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25 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Concerto Grosso
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A form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno or concerto grosso) |
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Concertino group
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The soloist group in a concerto grosso |
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Ripieno group
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The full orchestra group in a concerto grosso |
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Tutti |
Italian for "everyone". The part of a concerto that has both the concertino and the ripieno groups playing with each other. |
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Ospedale della Pietà
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A convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice that Vivaldi taught violin at. Much of Vivaldi's sacred vocal and instrumental music was written for performance at the Pietà |
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Koethen/Leipzig
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Two German cities in which Bach wrote music in. Koethen: Brandenburg Concerti, Leipzig: St. Matthew Passion, St John Passion |
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Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg
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The man who the Brandenburg concerti are dedicated to. Bach wrote these most likely to gain favor with him, and hopefully win some kind of commission for his court. This never panned out, as Ludwig most likely never even looked at the pieces. |
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“B-A-C-H motive”
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The Art of the Fugue. The name BACH could be spelled out in musical notation using the old German format for notating music. It is atonal in sound. |
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Natural trumpet
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A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series. Remembered for its prominence in BW 51. |
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Frederick the Great
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An "enlightened despot", Frederick was a champion of the enlightenment movement, who detested former schools of thought and was King over Prussia. His embrace of secularism, and rejection of things German in favor of things French made him almost the antithesis of Bach, and prompted the "challenge" that became Bach's Musical Offering. |
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Potsdam |
Where the summer palace of Austrian king Frederick the Great was located. |
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Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach/Johann Christian Bach
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Bach's sons. CPE Bach worked for Frederick, and it is most likely that he wrote the hard to counterpoint "Royal Theme" that became the challenge which evolved into "The Musical Offering". |
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Gottfried Silbermann
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A skilled maker of pianos, harpsichords, and organs. In one instance Bach was invited over to hear his pianos, and remarked with bitter criticism. Silbermann was hurt, but set toward improving the sound, which on second hearing Bach loved and even ended up helping him sell one. |
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Ricercar |
An old word for "fugue". Bach has his music feature a ricercar to emphasize his old ways in a tongue in cheek move against King Frederick who rejected the old and embraced the new. |
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Turba chorus
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A "crowd" chorus, where the chorus does not represent a removed 3rd party, but rather a collective of characters in the story being portrayed in an oratorio. Ex: A turba chorus acts as the guards send to capture Jesus, and respond to Jesus when he asks "who are you looking for?" in the St. John passion |
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Evangelist (oratorio)
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In both Passion oratorios, the Evangelist acts as a narrator, and moves the story along, providing details of the action through his recitative. |
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Galante music/Alberti bass
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A predecessor to classical (period) music, favored by King Frederick. |
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Bach revival/Felix Mendelssohn
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Mendelssohn is in part responsible for elevating Bach for the composer position he is in today, prompting a revival in the mid 1800s by conducting his music publicly. |
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The Musical Offering |
The musical offering is Bach's answer to King Frederick's counterpoint challenge, which involved a 6 part voicing on a near impossible fugal theme. The name itself is humbly tongue in cheek, and also has religious connotations, which Bach set purposely as Frederick was an atheist. It is composed of 10 works (representing 10 commandments) and Bach never received an answer back from Frederick, most likely because he did not expect an answer to the challenge. |
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St. Matthew Passion vs St. John Passion (5 differences) |
Differences: 1. Matt starts earlier than John 2. Matt has a double chorus (two SATB) and a boy soprano chorus 3. John has secco recative (dry, unaccompanied), Matt recit has strings (accampano) to create a "halo effect when Jesus speaks 4. Matt: blame is on the sinner not the Sahadran (jewish priests) in John 5. John's Jesus is fearless and divine, Matt's is afraid and human |
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The Passion |
The last day of Jesus's life: from the last supper to the crusifiction |
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The St. John Passion: One fact |
Starts at the Garden of Gethsemane. This Passion is written before the St Matthew Passion, and is shorter. Both passions were probably performed on Good Friday |
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The St. Matthew Passion: One Fact |
This Passion starts with Jesus prophesizing his death while in Jerusalem. Both passions were probably performed on Good Friday |
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The Brandenburg Concerti: One fact |
The Branderburg concerti are composed of 6 concertos. They are all in major keys, extremely difficult to play, are very experimental and were probably never performed in Bach's time. |
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Cantata BW 51: One fact |
Features a prominent natural trumpet which required Bach to write a soprano aria that could not feature a boy soprano, because the soprano lead would require more power than a child could muster to counteract the high, loud, sound of the trumpet |
