Music History

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lyre

Back 1

Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, two arms, crossbar, and strings that run parallel to the soundboard and attach to the crossbar.

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harp

Back 2

Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, neck, and strings in roughly triangular shape. The strings rise perpendicular from the soundboard to the neck.

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bull lyre

Back 3

Sumerian LYRE with a bull's head at one end of the soundbox.

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genre

Back 4

Type or category of musical COMPOSITION, such as SONATA or SYMPHONY.

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hymn

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Song to or in honor of a god. In the Christian tradition, song of praise sung to God.

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diatonic

Back 6

(1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD with two WHOLE TONES and one SEMITONE. (2) Name for a SCALE that includes five whole tones and two semitones, where the semitones are separated by two or three whole tones. (3) Adjective describing a MELODY, CHORD, or passage based exclusively on a single diatonic scale.

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notation

Back 7

A system for writing down musical sounds, or the process of writing down music. The principal notation systems of European music use a staff of lines and signs that define the pitch, duration, and other qualities of sound.

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aulos

Back 8

Ancient Greek reed instrument, usually played in pairs.

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lyre

Back 9

Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, two arms, crossbar, and strings that run parallel to the soundboard and attach to the crossbar.

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kithara

Back 10

Ancient Greek instrument, a large LYRE.

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melody

Back 11

(1) Succession of tones perceived as a coherent line. (2) Tune. (3) Principal part accompanied by other parts or CHORDS.

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monophonic

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Consisting of a single unaccompanied MELODIC line.

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heterophony

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Music or musical TEXTURE in which a MELODY is performed by two or more parts simultaneously in more than one way, for example, one voice performing it simply, and the other with embellishments.

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harmonia

Back 14

(pl. harmoniai) Ancient Greek term with multiple meanings: (1) the union of parts in an orderly whole; (2) INTERVAL; (3) SCALE type; (4) style of MELODY.

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ethos

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(Greek, 'custom') (1) Moral and ethical character or way of being or behaving. (2) Character, mood, or emotional effect of a certain TONOS, MODE, METER, or MELODY.

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diastematic

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Having to do with INTERVALS. In diastematic motion, the voice moves between sustained pitches separated by discrete intervals; in diastematic NOTATION, the approximate intervals are indicated by relative height (see HEIGHTED NEUMES).

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note

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(1) A musical TONE. (2) A symbol denoting a musical tone.

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interval

Back 18

Distance in pitch between two NOTES.

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scale

Back 19

A series of three or more different pitches in ascending or descending order and arranged in a specific pattern.

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tetrachord

Back 20

(from Greek, 'four strings') (1) In Greek and medieval theory, a SCALE of four NOTES spanning a perfect fourth. (2) In modern theory, a SET of four pitches or PITCH-CLASSES. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first four, middle four, or last four notes in the ROW.

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genus

Back 21

(Latin, 'class'; pronounced GHEH-noos; pl. genera) In ancient Greek music, one of three forms of TETRACHORD: DIATONIC, CHROMATIC, and ENHARMONIC.

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diatonic

Back 22

(1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD with two WHOLE TONES and one SEMITONE. (2) Name for a SCALE that includes five whole tones and two semitones, where the semitones are separated by two or three whole tones. (3) Adjective describing a MELODY, CHORD, or passage based exclusively on a single diatonic scale.

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chromatic

Back 23

(from Greek chroma, 'color') (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD comprising a minor third and two SEMITONES, or a MELODY that uses such tetrachords. (2) Adjective describing a melody that uses two or more successive semitones in the same direction, a SCALE consisting exclusively of semitones, an INTERVAL or CHORD that draws NOTES from more than one DIATONIC scale, or music that uses many such melodies or chords.

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enharmonic

Back 24

(1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD comprising a major third and two quartertones, or a MELODY that uses such tetrachords. (2) Adjective describing the relationship between two pitches that are notated differently but sound alike when played, such as G# and A.

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conjunct

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(1) In ancient Greek music, adjective used to describe the relationship between two TETRACHORDS when the bottom NOTE of one is the same as the top note of the other. (2) Of a MELODY, consisting mostly of STEPS.

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disjunct

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(1) In ancient Greek music, adjective used to describe the relationship between two TETRACHORDS when the bottom NOTE of one is a whole tone above the top note of the other. (2) Of a MELODY, consisting mostly of skips (third) and leaps (larger INTERVALS) rather than STEPS.

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Greater Perfect System

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In ancient Greek music, a system of TETRACHORDS spanning two octaves.

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species

Back 28

The particular ordering of WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES within a perfect fourth, fifth, or octave.

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The Christian Church in the First Millennium

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psalm

Back 30

A poem of praise to God, one of 150 in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Christian Old Testament). Singing psalms was a central part of Jewish, Christian, Catholic, and Protestant worship.

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cantillation

Back 31

Chanting of a sacred text by a solo singer, particularly in the Jewish synagogue.

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rite

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The set of practices that defines a particular Christian tradition, including a CHURCH CALENDAR, a LITURGY, and a repertory of CHANT.

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church calendar

Back 33

In a Christian RITE, the schedule of days commemorating special events, individuals, or times of year.

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liturgy

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The prescribed body of texts to be spoken or sung and ritual actions to be performed in a religious service.

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plainchant

Back 35

A unison unaccompanied song, particularly a LITURGICAL song to a Latin text.

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chant

Back 36

(1) Unison unaccompanied song, particularly that of the Latin LITURGY (also called PLAINCHANT). (2) The repertory of unaccompanied liturgical songs of a particular RITE.

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chant dialect

Back 37

One of the repertories of ecclesiastical CHANT, including GREGORIAN, BYZANTINE, AMBROSIAN, and OLD ROMAN CHANT.

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Gregorian chant

Back 38

The repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in the Roman Catholic Church.

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Byzantine chant

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The repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in the Byzantine RITE and in the modern Greek Orthodox Church.

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Old Roman chant

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A repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT preserved in eleventh- and twelfth-century manuscripts from Rome representing a local tradition; a near relative of GREGORIAN CHANT.

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echos

Back 41

(Greek; pl. echoi) One of the eight MODES associated with BYZANTINE CHANT.

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centonization

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(from Latin cento, "patchwork") A process of composing a new MELODY by combining standard MOTIVES and formulas, used in BYZANTINE CHANT.

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Ambrosian chant

Back 43

A repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in Milan.

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notation

Back 44

A system for writing down musical sounds, or the process of writing down music. The principal notation systems of European music use a staff of lines and signs that define the pitch, duration, and other qualities of sound.

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neume

Back 45

A sign used in NOTATION of CHANT to indicate a certain number of NOTES and general MELODIC direction (in early forms of notation) or particular pitches (in later forms).

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heighted neumes

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In an early form of NOTATION, NEUMES arranged so that their relative height indicated higher or lower pitch. Also called DIASTEMATIC neumes.

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diastematic neumes

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Having to do with INTERVALS. In diastematic motion, the voice moves between sustained pitches separated by discrete intervals; in diastematic NOTATION, the approximate intervals are indicated by relative height (see HEIGHTED NEUMES).

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musica mundana

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(Latin, 'music of the universe,' 'human music,' and 'instrumental music') Three kinds of music identified by Boethius (ca. 480-ca. 524), respectively the 'music' or numerical relationships governing the movement of stars, planets, and the seasons; the 'music' that harmonizes the human body and soul and their parts; and audible music produced by voices or instruments.

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musica humana

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(Latin, 'music of the universe,' 'human music,' and 'instrumental music') Three kinds of music identified by Boethius (ca. 480-ca. 524), respectively the 'music' or numerical relationships governing the movement of stars, planets, and the seasons; the 'music' that harmonizes the human body and soul and their parts; and audible music produced by voices or instruments.

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musica instrumentalis

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(Latin, 'music of the universe,' 'human music,' and 'instrumental music') Three kinds of music identified by Boethius (ca. 480-ca. 524), respectively the 'music' or numerical relationships governing the movement of stars, planets, and the seasons; the 'music' that harmonizes the human body and soul and their parts; and audible music produced by voices or instruments.

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mode

Back 51

(1) A SCALE or MELODY type, identified by the particular INTERVALLIC relationships among the NOTES in the mode. (2) In particular, one of the eight scale or melody types recognized by church musicians and theorists beginning in the Middle Ages, distinguished from one another by the arrangement of WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES around the FINAL, by the RANGE relative to the final, and by the position of the TENOR or RECITING TONE. (3) RHYTHMIC MODE. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

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final

Back 52

The main NOTE in a MODE; the normal closing note of a CHANT in that mode.

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range

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A span of NOTES, as in the range of a MELODY or of a MODE.

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tenor

Back 54

(from Latin tenere, "to hold") (1) In a MODE or CHANT, the RECITING TONE. (2) In POLYPHONY of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the voice part that has the chant or other borrowed MELODY, often in long-held NOTES. (3) Male voice of a relatively high range.

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authentic mode

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A MODE (2) in which the RANGE normally extends from a STEP below the FINAL to an octave above it. See also PLAGAL MODE.

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plagal mode

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A MODE (2) in a which the RANGE normally extends from a fourth (or fifth) below the FINAL to a fifth or sixth above it. See also AUTHENTIC MODE.

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reciting tone

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(also called TENOR) The second most important NOTE in a MODE (after the FINAL), often emphasized in CHANT and used for reciting text in a PSALM TONE.

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solmization

Back 58

A method of assigning syllables to STEPS in a SCALE, used to make it easier to identify and sing the WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES in a MELODY.

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hexachord

Back 59

(from Greek, 'six strings') (1) A set of six pitches. (2) In medieval and RENAISSANCE SOLMIZATION, the six NOTES represented by the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which could be transposed to three positions: the 'natural' hexachord, C-D-E-F-G-A; the "hard" hexachord, G-A-B-C-D-E; and the 'soft' hexachord, F-G-A-B-C-D. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first six or last six notes in the ROW.

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mutation

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In SOLMIZATION, the process of changing from one HEXACHORD to another.

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Roman Liturgy and Chant

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church calendar

Back 62

In a Christian RITE, the schedule of days commemorating special events, individuals, or times of year.

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Mass

Back 63

from Latin missa, 'dismissed') (1) The most important service in the Roman church. (2) A musical work setting the texts of the ORDINARY of the Mass, typically KYRIE, GLORIA, CREDO, SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI. In this book, as in common usage, the church service is capitalized (the Mass), but a musical setting of the Mass Ordinary is not (a mass).

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Proper

Back 64

(from Latin proprium, 'particular' or 'appropriate') Texts of the MASS that are assigned to a particular day in the CHURCH CALENDAR.

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Ordinary

Back 65

(from Latin ordinarium, 'usual') Texts of the MASS that remain the same on most or all days of the CHURCH CALENDAR, although the tunes may change.

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Introit

Back 66

(from Latin introitus, 'entrance') First item in the MASS PROPER, originally sung for the entrance procession, comprising an ANTIPHON, PSALM verse, Lesser DOXOLOGY, and reprise of the ANTIPHON.

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Kyrie

Back 67

(Greek, "Lord") One of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based on a BYZANTINE litany.

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Gloria

Back 68

(Latin, 'Glory') Second of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, a praise formula also known as the Greater DOXOLOGY.

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Gradual

Back 69

(from Latin gradus, 'stairstep') Item in the MASS PROPER, sung after the Epistle reading, comprising a RESPOND and VERSE. CHANT graduals are normally MELISMATIC in style and sung in a RESPONSORIAL manner, one or more soloists alternating with the CHOIR.

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Alleluia

Back 70

Item from the MASS PROPER, sung just before the Gospel reading, comprising a RESPOND to the text 'Alleluia,' a verse, and a repetition of the respond. CHANT alleluias are normally MELISMATIC in style and sung in a RESPONSORIAL manner, one or more soloists alternating with the CHOIR.

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Credo

Back 71

(Latin, 'I believe') Third of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, a creed or statement of faith.

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Tract

Back 72

(from Latin tractus, 'drawn out') Item in the MASS PROPER that replaces the ALLELUIA on certain days in Lent, comprising a series of PSALM VERSES.

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sequence

Back 73

(from Latin sequentia, 'something that follows') (1) A category of Latin CHANT that follows the ALLELUIA in some MASSES. (2) Restatement of a pattern, either MELODIC or HARMONIC, on successive or different pitch levels.

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Offertory

Back 74

Item in the MASS PROPER, sung while the COMMUNION is prepared, comprising a RESPOND without VERSES.

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Sanctus

Back 75

(Latin, 'Holy') One of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based in part on Isaiah 6:3.

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Agnus Dei

Back 76

(Latin, 'Lamb of God') Fifth of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based on a litany.

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Communion

Back 77

Item in the MASS PROPER, originally sung during communion, comprising an ANTIPHON without verses.

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Office

Back 78

(from Latin officium, 'obligation' or "ceremony") A series of eight prayer services of the Roman church, celebrated daily at specified times, especially in monasteries and convents; also, any one of those services.

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antiphon

Back 79

(1) A LITURGICAL CHANT that precedes and follows a PSALM or CANTICLE in the OFFICE. (2) In the MASS, a chant originally associated with ANTIPHONAL PSALMODY; specifically, the COMMUNION and the first and final portion of the INTROIT.

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responsory

Back 80

RESPONSORIAL CHANT used in the OFFICE. Matins includes nine Great Responsories, and several other Office services include a Short Responsory.

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canticle

Back 81

HYMN-like or PSALM-like passage from a part of the Bible other than the Book of Psalms.

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responsorial

Back 82

Pertaining to a manner of performing CHANT in which a soloist alternates with a group.

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antiphonal

Back 83

Adjective describing a manner of performance in which two or more groups alternate.

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direct

Back 84

Pertaining to a manner of performing CHANT without alternation between groups (see ANTIPHONAL) or between soloist and group (see RESPONSORIAL).

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syllabic

Back 85

Having (or tending to have) one NOTE sung to each syllable of text.

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neumatic

Back 86

In CHANT, having about one to six NOTES (or one NEUME) sung to each syllable of text.

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melismatic

Back 87

Of a MELODY, having many MELISMAS.

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recitation formula

Back 88

In CHANT, a simple outline MELODY used for a variety of texts.

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psalm tone

Back 89

A MELODIC formula for singing PSALMS in the OFFICE. There is one psalm tone for each MODE.

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intonation

Back 90

The first NOTES of a CHANT, sung by a soloist to establish the pitch for the CHOIR, which joins the soloist to continue the chant.

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mediant

Back 91

In a PSALM TONE, the CADENCE that marks the middle of the PSALM verse.

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termination

Back 92

In a PSALM TONE, the CADENCE that marks the end of the PSALM VERSE.

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Lesser Doxology

Back 93

A formula of praise to the Trinity. Two FORMS are used in GREGORIAN CHANT: the Greater Doxology, or GLORIA, and the Lesser Doxology, used with PSALMS, INTROITS, and other chants.

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cantor

Back 94

In Jewish synagogue music, the main solo singer. In the medieval Christian church, the leader of the CHOIR.

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strophic

Back 95

Of a poem, consisting of two or more stanzas that are equivalent in form and can each be sung to the same MELODY; of a vocal work, consisting of a strophic poem set to the same music for each stanza.

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Psalmody

Back 96

The singing of PSALMS.

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respond

Back 97

The first part of a RESPONSORIAL CHANT, appearing before and sometimes repeated after the PSALM verse.

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jubilus

Back 98

(Latin) In CHANT, an effusive MELISMA, particularly the melisma on "-ia" in an ALLELUIA.

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cycle

Back 99

A group of related works, comprising MOVEMENTS of a single larger entity. Examples include cycles of CHANTS for the MASS ORDINARY, consisting of one setting each of the KYRIE, GLORIA, SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI (and sometimes also Ite, missa est); the POLYPHONIC MASS cycle of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries; and the SONG CYCLE of the nineteenth century.

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trope

Back 100

Addition to an existing CHANT, consisting of (1) words and MELODY; (2) a MELISMA; or (3) words only, set to an existing melisma or other melody.

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liturgical drama

Back 101

Dialogue on a sacred subject, set to music and usually performed with action, and linked to the LITURGY.

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Song and Dance Music in the Middle Ages

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versus

Back 103

(Latin, 'verse') A type of Latin sacred song, either MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic poem.

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conductus

Back 104

A serious medieval song, MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic Latin poem.

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goliard songs

Back 105

Medieval Latin songs associated with the goliards, who were wandering students and clerics.

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chanson de geste

Back 106

(French, 'song of deeds') Type of medieval French epic recounting the deeds of national heroes, sung to MELODIC formulas.

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bard

Back 107

Medieval poet-singer, especially of epics.

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Jongleur

Back 108

(French) Itinerant medieval musician or street entertainer.

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minstrel

Back 109

(from Latin minister, 'servant') Thirteenth-century traveling musician, some of whom were also employed at a court or city.

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troubadour

Back 110

(from Occitan trobar, 'to compose a song') A poet-composer of southern France who wrote MONOPHONIC songs in Occitan (langue d'oc) in the twelfth or thirteenth century.

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trobairitz

Back 111

(from Occitan trobar, 'to compose a song') A female TROUBADOUR.

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trouvere

Back 112

(from Old French trover, 'to compose a song') A poet-composer of northern France who wrote MONOPHONIC songs in Old French (langue d'oil) in the twelfth or thirteenth century.

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chansonnier

Back 113

(French, 'songbook') Manuscript collection of secular songs with French words; used both for collections of MONOPHONIC TROUBADOUR and TROUVeRE songs and for collections of POLYPHONIC songs.

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refrain

Back 114

In a song, a recurring line (or lines) of text, usually set to a recurring MELODY.

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fine amour

Back 115

(French, 'refined love'; pronounced FEEN ah-MOOR; fin' amors in Occitan; also called courtly love) An idealized love for an unattainable woman who is admired from a distance. Chief subject of the TROUBADOURS and TROUVeRES.

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courtly love

Back 116

(French, 'refined love'; pronounced FEEN ah-MOOR; fin' amors in Occitan; also called courtly love) An idealized love for an unattainable woman who is admired from a distance. Chief subject of the TROUBADOURS and TROUVeRES.

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rondeau

Back 117

(pl. rondeaux) (1) French FORME FIXE with a single stanza and the musical FORM ABaAabAB, with capital letters indicating lines of REFRAIN and lowercase letters indicating new text set to music from the refrain. (2) FORM in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century instrumental music in which a repeated STRAIN alternates with other strains, as in the pattern AABACA.

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Minnesinger

Back 118

(German, 'singer of love'; also pl.) A poet-composer of medieval Germany who wrote MONOPHONIC songs, particularly about love, in Middle High German.

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Minnelieder

Back 119

(German, 'love songs') Songs of the MINNESINGER.

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bar form

Back 120

Song FORM in which the first section of MELODY is sung twice with different texts (the two STOLLEN) and the remainder (the ABGESANG) is sung once.

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Stollen

Back 121

Song FORM in which the first section of MELODY is sung twice with different texts (the two STOLLEN) and the remainder (the ABGESANG) is sung once.

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Abgesang

Back 122

(pronounced AHP-ge-zong) Song FORM in which the first section of MELODY is sung twice with different texts (the two STOLLEN) and the remainder (the ABGESANG) is sung once.

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lauda

Back 123

(from Latin laudare, 'to praise') Italian devotional song.

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cantiga

Back 124

Medieval MONOPHONIC song in Spanish or Portuguese.

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vielle

Back 125

Medieval bowed string instrument, early form of the fiddle and predecessor of the VIOLIN and VIOL.

Front 126

hurdy-gurdy

Back 126

An instrument with MELODY and DRONE strings, bowed by a rotating wheel turned with a crank, with levers worked by a keyboard to change the pitch on the melody string(s).

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psaltery

Back 127

A plucked string instrument whose strings are attached to a frame over a wooden sounding board.

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transverse flute

Back 128

Flute blown across a hole in the side of the pipe and held to one side of the player; used for medieval, RENAISSANCE, and BAROQUE forms of the flute to distinguish it from the RECORDER, which is blown in one end and held in front.

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shawm

Back 129

Double reed instrument, similar to the oboe, used in the medieval, RENAISSANCE, and BAROQUE PERIODS.

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pipe and tabor

Back 130

Two instruments played by one player, respectively a high whistle fingered with one hand and a small drum beaten with a stick or mallet.

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portative organ

Back 131

Medieval or RENAISSANCE organ small enough to be carried, played by one hand while the other worked the bellows.

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positive organ

Back 132

Organ from the medieval through BAROQUE PERIODS that was small enough to be moved, usually placed on a table.

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carole

Back 133

Medieval circle or line dance, or the MONOPHONIC song that accompanied it.

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estampie

Back 134

Medieval instrumental DANCE that features a series of sections, each played twice with two different endings, OUVERT and CLOS.

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open

Back 135

(French, ouvert and clos) In an ESTAMPIE, BALLADE, or other medieval form, two different endings for a repeated section. The first ('open') closes on a pitch other than the FINAL, and the second ('closed') ends with a full CADENCE on the final.

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closed

Back 136

(French, ouvert and clos) In an ESTAMPIE, BALLADE, or other medieval form, two different endings for a repeated section. The first ('open') closes on a pitch other than the FINAL, and the second ('closed') ends with a full CADENCE on the final.

Front 137

Polyphony through the Thirteenth Century

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polyphony

Back 138

Music or musical TEXTURE consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent MELODY. See also COUNTERPOINT.

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organum

Back 139

(Latin; pronounced OR-guh-num) (1) One of several styles of early POLYPHONY from the ninth through thirteenth centuries, involving the addition of one or more voices to an existing CHANT. (2) A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT. The plural is organa.

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conductus

Back 140

A serious medieval song, MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic Latin poem.

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motet

Back 141

(from French mot, 'word') POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.

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counterpoint

Back 142

The combination of two or more simultaneous MELODIC lines according to a set of rules.

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harmony

Back 143

Aspect of music that pertains to simultaneous combinations of NOTES, the INTERVALS and CHORDS that result, and the correct succession of chords.

Front 144

notation

Back 144

A system for writing down musical sounds, or the process of writing down music. The principal notation systems of European music use a staff of lines and signs that define the pitch, duration, and other qualities of sound.

Front 145

composition

Back 145

The act or process of creating new pieces of music, or a piece that results from this process and is substantially similar each time it is performed; usually distinguished from IMPROVISATION and performance.

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drone

Back 146

NOTE or notes sustained throughout an entire piece or section.

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organum

Back 147

(Latin; pronounced OR-guh-num) (1) One of several styles of early POLYPHONY from the ninth through thirteenth centuries, involving the addition of one or more voices to an existing CHANT. (2) A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT. The plural is organa.

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parallel organum

Back 148

Type of POLYPHONY in which an added voice moves in exact parallel to a CHANT, normally a perfect fifth below it. Either voice may be doubled at the octave.

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principal voice

Back 149

(Latin, vox principalis) In an ORGANUM, the original CHANT MELODY.

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organal voice

Back 150

(Latin, vox organalis) In an ORGANUM, the voice that is added above or below the original CHANT MELODY.

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mixed parallel and oblique organum

Back 151

Early form of ORGANUM that combines parallel motion with oblique motion (in which the ORGANAL VOICE remains on the same NOTE while the PRINCIPAL VOICE moves) in order to avoid tritones.

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free organum

Back 152

Style of ORGANUM in which the ORGANAL voice moves in a free mixture of contrary, oblique, parallel, and similar motion against the CHANT (and usually above it).

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Aquitanian polyphony

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Style of POLYPHONY from the twelfth century, encompassing both DISCANT and FLORID ORGANUM.

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Discant

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(Latin, "singing apart") (1) Twelfth-century style of POLYPHONY in which the upper voice or voices have about one to three NOTES for each note of the lower voice. (2) TREBLE part.

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florid organum

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Twelfth-century style of two-voice POLYPHONY in which the lower voice sustains relatively long NOTES while the upper voice sings note-groups of varying length above each note of the lower voice.

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tenor

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(from Latin tenere, 'to hold') (1) In a MODE or CHANT, the RECITING TONE. (2) In POLYPHONY of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the voice part that has the chant or other borrowed MELODY, often in long-held NOTES. (3) Male voice of a relatively high range.

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score notation

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A type of NOTATION in which the different voices or parts are aligned vertically to show how they are coordinated with each other.

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ligature

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NEUME-like noteshape used to indicate a short RHYTHMIC pattern in twelfth- to sixteenth-century NOTATION.

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long

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In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE equal to two or three BREVES.

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breve

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(from Latin brevis, 'short') In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE that is normally equal to half or a third of a LONG.

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rhythmic modes

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System of six durational patterns (for example, mode 1, long-short) used in POLYPHONY of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, used as the basis of the rhythmic NOTATION of the Notre Dame composers.

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tempus

Back 162

(Latin, 'time'; pl. tempora) In medieval systems of NOTATION, the basic time unit. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

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clausula

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(Latin, 'clause,' pl. clausulae) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a self-contained section of an ORGANUM that closes with a CADENCE.

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substitute clausula

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In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a new CLAUSULA (usually in DISCANT style) designed to replace the original polyphonic setting of a particular segment of a CHANT.

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organum duplum

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In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in two voices.

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triplum

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(from Latin triplus, 'triple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, third voice from the bottom in a three- or four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR and DUPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in three voices.

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quadruplum

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(Latin, 'quadruple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, fourth voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR, DUPLUM, and TRIPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in four voices.

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duplum

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(from Latin duplus, 'double') In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, second voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, above the TENOR.

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triplum

Back 169

(from Latin triplus, 'triple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, third voice from the bottom in a three- or four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR and DUPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in three voices.

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cauda

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(Latin, 'tail'; pl. caudae) MELISMATIC passage in a POLYPHONIC CONDUCTUS.

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motet

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(from French mot, 'word') POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.

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double motet

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Thirteenth-century MOTET in three voices, with different texts in the DUPLUM and TRIPLUM.

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triple motet

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Thirteenth-century MOTET in four voices, with a different text in each voice above the TENOR.

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cantus firmus

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(Latin, 'fixed melody') An existing MELODY, often taken from a GREGORIAN CHANT, on which a new POLYPHONIC work is based; used especially for MELODIES presented in long NOTES.

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Franconian notation

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System of NOTATION described by Franco of Cologne around 1280, using noteshapes to indicate durations.

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perfection

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(1) What we all strive for. (2) In medieval systems of NOTATION, a unit of duration equal to three TEMPORA, akin to a MEASURE of three beats.

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rondellus

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Technique in medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or three PHRASES of music, first heard simultaneously in different voices, are each sung in turn by each of the voices.

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rota

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FORM of medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or more voices sing the same MELODY, entering at different times and repeating the melody until all stop together. See CANON.

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French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century

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isorhythm

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(from Greek iso-, 'equal,' and rhythm) Repetition in a voice part (usually the TENOR) of an extended pattern of durations throughout a section or an entire COMPOSITION.

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Ars Nova

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(Latin, 'new art') Style of POLYPHONY from fourteenth-century France, distinguished from earlier styles by a new system of rhythmic NOTATION that allowed duple or triple division of NOTE values, SYNCOPATION, and great rhythmic flexibility.

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minim

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In ARS NOVA and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, a NOTE that is equal to half or a third of a SEMIBREVE.

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mensuration signs

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In ARS NOVA and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, signs that indicate which combination of time and prolation to use (see MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION). The predecessors of TIME SIGNATURES.

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talea

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(Latin, 'cutting'; pronounced TAH-lay-ah) In an ISORHYTHMIC COMPOSITION, an extended rhythmic pattern repeated one or more times, usually in the TENOR. Compare COLOR.

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color

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(Latin rhetorical term for ornament, particularly repetition, pronounced KOH-lor) In an ISORHYTHMIC COMPOSITION, a repeated MELODIC pattern, as opposed to the repeating rhythmic pattern (the TALEA).

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mode

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(1) A SCALE or MELODY type, identified by the particular INTERVALLIC relationships among the NOTES in the mode. (2) In particular, one of the eight scale or melody types recognized by church musicians and theorists beginning in the Middle Ages, distinguished from one another by the arrangement of WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES around the FINAL, by the RANGE relative to the final, and by the position of the TENOR or RECITING TONE. (3) RHYTHMIC MODE. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

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time signature

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Sign or numerical proportion, such as 3/4, placed at the beginning of a piece, section, or MEASURE to indicated the METER.

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prolation

Back 188

(Latin modus, tempus, prolatio) The three levels of rhythmic DIVISION in ARS NOVA NOTATION. Mode is the division of LONGS into BREVES; time the division of breves into SEMIBREVES; and prolation the division of semibreves into MINIMS.

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perfect

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(or major) division In medieval and RENAISSANCE NOTATION, a division of a NOTE value into three (rather than two) of the next smaller unit. See MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

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major scale

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DIATONIC succession of NOTES with a major third and major seventh above the TONIC.

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imperfect (or minor) division

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In medieval and RENAISSANCE NOTATION, a division of a NOTE value into two of the next smaller units (rather than three). See MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

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minor scale

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DIATONIC SCALE that begins with a WHOLE STEP and HALF STEP, forming a minor third above the TONIC. The sixth and seventh above the tonic are also minor in the natural minor scale but one or both may be raised.

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hocket

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(French hoquet, 'hiccup') In thirteenth- and fourteenth-century POLYPHONY, the device of alternating rapidly between two voices, each resting while the other sings, as if a single MELODY is split between them; or, a COMPOSITION based on this device.

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contratenor

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(Latin, 'against the tenor') In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century POLYPHONY, voice composed after or in conjunction with the TENOR and in about the same RANGE, helping to form the HARMONIC foundation.

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virelai

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French FORME FIXE in the pattern A bba A bba A bba A, in which a REFRAIN (A) alternates with stanzas with the musical FORM bba, the a using the same music as the refrain.

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formes fixes

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(French, 'fixed forms'; pronounced form FEEX) Schemes of poetic and musical repetition, each featuring a REFRAIN, used in late medieval and fifteenth-century French CHANSONS; in particular, the BALLADE, RONDEAU, and VIRELAI.

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chanson

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(French, 'song'; pronounced shanh-SONH) Secular song with French words; used especially for POLYPHONIC songs of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries.

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treble-dominated style

Back 198

Style common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which the main MELODY is in the CANTUS, the upper voice carrying the text, supported by a slower-moving TENOR and CONTRATENOR.

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treble

Back 199

(French, 'triple') (1) A high voice or a part written for high voice, especially the highest part in three-part POLYPHONY of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (2) Pertaining to the highest voice.

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cantus

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(Latin, 'melody') In POLYPHONY of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, the highest voice, especially the texted voice in a polyphonic song.

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ballade

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(1) French FORME FIXE, normally in three stanzas, in which each stanza has the musical FORM aab and ends with a REFRAIN. (2) Instrumental piece inspired by the GENRE of narrative poetry.

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rondeau

Back 202

(pl. rondeaux) (1) French FORME FIXE with a single stanza and the musical FORM ABaAabAB, with capital letters indicating lines of REFRAIN and lowercase letters indicating new text set to music from the refrain. (2) FORM in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century instrumental music in which a repeated STRAIN alternates with other strains, as in the pattern AABACA.

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Ars Subtilior

Back 203

(Latin, 'more subtle art') Style of POLYPHONY from the late fourteenth or very early fifteenth centuries in southern France and northern Italy, distinguished by extreme complexity in rhythm and NOTATION.

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Trecento

Back 204

(Italian, short for mille trecento, 'one thousand three hundred'; pronounced treh-CHEN-toh) The 1300s (the fourteenth century), particularly with reference to Italian art, literature, and music of the time.

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madrigal

Back 205

(Italian madrigale, 'song in the mother tongue') (1) Fourteenth-century Italian poetic form and its musical setting having two or three stanzas followed by a RITORNELLO. (2) Sixteenth-century Italian poem having any number of lines, each of seven or eleven syllables. (3) POLYPHONIC or CONCERTATO setting of such a poem or of a sonnet or other nonrepetitive VERSE form. (4) English polyphonic work imitating the Italian GENRE.

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ritornello

Back 206

(Italian, 'refrain') (1) In a fourteenth-century MADRIGAL, the closing section, in a different METER from the preceding verses. (2) In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century vocal music, instrumental introduction or interlude between sung stanzas. (3) In an ARIA or similar piece, an instrumental passage that recurs several times, like a refrain. Typically, it is played at the beginning, as interludes (often in modified form), and again at the end, and it states the main THEME. (4) In a fast MOVEMENT of a CONCERTO, the recurring thematic material played at the beginning by the full orchestra and repeated, usually in varied form, throughout the movement and at the end.

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caccia

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(Italian, 'hunt'; pronounced CAH-cha; pl. cacce) Fourteenth-century Italian FORM featuring two voices in CANON over a free untexted TENOR.

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ballata

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(from Italian ballare, 'to dance'; pl. ballate) Fourteenth-century Italian song GENRE with the FORM AbbaA, in which A is the ripresa or REFRAIN, and the single stanza consists of two piedi (bb) and a volta (a) sung to the music of the ripresa.

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haut

Back 209

(French, 'high'; pronounced OH) In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, term for loud instruments such as CORNETTS and SACKBUTS. See BAS.

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bas

Back 210

(French, "low"; pronounced BAH) In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, term for soft instruments such as VIELLES and HARPS. See HAUT.

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cornett

Back 211

Wind instrument of hollowed-out wood or ivory, with finger holes and a cup mouthpiece, blown like a brass instrument.

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stop

Back 212

(1) Mechanism on an organ to turn on or off the sounding of certain sets of pipes. (2) The particular set of pipes controlled by such a mechanism.

Front 213

musica ficta

Back 213

(Latin, 'feigned music') (1) In early music, NOTES outside the standard GAMUT, which excluded all flatted and sharped notes except B. (2). In POLYPHONY of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, the practice of raising or lowering by a semitone the pitch of a written note, particularly at a CADENCE, for the sake of smoother HARMONY or motion of the parts.

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double leading-tone cadence

Back 214

CADENCE popular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which the bottom voice moves down a WHOLE TONE and the upper voices move up a SEMITONE, forming a major third and major sixth expanding to an open fifth and octave.

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cadence

Back 215

MELODIC or HARMONIC succession that closes a musical PHRASE, PERIOD, section, or COMPOSITION.

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Phrygian cadences

Back 216

CADENCE in which the bottom voice moves down a semitone and upper voices move up a whole tone to form a fifth and octave over the cadential NOTE.

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The Age of the Renaissance

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imitative counterpoint

Back 218

CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE marked by IMITATION between voices.

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homophony

Back 219

Musical TEXTURE in which all voices move together in essentially the same RHYTHM, as distinct from POLYPHONY and HETEROPHONY. See also MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT.

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humanism

Back 220

Movement in the RENAISSANCE to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture and to study things pertaining to human knowledge and experience.

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chapel

Back 221

A group of salaried musicians and clerics employed by a ruler, nobleman, church official, or other patron, who officiate at and furnish music for religious services.

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imitative counterpoint

Back 222

CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE marked by IMITATION between voices.

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imitate

Back 223

(1) To repeat or slightly vary in one voice or part a segment of MELODY just heard in another, at pitch or transposed. (2) To follow the example of an existing piece or style in composing a new piece.

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Pythagorean intonation

Back 224

A system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE, common in the Middle Ages, in which all perfect fourths and fifths are in perfect tune.

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just intonation

Back 225

A system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE, common in the RENAISSANCE, in which most (but not all) thirds, sixths, perfect fourths, and perfect fifths are in perfect tune.

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temperament

Back 226

Any system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE in which pitches are adjusted to make most or all INTERVALS sound well, though perhaps not in perfect tune.

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mean-tone temperament

Back 227

A type of TEMPERAMENT in which the fifths are tuned small so that the major thirds sound well; frequently used for keyboard instruments from the RENAISSANCE through the eighteenth century.

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equal temperament

Back 228

A TEMPERAMENT in which the octave is divided into twelve equal SEMITONES. This is the most commonly used tuning for Western music today.

Front 229

England and Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century

Front 230

contenance angloise

Back 230

(French, 'English guise') Characteristic quality of early-fifteenth-century English music, marked by pervasive CONSONANCE with frequent use of HARMONIC thirds and sixths, often in parallel motion.

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faburden

Back 231

English style of IMPROVISED POLYPHONY from the late Middle Ages and RENAISSANCE, in which a CHANT in the middle voice is joined by an upper voice moving in parallel a perfect fourth above it and a lower voice that follows below the chant mostly in parallel thirds, moving to a fifth below to mark the beginning and end of phrases and the ends of most words.

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Cantilena

Back 232

(Latin, 'song') POLYPHONIC song not based on a CANTUS FIRMUS; used especially for polyphonic songs by English composers of the late thirteenth through early fifteenth centuries.

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carol

Back 233

English song, usually on a religious subject, with several stanzas and a BURDEN, or REFRAIN. From the fifteenth century on, most carols are POLYPHONIC.

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burden

Back 234

(1) In English medieval POLYPHONY, the lowest voice. (2) In the English CAROL, the REFRAIN.

Front 235

paraphrase

Back 235

Technique in which a CHANT or other MELODY is reworked, often by altering rhythms and adding NOTES, and placed in a POLYPHONIC setting.

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motet

Back 236

(from French mot, 'word') POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.

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hemiola

Back 237

(from Greek hemiolios, 'one and a half') A metrical effect in which three duple units substitute for two triple ones, such as three successive quarter NOTES within a MEASURE of 6/8, or three two-beat groupings in two measures of triple METER. Hemiola may occur between voices or successive measures.

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fauxbourdon

Back 238

(pronounced FOH-boor-donh) Continental style of POLYPHONY in the early RENAISSANCE, in which two voices are written, moving mostly in parallel sixths and ending each PHRASE on an octave, while a third unwritten voice is sung in parallel perfect fourths below the upper voice.

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mass

Back 239

(from Latin missa, 'dismissed') (1) The most important service in the Roman church. (2) A musical work setting the texts of the ORDINARY of the Mass, typically KYRIE, GLORIA, CREDO, SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI. In this book, as in common usage, the church service is capitalized (the Mass), but a musical setting of the Mass Ordinary is not (a mass).

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plainsong mass

Back 240

A MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on a CHANT to the same text (the KYRIE is based on a chant Kyrie, the GLORIA on a chant Gloria, and so on).

Front 241

head-motive

Back 241

Initial passage or MOTIVE of a piece or MOVEMENT; used especially for a motive or PHRASE that appears at the beginning of each movement of a MOTTO MASS or CANTUS-FIRMUS MASS.

Front 242

motto mass

Back 242

POLYPHONIC MASS in which the MOVEMENTS are linked primarily by sharing the same opening MOTIVE or PHRASE.

Front 243

cantus-firmus mass

Back 243

POLYPHONIC MASS in which the same CANTUS FIRMUS is used in each MOVEMENT, normally in the TENOR.

Front 244

tenor mass

Back 244

POLYPHONIC MASS in which the same CANTUS FIRMUS is used in each MOVEMENT, normally in the TENOR.

Front 245

cantus-firmus/imitation mass

Back 245

POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same polyphonic work, using that work's TENOR (sometimes the SUPERIUS) as a CANTUS FIRMUS, normally in the tenor, and borrowing some elements from the other voices of the model to use in the other voices of the mass.

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contratenor bassus

Back 246

(Latin) In fifteenth-century POLYPHONY, CONTRATENOR parts that lie relatively high (ALTUS) or low (BASSUS) in comparison to the TENOR. Often simply written as "altus" or "bassus," these are the ancestors of the vocal ranges ALTO and BASS.

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bassus

Back 247

(Latin, 'low') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the lowest part; originally CONTRATENOR BASSUS.

Front 248

bass

Back 248

(from BASSUS) (1) The lowest part in an ENSEMBLE work. (2) Low male voice. (3) Low instrument, especially the string bass or bass VIOL.

Front 249

contratenor altus

Back 249

(Latin) In fifteenth-century POLYPHONY, CONTRATENOR parts that lie relatively high (ALTUS) or low (BASSUS) in comparison to the TENOR. Often simply written as "altus" or "bassus," these are the ancestors of the vocal ranges ALTO and BASS.

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altus

Back 250

(Latin, 'high') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, a part in a range between the TENOR and the SUPERIUS; originally CONTRATENOR ALTUS.

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alto

Back 251

(from ALTUS) (1) Relatively low female voice, or high male voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.

Front 252

superius

Back 252

(Latin, 'highest') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the highest part (compare CANTUS).

Front 253

soprano

Back 253

(from SUPERIUS) (1) High female voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.

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Franco-Flemish Composers, 1450-1520

Front 255

canon

Back 255

(Latin, 'rule') (1) Rule for performing music, particularly for deriving more than one voice from a single line of notated music, as when several voices sing the same MELODY, entering at certain intervals of time or singing at different speeds simultaneously. (2) COMPOSITION in which the voices enter successively at determined pitch and time intervals, all performing the same MELODY.

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inversion

Back 256

(1) In a MELODY or TWELVE-TONE ROW, reversing the upward or downward direction of each INTERVAL while maintaining its size; or the new melody or row form that results. (2) In HARMONY, a distribution of the NOTES in a CHORD so that a note other than the ROOT is the lowest note. (3) In COUNTERPOINT, reversing the relative position of two melodies, so that the one that had been lower is now above the other.

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retrograde

Back 257

Backward statement of a previously heard MELODY, passage, or TWELVE-TONE ROW.

Front 258

mensuration canon

Back 258

A CANON in which voices move at different rates of speed by using different MENSURATION SIGNS.

Front 259

point of imitation

Back 259

Passage in a POLYPHONIC work in which two or more parts enter in IMITATION.

Front 260

text depiction

Back 260

Using musical gestures to reinforce or suggest images in a text, such as rising on the word 'ascend.'

Front 261

text expression

Back 261

Conveying or suggesting through musical means the emotions expressed in a text.

Front 262

imitation mass

Back 262

(or parody mass) POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same polyphonic model, normally a CHANSON or MOTET, and all voices of the model are used in the mass, but none is used as a CANTUS FIRMUS.

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paraphrase mass

Back 263

POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same MONOPHONIC MELODY, normally a CHANT, which is PARAPHRASED in most or all voices rather than being used as a CANTUS FIRMUS in one voice.

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Sacred Music in the Era of the Reformation

Front 265

chorale

Back 265

(pronounced ko-RAL) STROPHIC HYMN in the Lutheran tradition, intended to be sung by the congregation.

Front 266

metric psalm

Back 266

Metric, rhymed, and STROPHIC vernacular translation of a PSALM, sung to a relatively simple MELODY that repeats for each strophe.

Front 267

anthem

Back 267

A POLYPHONIC sacred work in English for Anglican religious services.

Front 268

Service

Back 268

A setting of Anglican service music, encompassing specific portions of Matins, Holy Communion, and Evensong. A Great Service is a MELISMATIC, CONTRAPUNTAL setting of these texts; a Short Service sets the same text in SYLLABIC, CHORDAL style.

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contrafactum

Back 269

(Latin, 'counterfeit'; pl. contrafacta) The practice of replacing the text of a vocal work with a new text while the music remains essentially the same; or the resulting piece.

Front 270

chorale motet

Back 270

CHORALE setting in the style of a sixteenth-century MOTET.

Front 271

motets

Back 271

(from French mot, "word") POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.

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cantional style

Back 272

(from Latin cantionale, 'songbook') Manner of setting CHORALES in CHORDAL HOMOPHONY with the MELODY in the highest voice.

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metrical psalm

Back 273

Metric, rhymed, and STROPHIC vernacular translation of a PSALM, sung to a relatively simple MELODY that repeats for each strophe.

Front 274

psalters

Back 274

A published collection of METRICAL PSALMS.

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full anthem

Back 275

ANTHEM for unaccompanied CHOIR in CONTRAPUNTAL style.

Front 276

verse anthem

Back 276

ANTHEM in which passages for solo voice(s) with accompaniment alternate with passages for full CHOIR doubled by instruments.

Front 277

cambiata

Back 277

(Italian, 'changed') Figure in sixteenth-century POLYPHONY in which a voice skips down from a DISSONANCE to a CONSONANCE instead of resolving by STEP, then moves to the expected NOTE of resolution.

Front 278

Madrigal and Secular Song in the Sixteenth Century

Front 279

villancico

Back 279

(from Spanish villano, 'peasant'; pronounced vee-yan-THEE-co) Type of POLYPHONIC song in Spanish, with several stanzas framed by a REFRAIN; originally secular, the FORM was later used for sacred works, especially associated with Christmas or other important holy days.

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frottola

Back 280

(pl. frottole) Sixteenth-century GENRE of Italian POLYPHONIC song in mock-popular style, typically SYLLABIC, HOMOPHONIC, and DIATONIC, with the MELODY in the upper voice and marked rhythmic patterns.

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madrigal

Back 281

(Italian madrigale, "song in the mother tongue") (1) Fourteenth-century Italian poetic form and its musical setting having two or three stanzas followed by a RITORNELLO. (2) Sixteenth-century Italian poem having any number of lines, each of seven or eleven syllables. (3) POLYPHONIC or CONCERTATO setting of such a poem or of a sonnet or other nonrepetitive VERSE form. (4) English polyphonic work imitating the Italian GENRE.

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lute song

Back 282

English GENRE of solo song with LUTE accompaniment.

Front 283

through-composed

Back 283

Composed throughout, as when each stanza or other unit of a poem is set to new music rather than in a STROPHIC manner to a single MELODY.

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madrigalism

Back 284

A particularly evocative-or, if used in a disparaging sense, a thoroughly conventional-instance of TEXT DEPICTION or WORD-PAINTING; so called because of the prominent role of word-painting in MADRIGALS.

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villanella

Back 285

Type of sixteenth-century Italian song, generally for three voices, in a rustic HOMOPHONIC style.

Front 286

canzonetta

Back 286

(Italian, 'little song') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style. Diminutive of CANZONA.

Front 287

balletto

Back 287

(Italian, 'little dance') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, dancelike, HOMOPHONIC style with repeated sections and "fa-la-la" refrains.

Front 288

musique mesuree

Back 288

(French, 'measured music') Late-sixteenth-century French style of text-setting, especially in CHANSONS, in which stressed syllables are given longer NOTES than unstressed syllables (usually twice as long).

Front 289

air de cour

Back 289

(French, 'court air') Type of song for voice and accompaniment, prominent in France from about 1580 through the seventeenth century.

Front 290

Meistersinger

Back 290

(German, 'master singer') Type of German amateur singer and poet-composer of the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries, who was a member of a guild that cultivated a style of MONOPHONIC song derived from MINNELIEDER.

Front 291

consort song

Back 291

RENAISSANCE English GENRE of song for voice accompanied by a CONSORT of VIOLS.

Front 292

canzonet

Back 292

(Italian, 'little song') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style. Diminutive of CANZONA.

Front 293

balletts

Back 293

(Italian, 'little dance') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, dancelike, HOMOPHONIC style with repeated sections and "fa-la-la" refrains.

Front 294

air

Back 294

English or French song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, setting rhymed poetry, often STROPHIC, and usually in the METER of a dance.

Front 295

tablature

Back 295

A system of NOTATION used for LUTE or other plucked string instrument that tells the player which strings to pluck and where to place the fingers on the strings, rather than indicating which NOTES will result. Tablatures were also used for keyboard instruments until the seventeenth century.

Front 296

The Rise of Instrumental Music

Front 297

variations

Back 297

(variations form) FORM that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a VARIATION) on a THEME; the theme may be a MELODY, a BASS line, a HARMONIC plan, or other musical subject.

Front 298

prelude

Back 298

Introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an IMPROVISATION, or introductory MOVEMENT in a multimovement work such as an OPERA or SUITE.

Front 299

fantasia

Back 299

(Italian, 'fantasy'), fantasy (1) Instrumental COMPOSITION that resembles an IMPROVISATION or lacks a strict FORM. (2) IMITATIVE instrumental piece on a single subject.

Front 300

toccata

Back 300

(Italian, 'touched') Piece for keyboard instrument or LUTE resembling an IMPROVISATION that may include IMITATIVE sections or may serve as a PRELUDE to an independent FUGUE.

Front 301

ricercare

Back 301

(ricercar) (Italian, 'to seek out' or 'to attempt') (1) In the early to mid-sixteenth century, a PRELUDE in the style of an IMPROVISATION. (2) From the late sixteenth century on, an instrumental piece that treats one or more SUBJECTS in IMITATION.

Front 302

canzona

Back 302

(Italian, 'song') (1) Sixteenth-century Italian GENRE, an instrumental work adapted from a CHANSON or composed in a similar style. (2) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, an instrumental work in several contrasting sections, of which the first and some of the others are in IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT.

Front 303

sonata

Back 303

(Italian, 'sounded') (1) A piece to be played on one or more instruments. (2) BAROQUE instrumental piece with contrasting sections or MOVEMENTS, often with IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT. (3) GENRE in several movements for one or two solo instruments.

Front 304

instrumental family

Back 304

Set of instruments, all of the same type but of different sizes and RANGES, such as a VIOL CONSORT.

Front 305

consort

Back 305

English name (current ca. 1575-1700) for a group of instruments, either all of one type (called a full consort), such as a consort of VIOLS, or of different types (called a broken consort).

Front 306

sackbut

Back 306

RENAISSANCE brass instrument, an early form of the trombone.

Front 307

crumhorn

Back 307

RENAISSANCE wind instrument, with a double reed enclosed in a cap so the player's lips do not touch the reed.

Front 308

lute

Back 308

Plucked string instrument popular from the late Middle Ages through the BAROQUE PERIOD, typically pear- or almond-shaped with a rounded back, flat fingerboard, frets, and one single and five double strings.

Front 309

vihuela

Back 309

Spanish relative of the LUTE with a flat back and guitar-shaped body.

Front 310

viol

Back 310

Bowed, fretted string instrument popular from the mid-fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, held between the legs.

Front 311

viola da gamba

Back 311

Bowed, fretted string instrument popular from the mid-fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, held between the legs.

Front 312

violin

Back 312

Bowed, fretless string instrument tuned in fifths (g-d'-a'-e').

Front 313

clavichord

Back 313

Keyboard instrument popular between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The loudness, which depends on the force with which a brass blade strikes the strings, is under the direct control of the player.

Front 314

harpsichord

Back 314

Keyboard instrument in use between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It was distinguished from the CLAVICHORD and the PIANO by the fact that its strings were plucked, not struck.

Front 315

virginal

Back 315

(1) English name for HARPSICHORD, used for all types until the seventeenth century. (2) Type of HARPSICHORD that is small enough to place on a table, with a single keyboard and strings running at right angles to the keys rather than parallel with them as in larger harpsichords.

Front 316

clavecin

Back 316

French term for HARPSICHORD. A person who performs on or composes works for the clavecin is known as a clavecinist.

Front 317

basse danse

Back 317

(French, 'low dance') Type of stately couple DANCE of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Front 318

branle gay

Back 318

RENAISSANCE DANCE in a lively triple METER based on a sideways swaying step.

Front 319

pavane

Back 319

(pavan) Sixteenth-century dance in slow duple METER with three repeated sections (AABBCC). Often followed by a GALLIARD.

Front 320

galliard

Back 320

Sixteenth-century dance in fast triple METER, often paired with the PAVANE and in the same FORM (AABBCC).

Front 321

intabulation

Back 321

Arrangement of a vocal piece for LUTE or keyboard, typically written in TABLATURE.

Front 322

organ mass

Back 322

Setting for organ of all sections of the MASS for which the organ would play, including ORGAN VERSES and other pieces.

Front 323

variation form

Back 323

FORM that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a VARIATION) on a THEME; the theme may be a MELODY, a BASS line, a HARMONIC plan, or other musical subject.

Front 324

theme

Back 324

Musical subject of a COMPOSITION or section, or of a set of VARIATIONS.

Front 325

ostinato

Back 325

(Italian, 'obstinate') Short musical pattern that is repeated persistently throughout a piece or section. See BASSO OSTINATO.

Front 326

ricercar

Back 326

(Italian, 'to seek out' or 'to attempt') (1) In the early to mid-sixteenth century, a PRELUDE in the style of an IMPROVISATION. (2) From the late sixteenth century on, an instrumental piece that treats one or more SUBJECTS in IMITATION.

Front 327

canzon

Back 327

(Italian, 'song') (1) Sixteenth-century Italian GENRE, an instrumental work adapted from a CHANSON or composed in a similar style. (2) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, an instrumental work in several contrasting sections, of which the first and some of the others are in IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT.

Front 328

polychoral motet

Back 328

MOTET for two or more choirs.

Front 329

New Styles in the Seventeenth Century

Front 330

basso continuo

Back 330

(Italian, 'continuous bass') (1) System of NOTATION and performance practice, used in the BAROQUE PERIOD, in which an instrumental BASS line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, LUTE, or similar instruments fill in the HARMONY with appropriate CHORDS or IMPROVISED MELODIC lines. (2) The bass line itself.

Front 331

monody

Back 331

(1) An accompanied solo song. (2) The musical TEXTURE of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments.

Front 332

recitative

Back 332

A passage or section in an OPERA, ORATORIO, CANTATA, or other vocal work in RECITATIVE STYLE

Front 333

opera

Back 333

(Italian, 'work') Drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action.

Front 334

Baroque

Back 334

(from Portuguese barroco, 'a misshapen pearl') PERIOD of music history from about 1600 to about 1750, overlapping the late RENAISSANCE and early CLASSIC periods.

Front 335

affections

Back 335

Objectified or archetypal emotions or states of mind, such as sadness, joy, fear, or wonder; one goal of much BAROQUE music was to arouse the affections.

Front 336

prima pratica

Back 336

(Italian, 'first practice') Claudio Monteverdi's term for the style and practice of sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, in contradistinction to the SECONDA PRATICA.

Front 337

first practice

Back 337

(Italian, 'first practice') Claudio Monteverdi's term for the style and practice of sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, in contradistinction to the SECONDA PRATICA.

Front 338

seconda pratica

Back 338

Monteverdi's term for a practice of COUNTERPOINT and COMPOSITION that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint (the PRIMA PRATICA) to be broken in order to express the feelings of a text. Also called stile moderno.

Front 339

second practice

Back 339

Monteverdi's term for a practice of COUNTERPOINT and COMPOSITION that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint (the PRIMA PRATICA) to be broken in order to express the feelings of a text. Also called stile moderno.

Front 340

thoroughbass

Back 340

(Italian, 'continuous bass') (1) System of NOTATION and performance practice, used in the BAROQUE PERIOD, in which an instrumental BASS line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, LUTE, or similar instruments fill in the HARMONY with appropriate CHORDS or IMPROVISED MELODIC lines. (2) The bass line itself.

Front 341

continuo instruments

Back 341

Instruments used to REALIZE a BASSO CONTINUO, such as HARPSICHORD, organ, LUTE, or THEORBO.

Front 342

theorbo

Back 342

Large LUTE with extra BASS strings, used especially in the seventeenth century for performing BASSO CONTINUO as accompaniment to singers or instruments.

Front 343

figured bass

Back 343

A form of BASSO CONTINUO in which the BASS line is supplied with numbers or flat or sharp signs to indicate the appropriate CHORDS to be played.

Front 344

realization

Back 344

Performing (or creating a performable edition of) music whose NOTATION is incomplete, as in playing a BASSO CONTINUO or completing a piece left unfinished by its composer.

Front 345

concertato medium

Back 345

(from Italian concertare, "to reach agreement") In seventeenth-century music, the combination of voices with one or more instruments, where the instruments do not simply double the voices but play independent parts.

Front 346

concerto

Back 346

(from Italian concertare, "to reach agreement") (1) In the seventeenth century, ENSEMBLE of instruments or of voices with one or more instruments, or a work for such an ensemble. (2) COMPOSITION in which one or more solo instruments (or instrumental group) contrasts with an ORCHESTRAL ENSEMBLE. See also SOLO CONCERTO, CONCERTO GROSS, and ORCHESTRAL CONCERTO.

Front 347

concerted madrigal

Back 347

Early-seventeenth-century type of MADRIGAL for one or more voices accompanied by BASSO CONTINUO and in some cases by other instruments.

Front 348

sacred concerto

Back 348

In the seventeenth century, a COMPOSITION on a sacred text for one or more singers and instrumental accompaniment.

Front 349

measure

Back 349

(1) A unit of musical time consisting of a given number of beats; the basic unit of METER. (2) Metrical unit set off by barlines.

Front 350

ornamentation

Back 350

The addition of embellishments to a given MELODY, either during performance or as part of the act of COMPOSITION.

Front 351

ornament

Back 351

A brief, conventional formula, such as a TRILL or turn, written or IMPROVISED, that adds expression or charm to a MELODIC line.

Front 352

division

Back 352

Type of IMPROVISED ORNAMENTATION in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which relatively long notes are replaced with SCALES or other FIGURES composed of short notes.

Front 353

diminution

Back 353

(1) Uniform reduction of NOTE values in a MELODY or PHRASE. (2) Type of IMPROVISED ORNAMENTATION in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which relatively long notes are replaced with SCALES or other FIGURES composed of short notes.

Front 354

figuration

Back 354

MELODIC pattern made of commonplace materials such as SCALES or ARPEGGIOS, usually not distinctive enough to be considered a MOTIVE or THEME.

Front 355

cadenza

Back 355

(Italian, 'cadence') Highly embellished passage, often IMPROVISED, at an important CADENCE, usually occurring just before the end of a piece or section.

Front 356

tonal

Back 356

Operating within the system of TONALITY.

Front 357

tonality

Back 357

The system, common since the late seventeenth century, by which a piece of music is organized around a TONIC NOTE, CHORD, and KEY, to which all the other notes and keys in the piece are subordinate.

Front 358

The Invention of Opera

Front 359

opera

Back 359

(Italian, 'work') Drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action.

Front 360

libretto

Back 360

(Italian, 'little book') Literary text for an OPERA or other musical stage work.

Front 361

pastoral drama

Back 361

Play in verse with incidental music and songs, normally set in idealized rural surroundings, often in ancient times; a source for the earliest OPERA LIBRETTOS.

Front 362

madrigal comedy

Back 362

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a series of MADRIGALS that represents a succession of scenes or a simple plot.

Front 363

madrigal cycle

Back 363

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a series of MADRIGALS that represents a succession of scenes or a simple plot.

Front 364

intermedio

Back 364

Musical interlude on a pastoral, allegorical, or mythological subject performed before, between, or after the acts of a spoken comedy or tragedy.

Front 365

Camerata

Back 365

(Italian, 'circle' or 'association') Circle of intellectuals and amateurs of the arts that met in Florence, Italy, in the 1570s and 1580s.

Front 366

monody

Back 366

(1) An accompanied solo song. (2) The musical TEXTURE of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments.

Front 367

aria

Back 367

(Italian, 'air') (1) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, any section of an Italian STROPHIC poem for a solo singer. (2) Lyrical monologue in an OPERA or other vocal work such as CANTATA and ORATORIO.

Front 368

solo madrigal

Back 368

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a THROUGH-COMPOSED setting of a nonstrophic poem for solo voice with accompaniment, distinguished from an ARIA and from a MADRIGAL for several voices.

Front 369

recitative style

Back 369

(from Italian stile recitativo, 'recitational style') A type of vocal singing that approaches speech and follows the natural rhythms of the text.

Front 370

ritornello

Back 370

(Italian, 'refrain') (1) In a fourteenth-century MADRIGAL, the closing section, in a different METER from the preceding verses. (2) In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century vocal music, instrumental introduction or interlude between sung stanzas. (3) In an ARIA or similar piece, an instrumental passage that recurs several times, like a refrain. Typically, it is played at the beginning, as interludes (often in modified form), and again at the end, and it states the main THEME. (4) In a fast MOVEMENT of a CONCERTO, the recurring thematic material played at the beginning by the full orchestra and repeated, usually in varied form, throughout the movement and at the end.

Front 371

sinfonia

Back 371

(1) Generic term used throughout the seventeenth century for an abstract ENSEMBLE piece, especially one that serves as an introduction to a vocal work. (2) Italian OPERA OVERTURE in the early eighteenth century. (3) Early SYMPHONY.

Front 372

strophic variation

Back 372

Early seventeenth-century vocal GENRE, a setting of a STROPHIC poem, in which the MELODY of the first stanza is varied but the HARMONIC plan remains essentially the same, although the duration of harmonies may change to reflect the accentuation and meaning of the text.

Front 373

stile concitato

Back 373

(Italian, 'excited style') Style devised by Claudio Monteverdi to portray anger and warlike actions, characterized by rapid reiteration of a single NOTE, whether on quickly spoken syllables or in a measured string tremolo.

Front 374

recitativo arioso

Back 374

A passage or selection in an OPERA or other vocal work in a style that lies somewhere between RECITATIVE STYLE and ARIA style.

Front 375

arioso

Back 375

(1) RECITATIVO ARIOSO. (2) Short, ARIA-like passage. (3) Style of vocal writing that approaches the lyricism of an ARIA but is freer in form.

Front 376

impresario

Back 376

During the BAROQUE PERIOD, a businessman who managed and oversaw the production of OPERAS; today, someone who books and stages operas and other musical events.

Front 377

diva

Back 377

A leading and successful female OPERA singer. See also PRIMA DONNA.

Front 378

prima donna

Back 378

(Italian, 'first lady') A soprano singing the leading female role in an OPERA. See also DIVA.

Front 379

Music for Chamber and Church in the Early Seventeenth Century

Front 380

basso ostinato

Back 380

(Italian, 'persistent bass') or ground bass A pattern in the BASS that repeats while the MELODY above it changes.

Front 381

cantata

Back 381

(Italian, 'to be sung') (1) In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a vocal chamber work with CONTINUO, usually for solo voice, consisting of several sections or MOVEMENTS that include RECITATIVES and ARIAS and setting a lyrical or quasi-dramatic text. (2) Form of Lutheran church music in the eighteenth century, combining poetic texts with texts drawn from CHORALES or the Bible, and including RECITATIVES, ARIAS, chorale settings, and usually one or more CHORUSES. (3) In later eras, a work for soloists, CHORUS, and ORCHESTRA in several MOVEMENTS but smaller than an ORATORIO.

Front 382

concerted madrigal

Back 382

Early-seventeenth-century type of MADRIGAL for one or more voices accompanied by BASSO CONTINUO and in some cases by other instruments.

Front 383

ground bass

Back 383

(Italian, 'persistent bass') or ground bass A pattern in the BASS that repeats while the MELODY above it changes.

Front 384

chacona

Back 384

(Italian, ciaccona) A vivacious dance-song imported from Latin America into Spain and then into Italy, popular during the seventeenth century

Front 385

ciaccona

Back 385

(Italian, ciaccona) A vivacious dance-song imported from Latin America into Spain and then into Italy, popular during the seventeenth century

Front 386

air de cour

Back 386

(French, 'court air') Type of song for voice and accompaniment, prominent in France from about 1580 through the seventeenth century.

Front 387

sacred concerto

Back 387

In the seventeenth century, a COMPOSITION on a sacred text for one or more singers and instrumental accompaniment.

Front 388

stile antico

Back 388

(Italian, 'old style') Style used in music written after 1600, in imitation of the old contrapuntal style of Palestrina, used especially for church music.

Front 389

stile moderno

Back 389

(Italian, 'modern style') Seventeenth-century style that used BASSO CONTINUO and applied the rules of COUNTERPOINT freely. See SECONDA PRATICA.

Front 390

small sacred concerto

Back 390

Seventeenth-century GENRE of sacred vocal music featuring one or more soloists accompanied by organ CONTINUO (or modest instrumental ENSEMBLE).

Front 391

oratorio

Back 391

GENRE of dramatic music that originated in the seventeenth century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through ARIAS, RECITATIVES, ENSEMBLES, CHORUSES, and instrumental music, like an unstaged OPERA. Usually on a religious or biblical subject.

Front 392

musical figure

Back 392

In BAROQUE music, a MELODIC pattern or CONTRAPUNTAL effect conventionally employed to convey the meaning of a text.

Front 393

historia

Back 393

In Lutheran music of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, a musical setting based on a biblical narrative. See PASSION.

Front 394

Passion

Back 394

A musical setting of one of the biblical accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, the most common type of HISTORIA.

Front 395

toccata

Back 395

(Italian, 'touched') Piece for keyboard instrument or LUTE resembling an IMPROVISATION that may include IMITATIVE sections or may serve as a PRELUDE to an independent FUGUE.

Front 396

fantasia

Back 396

(Italian, 'fantasy'), fantasy (1) Instrumental COMPOSITION that resembles an IMPROVISATION or lacks a strict FORM. (2) IMITATIVE instrumental piece on a single subject.

Front 397

prelude

Back 397

Introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an IMPROVISATION, or introductory MOVEMENT in a multimovement work such as an OPERA or SUITE.

Front 398

ricercare

Back 398

(Italian, "to seek out" or "to attempt") (1) In the early to mid-sixteenth century, a PRELUDE in the style of an IMPROVISATION. (2) From the late sixteenth century on, an instrumental piece that treats one or more SUBJECTS in IMITATION.

Front 399

capriccio

Back 399

(Italian, 'whim') (1) In the BAROQUE PERIOD, a FUGAL piece in continuous IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT. (2) In the nineteenth century, a short COMPOSITION in free FORM, usually for PIANO.

Front 400

fugue

Back 400

(from Italian fuga, 'flight') COMPOSITION or section of a composition in IMITATIVE TEXTURE that is based on a single SUBJECT and begins with successive statements of the subject in all voices.

Front 401

canzona

Back 401

(Italian, 'song') (1) Sixteenth-century Italian GENRE, an instrumental work adapted from a CHANSON or composed in a similar style. (2) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, an instrumental work in several contrasting sections, of which the first and some of the others are in IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT.

Front 402

sonata

Back 402

(Italian, 'sounded') (1) A piece to be played on one or more instruments. (2) BAROQUE instrumental piece with contrasting sections or MOVEMENTS, often with IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT. (3) GENRE in several movements for one or two solo instruments.

Front 403

organ verse

Back 403

Setting for organ of an existing MELODY from the Roman Catholic LITURGY.

Front 404

chorale prelude

Back 404

Relatively short setting for organ of a CHORALE MELODY, used as an introduction for congregational singing or as an interlude in a Lutheran church service.

Front 405

variations

Back 405

(variations form) FORM that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a VARIATION) on a THEME; the theme may be a MELODY, a BASS line, a HARMONIC plan, or other musical subject.

Front 406

partita

Back 406

BAROQUE term for a set of VARIATIONS on a MELODY or BASS line.

Front 407

chorale

Back 407

(pronounced ko-RAL) STROPHIC HYMN in the Lutheran tradition, intended to be sung by the congregation.

Front 408

chorale variations

Back 408

A set of VARIATIONS on a CHORALE MELODY.

Front 409

chaconne

Back 409

(or ciaccona) BAROQUE GENRE derived from the CHACONA, consisting of VARIATIONS over a BASSO CONTINUO.

Front 410

passacaglia

Back 410

BAROQUE GENRE of VARIATIONS over a repeated BASS line or HARMONIC PROGRESSION in triple METER.

Front 411

dances

Back 411

Pieces in stylized dance rhythms, whether independent, paired, or linked together in a SUITE.

Front 412

suite

Back 412

A set of pieces that are linked together into a single work. During the BAROQUE, a suite usually referred to a set of stylized DANCE pieces.

Front 413

organ mass

Back 413

Setting for organ of all sections of the MASS for which the organ would play, including ORGAN VERSES and other pieces.

Front 414

subject

Back 414

THEME, used especially for the main MELODY used in a RICERCARE, FUGUE, or other IMITATIVE work.

Front 415

partita

Back 415

BAROQUE term for a set of VARIATIONS on a MELODY or BASS line.

Front 416

cantus-firmus variations

Back 416

Instrumental GENRE of the late 1500s and early 1600s, comprising a set of VARIATIONS in which the MELODY repeats with little change but is surrounded by different CONTRAPUNTAL material in each variation.

Front 417

France, England, Spain, and the New World in the Seventeenth Century

Front 418

court ballet

Back 418

Seventeenth-century French GENRE, an extensive musical-dramatic work with costumes, scenery, poetry, and dance that featured members of the court as well as professional dancers.

Front 419

orchestra

Back 419

ENSEMBLE whose core consists of strings with more than one player on a part, usually joined by woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments.

Front 420

tragedie en musique

Back 420

(French, 'tragedy in music'; later tragedie lyrique, 'lyric tragedy') French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century form of OPERA, pioneered by Jean-Baptiste Lully, that combined the French classic drama and BALLET traditions with music, DANCES, and spectacles.

Front 421

tragedie lyrique

Back 421

French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century form of OPERA, pioneered by Jean-Baptiste Lully, that combined the French classic drama and BALLET traditions with music, DANCES, and spectacles.

Front 422

divertissement

Back 422

In TRAGeDIE EN MUSIQUE, a long interlude of BALLET, solo AIRS, choral singing, and spectacle, intended as entertainment.

Front 423

ouverture

Back 423

(French, 'opening') (1) OVERTURE, especially FRENCH OVERTURE. (2) SUITE for ORCHESTRA, beginning with an OVERTURE.

Front 424

overture

Back 424

(1) An ORCHESTRAL piece introducing an OPERA or other long work. (2) Independent ORCHESTRAL work in one MOVEMENT, usually descriptive.

Front 425

French overture

Back 425

Type of OVERTURE, used in TRAGeDIE EN MUSIQUE and other GENRES, that opens with a slow, HOMOPHONIC, and majestic section, followed by a faster second section that begins with IMITATION.

Front 426

recitatif simple

Back 426

(French, 'simple recitative') In French BAROQUE OPERA, RECITATIVE that shifts frequently between duple and triple METER to allow the natural speechlike declamation of the words.

Front 427

recitatif mesure

Back 427

(French, 'measured recitative') In French BAROQUE OPERA, RECITATIVE in a songlike, measured style, in a uniform METER, and with relatively steady motion in the accompaniment.

Front 428

air

Back 428

English or French song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, setting rhymed poetry, often STROPHIC, and usually in the METER of a dance.

Front 429

notes inegales

Back 429

(French, 'unequal notes'; pronounced NOTS an-ay GALL) Seventeenth-century convention of performing French music in which passages notated in short, even durations, such as a succession of eighth notes, are performed by alternating longer notes on the beat with shorter offbeats to produce a lilting rhythm.

Front 430

overdotting

Back 430

Performing practice in French BAROQUE music in which a dotted NOTE is held longer than written, while the following short note is shortened.

Front 431

agrement

Back 431

(French, 'charm'; pronounced ah-gray-MANH) ORNAMENT in French music, usually indicated by a sign.

Front 432

tonal

Back 432

Operating within the system of TONALITY.

Front 433

petit motet

Back 433

(French, 'little motet') French version of the SMALL SACRED CONCERTO, for one, two, or three voices and CONTINUO.

Front 434

grand motet

Back 434

French version of the large-scale SACRED CONCERTO, for soloists, double CHORUS, and ORCHESTRA.

Front 435

clavecin

Back 435

French term for HARPSICHORD. A person who performs on or composes works for the clavecin is known as a clavecinist.

Front 436

clavecinist

Back 436

French term for HARPSICHORD. A person who performs on or composes works for the clavecin is known as a clavecinist.

Front 437

style luthe

Back 437

(French, 'lute style') or style brise (French, 'broken style') Broken or ARPEGGIATED TEXTURE in keyboard and LUTE music from seventeenth-century France. The technique originated with the lute, and the FIGURATION was transferred to the HARPSICHORD.

Front 438

style brise

Back 438

(French, 'broken style') Broken or ARPEGGIATED TEXTURE in keyboard and LUTE music from seventeenth-century France. The technique originated with the lute, and the FIGURATION was transferred to the HARPSICHORD.

Front 439

binary form

Back 439

A FORM comprised of two complementary sections, each of which is repeated. The first section usually ends on the DOMINANT or the relative major, although it many end of the TONIC or other KEY; the second section returns to the tonic.

Front 440

suite

Back 440

A set of pieces that are linked together into a single work. During the BAROQUE, a suite usually referred to a set of stylized DANCE pieces.

Front 441

unmeasured prelude

Back 441

A French BAROQUE keyboard GENRE, usually the first MOVEMENT in a SUITE, whose nonmetric NOTATION gives a feeling of IMPROVISATION.

Front 442

allemande

Back 442

(French for 'German') Highly stylized DANCE in BINARY FORM, in moderately fast quadruple METER with almost continuous movement, beginning with an upbeat. Popular during the RENAISSANCE and BAROQUE; appearing often as the first dance in a SUITE.

Front 443

courante

Back 443

A DANCE in BINARY FORM, in triple METER at a moderate tempo and with an upbeat, featured as a standard MOVEMENT of the BAROQUE dance SUITE.

Front 444

sarabande

Back 444

(1) Originally a quick dance-song from Latin America. (2) In French BAROQUE music, a slow DANCE in BINARY FORM and in triple METER, often emphasizing the second beat; a standard MOVEMENT of a SUITE.

Front 445

gigue

Back 445

(French for 'jig') Stylized DANCE movement of a standard BAROQUE SUITE, in BINARY FORM, marked by fast compound METER such as 6/4 or 12/8 with wide MELODIC leaps and continuous triplets. The two sections usually both begin with IMITATION.

Front 446

rondeau

Back 446

(pl. rondeaux) (1) French FORME FIXE with a single stanza and the musical FORM ABaAabAB, with capital letters indicating lines of REFRAIN and lowercase letters indicating new text set to music from the refrain. (2) FORM in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century instrumental music in which a repeated STRAIN alternates with other strains, as in the pattern AABACA.

Front 447

couplet

Back 447

In a RONDO or seventeenth- or eighteenth-century RONDEAU, one of several PERIODS or passages that alternate with the REFRAIN.

Front 448

gavotte

Back 448

BAROQUE duple-time dance in BINARY FORM, with a half-measure upbeat and a characteristic rhythm of short-short-long.

Front 449

minuet

Back 449

DANCE in moderate triple METER, two-measure units, and BINARY FORM.

Front 450

masque

Back 450

Seventeenth-century English entertainment involving poetry, music, DANCE, costumes, CHORUSES, and elaborate sets, akin to the French COURT BALLET.

Front 451

dramatic opera

Back 451

Seventeenth-century English mixed GENRE of musical theater, a spoken play with an OVERTURE and four or more MASQUES or long musical interludes. Today often called SEMI-OPERA.

Front 452

semi-opera

Back 452

Modern term for DRAMATIC OPERA.

Front 453

catch

Back 453

English GENRE of CANON, usually with a humorous or ribald text.

Front 454

zarzuela

Back 454

Spanish GENRE of musical theater, a light, mythological play in a pastoral setting that alternates between sung and spoken dialogue and various types of ENSEMBLE and solo song.

Front 455

tiento

Back 455

Spanish IMPROVISATORY-style instrumental piece that features IMITATION, akin to the sixteenth-century FANTASIA.

Front 456

Italy and Germany in the Late Seventeenth Century

Front 457

da capo aria

Back 457

ARIA FORM with two sections. The first section is repeated after the second section's close, which carries the instruction da capo (Italian, 'from the head'), creating an ABA FORM.

Front 458

serenata

Back 458

(Italian, 'serenade') A semidramatic piece for several singers and small ORCHESTRA, usually written for a special occasion.

Front 459

sonata da camera

Back 459

BAROQUE SONATA, usually a SUITE of stylized DANCES, scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

Front 460

chamber sonata

Back 460

BAROQUE SONATA, usually a SUITE of stylized DANCES, scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

Front 461

sonata da chiesa

Back 461

BAROQUE instrumental work intended for performance in church; usually in four MOVEMENTS-slow-fast-slow-fast-and scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

Front 462

church sonata

Back 462

BAROQUE instrumental work intended for performance in church; usually in four MOVEMENTS-slow-fast-slow-fast-and scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

Front 463

trio sonata

Back 463

Common instrumental GENRE during the BAROQUE PERIOD, a SONATA for two TREBLE instruments (usually VIOLINS) above a BASSO CONTINUO. A performance featured four or more players if more than one was used for the continuo part.

Front 464

walking bass

Back 464

BASS line in BAROQUE music-and later in JAZZ-that moves steadily and continuously.

Front 465

concerto

Back 465

(from Italian concertare, 'to reach agreement') (1) In the seventeenth century, ENSEMBLE of instruments or of voices with one or more instruments, or a work for such an ensemble. (2) COMPOSITION in which one or more solo instruments (or instrumental group) contrasts with an ORCHESTRAL ENSEMBLE. See also SOLO CONCERTO, CONCERTO GROSS, and ORCHESTRAL CONCERTO.

Front 466

orchestral concerto

Back 466

Orchestral GENRE in several MOVEMENTS, originating in the late seventeenth century, that emphasized the first VIOLIN part and the BASS, avoiding the more CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE of the SONATA.

Front 467

concerto grosso

Back 467

Instrumental work that exploits the contrast in sonority between a small ENSEMBLE of solo instruments (concertino), usually the same forces that appeared in the TRIO SONATA, and a large ENSEMBLE (RIPIENO or concerto grosso).

Front 468

solo concerto

Back 468

CONCERTO in which a single instrument, such as a VIOLIN, contrasts with an ORCHESTRA.

Front 469

tutti

Back 469

(Italian, 'all') (1) In both the SOLO CONCERTO and the CONCERTO GROSSO, designates the full ORCHESTRA. Also called RIPIENO (Italian, 'full'). (2) Instruction to an ENSEMBLE that all should play.

Front 470

ripieno

Back 470

(Italian, 'full') In a SOLO CONCERTO or CONCERTO GROSSO, designates the full ORCHESTRA. Also called TUTTI.

Front 471

Stadtpfeifer

Back 471

(German, 'town pipers') Professional town musicians who had the exclusive right to provide music within city limits.

Front 472

collegium musicum

Back 472

An association of amateurs, popular during the BAROQUE PERIOD, who gathered to play and sing together for their own pleasure. Today, an ensemble of university students that performs early music.

Front 473

exposition

Back 473

(1) In a FUGUE, a set of entries of the SUBJECT. (2) In SONATA FORM, the first part of the MOVEMENT, in which the main THEMES are stated, beginning in the TONIC and usually closing in the DOMINANT (or relative major).

Front 474

answer

Back 474

In the EXPOSITION of a FUGUE, the second entry of the SUBJECT, normally on the DOMINANT if the subject was on the TONIC, and vice versa. Also refers to subsequent answers to the subject.

Front 475

episode

Back 475

(1) In a FUGUE, a passage of free COUNTERPOINT between statements of the SUBJECT. (2) In RONDO FORM, a section between two statements of the main THEME. (3) A subsidiary passage between presentations of the main thematic material.

Front 476

chorale prelude

Back 476

Relatively short setting for organ of a CHORALE MELODY, used as an introduction for congregational singing or as an interlude in a Lutheran church service.

Front 477

diminution

Back 477

(1) Uniform reduction of NOTE values in a MELODY or PHRASE. (2) Type of IMPROVISED ORNAMENTATION in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which relatively long notes are replaced with SCALES or other FIGURES composed of short notes.

Front 478

orchestral suite

Back 478

Late-seventeenth-century German SUITE for ORCHESTRA patterned after the groups of DANCES in French BALLETS and OPERA.

Front 479

The Early Eighteenth Century in Italy and France

Front 480

conservatory

Back 480

School that specializes in teaching music.

Front 481

ritornello form

Back 481

Standard FORM for fast MOVEMENTS in CONCERTOS of the first half of the eighteenth century, featuring a RITORNELLO (4) for full ORCHESTRA that alternates with EPISODES characterized by virtuosic material played by one or more soloists.

Front 482

fundamental bass

Back 482

Term coined by Jean-Philippe Rameau to indicate the succession of the roots or fundamental tones in a series of CHORDS.

Front 483

tonic

Back 483

(1) The first and central NOTE of a MAJOR or MINOR SCALE. (2) The main KEY of a piece or MOVEMENT, in which the piece or movement begins and ends and to which all other keys are subordinate.

Front 484

dominant

Back 484

In TONAL music, the NOTE and CHORD a perfect fifth above the TONIC.

Front 485

subdominant

Back 485

In TONAL music, the NOTE and CHORD a fifth below the TONIC.

Front 486

modulation

Back 486

The TONAL music, a gradual change from one KEY to another within a section of a MOVEMENT.

Front 487

German Composers of the Late Baroque

Front 488

quodlibet

Back 488

(Latin, 'whatever you please') COMPOSITION or passage in which two or more existing MELODIES, or parts of melodies, are combined in COUNTERPOINT.

Front 489

simple recitative

Back 489

Style of RECITATIVE scored for solo voice and BASSO CONTINUO, used for setting dialogue or monologue in as speechlike a fashion as possible, without dramatization.

Front 490

accompanied recitative

Back 490

RECITATIVE that uses ORCHESTRAL accompaniment to dramatize the text.

Front 491

prima donna

Back 491

(Italian, 'first lady') A soprano singing the leading female role in an OPERA. See also DIVA.

Front 492

coloratura

Back 492

Florid vocal ORNAMENTATION.

Front 493

Opera and Vocal Music in the Early Classic Period

Front 494

periodic

Back 494

Organized in discrete PHRASES or PERIODS.

Front 495

classical style

Back 495

Musical idiom of the eighteenth century, generally characterized by an emphasis on MELODY over relatively light accompaniment; simple, clearly articulated harmonic plans; PERIODIC phrasing; clearly delineated FORMS based on contrast between THEMES, between KEYS, between stable and unstable passages, and between sections with different functions; and contrasts of mood, style, and figuration within MOVEMENTS as well as between them.

Front 496

galant

Back 496

(French, 'elegant') Eighteenth-century musical style that featured songlike MELODIES, short PHRASES, frequent CADENCES, and light accompaniment.

Front 497

empfindsam style

Back 497

(German, 'sensitive style' or 'sentimental style') Close relative of the GALANT style, featuring surprising turns of HARMONY, CHROMATICISM, nervous RHYTHMS, and speechlike MELODIES.

Front 498

periodicity

Back 498

The quality of being PERIODIC, especially when this is emphasized through frequent resting points and articulations between PHRASES and PERIODS.

Front 499

period

Back 499

(1) In music history, an era whose music is understood to have common attributes of style, conventions, approach, and function, in contrast to the previous and following eras. (2) In musical FORM, especially since the eighteenth century, a complete musical thought concluded by a CADENCE and normally containing at least two PHRASES.

Front 500

Alberti bass

Back 500

Broken-CHORD accompaniment common in the second half of the eighteenth century and named after Domenico Alberti, who used the FIGURATION frequently.

Front 501

opera buffa

Back 501

(Italian, 'comic opera') Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, sung throughout.

Front 502

intermezzo

Back 502

Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, performed between acts of a serious OPERA or play.

Front 503

opera seria

Back 503

(Italian, 'serious opera') Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian OPERA, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic characters and scenes.

Front 504

opera comique

Back 504

(French, 'comic opera') (1) In the eighteenth century, light French comic OPERA, which used spoken dialogue instead of RECITATIVES. (2) In nineteenth-century France, opera with spoken dialogue, whether comic or tragic.

Front 505

ballad opera

Back 505

GENRE of eighteenth-century English comic play featuring songs in which new words are set to borrowed tunes.

Front 506

Lied

Back 506

(German, 'song'; pl. Lieder) Song with German words, whether MONOPHONIC, POLYPHONIC, or for voice with accompaniment; used especially for polyphonic songs in the RENAISSANCE and songs for voice and PIANO in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Front 507

fuging tune

Back 507

Eighteenth-century American type of PSALM or HYMN tune that features a passage in free IMITATION, usually preceded and followed by HOMOPHONIC sections.

Front 508

Instrumental Music: Sonata, Symphony, and Concerto at Midcentury

Front 509

piano

Back 509

A keyboard instrument invented in 1700 that uses a mechanism in which the strings are struck, rather than plucked as the HARPSICHORD was, and which allowed for crescendos, dimuendos, and other effects.

Front 510

string quartet

Back 510

(1) Standard chamber ENSEMBLE consisting of two VIOLINS, viola, and cello. (2) Multimovement COMPOSITION for this ENSEMBLE.

Front 511

symphony

Back 511

Large work for ORCHESTRA, usually in four MOVEMENTS.

Front 512

sonata form

Back 512

FORM typically used in first MOVEMENTS of SONATAS, instrumental chamber works, and SYMPHONIES during the CLASSIC and ROMANTIC PERIODS. An expansion of ROUNDED BINARY FORM, it was described in the nineteenth century as consisting of an EXPOSITION, DEVELOPMENT, and RECAPITULATION based on a limited number of THEMES.

Front 513

pianoforte

Back 513

A keyboard instrument invented in 1700 that uses a mechanism in which the strings are struck, rather than plucked as the HARPSICHORD was, and which allowed for crescendos, dimuendos, and other effects.

Front 514

exposition

Back 514

(1) In a FUGUE, a set of entries of the SUBJECT. (2) In SONATA FORM, the first part of the MOVEMENT, in which the main THEMES are stated, beginning in the TONIC and usually closing in the DOMINANT (or relative major).

Front 515

development

Back 515

(1) The process of reworking, recombining, fragmenting, and varying given THEMES or other material. (2) In SONATA FORM, the section after the EXPOSITION, which MODULATES through a variety of KEYS and in which THEMES from the exposition are presented in new ways.

Front 516

recapitulation

Back 516

In SONATA FORM, the third main section, which restates the material from the EXPOSITION, normally all in the TONIC.

Front 517

coda

Back 517

(Italian, 'tail') A supplementary ending to a COMPOSITION or MOVEMENT; a concluding section that lies outside the FORM as usually described.

Front 518

slow-movement sonata form

Back 518

Classic-era variant of SONATA FORM that omits the DEVELOPMENT.

Front 519

Variations form

Back 519

FORM that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a VARIATION) on a THEME; the theme may be a MELODY, a BASS line, a HARMONIC plan, or other musical subject.

Front 520

Minuet and trio form

Back 520

FORM that joins two BINARY-FORM MINUETS to create an ABA pattern, where A is the minuet and B the TRIO.

Front 521

trio

Back 521

(1) Piece for three players or singers. (2) The second of two alternating DANCES, in the Classic-era MINUET AND TRIO FORM. (3) The second main section of a MARCH.

Front 522

Rondo form

Back 522

Musical FORM in which the first or main section recurs, usually in the TONIC, between subsidiary sections or EPISODES.

Front 523

episode

Back 523

(1) In a FUGUE, a passage of free COUNTERPOINT between statements of the SUBJECT. (2) In RONDO FORM, a section between two statements of the main THEME. (3) A subsidiary passage between presentations of the main thematic material.

Front 524

rounded binary form

Back 524

BINARY FORM in which the latter part of the first section returns at the end of the second section, but in the TONIC.

Front 525

symphonie concertante

Back 525

A CONCERTO-like GENRE of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for two or more solo instruments and ORCHESTRA, characterized by its lightheartedness and MELODIC variety.

Front 526

Classic Music in the Late Eighteenth Century

Front 527

sonata-rondo

Back 527

A FORM that blends characteristics of SONATA FORM and RONDO FORM. One frequent structure is ABACABA, in which A and B correspond to the first and second THEMES of SONATA FORM and B appears first in the DOMINANT and returns in the TONIC.

Front 528

Scherzo

Back 528

(Italian, 'joke') A joking or particularly fast MOVEMENT in MINUET AND TRIO FORM.

Front 529

topics

Back 529

Term for the different and contrasting styles in Classic-era music that serve as subjects for musical discourse.

Front 530

Revolution and Change

Front 531

song cycle

Back 531

A group of songs performed in succession that tells or suggests a story.

Front 532

The Romantic Generation: Song and Piano Music

Front 533

virtuoso

Back 533

Performer who specializes in one instrument and dazzles audiences with his or her technical prowess.

Front 534

Romantic

Back 534

Term applied to music of the nineteenth century. Romantic music had looser and more extended FORMS, greater experimentation with HARMONY and TEXTURE, richly expressive and memorable MELODIES, improved musical instruments, an interest in musical NATIONALISM, and a view of music as a moral force, in which there was a link between the artists' inner lives and the world around them.

Front 535

absolute music

Back 535

Music that is independent of words, drama, visual images, or any kind of representational aspects.

Front 536

characteristic

Back 536

Instrumental music that depicts or suggests a mood, personality, or scene, usually indicated in its title.

Front 537

descriptive music

Back 537

Instrumental music that depicts or suggests a mood, personality, or scene, usually indicated in its title.

Front 538

program music

Back 538

Instrumental music that tells a story or follows a narrative or other sequence of events, often spelled out in an accompanying text called a PROGRAM.

Front 539

program

Back 539

Text to accompany an instrumental work of PROGRAM MUSIC, describing the sequence of events depicted in the music.

Front 540

character piece

Back 540

A piece of CHARACTERISTIC MUSIC, especially one for PIANO.

Front 541

ballad

Back 541

(1) Long narrative poem, or musical setting of such a poem. (2) Late-eighteenth-century German poetic form that imitated the folk ballad of England and Scotland and was set to music by German composers. The ballad expanded the LIED in both FORM and emotional content.

Front 542

modified strophic form

Back 542

Variant of STROPHIC FORM in which the music for the first stanza is varied for later stanzas, or in which there is a change of KEY, RHYTHM, character, or material.

Front 543

parlor song

Back 543

Song for home music-making, sometimes performed in public concerts as well.

Front 544

etude

Back 544

(French, 'study') An instrumental piece designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique. Certain nineteenth-century etudes that contained significant artistic content and were played in concert were called CONCERT eTUDES.

Front 545

concert etude

Back 545

(French, 'study') An instrumental piece designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique. Certain nineteenth-century etudes that contained significant artistic content and were played in concert were called CONCERT eTUDES.

Front 546

waltz

Back 546

Type of couple dance in triple meter, popular in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, or a short, stylized work for the PIANO in the style of such a dance.

Front 547

mazurka

Back 547

A type of Polish folk dance (and later ballroom dance) in triple METER, characterized by accents on the second or third beat and often by dotted figures on the first beat, or a stylized PIANO piece based on such a DANCE.

Front 548

polonaise

Back 548

A stately Polish processional DANCE in triple METER, or a stylized piece in the style of such a dance.

Front 549

rubato

Back 549

(from Italian tempo rubato, 'stolen time') Technique common in ROMANTIC music in which the performer holds back or hurries the written NOTE values.

Front 550

nocturne

Back 550

Type of short PIANO piece popular during the ROMANTIC PERIOD, marked by highly embellished MELODY, sonorous accompaniments, and a contemplative mood..

Front 551

ballade

Back 551

(1) French FORME FIXE, normally in three stanzas, in which each stanza has the musical FORM aab and ends with a REFRAIN. (2) Instrumental piece inspired by the GENRE of narrative poetry.

Front 552

recital

Back 552

Term popularized by Franz Liszt for his solo piano performances and used today for any presentation given by a single performer or a small group.

Front 553

transcription

Back 553

Arrangement of a piece for an instrumental medium different from the original, such as a reduction of an ORCHESTRAL score for PIANO.

Front 554

Romanticism in Classic Forms: Orchestral, Chamber, and Choral Music

Front 555

conductor

Back 555

A person who leads a performance, especially for an ORCHESTRA, BAND, CHORUS, or other large ENSEMBLE, by means of gestures.

Front 556

idee fixe

Back 556

(French, 'fixed idea') term coined by Hector Berlioz for a MELODY that is used throughout a piece to represent a person, thing, or idea, transforming it to suit the mood and situation.

Front 557

choral society

Back 557

Amateur CHORUS whose members sing for their own enjoyment and may pay dues to purchase music, pay the CONDUCTOR, and meet other expenses.

Front 558

partsong

Back 558

(1) A song for more than one voice. (2) In the nineteenth century, a song for CHORUS, parallel in function and style to the LIED or PARLOR SONG.

Front 559

a cappella

Back 559

(Italian, 'in chapel style') Manner of choral singing without instrumental accompaniment.

Front 560

shape-note singing

Back 560

A tradition of group singing that arose in nineteenth-century America, named after the NOTATION used in song collections in which the shape of the noteheads indicates the SOLMIZATION syllables, allowing for easy sight-reading in parts.

Front 561

Romantic Opera and Musical Theater to Midcentury

Front 562

bel canto

Back 562

(Italian, 'beautiful singing') Elegant Italian vocal style of the early nineteenth century marked by lyrical, embellished, and florid melodies that show off the beauty, agility, and fluency of the singer's voice.

Front 563

cantabile

Back 563

(Italian, 'songlike') (1) Songful, lyrical, in a songlike style. (2) In the operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the first section of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, somewhat slow and expressing a relatively calm mood. See also CABELETTA and TEMPO DI MEZZO.

Front 564

cabaletta

Back 564

In the operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the last part of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, which was lively and brilliant and expressed active feelings, such as joy or despair. See also CANTABILE and TEMPO DI MEZZO.

Front 565

tempo di mezzo

Back 565

(Italian, 'middle movement') The operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the middle section of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, usually an interruption or a TRANSITION, that falls between the CANTABILE and the CABALETTA.

Front 566

reminiscence motive

Back 566

In an OPERA, a MOTIVE, THEME, or MELODY that recurs in a later scene, in order to recall the events and feelings with which it was first associated. Compare LEITMOTIV.

Front 567

Grand opera

Back 567

A serious form of OPERA, popular during the ROMANTIC era, that was sung throughout and included BALLETS, CHORUSES and spectacular staging.

Front 568

melodrama

Back 568

A GENRE of musical theater that combined spoken dialogue with background music.

Front 569

minstrelsy

Back 569

Popular form of musical theater in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century, in which white performers blackened their faces and impersonated African Americans in jokes, skits, songs, and dances.

Front 570

Opera and Musical Theater in the Later Nineteenth Century

Front 571

Nationalism

Back 571

(1) In politics and culture, an attempt to unify or represent a particular group of people by creating a national identity through characteristics such as common language, shared culture, historical traditions, and national institutions and rituals. (2) Nineteenth- and twentieth-century trend in music in which composers were eager to embrace elements in their music that claimed a national identity.

Front 572

exoticism

Back 572

Nineteenth-century trend in which composers wrote music that evoked feelings and settings of distant lands or foreign cultures.

Front 573

opera bouffe

Back 573

ROMANTIC operatic GENRE in France that emphasized the smart, witty, and satirical elements of OPeRA COMIQUE.

Front 574

operetta

Back 574

Nineteenth-century kind of light OPERA with spoken dialogue, originating in OPeRA BOUFFE.

Front 575

verismo

Back 575

(Italian, 'realism') Nineteenth-century operatic MOVEMENT that presents everyday people in familiar situations, often depicting sordid or brutal events.

Front 576

music drama

Back 576

Nineteenth-century GENRE created by Richard Wagner in which drama and music become organically connected to express a kind of absolute oneness. See also GESAMTKUNSTWERK.

Front 577

Gesamtkunstwerk

Back 577

(German, 'total artwork' or 'collective artwork') Term coined by Richard Wagner for a dramatic work in which poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music all work together toward one artistic expression.

Front 578

Leitmotiv

Back 578

(German, 'leading motive') In an OPERA or MUSIC DRAMA, a MOTIVE, THEME, or musical idea associated with a person, thing, mood, or idea, which returns in original or altered form throughout.

Front 579

lyric opera

Back 579

ROMANTIC OPERA that lies somewhere between light OPeRA COMIQUE and GRAND OPERA.

Front 580

opera

Back 580

(Italian, 'work') Drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action.

Front 581

opera bouffe

Back 581

ROMANTIC operatic GENRE in France that emphasized the smart, witty, and satirical elements of OPeRA COMIQUE.

Front 582

Cabaret

Back 582

Type of nightclub, first introduced in nineteenth-century Paris, that offered serious or comic sketches, dances, songs, and poetry.

Front 583

cafe-concert

Back 583

Type of dining establishment, prominent in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Paris, that combined the food and drink of a cafe with musical entertainment, usually songs on sentimental, comic, or political topics.

Front 584

whole-tone scale

Back 584

(or whole-tone collection) A SCALE consisting of only WHOLE STEPS.

Front 585

octatonic scale

Back 585

(or octatonic collection) A SCALE that alternates WHOLE and HALF STEPS.

Front 586

Operetta

Back 586

Nineteenth-century kind of light OPERA with spoken dialogue, originating in OPeRA BOUFFE.

Front 587

vaudeville

Back 587

In late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America, a type of variety show including musical numbers, but without the common theme of a REVUE.

Front 588

Late Romanticism in Germany and Austria

Front 589

classical music

Back 589

(1) Common term for ART MUSIC of all PERIODS, as distinct from POPULAR MUSIC or FOLK MUSIC. (2) Music in the tradition of the repertoire of musical masterworks that formed in the nineteenth century, including lesser works in the same GENRES (such as OPERA, ORATORIO, SYMPHONY, SONATA, STRING QUARTET, and ART SONG) or for the same performing forces and newly composed works intended as part of the same tradition. (3) Music in the CLASSIC PERIOD.

Front 590

developing variation

Back 590

Term coined by Arnold Schoenberg for the process of deriving new THEMES, accompaniments, and other ideas throughout a piece through variations of a germinal idea.

Front 591

symphonic poems

Back 591

(or tone poem) Term coined by Franz Liszt for a one-movement work of PROGRAM MUSIC for orchestra that conveys a poetic idea, story, scene, or succession of moods by presenting THEMES that are repeated, varied, or transformed.

Front 592

thematic transformation

Back 592

A method devised by Franz Liszt to provide unity, variety, and a narrative-like logic to a composition by transforming the thematic material into new THEMES or other elements, in order to reflect the diverse moods needed to portray a PROGRAMMATIC subject.

Front 593

chromatic saturation

Back 593

The appearance of all twelve PITCH-CLASSES within a segment of music.

Front 594

Diverging Traditions in the Later Nineteenth Century

Front 595

march

Back 595

A piece in duple or 6/8 METER comprising an introduction and several STRAINS, each repeated. Typically there are two strains in the initial KEY followed by a TRIO in a key a fourth higher; the opening strains may or may not repeat after the trio.

Front 596

strain

Back 596

In a MARCH or RAG, a PERIOD, usually of sixteen or thirty-two measures.

Front 597

art song

Back 597

A song intended to be appreciated as an artistic statement rather than as entertainment, featuring precisely notated music, usually THROUGH COMPOSED, and requiring professional standards of performance. Compare POPULAR SONG.

Front 598

popular song

Back 598

Song that is intended primarily to entertain an audience, accommodate amateur performers, and sell as many copies as possible. Compare ART SONG.

Front 599

chorus

Back 599

(1) Group of singers who perform together, usually with several singers on each part. (2) A MOVEMENT or passage for such a group in an ORATORIO, OPERA, or other multimovement work. (3) The REFRAIN of a POPULAR SONG. (4) In JAZZ, a statement of the HARMONIC PROGRESSION of the opening tune, over which one or more instruments play variants or new musical ideas.

Front 600

Tin Pan Alley

Back 600

(1) Jocular name for a district in New York where numerous publishers specializing in POPULAR SONGS were located from the 1880s through the 1950s. (2) Styles of American popular song from that era.

Front 601

call and response

Back 601

Alternation of short PHRASES between a leader and a group; used especially for music in the African-American tradition.

Front 602

spiritual

Back 602

African-American type of religious song that originated among southern slaves and was passed down through oral tradition, with texts often based on stories or images from the Bible.

Front 603

The Early Twentieth Century

Front 604

ragtime

Back 604

Musical style that features SYNCOPATED rhythm against a regular, marchlike BASS.

Front 605

jazz

Back 605

A type of music developed mostly by African Americans in the early part of the twentieth century that combined elements of African, popular, and European music, and that has evolved into a broad tradition encompassing many styles.

Front 606

post-tonal

Back 606

General term for music after 1900 that does not adhere to TONALITY but instead uses any of the new ways that composers found to organize pitch, from ATONALITY to NEOTONALITY.

Front 607

avant-garde

Back 607

Term for music (and art) that is iconoclastic, irreverent, antagonistic, and nihilistic, seeking to overthrow established aesthetics.

Front 608

musical

Back 608

GENRE of musical theater that features songs and dance numbers in styles drawn from POPULAR MUSIC in the context of a spoken play with a comic or romantic plot.

Front 609

rag

Back 609

Instrumental work in RAGTIME style, usually in the FORM of a MARCH.

Front 610

futurists

Back 610

Twentieth-century movement that created music based on noise.

Front 611

Modernism and the Classical Tradition

Front 612

modernists

Back 612

Twentieth-century composers who made a radical break from the musical language of their predecessors and contemporaries while maintaining strong links to the tradition.

Front 613

atonality

Back 613

Terms for music that avoids establishing a central pitch or tonal center (such as the TONIC in TONAL music).

Front 614

twelve-tone method

Back 614

A form of ATONALITY based on the systematic ordering of the twelve notes of the CHROMATIC scale into a ROW that may be manipulated according to certain rules.

Front 615

atonal

Back 615

Terms for music that avoids establishing a central pitch or tonal center (such as the TONIC in TONAL music).

Front 616

set

Back 616

A collection of PITCH-CLASSES that preserves its identity when transposed, inverted, or reordered and used MELODICALLY or HARMONICALLY.

Front 617

pitch-class set

Back 617

(or set) A collection of PITCH-CLASSES that preserves its identity when transposed, inverted, or reordered and used MELODICALLY or HARMONICALLY.

Front 618

pitch-class

Back 618

Any one of the twelve NOTES of the CHROMATIC SCALE, including its ENHARMONIC equivalents, in any octave.

Front 619

chromatic saturation

Back 619

The appearance of all twelve PITCH-CLASSES within a segment of music.

Front 620

Sprechstimme

Back 620

(German, 'speaking voice') A vocal style developed by Arnold Schoenberg in which the performer approximates the written pitches in the gliding tones of speech, while following the notated rhythm.

Front 621

row

Back 621

In TWELVE-TONE MUSIC, an ordering of all twelve PITCH-CLASSES that is used to generate the musical content.

Front 622

series

Back 622

(1) A ROW. (2) An ordering of specific durations, dynamic levels, or other non-pitch elements, used in SERIAL MUSIC.

Front 623

prime

Back 623

In TWELVE-TONE music based on a particular ROW, the original form of the row, transposed or untransposed, as opposed to the INVERSION, RETROGRADE, or RETROGRADE INVERSION.

Front 624

inversion

Back 624

(1) In a MELODY or TWELVE-TONE ROW, reversing the upward or downward direction of each INTERVAL while maintaining its size; or the new melody or row form that results. (2) In HARMONY, a distribution of the NOTES in a CHORD so that a note other than the ROOT is the lowest note. (3) In COUNTERPOINT, reversing the relative position of two melodies, so that the one that had been lower is now above the other.

Front 625

retrograde

Back 625

Backward statement of a previously heard MELODY, passage, or TWELVE-TONE ROW.

Front 626

retrograde inversion

Back 626

Upside-down and backward statement of a MELODY or TWELVE-TONE ROW.

Front 627

tetrachord

Back 627

(from Greek, 'four strings') (1) In Greek and medieval theory, a SCALE of four NOTES spanning a perfect fourth. (2) In modern theory, a SET of four pitches or PITCH-CLASSES. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first four, middle four, or last four notes in the ROW.

Front 628

hexachord

Back 628

(from Greek, 'six strings') (1) A set of six pitches. (2) In medieval and RENAISSANCE SOLMIZATION, the six NOTES represented by the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which could be transposed to three positions: the 'natural' hexachord, C-D-E-F-G-A; the "hard" hexachord, G-A-B-C-D-E; and the 'soft' hexachord, F-G-A-B-C-D. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first six or last six notes in the ROW.

Front 629

Klangfarbenmelodie

Back 629

(German, 'tone-color melody') Term coined by Arnold Schoenberg to describe a succession of tone colors that is perceived as analogous to the changing pitches in a MELODY.

Front 630

neoclassicism

Back 630

Trend in music from the 1910s to the 1950s in which composers revived, imitated, or evoked the styles, GENRES, and FORMS of pre-ROMANTIC music, especially those of the eighteenth century.

Front 631

neotonal

Back 631

Term for music since the early 1900s that establishes a single pitch as a tonal center, but does not follow the traditional rules of TONALITY.

Front 632

serial music

Back 632

Music that uses the TWELVE-TONE METHOD; used especially for music that extends the same general approach to SERIES in parameters other than pitch.

Front 633

experimental music

Back 633

A trend in twentieth-century music that focused on the exploration of new musical sounds, techniques, and resources.

Front 634

polytonality

Back 634

The simultaneous use of two or more KEYS, each in a different layer of the music (such as MELODY and accompaniment).

Front 635

cumulative form

Back 635

FORM used by Charles Ives and others in which the principal THEME appears in its entirety only at the end of a work, preceded by its DEVELOPMENT.

Front 636

Between the World Wars: Jazz and Popular Music

Front 637

blues

Back 637

(1) African-American vocal GENRE that is based on a simple repetitive formula and characterized by a distinctive style of performance. (2) TWELVE-BAR BLUES.

Front 638

blue note

Back 638

Slight drop or slide in pitch on the third, fifth, or seventh degree of a MAJOR SCALE, common in BLUES and JAZZ.

Front 639

twelve-bar blues

Back 639

Standard formula for the BLUES, with a HARMONIC PROGRESSION in which the first four-measure PHRASE is on the TONIC, the second phrase begins on the SUBDOMINANT and ends on the tonic, and the third phrase starts on the DOMINANT and returns to the tonic.

Front 640

New Orleans jazz

Back 640

Leading style of JAZZ just after World War I, which centers on group VARIATION of a given tune, either IMPROVISED or in the style of improvisation.

Front 641

rhythm section

Back 641

In a JAZZ ENSEMBLE, the group of instruments that keeps the beat and fills in the background.

Front 642

chorus

Back 642

(1) Group of singers who perform together, usually with several singers on each part. (2) A MOVEMENT or passage for such a group in an ORATORIO, OPERA, or other multimovement work. (3) The REFRAIN of a POPULAR SONG. (4) In JAZZ, a statement of the HARMONIC PROGRESSION of the opening tune, over which one or more instruments play variants or new musical ideas.

Front 643

scat singing

Back 643

Technique in JAZZ in which the performer sings nonsense syllables to an IMPROVISED or composed MELODY.

Front 644

big band

Back 644

Type of large JAZZ ENSEMBLE popular between the world wars, featuring brass, reeds, and RHYTHM SECTIONS, and playing prepared arrangements that included rhythmic unisons and coordinated dialogue between sections and soloists.

Front 645

swing

Back 645

A style of JAZZ originating in the 1930s that was characterized by large ENSEMBLEs and hard-driving jazz rhythms.

Front 646

contrafact

Back 646

In JAZZ, a new MELODY composed over a HARMONIC PROGRESSION borrowed from another song.

Front 647

diegetic music

Back 647

In film, music that is heard or performed by the characters themselves.

Front 648

source music

Back 648

In film, music that is heard or performed by the characters themselves.

Front 649

nondiegetic music

Back 649

In film, background music that conveys to the viewer a mood or other aspect of a scene or character but is not heard by the characters themselves. Compare DIEGETIC MUSIC.

Front 650

underscoring

Back 650

In film, background music that conveys to the viewer a mood or other aspect of a scene or character but is not heard by the characters themselves. Compare DIEGETIC MUSIC.

Front 651

Between the World Wars: The Classical Tradition

Front 652

New Objectivity

Back 652

coined in the 1920s to describe a kind of new realism in music, in reaction to the emotional intensity of the late ROMANTICS and the EXPRESSIONISM of Schoenberg and Berg.

Front 653

socialist realism

Back 653

A doctrine of the Soviet Union, begun in the 1930s, in which all the arts were required to use a realistic approach (as opposed to an abstract or symbolic one) that portrayed socialism in a positive light. In music this meant use of simple, accessible language, centered on MELODY, and patriotic subject matter.

Front 654

spatial

Back 654

Pertaining to a conception of music as sounds moving through musical space, rather than as the presentation and VARIATION of THEMES or MOTIVES.

Front 655

sound mass

Back 655

Term coined by Edgard Varese for a body of sounds characterized by a particular TIMBRE, register, RHYTHM, or MELODIC gesture, which may remain stable or may be transformed as it recurs.

Front 656

tone cluster

Back 656

Term coined by Henry Cowell for a CHORD of DIATONIC or CHROMATIC seconds.

Front 657

Postwar Crosscurrents

Front 658

rock and roll

Back 658

(or rock) A musical style that emerged in the United States in the mid-1950s as a blend of black and white traditions of POPULAR MUSIC, primarily RHYTHM-AND-BLUES, COUNTRY MUSIC, POP MUSIC, and TIN PAN ALLEY.

Front 659

bebop

Back 659

bebop (or bop) A style of JAZZ developed in New York in the 1940s that had a diversified RHYTHMIC texture, enriched HARMONIC vocabulary, and an emphasis on IMPROVISATION with rapid MELODIES and asymmetrical PHRASES.

Front 660

free jazz

Back 660

An experimental JAZZ style introduced in the 1960s by Ornette Coleman, using IMPROVISATION that disregards the standard FORMS and conventions of jazz..

Front 661

electronic music

Back 661

Music based on sounds that are produced or modified through electronic means.

Front 662

indeterminacy

Back 662

An approach to composition, pioneered by John Cage, in which the composer leaves certain aspects of the music unspecified. Should not be confused with CHANCE.

Front 663

chance

Back 663

Approach to composing music pioneered by John Cage, in which some of the decisions normally made by the composer are instead determined through random procedures, such as tossing coins. Chance differs from INDETERMINACY but shares with it the result that the sounds in the music do not convey an intention and are therefore to be experienced only as pure sound.

Front 664

quotation

Back 664

Direct borrowing of one work in another, especially when the borrowed material is not reworked using a standard musical procedure (such as VARIATIONS, PARAPHRASE, or IMITATION MASS) but is set off as a foreign element.

Front 665

collage

Back 665

Work or passage that uses multiple QUOTATIONS without following a standard procedure for doing so, such as QUODLIBET or medley.

Front 666

wind ensemble

Back 666

Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments, mostly with one player per part, dedicated solely to serious music, rather than to the mix of MARCHES and other fare typically played by BANDS.

Front 667

pop music

Back 667

Term coined in the 1950s for music that reflected the tastes and styles popular with the teen and young adult market.

Front 668

charts

Back 668

In postwar POPULAR MUSIC, weekly rankings of songs by sales or other measures of popularity.

Front 669

country music

Back 669

(also known as country-and-western) A type of POPULAR MUSIC associated primarily with white southerners, that blends elements of FOLK MUSIC, POPULAR SONG, and other traditions.

Front 670

rhythm-and-blues

Back 670

African-American style of POPULAR MUSIC, originating in the 1940s, that featured a vocalist or vocal quartet, PIANO or organ, electric guitar, bass, and drums, and songs built on TWELVE-BAR BLUES or POPULAR SONG formulas.

Front 671

rock

Back 671

A musical style that emerged in the United States in the mid-1950s as a blend of black and white traditions of POPULAR MUSIC, primarily RHYTHM-AND-BLUES, COUNTRY MUSIC, POP MUSIC, and TIN PAN ALLEY.

Front 672

folk music

Back 672

(1) Music of unknown authorship from a particular region or people, passed down through oral tradition. (2) In the decades after World War II, a type of POPULAR MUSIC that drew on folk traditions, which included both genuine FOLK SONGS and POPULAR SONGS.

Front 673

soul

Back 673

The leading African-American tradition of POPULAR MUSIC in the 1960s that combined elements of RHYTHM-AND-BLUES and gospel singing in songs on love, sex, and other secular subjects.

Front 674

salsa

Back 674

A type of dance music that emerged in the 1960s combining elements of Cuban dance styles with JAZZ, ROCK, and Puerto Rican music.

Front 675

bop

Back 675

A style of JAZZ developed in New York in the 1940s that had a diversified RHYTHMIC texture, enriched HARMONIC vocabulary, and an emphasis on IMPROVISATION with rapid MELODIES and asymmetrical PHRASES.

Front 676

total serialism

Back 676

The application of the principles of the TWELVE-TONE METHOD to musical parameters other than pitch, including duration, intensities, and TIMBRES. See SERIAL MUSIC.

Front 677

prepared piano

Back 677

An invention of John Cage in which various objects-such as pennies, bolts, screws, or pieces of wood, rubber, plastic, or slit bamboo-are inserted between the strings of a PIANO, resulting in complex percussive sounds when the piano is played from the keyboard.

Front 678

musique concrete

Back 678

(French, 'concrete music') Term coined by composers working in Paris in the 1940s for music composed by assembling and manipulating recorded sounds, working "concretely" with sound itself rather than with music NOTATION.

Front 679

chance

Back 679

Approach to composing music pioneered by John Cage, in which some of the decisions normally made by the composer are instead determined through random procedures, such as tossing coins. Chance differs from INDETERMINACY but shares with it the result that the sounds in the music do not convey an intention and are therefore to be experienced only as pure sound.

Front 680

indeterminacy

Back 680

An approach to composition, pioneered by John Cage, in which the composer leaves certain aspects of the music unspecified. Should not be confused with CHANCE.

Front 681

Performance art

Back 681

A type of art that first came to prominence in the 1960s, based on the idea that performing a prescribed action in a public place constitutes a work of art.

Front 682

quotation

Back 682

Direct borrowing of one work in another, especially when the borrowed material is not reworked using a standard musical procedure (such as VARIATIONS, PARAPHRASE, or IMITATION MASS) but is set off as a foreign element.

Front 683

concert band

Back 683

Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments that performs seated in concert halls, like an ORCHESTRA.

Front 684

wind ensemble

Back 684

Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments, mostly with one player per part, dedicated solely to serious music, rather than to the mix of MARCHES and other fare typically played by BANDS.

Front 685

The End of the Millennium

Front 686

mixed media

Back 686

Trend of the late twentieth century that combines two or more of the arts, including music, to create a new kind of PERFORMANCE ART or musical theater.

Front 687

minimalism

Back 687

One of the leading musical styles of the late twentieth century, in which materials are reduced to a minimum and procedures simplified so that what is going on in the music is immediately apparent. Often characterized by a constant pulse and many repetitions of simple RHYTHMIC, MELODIC, or HARMONIC patterns.

Front 688

neo-Romanticism

Back 688

A trend of the late twentieth century in which composers adopted the familiar tonal idiom of nineteenth-century ROMANTIC music and incorporated its sounds and gestures.

Front 689

digital

Back 689

Relating to methods for producing or recording musical sounds by translating them into a coded series of on-off pulses, or 1s and 0s, in the same way that computers store and transmit data.

Front 690

sampling

Back 690

A process of creating new COMPOSITIONS by patching together snippets of previously recorded music.

Front 691

mixed media

Back 691

Trend of the late twentieth century that combines two or more of the arts, including music, to create a new kind of PERFORMANCE ART or musical theater.

Front 692

Music video

Back 692

Type of short film popularized in the early 1980s that provides a visual accompaniment to a POP SONG.

Front 693

minimalism

Back 693

One of the leading musical styles of the late twentieth century, in which materials are reduced to a minimum and procedures simplified so that what is going on in the music is immediately apparent. Often characterized by a constant pulse and many repetitions of simple RHYTHMIC, MELODIC, or HARMONIC patterns.

Front 694

postmodernism

Back 694

Trend in the late twentieth century that blurs the boundaries between high and popular art, and in which styles of all epochs and cultures are equally available for creating music.

Front 695

polystylism

Back 695

Term coined by Alfred Schnittke for a combination of newer and older musical styles created through QUOTATION or stylistic allusion.