Music 3812 Final Exam Review: Composers, Works, and Terminology

Vocabulary and terminology flashcards covering composers, specific musical works, and key historical or stylistic terms from the late Romantic era through contemporary music for the Music 3812 Spring 2026 Final Exam.

Brahms, Symphony No. 1

A major work by Brahms appearing on the final exam; the introduction to the first movement contains an example of the 'negative' pastoral.

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde

An opera featuring the 'Tristan chord' and the final aria known as the 'transfiguration' (Liebestod).

Glinka, Kamarinskaya

A symphonic work by Russian composer Mikhail Glinka included in the exam's assigned listening.

Chaikovsky, Symphony No. 6

A symphony featuring a middle section with a negative pastoral in a $\frac{5}{4}$ movement and a third movement that is a 'hybrid genre' combining a march and a scherzo.

Fauré, 'Une sainte en son auréole'

The first song from the cycle La bonne chanson, associated with the Symbolism movement.

Debussy, 'Sarabande'

A movement from the Pour le piano suite, associated with Impressionism.

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring (Sacre du printemps)

A ballet premiered by the Ballets Russes characterized by primitivism, ostinato, and the use of the octatonic collection.

Stravinsky, Octet (Octuor)

A work by Stravinsky representing the style of neoclassicism.

John Cage, Bacchanale

A composition written for prepared piano, where the instrument's sound is altered by objects placed on the strings.

Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time (Quatuor pour la fin du temps)

A chamber work utilizing 'modes of limited transposition,' palindromes, and isorhythm.

Berio, Sinfonia

A contemporary work for which the student must know the exact year of its premiere; includes movements 'O King' and a third movement that quotes other music.

Reich, Music for 18 Musicians

A foundational work of minimalism, focusing on the opening two sections in the course Anthology.

Saariaho, L’amour de loin

An opera by Kaija Saariaho; the exam covers a scene from Act 3.

Tristan chord

A specific dissonant chord (F, B, D#, G#) that opens Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and avoids traditional resolution.

Bayreuth

The location in Germany of the festival house and theater specially designed for the performance of Richard Wagner's music dramas.

Leitmotive(s)

Short, recurring musical themes or motives associated with particular characters, things, or ideas, used extensively in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs.

Moguchaya kuchka

Also known as the 'Mighty Little Bunch' or the Russian Five; a group of nationalist composers that included Modest Musorgsky and Alexander Borodin.

Octatonic (diminished) collection

An eight-note scale alternating whole and half steps that produces harmonic potentials like diminished 7ths and French sixths.

Modes of limited transposition

Musical scales identified by Messiaen that can only be transposed a certain number of times before repeating the same set of notes.

Aleatoric music

Music involving elements of chance, either in its composition or its performance.

Ballets Russes

The Russian ballet company directed by Sergei Diaghilev that commissioned and produced Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

IRCAM

A French institute dedicated to research into music and acoustics, associated with modern composers like Saariaho.

Conrad Graf piano

A piano built in Vienna circa 1825 featuring a 'Viennese action,' leather-covered hammers, and four pedals (una corda, bassoon, moderator, and dampers).

Historicism

A trend in music and art characterized by a focus on or the use of styles and forms from historical periods.

Nadezhda von Meck

The patroness of Chaikovsky, known for her financial support which allowed him to compose without teaching.