Key Concepts in Music History and Theory

Melody

a single line of music, the "tune" of a piece.

Conjunct

stepwise intervals

Disjunct

wide intervals

Harmony

the underlying or supportive notes which work with melody and rhythm.

Chord

3 or more notes sounding at the same time.

Rhythm

the duration of sounds.

Form

the structure of music.

Genre

category.

Texture

the density of sound, the number of simultaneously sounding lines.

Monophonic

one sounding line.

Homophonic

multiple sounding lines, one or more lines support the main melodic line.

Polyphonic

multiple independent lines.

Phrase

a musical thought.

Cadence

a musical punctuation.

Dynamics

degrees of loudness or softness of tones.

Scale

an ascending or descending series of stepwise notes that cover the span of 8 notes (octave).

Timbre

the characteristic (quality) of sound produced by an instrument or human voice.

Pitch

highness or lowness of a tone.

Meter

the organization of rhythm.

Duration

the length of time a pitch sounds.

Gregorian chant/plainchant

music written with a single, monophonic line.

Pope Gregory the Great

Namesake of Gregorian Chant, credited with collection of over 3,000 plainchants.

Hildegard of Bingen

German, most celebrated woman of 12th century, composed more expressive plainchant.

The Mass

most important service of worship.

Proper

specific to days or week.

Ordinary

never changes, same every day.

Polyphony

two most important musical innovations in Medieval Period.

Systematic Musical Notation

two most important musical innovations in Medieval Period.

Organum

Earliest form of polyphony, based off of plainchant.

Leonin

Worked at Notre Dame, first known composer of polyphony.

Perotin

Successor of Leonin, expanded the organum into 3-4 voices.

Chivalry

glorified women and idealized kindness and refined manners.

Troubadours & Trouvères

poet/composers of secular music, often depicting medieval life and unrequited love.

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras

French Troubadour, wrote Kalenda maya.

Italian Madrigal

Written for small groups, in the vernacular language, faster, regular rhythms.

Word Painting

Music imitates and directly reflects the text.

English Madrigal

Modeled after the Italian Madrigal, lighter texts used more often.

Renaissance Motet

Latin text, a cappella, smooth melodies.

John Farmer

Helped shape madrigals into a truly native English artform.

Martin Luther

Started the Protestant Revolution with his 95 Theses.

John Calvin

Believed polyphony distracted from the sacred texts.

Humanism

focusing on the person or the individual rather than religion.

Importance of the printing press

significant in the dissemination of music.

Palestrina

Composer who wrote the most amount of masses.

A cappella singing

Singing (individual or group) without any instrumental accompaniment.

Dance Music

various forms of music intended for dancing.

Tielman Susato

Well known printer and musician (multi-instrumentalist). Composed and arranged various secular and sacred pieces.

Baroque Opera

Large scale music drama incorporating poetry, acting, scenery, costumes, singing, and instruments.

Homophonic Texture

Music with multiple voices and/or instrumental parts with a clear melodic line supported by less important accompanimental lines.

Greek and Roman Tragedies

The basis for the narrative structure of baroque opera.

Recitatives

Sung dialogue in opera that advances the plot.

Arias

Solo vocal pieces in opera that express emotion.

Duo, Trios, & Quartets

Small group vocal compositions in opera.

Overture

Played by the orchestra at the start of the opera, introducing all melodies that will be heard throughout.

Baroque Dance Suite (Partita)

Collections of dance pieces consisting of contrasting pieces in the same key.

Fugue

A musical form mainly written for keyboard instruments that uses imitation and contrapuntal lines.

Contrapuntal Lines

Musical lines moving in contrary motion.

Word-painting

A musical technique that illustrates the meaning of the lyrics.

Program Music

Instrumental music that directly depicts an extramusical narrative, such as Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Baroque Concerto

A musical composition featuring an instrumental soloist or group of soloists.

Ritornello Form

A structure used in the baroque concerto that alternates between refrains (orchestra plays) and episodes (soloist plays).

Johann Sebastian Bach

A composer and organist known for writing hundreds of hymns, cantatas, and instrumental pieces.

Allegro

A fast tempo marking in music.

Adagio

A slow tempo marking in music.

Antonio Vivaldi

Composer and violin virtuoso, conservatory teacher, wrote 500 concertos.

George Frederic Handel

Composer of mainly opera and English oratorio, German born but had his main career in London.

Oratorio

Large scale dramatic work using sacred texts, featuring solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, not staged or costumed, originally used by the Catholic Church.

Most famous oratorio

Handel's Messiah.

Lutheran chorales

Weekly hymns sung in Lutheran services with simple, singable melodies and homophonic texture.

Cantata

Elaborate chorale where poets and musicians add and substitute stanzas.

Arias

Lyrical, romantic songs sung by a soloist in an opera.

Recitative

Speech-like music meant to provide expositional information in an opera.

Libretto

Text used in an opera, written by a librettist.

Dynamic ranges

Understanding soft to loud: pianissimo, piano, mezzopiano, mezzoforte, forte, fortissimo.

Allegro

Fast Tempo.

Andante

Walking pace tempo.

Adagio

Slow Tempo.

Instruments in a string quartet

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello.

Sonata form

Structure consisting of Exposition (Theme 1 and theme 2 introduced), Development (Theme 1 & 2 broken up), Recapitulation (Return to theme 1, resolution of the piece).

Theme and Variation form

Opening theme is introduced and then embellished and altered in subsequent variations.

Franz Joseph Haydn

Famous composer with a large output, over 100 symphonies.

Minuet

Stately dance in ternary form, middle section called the trio.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Austrian composer, child prodigy on violin, piano, and composition.

Rondo form

Consists of refrains and episodes, concluding movement of a sonata, symphony, or quartet, with new episodes followed by the return of the refrain (ABACA).

Classical concerto

Focused on one soloist, structured as Fast - Slow - Fast, with the 1st movement combining ritornello form and sonata form, featuring a double exposition and cadenza at the end of the recapitulation.

Cadenza

A moment in a concerto when a soloist plays by themselves for an extended period of time, typically virtuosic.

Types of classical opera

Opera Seria (Serious opera) and Opera Buff (Comic Opera).

Ludwig van Beethoven

Important German composer, pushed the boundaries of the Symphony Orchestra.

Romantic Music

Characterized by extremes in contrast, subjective expression, homophonic texture, weaker sense of tonality, complex rhythms, and flexible forms.

Lied

German Art Song, typically for voice and piano.

Strophic lied

A lied where each stanza repeats the same melody.

Through-composed lied

A lied where each stanza has a different or altered melody.

Franz Schubert

Wrote over 600 lieder, music was performed mostly in salons.

Robert Schumann

Composer and pianist, founder and publisher of The New Journal of Music.

Frederic Chopin

Polish pianist and composer, wrote many character pieces for the piano, famous for mazurkas, polonaises, and nocturnes.

Program music

Instrumental music that directly depicts an extramusical narrative.

Incidental Music

A type of program music performed in between scenes of a ballet or play, performed as a collection, e.g., Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream.

Music nationalism

Reflection of pride from a nation.

Absolute music

Music that has no extra-musical meaning

Johannes Brahms

German pianist and composer who was a prominent composer of absolute music