Music History Part 1 Exam

Define perfect melos

ideal music as a unified, complete work where melody, text, and stylized dance movement were all conceived and performed together as a harmonious whole

Diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic are types of ________________

Tetrachords

In Greek thought, the idea of one's ethical character or way of behaving was called ____________

Ethos

According to Aristotle, different kinds of melodies could cause the listener to experience what?

Changes in emotions and the shape of one's character, he believed that music could change the ethos of a person

In Ancient Greek mythology, the lyre was associated with what character?

Apollo, the god of music, prophecy, and harmony

In Greek musical theory, the various tonoi were associated with different ___________

Ethoi

Aulos

Lyre

Kithara

Harps

Panpipes

Horns

cymbals

Clappers

Drums

The Epitaph of Sekilos is a musical composition from what age or country?

ancient Greece

The tibia, tuba, cornu, and buccina are instruments from what ancient civilization?

Ancient Rome

True or False: Ancient Babylonians developed a system of musical notation

True

True or False: The Greater Perfect System was a scale based on the concept of an absolute fixed pitch

False

True or false: There is much evidence that ancient Roman musical culture influenced Western European musical culture.

False

Explain what the Guidonian Hand is and how it was used

It assigned pitches to parts of the hand to help when rememberiing or singing notes of a chant

In what ways is the history of Western music indebted to and intertwined with Christianity?

the Church preserved and developed music through notation, provided patronage, and created sacred forms like chant and the Mass that shaped the tradition.

What is a neume?

symbol used in early musical notation to show the pitch contour of a chant melody. It was the predecessor of modern musical notes.

Why did Popes and secular rulers from the eighth century on sought to standardize the Catholic liturgy?

to promote unity and consistency in worship across their territories, strengthen religious and political authority, and ensure that all churches followed the same practices and chants.

The focal point of the Christian Mass is a symbolic reenactment of ___________

the Last Supper

The idea of staff lines and clefs was suggested by whom?

Guido of Arezzo

The Judaic system of chanting sacred texts according to a system of melodic formulas matching phrase divisions is called what?

cantillation

The main practice shared by early Judaism and early Christianity was what?

the public reading and chanting of sacred scriptures.

The schedule of days commemorating special event in the lives of Christ and the saints or times of year is called the _______

Liturgical calendar

Which best describes a reciting tone?

a repeated pitch used to chant or recite the majority of a text in plainchant, often found in psalms or prayers

Why did church musicians develop a system for notating chant?

to preserve melodies accurately, ensure consistency in worship across different churches, and help singers learn chants without relying solely on memory.

True or False: The early church leaders discouraged the use of music for pleasure

True

True or false: The reciting tone is the main note in a church mode and usually the last note in the melody

False

True or False: The system of classifying Gregorian chants into eight church modes had its origins in Byzantine chant

True

Explain the difference between the Proper and Ordinary text of the Mass

Ordinary = fixed texts; Proper = variable texts.

what chant contains the statement of faith?

Credo

What chant has a melisma called a jubilus?

Alleluia

What chant has a three-part text in Greek?

Kyrie

what chant preceds and follows a psalm verse?

Antiphon

what chant includes the Lesser Doxology?

Gloria

A genre that consists of several stanzas, each sung to the same melody, is called a ____.

Hymn

What are examples of how tropes were used in chant?

adding new words and music, adding only new music (melismas), or adding new text to existing melismas.

Know the Mass movements are of the Ordinary.

Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (with Benedictus), Agnus Dei

What was Hildegard of Bingen known for?

composer of sacred monophonic chants + troubador

The liturgy of the Office focused primarily on chanting what verses?

Psalms

The longest and most melismatic chant of the Mass Proper is what?

Gradual

The manner of performance in which a soloist alternates singing with a choir is called what?

Responsorial singing

The musical phrases of a given chant tend to match the phrasing and pronunciation of spoken Latin. True/False

True

Describe the process called contrafactum. Can you think of an example of this process being used today?

practice of giving a new text to an existing melody.

What is a chansonnier?

a manuscript collection of secular songs

Adam de la Halle's Robins m'aime is in _____ form.

rondeau

What is true of troubadour and trouvère melodies?

monophonic, stepwise melodies with limited range

An epic narrative poem describing the deeds of a heroic character is called a _____.

A chanson de geste

Bernart de Ventadorn was a ______.

troubadour

Charlemagne was a ______.

Holy Roman Emperor

Goliard songs are in what language?

Latin

Which of the following is a type of medieval dance?

Estampie

The Arab world significantly influenced the development of European culture in the Middle Ages. True/False

True

Troubadours are men and trouvères are women. True/False

True

What is the primary innovation in notation described by Franco of Cologne in his treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis?

mensural notation, where note shapes show exact rhythm and duration.

Why do motets have compound titles, with two or more phrases separated by slashes (for example, Super te Ierusalem/Sed fulsit virginitas/Dominus)?

Each title is the first word in Latin each part sings.

What are names of rhythmic durations in Franconian notation?

Longa, brevis, and semibrevis.

Describe ways in which early 13th-century composers reworked motets.

they expanded, texted, and layered voices to create more elaborate motets.

A polyphonic conductus is a setting of what?

A newly written Latin poetic text

How was English polyphony in the 13th century different from music on the continent?

English 13th-century polyphony used more perfect intervals, parallel motion, and fewer dissonances than continental music.

Most substitute clausulae were written in what musical style?

in discant style, where all voices move note-against-note with the same rhythm.

Why does note-against-note organum offer composers freedom?

It allows composers to explore melodies and harmonies freely because all voices move together rhythmically.

The term Cantus firmus, introduced around 1270, is synonymous with which other terms?

tenor or voice that holds the pre-existing melody.

The treatises Musica enchiriadis and Scholica enchiriadis use the term organum to describe

a plainchant melody with one or more added voices moving in parallel motion.

What is voice exchange?

when two or more voices swap their melodic lines.

It is likely that Perotinus composed the surviving examples of organum quadruplum. True/False

True

Parallel fifths were considered acceptable in organum. True/False

True

Trintones were considered acceptable in organum. True/False

False

Define hocket.

Alteration of two or more voices in rapid succession.

Identify at least two innovations of the Ars Nova notational system

Mensuration signs - symbols indicating different rhythmic divisions (similar to modern time signatures).

Smaller note values - the ability to notate shorter, more complex rhythms than was possible in the Ars Antiqua.

Know how to find the color and talea in an isorhythmic motet by Phillipe de Vitry.

In an isorhythmic motet, the color is the repeating melodic pattern in the tenor, and the talea is the repeating rhythmic pattern.

What are likely reasons why the Ars Subtilior went out of fashion?

Its complex rhythms and notation were extremely difficult to read and perform.

It was highly specialized and courtly, appealing to only a small, elite audience.

Musical tastes shifted toward simpler, more accessible styles in the 15th century.

During the Papal Schism, where was the papal throne?

Avignon, France.

14th-Century music saw an increased use of thirds and sixths as consonance or dissonance?

Consonance

Machaut wrote in what genres of music?

Masses

The interest in capturing the pleasure of daily life in song, art, and literature could be interpreted as a response to what 14th century condition?

It could be interpreted as a response to the difficulties and crises of the 14th century, such as the Black Death, wars, and social upheaval, leading people to seek joy and comfort in daily pleasures.

The Italian ballata is similar in form to ______.

Virelai

The Roman de Fauvel is an allegory about what?

Corruption and vice in church and state

Name a few compositional devices that are characteristic of Italian Trecento madrigals.

Word painting - music reflects the meaning of the text.

Imitative entries - voices echo or imitate each other.

Syncopation and rhythmic flexibility - lively, complex rhythms.

Melismatic passages - extended notes on a single syllable.

Harmonic parallelisms - parallel thirds and sixths for a sweet sound.

All of the movements of Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame are isorhythmic. True/False

False

Notating syncopation was impossible before the innovations of Ars Nova. True/False

True