The Concerto Through Time

Question 1

Baroque time period

Answer 1

1600-1750

Question 2

Baroque Composers

Answer 2

Vivaldi
JS Bach
Corelli
Handel

Question 3

How can you tell a piece is Baroque?

Answer 3

• Harpsichord used
• Basso continuo
• Small orchestra
• Highly ornamented melodies
• Terraced dynamics
• Sequences used
• Balanced phrases
• Diatonic harmony

Question 4

Instruments in the Baroque orchestra

Answer 4

• Mainly strings
• Simple flutes and recorders
• Timpani
• Oboe and bassoon

Question 5

Basso Continuo

Answer 5

Cello and Harpsichord continuous bass line
Harpsichord plays chords

Question 6

3 movements of Baroque concertos

Answer 6

Fast slow fast

Question 7

Ritornello structure

Answer 7

Abacada
A: Main theme
b,c,d: Episodes
a: ‘Little returns’ to the theme
- See Vivaldi’s Spring

Question 8

Features of Baroque melody

Answer 8

Ornaments: trills, turns, mordents
Long, flowing phrases
Sequences
Antiphony and imitation
Fast notes

Question 9

Baroque names for soloists and accompaniment

Answer 9

Soloists- concertino
Accompaniment- ripieno

Question 10

Classical time period

Answer 10

1750-1820

Question 11

How can you tell a piece is Classical?

Answer 11

• Use of the newly invented piano and clarinet
• Starting to use gradual dynamics like crescendos/diminuendos
• Medium sized orchestra
• Balanced and even phrases
• Primary harmonies
• Mainly strings
• Clear cadences
• Rocking chordal accompaniments

Question 12

Cadenza

Answer 12

Used in Classical and more so in the Romantic era
- Solo virtuosic passage
- End of the 1st movt
- Improvised
- Rapid scales and arpeggios, ascending and descending
- Often end with a long trill to signal the orchestra coming in again for the coda.

Question 13

Features of Classical melody

Answer 13

• Usually simple, lyrical, and graceful
• Few or no accidentals
• Even phrases
• Question and answer phrases

Question 14

Classical composers

Answer 14

Mozart
Haydn
Beethoven

Question 15

Alberti Bass

Answer 15

Broken chord repeated accompaniment used in the Classical era

Question 16

Romantic time period

Answer 16

1820-1900

Question 17

Romantic composers

Answer 17

Liszt
Rachmaninoff
Brahms
Mendelssohn

Question 18

Features of Romantic melody

Answer 18

• Expressive and passionate
• Longer and more complex
• Virtuosic solos
• Chromatic notes
• Crescendos and decrescendos
• Most common instruments were horns and cellos

Question 19

How can you tell a piece is Romantic?

Answer 19

• Very thick and varied texture
• Chromatic notes and dissonant harmonies
• Accented notes
• Large orchestra
• Keyed brass
• Rubato and tenuto
• New instruments such as the piccolo, cor anglais, trombone and tuba
• Emphasis on percussion with use of cymbals, bass drums and the triangle
• Complex rhythms
• Piano covers a wider pitch and dynamic range e.g. ppp and fff

Question 20

Romantic harmony

Answer 20

• Varied orchestral texture
• Dissonant