Music History Test 1

Front 1

a technique of scrunching dominant chords used by Domenico Scarlatti

Back 1

acciaccatura affect

Front 2

the opening, incomplete sounding phrase of a melody; often followed by a consequent phrase that brings closure to the melody

Back 2

antecedent

Front 3

a traditional, usually strophic, song that tells a lengthy story

Back 3

ballad

Front 4

a structure consisting of two complementary parts, the first moving to a closely related key, and the second beginning in the new key but soon returning to tonic

Back 4

binary form

Front 5

an adult male singer who had been castrated as a boy to keep his voice from changing so that it would remain in the soprano or alto register

Back 5

castrato

Front 6

the musical section appended to a piece to add extra weight to the end to give it a feeling of conclusion

Back 6

coda

Front 7

an aria in 2 sections with an obligatory return to and repeat of the first (hence ABA); the reprise was not written out but signaled by the inscription "da capo" meaning to "take it from the top"

Back 7

da capo aria

Front 8

in sonata form, the middle most section in which the themes of the exposition are varied or developed in some fashion: it is often the most confrontational and unstable portion of the movement

Back 8

development

Front 9

a passage in a musical work occurring between other passages that have more central thematic importance (as in rondo form); in a fugue, a section full of modulation and free counterpoint that is based on motives derived from the subject

Back 9

episode

Front 10

in sonata form the first main section in which the primary thematic material of the movement is presented or exposed; of a fugue. an opening section in which each voice presents the subject in turn

Back 10

exposition

Front 11

french term used by music historians (rather than "enlightenment style") to describe eighteenth century music that is grateful, light in texture, and generally symmetrical in melodic structure

Back 11

galant style

Front 12

a philosophical, scientific, and politcal movement that dominated eighteenth century thought

Back 12

enlightenment

Front 13

a technique used in keyboard playing in which the left hand must cross over the right to create an exciting three level texture.

Back 13

hand crossings

Front 14

a musical diversion between the acts of an opera or a play

Back 14

intermezzo

Front 15

chief of music at court; the german equivalent of maestro di cappella (chapel master) in Italy

Back 15

kapellmeister

Front 16

(the war of the buffoons) a paper war over the relative merits of italian and french musical style; it raged, on and off, for several years in paris during the 1750s and centered on the question of what sort of opera was appropriate for the french stage

Back 16

la guerre des bouffons

Front 17

a triadic theme that bursts forth as a rising arpeggio; another specialty of the highly disciplined orchestra at the court of mannheim

Back 17

mannheim rocket

Front 18

a gradual increase from very soft to very loud with a repeating figure over a pedal point

Back 18

mannheim steamroller

Front 19

leading lady

Back 19

prima donna

Front 20

in sonata form, the return of the first theme and the tonic key and following the development; although essentially a revisiting of previous material it is usually by no means an exact repeat

Back 20

recapitulation

Front 21

first created in the 1760's by christoph willibald gluck and ranieri calzabigi in an attempt to combine the best features of the italian and french operatic traditions, to yoke italian lyricism to the french concern for dramatic expression

Back 21

reform opera

Front 22

in sonata form, the point near the end of the development here tonal stability returns, often in the form of a dominant pedal point, in preparation for the return of the first theme (in the tonic key) and the beginning of the recapitulation

Back 22

retransition

Front 23

a return or refrain

Back 23

ritornello

Front 24

one of the main musical forms of the classical period; a classical rondo sets a refrain (a) against contrasting material (b,c, or d) to create a pattern such as ABACA, ABACABA, or even ABACADA; it usually projects a playful, exuberant mood, and is often used as the last movement of a sonata or symphony, to bid a happy farewell to the audience

Back 24

rondo

Front 25

George Frederick Handel's London opera company started in 1719; a publicly held stock company, its principal investor being the king

Back 25

Royal Academy of Music

Front 26

a three section or three movement instrumental work that might preface an opera or stand alone as an independent concert symphony

Back 26

sinfonia

Front 27

the most important formal innovation of the Classical period, used by composers most often when writing a fast first movement of a sonata, quartet, or symphony; an expansion of rounded binary form, it consists of an exposition, development, and recapitulation, with optional introduction and coda

Back 27

sonata form

Front 28

in sonata form the passage of modulation between the tonic and the new

Back 28

transition