Music History Genres

Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Mass Ordinary five movements

Mass Proper

Musically significant sections including antiphons, offertory, and communion.

Vespers

A significant service within the Office.

Plainsong Mass

A mass featuring parallel movements of plainchant reused, such as in Machaut's works.

Cantus Firmus Mass

A mass built around a monophonic source, sung in the tenor voice with additional textures.

Paraphrase Mass

A mass utilizing a monophonic source in imitative counterpoint with multiple voices.

Imitation Mass (Parody Mass)

A polyphonic model that incorporates aspects of multiple voices across different sections.

Antiphon

A chant sung before and after psalms, varying each day according to the church calendar.

Hymn

A song typically in strophic form, often following the structure a a a.

Sequence

A liturgical chant sung after the Alleluia, often syllabic with couplet texts.

Ballade

A medieval secular song with the form aabC, featuring two couplets and a contrasting refrain.

Virelai

An Italian form with structure AbbaA, consisting of three stanzas preceded and followed by a refrain.

Rondeau

A musical form with structure AbaAabAB, featuring various refrains.

Madrigal

A form with structure a a a a … b, for two or three voices without instrumental accompaniment.

Ballata

A form popular after the madrigal, using structure AbbaA, often including a refrain.

Caccia

An Italian form from the 14th century featuring two voices in canon over a free untexted tenor.

Medieval Motet

One or more voices with their own text placed above a tenor usually drawn from chant.

Isorhythm

The repetition of an extended pattern of duration in a voice, typically in the tenor.

Polyphonic Chansons

Secular songs spoken in French, with slow-moving tenor and a treble principle voice.

Renaissance Motet

A sacred work featuring polyphonic texture, often in Latin.

Isorhythmic Motet

A type of motet characterized by a repeating rhythmic pattern.

Renaissance Madrigal

A secular vocal music composition originating during the Renaissance.

Lute Song

An English solo song accompanied by lute.

Chorale

A 16th-century Lutheran tradition sung by congregation, metric and strophic.

Anthem

A sacred work in English intended for Anglican services, typically sung by a choir.

Instrumental Genres

Includes variations, prelude, toccata, ricercare, canzona, and sonata.