Music Humanities Midterm Ids

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Monophony

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a texture comprising a single line of musical notes (i.e. a single melody); it makes no difference whether there is one singer or many singers, as long as they sing the same notes together is it monophonic; popularized in chant melodies of the pre-Middle Ages (ex.: Hildegard of Bingen)

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Polyphony

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a texture formed from the interaction of two or more prominent melodic lines played at the same time; in this case, we'd have at least two singers and/or people playing instruments, each playing an independent melody in their own right, though in simultaneous combination; popularized in the Middle Ages, firstly through secular music for entertainment (ex: Francesco Landini)

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Homophony

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a texture in which one melody predominates the others; in this case the other parts may be simple chords or more elaborate accompaniment patterns; popularized in the Baroque Period with basso continuo (ex.: Antonio Vivaldi)

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Syllabic

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description of music that has one note corresponding to each syllable of text in vocal music; popularized in long Gregorian chant melodies and sacred music so as to easily understand the sung text (ex.: Hildegard of Bingen)

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Neumatic

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description of music that has a small group of notes corresponding to each syllable of text in vocal music; commonly found in many syllabic Gregorian chant melodies to emphasize a specific word or set of words (ex.: Hildegard of Bingen)

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Melismatic

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description of music that has a large group of notes corresponding to each syllable of text in vocal music; commonly found in long Gregorian chant melodies to as to not have them end quickly (ex.: Josquin)

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Cadence

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often found at the end of phrases and movements, it a means of a progression of at least two chords that imparts closure; can be classified as harmonic or rhythmic and can be considered like punctuation for music; common in the classical period, primarily in the form of cadential trills (i.e. Mozart)

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Mass

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a form of sacred musical composition, more specifically a choral composition, that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music; it can be a capella or accompanied by instrumentation and is composed of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei; found beginning in the early music of pre-Middle Ages (Kyrie XI)

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Ars Antiqua

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music of the early Middle Ages characterized by monophony, triple meter, and shorter notes in perfect 4th and 5th; this period also introduced the conception and notation of rhythm; motets were commonly produced during this period of sacred means (i.e. Pérotin)

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Ars Nova

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music of the late Middle Ages characterized by polyphony, double meter and more rythmic complexity with notes in 3rds; this period (coming after the ars antiqua) saw a rise in the creation of secular works with more autonomous melodic lines (i.e. Landini)

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Formes Fixes

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French poetic forms of the 14th and 15th centuries that were translated into musical forms of songs; these forms all consisted of a chorus, refrain, repetition, rhyme scheme and involved secular themes of love, nature, people, etc.; forms could be ballade, rondeau, virelai, etc. (i.e. Guillaume de Machaut)

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Motet

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can be any number of highly varied choral musical compositions that honor the Virgin Mary; considered a polyphonic musical setting during the Renaissance (often imitative), it was sacred and suitable for use in any service throughout the year, such that the texts of antiphons were often used as motet texts (i.e. Josquin)

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A Capella

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vocal music without instrumental accompaniment; often used for religious music, especially church music, though the majority of sacred vocal music from the Renaissance is of this form, as well as the Gregorian chants (i.e. Josquin)

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Imitation

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a form of musical repetition where a musical gesture is repeated in a different form while retaining its original character; during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, imitative polyphony was common in compositions, though counterpoint, a form of imitation occurring in a second point at a different pitch, was as well (i.e. Monteverdi)

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Sequence

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a process in which a melodic fragment is stated and then repeated at a higher or lower pitch level; this repetition can occur once or several times while introducing subtle modification but maintaining the overall shape; this was a common Classical Period technique within the development section of sonata form movements to create period of restlessness (i.e. Mozart)

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Word Painting

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the practice of illustrating specific words of a text in a vocal composition by means of musical analogy; common in the late-Renaissance and Baroque periods, this can also apply to whole phrases and to ideas that are indicated or suggested by the text; often found in madrigals (analogy: madrigalisms) (i.e. Monteverdi)

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Madrigal

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a polyphonic piece of the secular music during the Renaissance that conveyed emotions at the cost of the text being more obscure; often times, the pieces were based on poems in Italian about the shared experience of human struggles with secular topics (i.e. love, political satire, etc.); the madrigals of the Italian Renaissance were intended for wholly vocal performances (i.e. Monteverdi)

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Chanson

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French art song of the Renaissance that was popularized in the Bergundy courts; this preferred genre in France had 3-4 voices, was shorter than the madrigal and more free-form as well (i.e. Guillaume de Machaut)

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Opera

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a sung drama taking place in a theatre (opera house) with costumes, props, a set, etc. on a stage; a large-scale, multiple-act elaborate production involving duets, concertos, wind machines, pulley systems, etc. that was thought to be the solution to the desire to bring Greek tragedy into the realm of music; composer writes music for the piece and librettist writes the libretto (opera text); has its beginnings in the Renaissance period up to modern times (i.e. Monteverdi, Mozart, Handel)

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Libretto/librettist

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writes the opera text and then the composer adds music to it to create the opera (i.e. Lorenzo da Ponte for Mozart)

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Recitative

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a style of singing with instrumental accompaniment that imitates the natural inflections of speech, often found in opera, oratorio, cantata, etc.; unlike arias, recitatives are often syllabic, rarely involving repetition; it can be considered secco, with the singer having chordal accompaniment, or accompagnato, with full orchestral accompaniment (i.e. all composers of opera)

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Basso Continuo

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a method of thickening the musical textures by augmenting the bass line, confined mostly to the Baroque period; the basso continuo parts provided the harmonic structure for the music through at least one instrument able to play chords (i.e. harpsichord, organ, lute, harp, etc.) (i.e. Monteverdi)

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Basso Ostinato (Ground Bass)

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a type of variation form in which a bassline or harmonic pattern is repeated as the basis of a piece underneath variations; while the upper parts proceed normally (with variation), the accompanimental figure or melody is repeated over and over in the bass part, popularized in the Classical Period (i.e. Mozart's Requiem)

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Aria

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an expressive, self-contained melodic piece with orchestral accompaniment; most commonly found in operas and some oratorias and cantatas; in operas, they often come in sequences (then interrupted by recitatives); found in late Renaissance to modern day works (Mozart, Handel, Haydn)

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Overture

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the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choral or instrumental composition; overtures set the mood for many operatic works and varied depending on the region in question (French overture is slow, dotted-rhythmically, followed by lively fugato movement, while the Italian overture was composed of three homophonic movements in fast-slow-fast); overtures have existed since the start of opera in the end of the Renaissance (i.e. Pucell, Monteverdi, Lully)

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Ritornello form

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a recurring instrumental passage in music of the baroque period, often opening a piece and then returning to each after each sung verse; the ritornello is common in arias and helps to bring stability to the piece as a whole (i.e. Monteverdi)

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Motive

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a short musical idea or salient recurring succession of notes that as some special importance or is characteristic of a composition; the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as a musical idea; used throughout the history of music in the form of motivic development (i.e. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven)

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Theme

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the material, often a recognizable melody, upon which part of all of a composition is based; contrasting to ideas or motives, themes are usually complete phrases or periods, which can then be followed by counterthemes or secondary themes in the form of a second melody; found in most music and in all fugues (i.e. Baroque Period, Bach's fugues)

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Figured Bass

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a type of musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones in relation to a bass note; closely associated with basso continuo (Baroque Period, Vivaldi)

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Concerto

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a musical work with one solo instrument being accompanied by an orchestra, whose impact on music began in the Baroque Period and continued to this day; contrastingly, concerto grosso was solely in the Baroque Period and involved a small ensemble of instruments (concertino) accompanied by the rest of the orchestra (ripieno, tutti); in a concerto, the orchestra often plays the ritornello (rondo form) to bring things together, though near the end the soloist will play on and "show off" (cadenza) (i.e. Bach)

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Tonic

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the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of musical composition; specifically, the tonic is the pitch (musical frequency) upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarchically referenced

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Dominant

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the fifth-degree of a musical scale that has the role of creating instability that requires the tonic to resolve

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Trill

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a rapid and continuous alternation between two pitches adjacent to one another on the scale; heard in both vocal and instrumental music and especially common in the Baroque and Classical Periods, it can be used to ornament a melodic line, though within a cadenza it serves to let everyone know the piece will soon end (cadential trill) (i.e. Mozart, Vivaldi)

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Fugue

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a polyphonic musical genre featuring sections of imitative polyphony based on a single theme alternating with free sections; it begins with a solo presentation of the theme (subject), followed by a restatement in a second voice in a different pitch (answer); modifications of the theme can be augmentation (longer notes), diminuation (shorter notes), retrograde (reversed notes), inversion (flipped) and retrograde inversion (reversed and flipped); associated with the late Baroque period (i.e. Bach)

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Castrato

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a man with the singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano produced through castration before the singer reached puberty; without testosterone, normal physiological events of puberty do not occur, allowing for very high vocal range and lung capacity; Farinelli was the most famous example and many of them were hired for Handel's operas in the Baroque Period

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Da Capo Aria

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a solo vocal form with instrumental accompaniment, consisting of two sections followed by a repeat of the first with more ornamentation and coloratura (A-B-A'); used extensively in the Baroque operas, then often followed recitatives, offering reflection on the actions that had just taken place (i.e. Handel)

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Modulation

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the process of changing from one key (tonic) to another that can be accompanied by a change in key signature

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Coloratura

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the ability of a soprano to sing very high notes in order to show off their prowess, often found in the elaborate and florid figuration or ornamentation in Classical and Romantic vocal music (characteristic of many of Handel's operas)

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Oratorio

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an opera in the vernacular form on a religious subject that was not staged; with the rising costs of opera, this was a great alternative and was also used as a form of entertainment during lent in the Baroque period (i.e. Handel)

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Unison

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involves the combination of parts or voices at the same pitch or in octaves

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Program Music

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a type of art music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas/images in the mind of the listener by musically representing a scene, image or mood; the term is usually reserved for purely instrumental works of the Romantic Period, though a number of Joseph Haydn's earlier symphonies may be considered program music, as well as Vivaldi's Four Seasons

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Organum

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a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony; developed in the Middle Ages, it is a form of heterophony involving a Gregorian chant melody and the same melody transposed by a consonant interval; both Leonin and Pérotin were the greatest innovators of organum, being the first international composers of polyphonic music

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Plainchant

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a monophonic, rhythmically-free body of traditional songs used in the liturgies of the Roman Catholic Church; the Gregorian chant is considered a variety of plainchant whose types include prayer, psalm, hymn, and prose; plainchants were most common before the Middle Ages, where they evolved into organums, leading to the development of polyphony (i.e. Hildegard of Bingen)

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String Quartet

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musical ensemble of four string instruments, or a piece written to be performed by such a group, classically having four movements (fast-slow-dance-fast); it is one of the most prominent chamber ensembles in classical music; became popular in the Classical Period and many were written then by Haydn

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Chorus

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a body of singers who perform together typically found in masses and oratorios; all the singers come together in a monophonic voice (unison) to sing music specifically written for such a group, known as choral music; chorus' should not be confused with ensembles, which are trios or quartets than blend the sound of instrumental families together (i.e. string ensemble, wind ensemble); typical of the 18th century to modern-day oratorios as well as mass ceremonies (i.e. Handel)

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Episode

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the rondo form, it is a theme that builds tension between the set of repeating themes (A, a, b, a, b, a, episode, a, a, b, a, b, a, episode...); found in Haydn's string quartets of the Classical period

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Exposition

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the initial presentation of the thematic material of a music composition, movement or section; normally, this material will be developed or varied and this term is used to denote a portion of a movement identified as an example of classical tonal sonata form by establishing the music's tonic key and then modulating to the dominant; found in Classical Period (Mozart)

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Register

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the division of a range of musical pitches into high, middle and low; typically, these divisions can refer to voices (soprano = high register) and instruments (cello/basses ~ low register)

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Interval

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the distance between two tones; it can be sounded successively (as in a melody) or simultaneously (as in a chord); depending on their size, they can be skips, imparting great energy on the song, wide-striding to give the melody confidence and bravery, etc.

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Dynamics

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refers to the softness or loudness of a sound or note and can have the indication of p (paino = soft) or f (forte = loud, strong)

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Timbre

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specific characteristic of a sound that distinguishes it from all others; it is the quality that allows us to distinguish voices and instruments (i.e. the shape of sound)

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Tempo

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the speed of the prevailing beat in a piece of music as determined by the amount of time between beats and can change during the course of the musical piece by speeding up (accelerando) or slowing down (ritardando)

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Rhythm

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the placement of sounds in musical time, occurring on or within beats in the context of an underlying meter; they manifest themselves as sound events

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Meter

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the framework within which rhythms arrange themselves, varying from duple, triple, quadruple, etc.

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Impresario

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classically, a producer of opera who handled all the aspects of operatic marketing, including publicity, sales of seating, contracting singers and musicians, etc. and also handled the maintenance and repairs of the opera house and its props; among the most famous impresarios of the Baroque Period is Handel

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Variation

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a formal technique where material is altered during repetition, such that it may have changes involving harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration; forms of this include ground bass, chaconne, theme-and-variation and divisions; many composers from the Renaissance onward have created variations on past works, including Handel and Mozart

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Opera Buffa

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a type of opera with a comedic tone that was intended to be more easily relatable to the common man by depicting common people with common problems; the score was often simpler, to the liking of Rousseau, and poked some fun at the aristocracy while being critical of class conflict; became very popular in the Classical Period near the timing of the French Revolution (i.e. Mozart)

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Opera Seria

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a type of opera intended for lavish entertainment that portrayed kings and nobility in tragic circumstances; it was built upon the conventions of the High Baroque by developing the da capo aria and involves a much more complicated musical structure than that of the opera buffa (i.e. Handel)

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Vernacular

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pertaining to the native language of a country or locality