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93 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
imitative counterpoint
CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE marked by IMITATION between voices.
homophony
Musical TEXTURE in which all voices move together in essentially the same RHYTHM, as distinct from POLYPHONY and HETEROPHONY. See also MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT.
humanism
Movement in the RENAISSANCE to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture and to study things pertaining to human knowledge and experience.
chapel
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.
imitate
(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.
Pythagorean intonation
A system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE, common in the Middle Ages, in which all perfect fourths and fifths are in perfect tune.
just intonation
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.
temperament
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.
mean-tone temperament
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.
equal temperament
A TEMPERAMENT in which the octave is divided into twelve equal SEMITONES. This is the most commonly used tuning for Western music today.
contenance angloise
(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.
faburden
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.
Cantilena
(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.
carol
English song, usually on a religious subject, with several stanzas and a BURDEN, or REFRAIN. From the fifteenth century on, most carols are POLYPHONIC.
burden
(1) In English medieval POLYPHONY, the lowest voice. (2) In the English CAROL, the REFRAIN.
paraphrase
Technique in which a CHANT or other MELODY is reworked, often by altering rhythms and adding NOTES, and placed in a POLYPHONIC setting.
motet
(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.
hemiola
(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.
fauxbourdon
(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.
mass
(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).
plainsong mass
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).
head-motive
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.
motto mass
POLYPHONIC MASS in which the MOVEMENTS are linked primarily by sharing the same opening MOTIVE or PHRASE.
cantus-firmus mass
POLYPHONIC MASS in which the same CANTUS FIRMUS is used in each MOVEMENT, normally in the TENOR.
tenor mass
POLYPHONIC MASS in which the same CANTUS FIRMUS is used in each MOVEMENT, normally in the TENOR.
cantus-firmus/imitation mass
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.
contratenor bassus
(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.
bassus
(Latin, 'low') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the lowest part; originally CONTRATENOR BASSUS.
bass
(from BASSUS) (1) The lowest part in an ENSEMBLE work. (2) Low male voice. (3) Low instrument, especially the string bass or bass VIOL.
contratenor altus
(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.
altus
(Latin, 'high') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, a part in a range between the TENOR and the SUPERIUS; originally CONTRATENOR ALTUS.
alto
(from ALTUS) (1) Relatively low female voice, or high male voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.
superius
(Latin, 'highest') In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the highest part (compare CANTUS).
soprano
(from SUPERIUS) (1) High female voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.
canon
(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.
inversion
(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.
retrograde
Backward statement of a previously heard MELODY, passage, or TWELVE-TONE ROW.
mensuration canon
A CANON in which voices move at different rates of speed by using different MENSURATION SIGNS.
point of imitation
Passage in a POLYPHONIC work in which two or more parts enter in IMITATION.
text depiction
Using musical gestures to reinforce or suggest images in a text, such as rising on the word 'ascend.'
text expression
Conveying or suggesting through musical means the emotions expressed in a text.
imitation mass
(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.
paraphrase mass
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.
villancico
(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.
frottola
(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.
madrigal
(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.
lute song
English GENRE of solo song with LUTE accompaniment.
through-composed
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.
madrigalism
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.
villanella
Type of sixteenth-century Italian song, generally for three voices, in a rustic HOMOPHONIC style.
canzonetta
(Italian, 'little song') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style. Diminutive of CANZONA.
balletto
(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.
musique mesuree
(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).
air de cour
(French, 'court air') Type of song for voice and accompaniment, prominent in France from about 1580 through the seventeenth century.
Meistersinger
(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.
consort song
RENAISSANCE English GENRE of song for voice accompanied by a CONSORT of VIOLS.
canzonet
(Italian, 'little song') Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style. Diminutive of CANZONA.
balletts
(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.
air
English or French song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, setting rhymed poetry, often STROPHIC, and usually in the METER of a dance.
tablature
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.
variations
(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.
prelude
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.
fantasia
(Italian, 'fantasy'), fantasy (1) Instrumental COMPOSITION that resembles an IMPROVISATION or lacks a strict FORM. (2) IMITATIVE instrumental piece on a single subject.
toccata
(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.
ricercare
(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.
canzona
(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.
sonata
(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.
instrumental family
Set of instruments, all of the same type but of different sizes and RANGES, such as a VIOL CONSORT.
consort
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).
sackbut
RENAISSANCE brass instrument, an early form of the trombone.
crumhorn
RENAISSANCE wind instrument, with a double reed enclosed in a cap so the player's lips do not touch the reed.
lute
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.
vihuela
Spanish relative of the LUTE with a flat back and guitar-shaped body.
viol
Bowed, fretted string instrument popular from the mid-fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, held between the legs.
viola da gamba
Bowed, fretted string instrument popular from the mid-fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, held between the legs.
violin
Bowed, fretless string instrument tuned in fifths (g-d'-a'-e').
clavichord
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.
harpsichord
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.
virginal
(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.
clavecin
French term for HARPSICHORD. A person who performs on or composes works for the clavecin is known as a clavecinist.
basse danse
(French, 'low dance') Type of stately couple DANCE of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
branle gay
RENAISSANCE DANCE in a lively triple METER based on a sideways swaying step.
pavane
(pavan) Sixteenth-century dance in slow duple METER with three repeated sections (AABBCC). Often followed by a GALLIARD.
galliard
Sixteenth-century dance in fast triple METER, often paired with the PAVANE and in the same FORM (AABBCC).
intabulation
Arrangement of a vocal piece for LUTE or keyboard, typically written in TABLATURE.
organ mass
Setting for organ of all sections of the MASS for which the organ would play, including ORGAN VERSES and other pieces.
variation 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.
theme
Musical subject of a COMPOSITION or section, or of a set of VARIATIONS.
ostinato
(Italian, 'obstinate') Short musical pattern that is repeated persistently throughout a piece or section. See BASSO OSTINATO.
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.
canzon
(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.
polychoral motet
MOTET for two or more choirs.
polychoral motet
MOTET for two or more choirs.