The History Of Western Music/grout Part 5

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song cycle

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

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virtuoso

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

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Romantic

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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.

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absolute music

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

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characteristic

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

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descriptive music

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

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program music

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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.

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program

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

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character piece

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A piece of CHARACTERISTIC MUSIC, especially one for PIANO.

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ballad

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(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.

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modified strophic form

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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.

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parlor song

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

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etude

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(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.

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concert etude

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(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.

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waltz

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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.

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mazurka

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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.

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polonaise

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

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rubato

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

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nocturne

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

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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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recital

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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.

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transcription

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

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conductor

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

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idee fixe

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(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.

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choral society

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

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partsong

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(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.

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a cappella

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

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shape-note singing

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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.

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bel canto

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(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.

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cantabile

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(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.

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cabaletta

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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.

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tempo di mezzo

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(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.

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reminiscence motive

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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.

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Grand opera

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

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melodrama

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

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minstrelsy

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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.

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Nationalism

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(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.

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exoticism

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

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opera bouffe

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

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operetta

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

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verismo

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

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music drama

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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.

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Gesamtkunstwerk

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(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.

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Leitmotiv

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(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.

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lyric opera

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

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opera

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

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opera bouffe

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

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Cabaret

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

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cafe-concert

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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.

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whole-tone scale

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

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octatonic scale

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

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Operetta

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

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vaudeville

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

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classical music

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(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.

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developing variation

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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.

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symphonic poems

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(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.

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thematic transformation

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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.

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chromatic saturation

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

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march

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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.

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strain

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

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art song

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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.

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popular song

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

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chorus

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(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.

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Tin Pan Alley

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(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.

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call and response

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

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spiritual

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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.