MUS 630 Exam Two Vocabulary: Baroque & Classical Eras

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, definitions, genres, and structural concepts for MUS 630 Exam Two on the Baroque and Classical eras.

Intermedi

Elaborate musical-theatrical entertainments performed between the acts of spoken plays in late-16th-century Italy, combining solo song, choruses, instruments, dance, and spectacle.

Florentine Camerata

A circle of Florentine intellectuals, poets, and musicians in the late 16th century who discussed ancient Greek drama and favored music in which words could be understood clearly.

Le nuove musiche

A 1602 collection of solo songs by Giulio Caccini demonstrating the early-Baroque style of expressive solo singing with basso continuo.

Monody

A texture and style featuring a single expressive vocal melody supported by a relatively simple instrumental accompaniment, usually basso continuo.

Basso continuo

A continuous bass foundation used throughout much Baroque music (c. 1600–1750), normally played by a bass instrument plus a chord-playing instrument.

Figured bass

Numbers and accidentals written above or below a bass line that indicate intervals or chords to be realized by the continuo player.

Prima pratica

The older Renaissance approach to composition in which established contrapuntal rules govern the music.

Seconda pratica

An approach to composition that allows contrapuntal rules to be altered or broken when needed to express the text more powerfully.

Recitative

Speech-like singing designed to deliver text and advance dramatic action.

Aria

A lyrical, tuneful, and formally organized vocal style that often pauses dramatic action for reflection or emotional expression.

Madrigal

A secular vocal genre flourishing in the Renaissance and early Baroque that increasingly incorporated dramatic text expression, instruments, and newer textures alongside polyphony.

Sprezzatura

In Caccini's context, an intentionally flexible, speech-like manner of singing that avoids rigid rhythm so the words sound natural and expressive.

Cori spezzati

Literally 'separated choirs': groups of singers and/or instruments placed apart and used in alternation or combination to create spatial contrast and large sonorities.

Solo Sonata

A Baroque instrumental genre featuring one principal melodic instrument with basso continuo.

Trio Sonata

A Baroque instrumental genre normally featuring two upper melodic lines plus basso continuo, often requiring four performers when the continuo bass line is doubled.

Concerto grosso

A Baroque concerto that contrasts a small concertino group of soloists with the larger ripieno ensemble.

Solo concerto

A Baroque concerto that contrasts one single soloist with the orchestra.

Ritornello

A recurring orchestral passage that returns between contrasting solo episodes, often in different keys, providing structural unity in Baroque concertos.

Ripieno

The full or larger orchestral ensemble in a Baroque concerto.

Binary form

A two-part form (A | B), usually with each section repeated, where the first section typically moves away from the tonic key and the second returns to it.

Cantata

A multi-section vocal work ranging from early Italian secular chamber pieces for solo voice to late German sacred works featuring chorus, soloists, orchestra, and chorales.

Arioso

A vocal style positioned between recitative and aria that is more melodic and lyrical than ordinary recitative, but less formally self-contained than an aria.

Opera seria

Serious 18th-century Italian opera based on elevated historical or mythological subjects, structured around recitative and elaborate solo arias.

Castrato

A male singer castrated before puberty to preserve a high vocal range while developing adult lung capacity and vocal power.

Da capo aria

An aria organized in ABA form where the instruction 'da capo' directs the performer back to the beginning after the B section, allowing for vocal ornamentation.

Oratorio

A large-scale dramatic vocal work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra on a sacred subject, performed without theatrical staging, scenery, or costumes.

Doctrine of the Affections

The Baroque idea that music can represent or arouse particular emotional states ('affections') through characteristic musical gestures, rhythms, keys, and figures.

Style Galant

An 18th-century style favoring clear melody, lighter texture, regular phrasing, simpler accompaniment, and immediate elegance over dense Baroque counterpoint.

Italian Overture

A three-section orchestral overture (sinfonia) typically arranged fast-slow-fast that helped contribute to the development of the Classical symphony.

Symphony

A multi-movement orchestral genre that developed in the 18th century from sources including the Italian opera sinfonia and other instrumental traditions.

London Symphonies

Joseph Haydn's final twelve symphonies (Nos. 93–104), written for his visits to London in the 1790s for large public concerts.

Esterhazy

The Hungarian noble family that employed Joseph Haydn for decades beginning in 1761, providing musicians and a court setting for his compositional development.

Sonata form

A large-scale tonal form organized as exposition, development, and recapitulation, establishing and resolving contrasting thematic and key areas.

String Quartet

A Classical chamber ensemble and genre for two violins, viola, and cello that became a major medium for balanced four-part instrumental dialogue.

Intermezzo

A short comic musical work performed between the acts of a serious opera that helped foster the development of opera buffa.

Opera buffa

Italian comic opera featuring everyday characters and situations, ensemble interaction, and comic/dramatic plots.

Singspiel

A German-language theatrical genre combining spoken dialogue with songs and musical numbers rather than sung recitative.

Lorenzo da Ponte

An Italian-born poet and librettist who collaborated with Mozart on Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte.

Classical Concerto

A multi-movement work for soloist and orchestra that combines solo-orchestral contrast with Classical formal and tonal organization.