Romantic - Key terms Flashcards
Romantic Dates
1820 - 1900
Romantic Features
Features a wider range of instruments and an expansion in the size of the orchestra. Music was used to tell stories or create emotions and a wider range of harmony was used, including discords.
Romantic Composers
Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Chopin, Brahms. Liszt, Dvorak
Cadenza
A sections of a concerto where the soloist can really show off. It’s often improvised, but some composers write them out
Concerto
A piece for soloist and orchestra, usually in three movements (Fast / Slow / Fast)
Diminuendo
Gradually getting quieter
Ornamentation
Melodic decorations
Question and Answer
A musical conversation similar to call and response with one part singing or playing the question, with the other part responding with the answer
Piano
A keyboard instrument where the sound is created by the striking of a hammer on strings
Crescendo
Gradually getting louder
Imitation
The repetition of a melody in a different voice. The repeated version can be varied by playing it a different pitch or making some changes to it, but the character of the original melody remains
Sequence
Where a melodic phrase is immediately repeated at a different pitch, often by step
Tutti
Everyone
Virtuoso
A phenomenal musician on one instrument
New instruments of the Romantic Era
Bass Clarinet, Double Bassoon, Harp, Tuba, Cor Anglais
Trill
Rapid alternation between the note indicated and the note directly above it
Turn
Playing of the note above the one on the score, the note itself, the note below the one on the score and the note itself again
Mordent
A single rapid alternation with the note above (upper mordent ) and the note bellow (lower mordent)
Acciaccatura
Played a tone or semitone above or below the melody note it is decorating. Sometimes called a crushed note, because it is played very quickly before the melody note
Appoggiatura
Comes from the Latin “to lean upon”, and is similar to an acciaccatura, but the main note is delayed by the ornament note, which takes half the length of the main note
Binary
AB - two sections of roughly equal length
Ternary
ABA - section B contrasts with section A, but the repeat of section A can be exactly the same as the original.
Rondo
ABACADAEAF - Literally “to return”, main theme = A, episodes = B/C/D/E/F
Symphony
A large scale work for orchestras, usually in four movements
Sonata
A piece with 3 or 4 movements, written for one or two instruments
