Music History Final Exam Terms

Question 1

Seconda Practica

Answer 1

Monteverdi’s term for a practice of counterpoint and composition that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint to be broken in order to express the feelings of a text. Also called stile moderno

Question 2

Figured Bass

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Basso Continuo

Answer 3

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 improbised melodic lines
2. the bass line itself

Question 4

Libretto

Answer 4

literary text for an opera or other musical stage work

Question 5

Monody

Answer 5

1. an accompanied solo song

2. the musical texture of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments

Question 6

Recitative

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Aria

Answer 7

1. in the late 16th and 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 and oratorio

Question 8

Arioso

Answer 8

1. Recitativo arioso
2. Short, aria-like passage
3. Style of vocal writing that approaches the lyricism of an aria but is freer in form

Question 9

Castrato

Castrati

Answer 9

Male singer who was castrated before puberty to preserve his high vocal range, prominent in the 17th and early 18th centuries, especially in opera

Question 10

Concertato Style

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Oratorio

Answer 11

genre of dramatic music that originated in the 17th century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through arias, recitatives, ensembles, choruses, and instrumental music, like an untagged opera. Usually on a religious or biblical subject

Question 12

Basso Ostinato

Answer 12

A pattern in the bass that repeats while the melody above it changes

Question 13

Da Capo Aria

Answer 13

Aria form with two sections. the first section is repeated after the second section’s close, which carries the instruction da capo

Question 14

Sonata Da Camera

Answer 14

Baroque sonata, usually a suite of stylized dances, scored for one or more treble instruments and continuo

Question 15

Sonata Da Chiesa

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Thirty Years’ War

Answer 16

A series of wars fought primarily in central europe

Question 17

Dance Suites

Answer 17

A group of several dances, following this form:

Pavane, Galliard, Courante, Allemande, and tripla (a triple meter version of the Allemande)

Question 18

Choral Prelude

Answer 18

Relatively short setting for organ of a chorale melody, used as an introduction for congregational singing or as an interlude in a Lutheran church service

Question 19

Tragédie en musique

Answer 19

French 17th and 18th century form of opera, pioneered by Jean-Baptiste Lully, that combined the French classic drama and ballet traditions with music, dances, and spectacles

Question 20

French Overture

Answer 20

Type of overture used in Tragédie en Musique and other genres that opens with a slow, homophonic and majestic section, followed by a faster second section that begins with imitation

Question 21

Récitatif Ordinaire

Answer 21

In French BAROQUE OPERA, RECITATIVE that shifts frequently between duple and triple METER to allow the natural speechlike declamation of the words