Music History Quiz 4

Anna Magdelena Bach

Second wife of Bach. Musician, had 20 kids total. Wrote Bach’s manuscripts & may have mistakes. Unsung hero!

Maria Barbara Bach

First wife, second cousin of JS Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685-1750. Foundation for Western tonal music & counterpoint. Introspective, not flashy music. Seen as old-school at the time. Had to write one cantata a week in Leipzig. Had a lot of children who helped with copying music since printing press was slow & expensive. Devout Lutheran, drank a lot of coffee → “coffee cantata). Fought w/ a bassoonist & died due to complications from eye surgery (and a stroke). Big sphere of influence in religious music. Cello suites are a big deal.

Pablo Casals

Really good at cello. Goes into music shop in 1890s, studies suits for ~10 years, performs in 1901, waits 40 years to record (bc of war). Shows suites for peace in recording, music + protest go hand in hand.

Caccini

1587-1645. Highly regarded singer/composer in court of Medicis (closely connected to Florentine Camerata). Taught nuns. Her only surviving stage work, La liberazione di Ruggiero, is widely considered the oldest opera by a woman composer.

Florentine Camerata

Group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama.

Gabrieli

Pioneered polychordal style. First guy to write in dynamics of music.

Handel

b. 1685 in Germany (like Bach). Family not particularly musical (barber surgeon); showed early musical talents & dropped out of law school. Wrote Italian operas, created genre of English oratorio to avoid financial ruin. Most famous piece out of the 25 is The Messiah (written in 24 days). About life of Jesus Christ with 3 parts:
I) Birth
II) Passion (life right before death), death, ressurection
III) Judgement Day, Eternal Life

Also wrote many arias, recitatives, choruses, ensemble pieces, instrumental pieces, movements. Most famous movement is Hallelujah Chorus; audiences stand.

Monteverdi

1567-1643 in Cremona, Italy. Trained as a musician from young age & had 3 children with a singer (one died in infancy). Wrote both sacred & secular music. Wrote L’Orfeo: first great secular opera. Key transitional figure between Medieval & Baroque music.

Strozzi

Highly regarded singer/composer; benefited from father’s fame & promotion. worked in Germany. Published eight volumes of her own music, and had more secular music in print than any other composer of the era.

Vivaldi

1678-1741. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers; basically invented the concerto form. Early music written for all-girls orphanage. Ordained as priest at 25 but couldn’t hold public Masses due to asthma.

Monophony

One single harmonic line.

Polyphony/Counterpoint

Two or more melodic lines (roughly equal appearances).

Homophony

One melodic line supported by additional musical lines.

Opera

Musical drama in homophonic style.

Aria

A long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.

Recitative

Singing that follows the natural rhythms of prose text.

Basso continuo

A continuous bass line accompanying melodies, foundational in Baroque music.

Figured bass

Musical notation system that uses numbers below a bass line to indicate the chords and intervals to be played above it; basso continuo.

Programmatic music

Instrumental; represents scene, story, idea through tonality, rhythm, tone color, tempo, instrumental techniques. NOT VOCAL because you’re saying the thing you want to express.

Polychordal

Many simultaneous chords; contrasting groups of singers/instrumentalists who answer one another.

Concerto

Musical composition featuring a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra, typically in three movements with alternating tempos: fast, slow, and fast.

Suite

Collection of related things. 6 total sections:
(1) Prelude,
(2) Allemande (German dance),
(3) Courante (French courir - to run),
(4) Sarabande (Spanish dance - slow), spiritual centerpiece,
(5) (a) and (b) Danses Galantes, every 2 suites are a different style; I + II minuets, III+IV bairees, V+VI gavottes (dance numbers). Cello tuned differently,
(6) Gigue (French jig), 5 notes in the beginning

Oratorio

A large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically a narrative set to music without staging, often based on religious themes.

Movement

Sections of a larger musical work, often with its own tempo and theme, commonly found in orchestral and choral compositions.

Idiomatic

Style that emphasizes the unique capabilities and sounds of specific instruments.

Lute

Stringed musical instrument with a neck, frets, and a deep, rounded body, often pear-shaped.

Theorbo

Large, plucked string instrument of the lute family.