Romantic Period Vocab

Question 1

Individuality of Style

Answer 1

self expression and individualism by the artists/composers

Question 2

nationalism

Answer 2

music based on national identity

Question 3

exoticism

Answer 3

music depicting foreign lands

Question 4

program music

Answer 4

music associated with a story, poem, idea or scene, sometimes including an explanation (program)

Question 5

program

Answer 5

explanatory comments used to describe program music

Question 6

chromatic harmony

Answer 6

harmonies using the chromatic scale (twelve chords) to exploit a broader range

Question 7

rubato

Answer 7

slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo

Question 8

miniature and monumental

Answer 8

descriptions of the times of pieces (3 minutes v 4 hours)

Question 9

thematic transformation

Answer 9

use of dynamics, orchestration or rhythm to transform the character of a later movement.

Question 10

strophic form

Answer 10

repeating the same music for each stanza of the poem

Question 11

through-composed form

Answer 11

new music is written for each stanza throughout the poem

Question 12

song cycle

Answer 12

group of romantic art songs

Question 13

New Journal of Music

Answer 13

edited by Robert Schumann; contained appreciative reviews of radical young composers like Chopin and Berlioz

Question 14

romance

Answer 14

short, lyrical pieces for piano

Question 15

nocturne

Answer 15

“night Piece” slow lyrical, intimate composition for piano

Question 16

etude

Answer 16

study piece designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties (Chopin)

Question 17

symphonic poem/ tone poem

Answer 17

one-movement orchestral composition based to some extent on literary or pictorial ideas

Question 18

absolute music

Answer 18

non programmatic music

Question 19

program symphony

Answer 19

composition in several movements in a certain program

Question 20

concert overture

Answer 20

one movement, usually in sonata form.

Question 21

pentatonic scales

Answer 21

a musical scale or mode with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale

Question 22

syncopation

Answer 22

rhythms which are in some way unexpected which make part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat