Midterm: Vocab

Question 1

objectified or archetypal emotions or states of mind, such as sadness, joy, fear, or wonder; one goal of much Baroque music was to arouse the affections

Answer 1

affeti (affections)

Question 2

ornament in French music, often indicated by a sign (French for “charm”)

Answer 2

agréments

Question 3

French for “German dance”; highly stylized dance in binary form, in moderately fast quadruple meter with almost continuous movement, beginning with an upbeat popular during the Renaissance and the Baroque; appears often as the first dance of a suite

Answer 3

allemande

Question 4

Italian for “air”; (1) in the late 17=6th and early 17th centuries, any section of an Italian strophic poem for a solo singer; (2) Lyrical monologue in an opera or other vocal work such as cantata or oratorio

Answer 4

aria

Question 5

Italian for “continuous bass”; “thoroughness”; (1) System of Baroque notation and performance practice, in which the instrumental bass line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, lute, or other instruments fill in the harmony with appropriate chords of improvised melodic lines; (2) the bass line itself

Answer 5

basso continuo

Question 6

Italian for “persistent bass”; a pattern in the bass that repeats as the melody above it changes; also known as “ground bass”

Answer 6

basso ostinato

Question 7

Circle of intellectuals and amateurs of the arts that met in Florence, Italy, in the 1570s and 1580s. (Camerata is Italian for “circle” or “association”)

Answer 7

Camerata de Bardi

Question 8

Italian for “song”; (1) 16th century Italian genre, an instrumental work adapted from a chanson or composed in a similar style; (2) in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, an instrumental work in several contrasting sections, of which the first and some of the others are imitative counterpoint.

Answer 8

Canzona

Question 9

Male singer who was castrated before puberty to preserve his high vocal range, prominent in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, primarily in opera (plural: castrati)

Answer 9

Castrato

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Chaconne

Question 11

From Italian “concentare”, “to reach agreement”; In 17th century music, the combination of voices with one or more instruments, where the instruments do not simply double the voices but play independent parts

Answer 11

Concertato style

Question 12

(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

Answer 12

Concerto

Question 13

Instruments used to realize a basso continuo, such as harpsichord, organ, lute, or theorbo

Answer 13

Continuo Instruments

Question 14

A dance in binary form, in compound meter at a moderate tempo and with an upbeat, featured as a standard movement of the Baroque dance suite

Answer 14

courante

Question 15

A form of basso continuo in which the bass line is supplied with numbers or flat or sharp signs to indicate the appropriate chords to be played

Answer 15

figured bass

Question 16

Baroque duple time dance in binary form, with a half-measure upbeat and a characteristic rhythm of short-short-long

Answer 16

gavotte

Question 17

French for “jig”; Stylized dance movement of a standard Baroque suite, in binary form, marked by fast compound meter such as 6/4 or 12/8 with wide melodic leaps and continuous triplets. The two sections usually begin with imitation

Answer 17

gigue

Question 18

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

Answer 18

impresario

Question 19

Musical interlude on a pastoral, allegorical, or mythological subject performed before, between, or after the acts of a spoken comedy or tragedy

Answer 19

intermedio

Question 20

Italian for “little book”; Literary text for an opera or other musical stage work

Answer 20

libretto

Question 21

Dialogue on a sacred subject, set to music and usually performed with action, and linked to the liturgy

Answer 21

liturgical drama

Question 22

Comes from the Italian “madrigale”, or “ song in the mother tongue”; Sixteenth century Italian poem having any number of lines, each of seven or eleven syllables

Answer 22

madrigal

Question 23

A series of madrigals that represent a succession of scenes or a simple plot

Answer 23

madrigal cycle

Question 24

Dance in moderate triple meter, two measure units, and binary form

Answer 24

minuet

Question 25

etc.

Answer 25

modality

Question 26

(1) An accompanied solo song; (2) the musical texture of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments

Answer 26

monody

Question 27

French for "unequal notes"; 17th century concept of performing French music in which passages notated in short, even durations are performed by alternating longer notes on the beat with shorter offbeats to produce a lilting rhythm

Answer 27

notes inégales

Question 28

Italian for "work"; Drama with continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action

Answer 28

opera

Question 29

Genre of dramatic music that originated in the 17th century; combines narrative, dialogue, and commentary through arias, recitatives, ensembles, choruses, and instrumental music, like an unstaged opera; Usually concerns a religious or biblical subject

Answer 29

oratorio

Question 30

The addition of embellishments to a given melody, either during performance or as part of the act of composition

Answer 30

ornamentation

Question 31

Play in verse with incidental music and songs, normally set in idealized rural surroundings, often in ancient times; a source for the earliest opera librettos

Answer 31

pastoral drama

Question 32

Introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an improvisation, or introductory movement in a multi movement work such as an opera or suite

Answer 32

prelude

Question 33

Italian for "first practice"; Monteverdi's term for the style and practice of 16th century polyphony, in contradiction to the seconda practica

Answer 33

prima practica

Question 34

Performing music who's notation is incomplete, as in playing a basso continuo or completing a piece left unfinished by its composer

Answer 34

realization

Question 35

A type of singing that approaches speech and follows the natural rhythms of the text

Answer 35

recitative style

Question 36

(1) In 16th and 17th century vocal music, instrumental introduction or interlude between sung stanzas; (2) Instrumental passage that reoccurs several times in an opera; (3) Reoccurring thematic material played at the beginning by the full orchestra and repeated (concerto)

Answer 36

ritornello

Question 37

In French baroque music, a slow dance in binary form and in triple meter, often emphasizing the second beat; a standard movement of a suite

Answer 37

sarabande

Question 38

Monteverdi's term for a practice of counterpoint and composition that allows the rules of 16th century counterpoint to be broken in order to express the feelings of the text

Answer 38

seconda practica

Question 39

(1) Italian opera overture in the 18th century; (2) generic term used throughout the 17th century for an abstract ensemble piece, typically serving as an introduction to a vocal work

Answer 39

sinfonia

Question 40

A through-composed setting of a non-strophic poem for solo voice with accompaniment, distinguished from an aria and from a madrigal with several voices

Answer 40

solo madrigal

Question 41

Italian for "sounded"; A Baroque instrumental piece with contrasting sections or movements, often with imitative counterpoint

Answer 41

sonata

Question 42

Baroque sonata, usually a suite of stylized dances, scored for one or more treble instruments and continuo. Also known as chamber sonata.

Answer 42

sonata da camera

Question 43

Baroque instrumental work intended for performance in church; usually in four movements (slow-fast-slow-fast) and scored for one or more treble instruments and continuo.

Answer 43

sonata da chiesa

Question 44

Italian for "touched"; Piece for keyboard instrument or lute resembling an improvisation that may include imitative sections or may serve as a prelude to an independent fugue

Answer 44

toccata

Question 45

The system, common since the late seventeenth century, by which a piece of music is organized around a tonic note, chord, and key, to which all the other notes and keys in the piece are subordinate

Answer 45

tonality

Question 46

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Answer 46

traite de l'harmonie

Question 47

Bass line in Baroque music- and later in jazz- that moves steadily and continuously

Answer 47

walking bass

Question 48

Text depiction

Answer 48

word painting

Question 49

x

Answer 49

Istitutioni armoniche