MUS 121 NVCC Exam 3

Basso Continuo

(in baroque music) an accompanying part that includes a bass line and harmonies, typically played on a keyboard instrument and with other instruments such as cello or bass viol.

Movement

is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form.

Concerto grosso

a musical composition for a group of solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra. The term is used mainly of baroque works.

Ritornello

a short instrumental refrain or interlude in a vocal work.

a recurring tutti section in a concerto.

Tutti

is an Italian word literally meaning all or together and is used as a musical term, for the whole orchestra as opposed to the soloist.

Fugue

is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition.

Inversion

rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music.

Retrograde

term that literally means "backwards and upside down"

Augmentation

is the lengthening of a note or interval.

Diminution

may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values (also called "coloration").

Trio sonata

major chamber-music genre in the Baroque era

Baroque suite

was a collection of popular dances usually performed by a soloist or a small chamber group.

Oratorio

a large-scale musical composition on a sacred or semisacred subject, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra.

Cantata

composition intended to be sung, as opposed to a sonata, a composition played instrumentally; now, loosely, any work for voices and instruments.

Chorale

is a melody to which a hymn is sung by a congregation in a German Protestant Church service.

Sonata form

are three: exposition, development, and recapitulation, in which the musical subject matter is stated, explored or expanded, and restated.

Exposition

is the initial presentation of the thematic material of a musical composition, movement, or section.

Bridge; transition

they delineate separate sections of an extended work, or smooth what would otherwise be an abrupt modulation

Development

is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition.

Motive

is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition

Recapitulation

occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition.

Coda

is a passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end.

Theme and variations

consists of a melody, or theme, followed by variations of that melody.

Countermelody

is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody; a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the primary melody.

Minuet

A slow, stately pattern dance in 3/4 time for groups of couples, originating in 17th-century France. The music for this dance

Minuet and trio

is a common form used in classical music composition. It turns up often as the third movement of symphonies and string quartets

Da capo

It directs the musician to go back and repeat the music from the beginning

Serenade

is a musical composition and/or performance delivered in honor

Rondo

form is a piece of music where the musical material stated at the beginning of the piece keeps returning.

Sonata-rondo

is a musical form often used during the Classical music era. As the name implies, it is a blend of sonata form and rondo form.

Symphony

An extended musical composition for orchestra in several movements, typically four.

Concerto

is a classical music composition that highlights a solo instrument against the background of a full orchestra.

Cadenza

is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display.

Chamber music

is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room.