Music Appreciation Test 4 Definitions

Front 1

Strophic form

Back 1

Song structure in which the same melody is repeated with every stanza.

Front 2

Through-composed form

Back 2

Song structure which proceeds from beginning to end without melodic repetition of whole sections.

Front 3

Art song

Back 3

Music form of the early nineteenth century that met the composers need for intimate, personal expression.

Front 4

Lied

Back 4

(plural: Lieder) German for "song"; most commonly associated with the solo art song for the nineteenth century, usually accompanied by piano.

Front 5

Song cycle

Back 5

Group of songs, usually Lieder, that are unified musically or through their text.

Front 6

Bel canto

Back 6

"Beautiful singing"; elegant Italian vocal style characterized by florid melodic lines delivered by voices of great agility, smoothness and purity of tone.

Front 7

Nocturne

Back 7

"Night piece"; introspective work common in the nineteenth century, often for piano.

Front 8

Polonaise and Mazurka

Back 8

Stately Polish processional dance in triple meter

Front 9

Rubato

Back 9

"Robbed or borrowed time"; while playing the melodic line, the artist is allowed to retard or accelerate at liberty in attempt to add personal flair

Front 10

Program music

Back 10

Instrumental pieces titled for literary or pictorial association.

Front 11

Symphonic ( tone ) poem

Back 11

Program music for the orchestra, in one movement, with contrasting sections to develop a poetic idea, suggest a scene, or create a mood.

Front 12

Idee fixe

Back 12

" Fixed idea "; term coined by Berlioz for a recurring musical idea that links different movements of a work.

Front 13

Musical nationalism

Back 13

19th century Romantic composers under growing political nationalism began basing their works on songs, dances, history and heroes of their home country.

Front 14

Exoticism

Back 14

Musical style in which rhythms, melodies, or instruments invoke the color and atmosphere of far-off lands.

Front 15

La Scala

Back 15

Milan opera house where Verdi's "Otello" and Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" premiered.

Front 16

Bayreuth

Back 16

Site of the Festival Theater at Bayreuth, a theater planned specifically for the presentation of Wagner's musical dramas.

Front 17

Music drama

Back 17

Wagner's term for his operas.

Front 18

Leitmotif

Back 18

"Leading motive," or basic recurring theme representing a person, object, or idea, commonly used in Wagner's operas.

Front 19

Verismo

Back 19

Operatic "realism," a style popular in Italy in the 1890s, which tried to bring naturalism into the lyric theater.