baroque era

Q: What defines opera in the Baroque era?

A: A staged dramatic work combining music, poetry, and scenery; characters express emotion through recitative and aria.

Q: What are features of Peri’s Euridice (1600)?

A: First surviving opera; uses recitative for speech-like delivery, simple melodies, clear text.

Q: What innovations did Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) introduce?

A: Large orchestra, varied recitative styles, expressive dissonance, clear tonal centers, elaborate arias and choruses.

Q: What defines Lully’s Armide (1686)?

A: French tragédie lyrique combining dance, drama, and chorus; uses French overture style; emphasizes declamation and affect.

Q: What makes Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas unique?

A: English opera combining Italian recitative, French dance, and English choral tradition; famous for Dido’s lament on a descending chromatic bass.

Q: What defines the oratorio genre?

A: A sacred narrative similar to opera but unstaged; includes recitatives, arias, and choruses.

Q: What defines Carissimi’s Historia di Jephte?

A: Lenten oratorio with expressive recitatives, word painting, dissonance, and lament bass pattern.

Q: What defines Handel’s Saul (1724)?

A: Based on Greek tragedy model; chorus represents moral reflection; expressive use of tritone and minor sevenths.

Q: What defines a Passion?

A: A musical setting of the Gospel story of Christ’s crucifixion.

Q: What defines Charpentier’s Le reniement de Saint Pierre?

A: Depicts Peter’s denials; for five singers and continuo; alternates narration and dialogue.

Q: What defines Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1729)?

A: Combines Gospel, chorales, and new poetry; features two choirs and orchestra; reflective, layered texture.

Q: What defines the aria “Erbarme dich”?

A: Modified da capo aria for alto and violin; descending bass, chromaticism, sighing motives express grief.

Q: What defines a villancico?

A: Vernacular sacred genre in Spanish-speaking regions; festive and often for church feasts.

Q: What defines Padilla’s Albricias pastores?

A: Double-choir structure with instruments; festive Christmas piece blending vocal and instrumental textures.

Q: What defines Frescobaldi’s Toccata?

A: Improvisatory keyboard piece with free rhythm and expressive dissonances.

Q: What defines Buxtehude’s Praeludium in E Major?

A: Alternating free and fugal sections; virtuosic North German organ style.

Q: What defines Frescobaldi’s Ricercar from Fiori musicali?

A: Imitative instrumental piece developing a single subject with chromaticism and rhythmic variation.

Q: What defines Marini’s Sonata for Violin and Continuo?

A: Improvisatory sectional form; one violin with basso continuo; early idiomatic violin writing.

Q: What defines Gaultier’s La coquette virtuose?

A: Lute courante in binary form; style brisé with arpeggiated chords and rhythmic variation.

Q: What defines the Baroque dance suite (PACSOG)?

A: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Optional dances (Minuet, Gavotte, Chaconne), Gigue.

Q: What defines de la Guerre’s Suite No. 3 in A minor?

A: Harpsichord suite with stylized dances and optional variations.

Q: What is style brisé?

A: “Broken style” from lute music—arpeggiated textures that influenced keyboard writing.

Q: What defines Couperin’s La visionaire?

A: French keyboard suite combining overture rhythms and imitative fast sections; imaginative and descriptive.

Q: What defines Corelli’s Trio Sonata in D Major, Op. 3 No. 2?

A: Sonata da chiesa with four movements; two violins + continuo; imitation and suspensions.

Q: What defines the French overture style?

A: Two sections: slow duple with dotted rhythms; fast imitative compound meter; overdotting creates grandeur.

Q: What defines Vivaldi’s Concerto in A minor, Op. 3 No. 6?

A: Three movements (fast–slow–fast); ritornello form in outer movements; lyrical slow middle section.

Q: What defines Vivaldi’s concerto innovations?

A: Standardized 3-movement form, ritornello structure, solo–tutti contrast, virtuosic idiom.

Q: What defines a concerto grosso?

A: Alternation between small solo group (concertino) and full ensemble (ripieno).

Q: What defines Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2?

A: Concertino of violin, recorder, oboe, trumpet; brilliant solo writing.

Q: What defines Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5?

A: Harpsichord as soloist; extended cadenza—first keyboard concerto.

Q: What defines Telemann’s Paris Quartet No. 1 in G Major?

A: Combines concerto and chamber sonata elements; final movement is a gigue en rondeau.

Q: What defines Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor?

A: Prelude uses sequences and violin-like figuration; fugue uses ritornello-like episodes.

Q: What defines Bach’s Durch Adams Fall?

A: Chorale prelude with musical imagery: descending leaps = Fall, chromaticism = sin.

Q: What defines Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Prelude & Fugue No. 8?

A: Demonstrates equal temperament; contrasts affect and style between prelude and fugue.