TMU MU190 Essentials of Music and Art Final Exam Study Guide

Taken online with Dr. Ruta Bloomfield in the Summer of 2026

Rococo art characteristics

delicate and charming – primarily a form of interior decoration: decorative, delicate details, elaborate curves, elegant appearance, and intricate patterns

Jean-Antoine Watteau

important French artist of the rococo times

Neo-Classical art characteristics

clear & precise lines, smooth brushstrokes, balance and symmetry, moral messages, and social virtues

Jacques-Louis David

The most important neo classical artist, was aligned with the two most influential French figures Robespierre and Napolean. “Never let your brushstrokes show”; Most famous painting was ‘Oath of the Horatii’ which depicted 3 brothers who swear to fight till the death for Rome under 3 arches, the focal point is the swords.

Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres

Star pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He said, paint should be as smooth, “as the skin of an onion”; clear precise line

Ingres vs Delacroix

was a battle between neo classicism vs romanticism. Ingres represented neo-classic style with precise symmetrical line. Delacroix represented romantic style focused on color and the dramatics

Classical period acronym:

S – symphony; sonata form

O – Objective

ba - L – ance

V – Vienna                                    

E – enlightenment (age of) 

Sonata Form

Exposition, Development, Recapitulation

Exposition

Introduces Theme 1 and Theme 2 and 2 Keys: Tonic & Dominant. Theme 1 & 2 are connected through a Bridge. The closing is in the Dominant key

Development

Its unstable as it modulates through more keys there is an increase in harmonic tension as this part of the piece explores/develops themes or fragments (motives)

Recapitulation

We repeat the Exposition form but we end with the original key of the Tonic. It is wrapped up by a Coda (the tail).

Rondo

typical example of a fast fourth movement

Common Rondo Pattern:

A B A C A

Chamber music

Is a small group of instrumentalists where there is one performed for each part

In relation to Chamber Music the most popular type of Chamber Music was the…

string quartet: two violins, a viola, and a cello

Joseph Haydn

The most celebrated musical figure in the Enlightenment:

C – Cheerful Church Music

H – Hundred Symphonies (104)

E – Esterhazy (His long-time noble patron)

E – Experimenter (forced to become original)

S – Surprise Symphony

E – England (London Symphonies)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Child Prodigy, Great friends with Haydn, and composed over 600 pieces

S – Symphonies (41); Salzburg

O – Operas (best known Classical opera composer today)

C – Concertos

C – Child Prodigy (on tour from age 6-15)

E – Europe

R – Religious

Ludwig van Beethoven

D – Deaf

I – Influenced many composers after him

S – Scherzo

T – Themes (cyclical)

R – Religious

E – Extended: movements, developments, codas

S – Symphonies (9)

S – Sonatas for piano (32)

Number of symphonies composed by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven

Haydn – 104

Mozart - 41

Beethoven - 9

Cadenza

virtuoso solo section within a concerto; usually found near the end of a concerto movement

Scherzo

A lively, quick movement; replaces the minuet and tio

Cyclical Theme

theme from one movement returns in another

Social influences in Romantic period

Industrial Revolution, Nature, The Concept of the Sublime

The Romantic Period:

F – Freedom

I – Industrial Revolution

N – Nature; Nationalism

E – Emotion

S – Sublime

Francisco Goya

Court Painter in Spain, he became deaf after an unknown illness leading his works to become progressively darker

Eugene Delacroix

French Romantic Artist; Delacroix and artist Ingres publicly feuded about the merits of Romanticism vs Neo-classicism; emotional

J.W.M. Turner

Best loved English Romantic Painter; known as the “Painter of Light”

John Constable

Great Romantic English landscape painter

Caspar David Friedrich

most important German Romantic landscape artist

Romantic period melodies

long expressive melodies

Harmony – continued use of tonal (V-I) harmony; more complex

Texture - Homophony

Lied

A German art song for solo voice and piano accompaniment

Franz Schubert

Wrote more than 600 Lieder

Frederic Chopin

Born & raised in Poland and settled in Paris, wrote exclusively for the piano

Franz Liszt

Piano virtuoso, became famous as “Lisztomania” swept the world. Struggled between new musical forms vs traditional forms and ended up developing a new form the Tone Poem/Symphonic Poem

Program music

Instrumental music that tells a story

Tone/symphonic poem

a single movement orchestral work of program music developed by Franx Liszt

Felix Mendelssohn

considered more conservative, he rekindled interest in the music of Bach

Nationalism

Composers deliberately reflected their homeland in their music: use of folk music, use of folk music, nationalist subjects for operas, symphonic poems, or other musical forms

Bedrich Smetana

Like Beethoven went deaf, known as the father of Czech national music, most famous work was The Moldau

Johannes Brahms

Conservative and traditionalist

War of the Romantics

Liszt – New Musical Forms vs Brahms – Traditional Forms

Leitmotif

Short recurring musical phrase – giving something a motif so you can recognize it later

Richard Wagner

The most important German Composer of opera in the Romantic Period. Famous Piece: The Ring of the Neibelung, took 20 years to compose and takes 15 hrs to perform

Giuseppe Verdi

The most important Italian composer of opera in the Romantic Period; nationalism is very prevalent. Wrote 26 Opera and 3 of them are based on Shakespeare plays

Giacomo Puccini

Wrote 13 operas set in the far east countries of Japan and China

Impressionist art characteristics

B – Brushstrokes (short)

L - Light

O  - Outdoors
O  - Objects are merely suggested; outlines are fluid

M -Monet

Claude Monet

Most important impressionist artist

Claude Debussy

Most important impressionist composer – melody free from theme, harmony based on pentatonic scale, whole tone scale (Clair de Lune)

Vincent van Gogh

Cut off his left ear lobe, admitted himself to an asylum

Edvard Munch

Expressionism

Pablo Picasso

Developed Cubism

Jackson Pollock

Abstract art

Andy Warhol

Pop art

Environmental art

Large works in an uncontrolled environments before being permanently dismantled

Igor Stravinsky

One of the most influential composers of the 20^th century – wrote The Rite of Spring a ballet. The first performance of The Rite of Spring caused the most famous riot in music history.

Arnold Schoenberg

Developed the Twelve-Tone System – systematized method of organizing atonal music.

George Gershwin

Fused Jazz and Classical Tradition – most famous work is Rhapsody in Blue: Jazz like rhythms and melodies

Aaron Copland

Deliberately accessible style

Edgard Varese

Declared the Liberation of Sound – Poeme Electronique à electronic music

Gyorgi Ligeti

Developed Micropolyphony à Lux Aeterna (1966)  (used in a Space Odyssey)

John Adams

Composer rooted in Minimalism (forcing Listener to listen to the max for the minimal parts) – example is Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Arvo Part

Estonian – Developed Tintinnabuli (Latin for a “bell”)

Jazz

American music characterized by syncopation and improvisation – the city of origin is New Orleans. The roots of jazz: ragtime and blues

Ragtime

a syncopated – or “ragged” rhythm

Scott Joplin

The King of Ragtime

Blues

Flattened (lowered) pitches

Bessie Smith

Empress of the Blues (most famous blues singer of the 20’s and 30’s)

Dixieland Jazz – Louis Armstrong

Sc*t Singing: Vocal improvisation using nonsense syllables

Swing style

Style of jazz played by a Big Band or Jazz Orchestra (consisted of 15 performers)

Duke Ellington

Major figure in the history of Jazz

Musical theater

Combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance

World music general characteristics

Oral Tradition, Improvisation, Non-Traditional Scales