The Renaissance +Baroque

Question 1

Humanism

Answer 1

An early-Renaissance intellectual and cultural movement that explored human interests and values through the pursuit of science, philosophy, literature, painting, sculpture, and music, particularly vocal music.

Question 2

Renaissance

Answer 2

The historical period in music extending from approximately 1420 to 1600.
- composers united words and music more than ever before.
- drama emphasized lifelike characters.
composers captured human emotions
- Text is often missing from Renaissance music manuscripts
-Texture: Polyphonic with imitative counterpoint
-Melody: flowing with use of disjunct motion, divided into sections by cadences.
- Women were not allowed to sing in church choirs because it was thought women might distract the men

Question 3

Word painting

Answer 3

Music that imitates, describes, or conjures images of the text being sung.

Question 4

Ternary form

Answer 4

A form consisting of three parts, labeled ABA or ABA’ (that is, with the return of ”A” varied).

Question 5

Fasetto

Answer 5

A technique for singing in a very high range by which a singer causes the voice to bypass the larynx, which is the part of the throat that otherwise gives men’s voices a deeper register.

Question 6

Counterpoint

Answer 6

A style of writing in which every voice is a melody and all voices work together; from the Latin word contrapunctum, or ”note-against-note.” Counterpoint is basic to polyphonic texture.
- system of rules and procedures used to compose several melodies that soung good when played eiher alone or together

Question 7

A Cappella

Answer 7

Sung without instrumental accompaniment of any kind

Question 8

Anthem

Answer 8

An English sacred choral work

Question 9

choral music

Answer 9

vocal music with more than one singer to a part

Question 10

Elided Cadence

Answer 10

in a polyphonic texture, a cadence between two or more voices that overlaps with the entry of another voice or voices. An elided cadence is often used to begin a new line of text and music before the previous one has come to a complete stop.

Question 11

imitation

Answer 11

A shortened for of the term “imitative counterpoint”: the same theme introduced by different instruments or voices in succession.

Question 12

Imitative counterpoint

Answer 12

a particular type of counterpoint in which one voice introduces a new theme and is answered (“imitated”) by other voices that enter in succession shortly afterward, even as the first voice continues to sing or play.

Question 13

Motet

Answer 13

In the music of the renaissance and Baroque, a sacred choral work used in both Catholic and Protestant services.

Question 14

Baroque

Answer 14

the historical period in music extending from ~1600-1750
- music served an important means of conveying the teachings of the church, and sacred music could be every bit as elaborate as sacred architecture.
musicians tried to create an effect on their audiences through the artful portrayal of emotion
- kings and queens sponsoring and commissioning the most famous musicians to write music for their courts
- church prohibited performance of operas during the penitential season of lent.
textures, harmonies, and forms are more free than Renaissance music.
-Texture: polyphonic and homophonic coexist
Rhythm: wider range of extremes
- sharp distinctions between vocal and instrumental parts

Question 15

Basso Continuo

Answer 15

”Continuous bass”; a small ensemble, widely used in music of the Baroque, that plays throughout a work and provides an underlying bass line and harmonies. It consists of two instruments: one that can sustain long notes (such as a bass viol, a cello, or a bassoon), and one that can play chords (such as a lute or a harpsichord).

Question 16

Chorus

Answer 16

An ensemble with multiple singers to a part; ”chorus” is also the name for the musical number or movement sung by this ensemble. In Baroque opera, the chorus comments on the action and emotions unfolding onstage.

Question 17

Recitative

Answer 17

A style of singing that lies somewhere between lyrical song and speech; also, the operatic number that is sung in this style.

Question 18

Overture

Answer 18

A purely instrumental opening movement that introduces a longer work, often for voices (as an opera).
- it signaled to the audience that the drama was starting

Question 19

Ground bass

Answer 19

A short pattern of notes repeated over and over; another name for an ostinato in the bass part.

Question 20

French Overture

Answer 20

An overture common in French Baroque opera, usually consisting of a slow introduction with dotted rhythms, followed by a fast section frequently employing imitation.

Question 21

Da Capo Aria

Answer 21

An aria that opens with two contrasting sections, A and B; at the end of the B section, the singer and orchestra return to the beginning of the A section, following the direction in the score of ”da capo”—literally, ”from the head.” When the singer performs this A section a second time, he or she embellishes it heavily

Question 22

Opera Seria

Answer 22

Italian for ”serious opera”; Italian Baroque opera on a serious subject, typically consisting of alternating recitatives and da capo arias.

Question 23

Da Capo

Answer 23

Italian for ”from the head”; a direction to go back and play from the very beginning of the piece.

Question 24

Aria

Answer 24

Italian for ”air” or ”melody”; any lyrical movement or piece for solo voice, usually with some kind of instrumental accompaniment.

Question 25

Ostinato

Answer 25

A short pattern of notes repeated over and over.

Question 26

Episode

Answer 26

In a fugue, a passage in which the subject is not present

- It is the section between middle entries.

Question 27

Fugal exposition

Answer 27

the opening section of a fugue, in which all the voices enter with the main subject

Question 28

Fugue

Answer 28

A polyphonic work based on a central theme and employing imitation
- touchstone of a composer’s art

Question 29

Manual

Answer 29

The keyboard of an organ or harpsichord. These instruments often have more than one manual

Question 30

Middle Entires

Answer 30

In a fugue, later entries of the subject, after the exposition

Question 31

Subject

Answer 31

The central theme of a fugue.

Question 32

Chorale

Answer 32

A hymn tune

Question 33

Dotted Rhythm

Answer 33

Consistent alternation between long and short notes.

Question 34

Cantata

Answer 34

A type of vocal genre typically sung during a service of worship. In Italian, ”that which is sung,” as opposed to sonata, ”that which is played.”

Question 35

Double

Answer 35

To play or sing the same musical line in multiple voices or on multiple instruments; most often used to describe an instrument playing the same line being sung by a voice.

Question 36

Ritornello

Answer 36

Italian for ”little return”; name for the statement and return of the full ensemble, in a work alternating between the orchestra and soloist or soloists.
- in the aria “Thou Shalt Break Them,” the alternation of orchestra

Question 37

Bar form (AKA song form)

Answer 37

A melodic form in which the opening phrase is sung twice and a contrasting phrase follows (AAB). Also called song form.

Question 38

Oratorio

Answer 38

A work musically similar to an opera but not staged, and usually on a sacred topic.
- they were developed because church authorities frowned on the spectacle of opera during Lent and Advent

Question 39

Ritornello Principle

Answer 39

The formal of alternating ritornello and solo sections

Question 40

The Cricket

Answer 40

• Renaissance
• by Josquin des Prez
• 4 distinct voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass)
• Josquin reflects the humorous nature of the test by imitating the sound of a cricket (word painting)
• at the end it sounds unfinished because the musical conventions for final cadences were difference from what we might expect today

Question 41

Josquin des Prez

Answer 41

-celebrity in his time
- publishers falsely attributed many pieces to him
demanded higher salaries
worked mainly in italy
- wrote his music to be performed in many ways: with words, without, arranged for all kinds of instruments
- it is difficult for scholars to accurately attribute “The Cricket” to Josquin des Prez because there were several composers going by the name of “Josquin” in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Question 42

“Tremble” using word painting

Answer 42

Rapidly going back and forth between two notes

Question 43

Verso

Answer 43

in Italian, it means

1. a poetic verse
2. the noise made by an animal

Question 44

William Byrd

Answer 44

• “sing Joyfully”
• A Catholic working for the Protestant queen Elizabeth 1
• harassed as “papist”
• He escaped persecution in protestant England because he was recognized in his time as an outstanding composer of Protestant music

Question 45

Sing Joyfully

Answer 45

• Texture: 6 distinct voices (polyphony)
• Form: each section has its own musical idea, therefore different melody
• word painting: blow the trumpet, and proclamation
• a cappella

Question 46

Anthem

Answer 46

English equivalent of the motet

- both are sacred choral works

Question 47

Challenge for many Renaissance composers

Answer 47

making the text clear while writing intricate polyphony.

Question 48

Castrati

Answer 48

Singers who had been castrated as young boys so as to preserve the high range of their voices
- they possessed both the high range of a woman’s voice and the physical power of a man’s voice.

Question 49

Virtuosos

Answer 49

During the Baroque Era, star singers and instrumentalists were known as virtuosos, were coveted by rulers and the public alike.

Question 50

Dido and Aeneas

Answer 50

• instrumental overture, and an aria
• Aeneas: a refugee from Troy, promises to marry Dido, Queen Mary of Carthage (now Tunisia) but abandons her, driving her to suicide.
• it might have offended the English monarchy because it features a love affair between a native queen and a foreigner ending badly.
• The chorus observes and comments on the action

Question 51

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Answer 51

• born into a family of musicians
• Aeneas and Dido was his only true opera
• English opera was not popular in England until after Purcell’s time (Italian was preffered)
• The English were hostile to the idea of opera because there was a long tradition of spoken theatre in England
• In his technique of moving the plot forward through a series of “numbers”, he was influenced greatly by Italian and French opera composers.

Question 52

Johann Sebastian Bach

Answer 52

• “Little” Fugue
• earned his living through music
• Held many different positions
• Composed organ works while working as church organist
• Composed orchestral music while working as violinist, concertmaster, and music director
• Composed cantatas while working as cantor
• Wrote in every genre except opera. He was hired to write music. that’s why he wrote a lot.
• Several of his sons became respected composers
• he wasn’t the easiest of employees
• very high self worth estimation, so he thought he was being underpaid and underappreciated.
• popular genres of sacred music: cantatas, motets, Masses and oratorios
• In his first three years as music director at St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, Bach wrote about one cantata a week.

Question 53

Fugue in G minor

Answer 53

• composed when Bach was 20
• one real theme
• versions for organs and orchestra
  The main Melody consists of 3 sections.
  -The note values get shorter and shorter so that gives the subject a feeling of forward momentum

Question 54

Organ

Answer 54

• called the “King of instruments”, because It is quite large and powerful, and it can produce a variety of timbres.
• large range of volume and timbre
• Low notes performed on pedal board
• The manual or keyboard on the Baroque organ activates the pipes to make sounds
• airflow through an organ was generated by someone (usually a small boy) treading on a large set of bellows.

Question 55

Fugal Texture

Answer 55

• begins with a subject, often distinctive and recognizable.
• alternation of episodes and middle entries.

Question 56

Opera

Answer 56

Early opera from around Europe were often based on classical history or Greek Myths

Question 57

Recitative to Aria

Answer 57

Moving from exposition or conversation to emotional expression,

Question 58

How does Bach’s original Fugue in G Minor differ from Stokowski’s arrangement?

Answer 58

-Bach’s original was written for an organ; Stokowski arranged the music for several instruments.

Question 59

Awake, A voice Calls to us

Answer 59

• By Johann Sebastian Bach
• One of the reasons Bach wrote Awake, a Voice Calls to Us in German was because Lutheran beliefs dictated that worship be done in the vernacular to facilitate a personal connection with God.
  It is easy to sing because the melody is in short phrases, allowing singers time to breathe between phrases.
• Those gaps are filled by the orchestra and other voices in the chorus

Question 60

Messiah Selections

Answer 60

The oratorio
Satisfied the church and music lovers
Included recitatives, arias, and choruses
Not staged
- Performed during penitential seasons
- usually has no plot or characters.
-text drawn from biblical passages.
- employs recitative, aria, and chorus
- Handel illustrates “broken” and “dashed” through word painting
- form: Paired Movements: declamatory recitative (tenor and basso continuo) sets up more elaborate aria, which employs the ritornello principle (ensemble and soloist alternate); includes long melismas in aria.
A Single Melody: A single melodic idea illustrates the intense focus of the text
Homophonic Texture: Allows singer to project words clearly; instruments support the voice while adding depth
A Stark Timbre: Recitative includes voice and basso continuo; violins added in the aria; large ensemble reserved for following chorus
-Chorus:
Text compiled of different verses from the Book of Revelations
Sectional Form: Each text phrase receives its own, distinctive melodic material; four large sections within the chorus as a whole (A, B, C, and D)
The Same Melody for the Same Words: Handel sets the same words to the same melodies; different melodies appear at the same time for dramatic effect
Varied Textures: Features all three types of textures (monophony, homophony, polyphony); contributes to sense of variety
Varied Timbres: Full orchestra contrasts with previous aria; instruments building to final climax

Question 61

George Frideric Handel

Answer 61

• Messiah, selections
• Born in same region and same year as J. S. Bach, though the two never met
  Handel traveled widely through Europe
  Worked for long periods in Italy, Germany, and England
  Very successful writing operas and oratorios

Question 62

Hallelujah

Answer 62

Handel uses how many melodies, repeating them for the same words? - 5

Form: ABCD

Question 63

Opera vs. Oratorio

Answer 63

Operas include sets and costumes; oratorios do not.