meter at a moderate tempo; upbeat
- Courante: a lively dance characterized by intentional metrical ambiguity created by means of hemiola 6/4
- Sarabande: a slow, stately dance in 3/4 with a strong accent on the second beat.
- Gigue: a fast dance in 6/8 or 12/8 with a constant eighth-note pulse that produces a galloping sound.
Besides the basic four, what are some other types of dances standardized by Johann Froberger?
- Minuet
- Bouree
- Gavotte
- Hornpipe
What is a scordatura?
tuning a string instrument to something other than standard tuning
How is the scordatura used in Heinrich Biber’s “Mystery Sonatas”?
It made the sonatas easier to play to produce special effects and to make the instrument sound more brilliant by emphasizing the resonance of particular strings.
One example is Sonata No. 11. The strings were tuned and arranged in a way that it adds a visible sign of a cross.
Why was Louis XIV so important to the history of French Baroque music?
He centralized the production of art music, just as he did all other aspects of social, economic and political life.
He is known as the sun king, source of light for all the French people.
How did the French style of opera established by Jean-Baptiste Lully differ from Italian opera?
He created the tragedie lyrique which was not a solo singer’s opera, like Italian opera, but a dancing actor’s opera.
- required 5 acts, Italian operas had 3
- begins with French overture, not Italian overture
- Used actual female voices instead of little boys
Who were the principle composers of lute and harpsichord music in France?
Ennemond Gaultier and his younger cousin Denis Gaultier
What is style brise?
A modern term for a type of discontinuous texture in which chords are broken apart and the notes enter one by one.
What is overdotting?
Overdotting is where a dotted note is made longer than written, while its complementary short note(s) is made shorter.
What is notes inegales?
A succession of equal notes move rapidly up or down the scale and are played somewhat unequally, such as “long-short, long-short”.
What are agrements?
ornaments indicated by a variety of symbols
How did the political situation in England affect the development of music throughout the seventeenth century?
The restoration period that took place during the reign of King Charles II. He worked to repair what was broken during the previous Republic period. The theaters and all forms of entertainment flourished again. The Church of England was restored. But there was still encouragement of secular music.
Why was English opera so slow to develop?
- Italian was the dominant language for opera, so composers had to either translate or write new English operas.
- There were little opera houses already built
- Puritans were skeptical.
- People preferred fully spoken drama like masques and semi-operas
How does Purcell create a strong feeling of lament in “When I am laid in earth”, the signature aria from Dido and Aeneas?
- By repeating the text to express emotion.
- At the end of Dido’s final line, the singer breaks off, as if unable to articulate her sorrow further. But the strings press on, carrying Dido’s inconsolable grief across two final statements of the ground bass.
What is an ode?
The ode is a multi-movement composition, usually lasting about twenty minutes, containing an instrumental introduction, choruses, duets, and solo arias.
Written for royal weddings, coronations, funerals, etc.
What are the main features of odes written by Purcell and his contemporaries?
- Text setting and word painting
- Chorus and solo sections
- Use of ground bass
- repetitive patterns
Describe Handel’s life before he arrived in London in 1710.
- Born in Halle, Germany
- Father wanted him to be a lawyer but Handel wanted to do music.
- At 18 he moved to Hamburg, Germany to play second violin and then harpsichord in the opera orchestra.
- Then he studies German opera.
- His prinicipal mentor was Reinhard Keiser.
- He went to Italy to learn the Italian traditions firsthand.
- He went back to Germany in 1710 as court of the elector of Hanover and then moved to England.
What were the circumstances surrounding Handel’s composition of the “Water Music” in 1717?
King George I refused to speak English and only spoke his native language, German. His son didn’t like that so George banned him from court. The people of London didn’t like that.
So to get them to like him, he planned a program of public entertainments, which was where Handel performed the Water Music
What role did Handel play in the growing popularity of Italian opera in London during the early eighteenth century?
- He was the first to bring all-sung Italian opera to London.
- He was the musical force behind the formation of a publicly held stock company for the production of Italian opera. This company was called the Royal Academy of Music.
Why did Handel eventually switch from Italian operas to English oratorios?
Because both the Royal Academy of Music and the Opera of the Nobility both failed.
Describe the early performance history of Handel’s “Messiah”.
- First performed in Dublin, Ireland
- Then London
- Then at the chapel of the Foundling Hospital for orphans
What is the difference between a chorale fantasia and a chorale prelude?
Chorale fantasia:
- longer
- may include thematic development, modulation and diverse techniques
- more complex
Chorale prelude:
- shorter
- usually homophonic
- simpler
Why is Dieterich Buxtehude regarded as an important influence on Bach?
Bach traveled 280 miles to study under Buxtehude. He taught him ornamentation.
What is the Well-Tempered Clavier?
A collection of preludes and fugues by Bach in two books.
Describe the anatomy of a Bach fugue using the appropriate terminology.
- Subject: theme of the fugue
- Exposition: opening section
- Countersubject: counters the subject
- Episode: free section
How does Bach’s treatment of the solo instruments in the first movement of his Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 diverge from the typical concerto grosso format?
It is written in ritornello form.
To what prestigious position was Bach appointed in 1723?
Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany.
Why did Bach compose hundreds of cantatas at St. Thomas Church?
It was part of the job. He needed to provide new music for the church every Sunday and religious holiday, so 60 new songs per year.
How does Bach use Lutheran chorales in his cantatas, as exemplified by Wachet auf, one of his best-known works?
This piece uses traditional chorale melody during each of its three choral movements.
What were some of Bach’s later projects?
- Bach’s Goldberg Variations
- The Musical Offering
- The Art of Fugue
- B-Minor Mass
