Musicianship quiz 2 and 3

mode

Can refer to the arrangement of diatonic scales (patterns of whole/half steps) including major, minor, and Church scales of the Medieval period. Also: Defined rhythmic patterns of long and short notes used in the Medieval period.

Monophony

Musical texture with no simultaneous pitches. (i.e., melody and no accompaniment)

requiem

Latin Mass for the Dead

Mass

Central act of Christian worship during the Medieval period, which had mostly fixed-text
sections called the Ordinary and changeable-text sections called the Proper.

Dies Irae

Sequence hymn of the Latin Mass for the Dead.

Plainchant

Generic term for Gregorian chant and other Western chant.

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)

Final section of the Mass Ordinary; a petition for forgiveness and peace.

Polyphony

Musical texture with simultaneous, equally important independent voices (i.e., melodies; by the way, voice in texture speak is a generic term for a musical line—they may be instrumental or vocal lines).

Neumes

In medieval chant notation, graphical symbols that represent notes, thought to derive from memory aids remembering the shapes of melodies relative to the chant text.

cantus firmus

A preexisting melody around which a passage or whole piece of polyphonic music is written. In AMS (advanced music speak) we commonly associate this term with compositions from Medieval and Renaissance composers who would put a chant (or other) melody in the tenor voice (that voice which holds) and build pieces around that.

Motet

A polyphonic vocal composition, usually with a sacred text. The term derives from the French word for "word."

Organum

The first notated polyphony which was created by adding a second (third, forth) voice to a pre-existing chant melody; later forms flourished at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Isorhythm

Rhythmic procedure that used fixed rhythmic and melodic patterns (talea and colors; used by Machaut and others as a method of unifying composition.

cadence

A chord sequence (progression) or melodic formula that brings a musical phrase or piece to a close. (Or sometimes people use this term generically to denote a stopping point of a phrase or section.)

Baroque

Used to define the musical time period from 1600-1750. It features a move toward homophony and a harmonic language based on functional tonality (keys, major/minor—like today) vs. modes (Medieval/Renaissance). Big forms such as opera, symphony, concerto, cantata, oratorio, and sonata originate here.

Monody

Italian song settings of the first half of the 17th century that reflected a declamatory, highly expressive, and ornamental style. It featured a solo voice and continuo accompaniment.

Continuo (basso continuo or thorough bass)

in Baroque music the practice of assigning a bass line to one or more low-pitched instruments (e.g., cello, bassoon) and chordal instrument such as an organ, lute, harpsichord. This continuo would provide the harmonic environment for the melody. (Often the harmony was written in shorthand—i.e., figures..."figured bass"—to tell the performers the harmonies and the performers filled in the notes.)

Tonality/Tonal/Tonic

music that is centered around a tonic (i.e., important reference note and associated key structures—usually major and minor—and harmonic functions relative to it). The prevailing harmonic language of Western European music from 1600-1910 (and onward).

Madrigal

Polyphonic setting of secular verse, often for 3-6 voices, often featuring strong connection between the music and the words and meanings (word painting). Italian and English styles are most prominent. Important genre of late Renaissance.

Sinfonia

in (Italian) opera, an instrumental piece (not for dancing or marching) to set a scene or scene changes or to open a work/section; 1700s on, often in connected multiple movements (e.g., fast slow fast), which happened at the beginning of a production (an overture). A precursor to the modern symphony.

Opera

drama with singing, staging, and the accompaniment of an orchestra or instrumental ensemble, where the singers typically sing throughout.

Ostinato

a short rhythmic or melodic figure repeated persistently throughout a passage

basso ostinato

When an ostinato figure serves as a bass line for a piece

Recitative

A type of vocal writing, normally for a single voice, with the intent of mimicking
dramatic speech in song. Often found in opera, it is where the dialog and dramatic narration occurs
(contrast with aria).

aria

a solo vocal piece in an opera, oratorio, or cantata—a major lyrical set piece, often focusing
on one idea central to the character singing (contrast with recitative); A term normally signifying any closed lyrical piece for solo voice with or without instrumental accompaniment, either independent or forming part of an opera, oratorio, cantata or other large work.

Homophony

Musical texture featuring one main melodic line and supporting harmonic accompaniment. (e.g., melody with chordal accompaniment)

Le nuove musiche "the new musics"

Collection of monodies by Giulio Caccini that codified the manner in which expression in monody could/should be achieved (Amarilli mia bella)

Closely related keys

Keys with the same key signature or signatures that are no more than one sharp or flat away. This includes the relative major or minor of a key. Keys whose tonic chords are diatonic in the primary key. In major, this is keys based on the I (the key itself), ii, iii, IV, V, or vi (relative minor) of that key. In minor keys, the keys based on the i (the key itself), III (relative major), iv, v, VI, VII of that key. [Why we cared: in the Baroque/Classical, composers mostly kept to closely related keys in their overall harmonic design.]

Triad

three-note chord (usually imagined as stacked thirds of some sort; we'll mostly contemplate major [M3+m3] and minor [m3+M3] chords)

relative major and minor

Major and minor keys with the same key signature and set of same diatonic notes but with different tonics.

Diatonic

For us, referring to the collection of the seven natural pitches forming a scale that make up an octave. It will include five whole steps and two half steps somehow. (Short hand: think of the white notes on a piano and go from a pitch to the same pitch an octave higher. If you cycle through them all, you'll end up with the patterns for all of the modes, including major and minor.)

trio sonata

In Baroque music, a sonata written for two melody instruments and continuo (or on one instrument, two upper lines and bass line).

chamber music

Music meant to be played in intimate surroundings, such as rooms (in a house, small palace) or small auditoriums rather than in a church, theatre or large public space.

Allemande

Stately dance in moderate duple meter. In the 17th/18th centuries, it was among the standard dances incorporated into instrumental (orchestral, keyboard, etc.) suites.

Courante

A flowing, fast-paced dance in triple meter. In the 17th/18th centuries, it was among the standard dances incorporated into instrumental (orchestral, keyboard, etc.) suites.

Sarabande

Elegant dance in slow triple time. Of Spanish origin, it was one of the standard dances incorporated into suites in the 17th/18th centuries.

Gigue

Lively dance, often in 6/8 time (or other x/8 time), with a regular skipping rhythm. It was typically the concluding dance in suites (or partitas) of the 17th/18th centuries.

Suite (Baroque context)

a collection of several movements in dance form. In the standard suite one would have an allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue. Common other optional dances encountered included the bourrée (lively 2/2 or 4/4 and melodies begin on upbeat), gavotte (elegant in moderate duple time with melodies starting on the middle of the measure with a strong downbeat, minuet (French dance in moderately slow 3/4 time), and passepied (French dance like a quicker minuet with melodies starting on beat 3)

concerto grosso

Baroque genre consisting of a small group of soloists (concertino) plays in alternation with/against a larger ensemble (ripieno or concerto grosso)

ornaments

In vocal and instrumental music, embellishments that are applied by the performer to notes. They can serve to heighten expressive effects, vary repetition, or display virtuosity.

Opus

A work or groups of works that has been published, and it was common in the 18th/19th centuries to attach numbers to single works or collections of music to identify and catalog them, but less common now.

Passacaglia

Instrumental (keyboard, orchestra) genre in which a series of variations unfold over a recurring harmonic progression, usually taking eight bars in 3/4 or 3/2 time.

Chaconne

Any piece in which an extended melody or a series of variations occurs over a repeating bass line (basso ostinato)

pedal tone/pedal point

rom the notes played by the pedals on an organ. (Also: the very low notes on brass instruments—term derives from the lowest organ notes.) Another term, PEDAL POINT or just PEDAL can refer to a sustained note in the bass line upon which upper notes/harmonies are unfolding.

Major/Minor

the collections of pitches—scales—whose third scale degrees are either major, in a major key (Ionian mode), or minor, in a minor key (Aeolian mode)(in minor keys, the sixth and seventh scale degrees are also usually affected in some way: natural=lower 6, 7; harmonic=lower 6, raised 7 [leading tone]; melodic=raised 6, 7 ascending, lowered 6, 7 descending). Some people associate extra-musical ideas of happiness or joy to major keys and sadness, pain, or agitation to minor keys.

BWV

Bach Werke Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalog). BWV is the acronym for the catalog of Bach's works in which all of the compositions are listed according to type. BWV numbers are the way Bach's pieces are referred to vs. opus numbers.

word painting

Word painting, also known as text painting, is a musical technique that reflects the meaning of a piece's lyrics or story elements in the composition. E.g., if the lyrics are about the moon rising, the associated melody may ascend, or if a character is dying, the music may slow or fade away to imitate this

cantata

A piece for vocal soloists (with or without chorus) and orchestra, based on a sacred or secular text, usually consisting of several movements (recitatives & arias, chorus).

Obbligato

Italian for "necessary." In instrumental music, a part that is essential as opposed to optional. Commonly used term in Baroque context for prominent parts for solo instruments in the accompaniment of arias.

da capo

Italian for "the head," it means go back to the beginning of the piece.

Oratorio

An extended musical setting of a sacred text made up of dramatic, narrative and contemplative elements. Except for a greater emphasis on the chorus throughout much of its history, the musical forms and styles of the oratorio tend to approximate to those of opera in any given period, and the normal manner of performance is that of a concert without scenery, costumes or action.

orchestra

A large instrumental ensemble consisting of bowed strings with more than one player per part, plus various wind, brass, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra came into standard use around 1700 to identify the sort of body both the court chapel and the opera orchestra had become.

overture

(1) An orchestral movement that serves to introduce a staged musical work such as an opera or ballet or oratorio. The word itself stems from the French ouverture, which denoted the piece in two or more sections that formed a solemn introduction to a ballet, opera or oratorio in the 17th century. But overtures (whether called by that term or something else) were common before productions. (2) An orchestral work in a single movement, often with some sort of literary or programmatic (has a story) connection or for a specific occasion