Music History II Unit 1 Terms

classical style

Musical idiom of the eighteenth century, generally characterized by an emphasis on MELODY over relatively light accompaniment; simple, clearly articulated HARMONIC plans; PERIODIC phrasing; clearly delineated FORMS based on contrast between THEMES, between KEYS, between stable and unstable passages, and between sections with different functions; and contrasts of mood, style, and figuration within MOVEMENTS as well as between them.

Classic period

In music history, the era from about 1730 to about 1815, between and overlapping the BAROQUE and ROMANTIC periods.

galant

Eighteenth-century musical style that features songlike MELODIES, short PHRASES,
frequent CADENCES, and light accompaniment.

Romantic

Term applied to music of the nineteenth century that 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.

opera buffa

Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, sung throughout.

Alberti bass

Broken-CHORD accompaniment common in the second half of the eighteenth
century and named after Domenico Alberti, who used it frequently.

periodicity

The quality of being PERIODIC, especially when this is emphasized through
frequent resting points and articulations between PHRASES and PERIODS.

period

In music history, an era whose music is understood to have common attributes of style, conventions, approach, and function, in contrast to the previous and following eras.
(2) In musical FORM, especially since the eighteenth century, a complete musical thought concluded by a CADENCE and normally containing at least two PHRASES.

periodic

Organized in discrete PHRASES or PERIODS, often equal in length.

phrase

A unit of MELODY or of an entire musical TEXTURE that has a distinct beginning and
ending and is followed by a pause or other articulation but does not express a complete
musical thought.

intermezzo

Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, performed between acts of a
serious OPERA or play.

opéra comique

In the eighteenth century, light French comic
OPERA, which used spoken dialogue instead of RECITATIVES. (2) In nineteenth-century France, opera with spoken dialogue, whether comic or tragic.

Singspiel

German GENRE of OPERA, featuring spoken dialogue interspersed with songs, CHORUSES, and instrumental music.

vaudeville

In late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America, a type of variety show
including musical numbers.

opera seria

Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian OPERA, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic characters and scenes

sonata form

FORM typically used in first MOVEMENTS of SONATAS, instrumental chamber
works, and SYMPHONIES during the CLASSIC and ROMANTIC PERIODS. An
expansion of ROUNDED BINARY FORM, it was described in the nineteenth century as
consisting of an EXPOSITION, DEVELOPMENT, and RECAPITULATION based on a
limited number of THEMES.

transition

In the EXPOSITION of a MOVEMENT in SONATA FORM, the passage between the first and second THEMES that effects the MODULATION to a new KEY.
(2) More generally, a passage between two MOVEMENTS or SECTIONS of a work.

rounded binary form

BINARY FORM in which the beginning or all of the first section returns
in the TONIC in the latter part of the second section.

sinfonia

Generic term used throughout the seventeenth century for an abstract ENSEMBLE
piece, especially one that serves as an introduction to a vocal work. (2) Italian OPERA
OVERTURE in the early eighteenth century. (3) Early SYMPHONY.

symphony

Large work for ORCHESTRA, usually in four MOVEMENTS.

development

The process of reworking, recombining, fragmenting, and varying given THEMES or other material. (2) In SONATA FORM, the section after the EXPOSITION, which MODULATES through a variety of KEYS and in which THEMES from the exposition are fragmented and presented in new ways.

empfindsam style

Close relative of the GALANT style, but featuring surprising turns of HARMONY, CHROMATICISM, nervous RHYTHMS, and speechlike MELODIES.

piano, pianoforte

A keyboard instrument invented around 1700 that uses a mechanism in which the strings are struck, rather than plucked as the HARPSICHORD was, and which allowed for crescendos, dimuendos, and other effects.

exposition

In a FUGUE, a set of entries of the SUBJECT. (2) In SONATA FORM, the first part of the MOVEMENT, in which the main THEMES are stated, beginning in the TONIC and usually closing in the DOMINANT (or relative major).

recapitulation

In SONATA FORM, the third main section, which restates the material from the
EXPOSITION, normally all in the TONIC.

ternary form

A FORM in three main sections, in which the first and third are identical or closely related and the middle section is contrasting, creating an ABA pattern.

minuet and trio form

FORM that joins two BINARY-FORM MINUETS to create an ABA pattern, where A is the minuet and B the TRIO.

trio

Piece for three players or singers. (2) The second of two alternating DANCES, in the
Classical-era MINUET AND TRIO FORM. (3) The second main section of a MARCH.

rondo form

Musical FORM in which the first or main section recurs, usually in the TONIC, between subsidiary sections or EPISODES.

rondo

Piece or MOVEMENT in RONDO FORM.

scherzo

A joking or particularly fast MOVEMENT in MINUET AND TRIO FORM.

serenade

A semidramatic piece for several singers and small ORCHESTRA, usually written for
a special occasion.

sonata-rondo

A FORM that blends characteristics of SONATA FORM and RONDO FORM.
One frequent structure is ABACABA, in which A and B correspond to the first and
second THEMES of SONATA FORM and B appears first in the DOMINANT and
returns in the TONIC.

exoticism

Nineteenth-century trend in which composers sought to evoke the perceived glamour
and strangeness of distant lands and foreign cultures.