Western Music History Terms Chp. 7-11

frottola

16th century GENRE of Italian POLYPHONIC song in mock-popular style, with the
MELODY in the upper voice and marked rhythmic patterns

balletto, ballett

16th century Italian song GENRE in a simple, dancelike, HOMOPHONIC style with repeated sections and "fa-la-
la" refrains

canzonetta, canzonet

16th century Italian song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style

lute song

English GENRE of solo song with LUTE accompaniment

villancico

Type of POLYPHONIC song in Spanish, with several stanzas framed by a REFRAIN

villanella

Type of 16th century Italian song, generally for three voices, in a rustic HOMOPHONIC style

through-composed

Composed throughout, as when each stanza or other unit of a poem is set to new music

virtuoso

Performer with technical prowess in singing or playing an instrument

madrigalism

Word-painting

word painting

Using musical gestures to reinforce images in a text, such as a rising gesture on the word "ascend."

air

English or French song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment

pavane

16th century dance in slow duple METER with three repeated sections (AABBCC)

tablature

A system of NOTATION used for LUTE or other plucked string instruments

a capella

Manner of choral singing without instrumental
accompaniment

lute

Plucked string instrument popular from the late Middle Ages through the BAROQUE PERIOD

branle gay

RENAISSANCE DANCE in a lively triple METER

galliard

16th century dance in fast triple METER, often paired with the PAVANE in same form (AABBCC)

basse danse

Type of stately couple DANCE of the 15th and 16th centuries

binary form

A FORM comprised of two complementary sections, each of which is repeated.

consort

English name for a group of similiar instruments

diminution

Type of improvised ornamentation in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which relatively long notes are replaced with scales and other figures composed of short notes

intabulation

Arrangement of a vocal piece for LUTE or keyboard, typically written in TABLATURE, or the score of such a piece

organ verse

Setting for organ of an existing MELODY from the Roman Catholic LITURGY

basso continuo

System of NOTATION and performance practice, used in the BAROQUE PERIOD, in which an instrumental BASS line is written out

organ mass

Setting for organ of all sections of the MASS for which the organ would play, including ORGAN VERSES and other pieces

variation

The process of reworking a given MELODY, song, THEME, or other musical idea, or
the resulting varied FORM of it

vihuela

Spanish relative of the LUTE with a flat back and guitar-shaped body

virginal

English name for HARPSICHORD, used for all types until the seventeenth century

canzona

16th century Italian GENRE, an instrumental work adapted from a CHANSON or composed in a similar style

fantasia

Instrumental COMPOSITION that resembles an IMPROVISATION or lacks a strict FORM

polychoral

For more than one CHOIR

polychoral motet

MOTET for two or more choirs

prelude

Introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an IMPROVISATION, or introductory MOVEMENT in a multimovement work such as an OPERA or SUITE

ricercare, ricecar

In the early to mid-16th century, a PRELUDE in the style of an IMPROVISATION

toccata

Piece for keyboard instrument or LUTE resembling an IMPROVISATION that may include IMITATIVE sections or may serve as a PRELUDE to an independent FUGUE

chorale

STROPHIC HYMN in the Lutheran tradition, intended to be sung by the congregation in German

contrafactum

The practice of replacing the text of a vocal
work with a new text while the music remains essentially the same

psalter

A published collection of METRICAL PSALMS

chorale motet

CHORALE setting in the style of a 16th century MOTET

chorale prelude

Relatively short organ CHORALE MELODY, used as an introduction for congregational singing or an interlude in Lutheran church services

Lied

Art song with German words

metrical psalm

Metric, rhymed, and STROPHIC vernacular translation of a PSALM, sung to a
relatively simple MELODY that repeats for each strophe

cambiata

16th century POLYPHONY in which a voice skips down from DISSONANCE to a CONSONANCE instead of resolving, then moves to the expected NOTE of resolution

Baroque Period

PERIOD of music history from about 1600 to about 1750, overlapping the late RENAISSANCE and early CLASSIC periods

opera

Drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action

affections

Goal of much BAROQUE music to arouse the affections or move the emotions

basso ostinato

Ground bass A pattern in the BASS that repeats while the MELODY above it changes

prima pratica

Claudio Monteverdi's term for the style and practice of 16th century POLYPHONY

seconda pratica

Monteverdi's term for a practice of COUNTERPOINT and COMPOSITION
that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint to be broken in order to express the text

masque

17th century English entertainment involving poetry, music, DANCE, costumes, CHORUSES, and elaborate sets, akin to the French COURT BALLET

recitative

A passage or section in an OPERA, ORATORIO, CANTATA, or other vocal work in
RECITATIVE STYLE.

courante

A DANCE in BINARY FORM, in triple METER at a moderate tempo and with an upbeat, featured as a standard MOVEMENT of the BAROQUE DANCE SUITE

figured bass

A form of BASSO CONTINUO in which the BASS line is supplied with numbers or flat or sharp signs to indicate the appropriate INTERVALS to be played above the bass

solo madrigal

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a THROUGH-COMPOSED setting of a nonstrophic poem for solo voice with accompaniment, distinguished from an ARIA and from a MADRIGAL for several voices

concertato medium

In 17th century music, the combination of voices with one or more instruments, where the instruments do not simply double the voices but play independent parts

sacred concerto

In the 17th century, a COMPOSITION on a sacred text for one or more singers and instrumental accompaniment

chromaticism

The use of many NOTES from the CHROMATIC SCALE in a passage or piece

cantus durus

Of the two large tonal areas commonly used in the early 17th century, the one characterized by a key signature of no sharps or flats that used chords containing (accidental) sharps to connote harsh or strident emotions

cantus mollis

Of the two large tonal areas commonly used in the early 17th century, the one characterized by a key signature of one flat that used chords belonging to the flatter regions of the tonal spectrum to connote subdued and pleasant emotions. See also cantus durus

tonality

The system, common since the late seventeenth century, by which a piece of music is organized around a TONIC NOTE, CHORD, and KEY, to which all the other notes and keys in the piece are subordinate

intermedio

Musical interlude on a pastoral, allegorical, or mythological subject performed before, between, or after the acts of a spoken comedy or tragedy

pastoral drama

Play in verse with incidental music and songs, normally set in idealized rural
surroundings, often in ancient times; a source for the earliest OPERA LIBRETTOS

Camerata

Circle of intellectuals and amateurs of the arts that met in Florence, Italy, in the 1570s and 1580s

hemiola

A metrical effect in which three duple units
substitute for two triple ones, such as three successive quarter NOTES within a
MEASURE of 6/8, or three two-beat groupings in two measures of triple METER.
Hemiola may occur between voices or in successive measures

libretto

Literary text for an OPERA or other musical stage work.

ritornello

In an ARIA or similar piece, an instrumental passage that recurs several times. Typically, it is played at the beginning, as interludes (often in modified form), and again at the end, and it states the main THEME

ballet

In 16th and 17th century France, an entertainment in which both
professionals and guests danced; later, a stage work danced by professionals

castrati

Male singers who were castrated before puberty to preserve their high vocal RANGE, prominent in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, especially in OPERA.

ariosa

Short, ARIA-like passage

recitative arioso

A passage or selection in an OPERA or other vocal work in a style that lies somewhere between RECITATIVE STYLE and ARIA style

oratorio

Genre of dramatic music that originated in the seventeenth century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through arias, recitatives, ensembles, choruses, and
instrumental music, like an unstaged opera. Usually on a religious or biblical subject

stile concitato

Style devised by Claudio Monteverdi to portray anger and warlike actions, characterized by rapid reiteration of a single note, whether on quickly spoken syllables or in a measured string tremolo

strophic variations

Early 17th century vocal GENRE, a setting of a STROPHIC poem, in which the MELODY of the first stanza is varied but the HARMONIC plan remains essentially the same, although the duration of harmonies may change to reflect the accentuation and meaning of the text

concerted madrigal

Early 17th century type of MADRIGAL for one or more voices accompanied by BASSO CONTINUO and in some cases by other instruments

cantata

In the 17th and 18th centuries, a vocal chamber work with CONTINUO, usually for solo voice, consisting of several sections or MOVEMENTS that include RECITATIVES and ARIAS and setting a lyrical or quasi-dramatic text

air de cour

Type of song for voice and accompaniment, prominent in France from about 1580 through the 17th century

stile antico

Style used in music written after 1600 in imitation of the old contrapuntal style of Palestrina, used especially for church music. See PRIMA PRATICA

stile moderno

17th century style that used basso continuo and applied the rules of counterpoint freely. See SECONDA PRATICA

historia

In Lutheran music of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, a musical setting based on a biblical narrative

Passion

A musical setting of one of the biblical accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, the most common type of HISTORIA