Music History Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music eras, including key composers, musical forms, and characteristics.

Terraced Dynamics

A sudden change from one dynamic level to another without either crescendo or diminuendo, common in the Baroque era.

Accelerando (accel.)

Speeding up.

Rallentando (rall.)

Slowing down.

Rubato (rub.)

Flexible with pace.

BPM

Beats per minute.

Trill

Starts on one note above the written note and quickly alternates between the written note and the note above.

Acciaccatura

Squeezing in a tiny note, played as fast as possible.

Turn

Starts on the note above the written note, then the written note, followed by the note below, and back to the written note.

Appoggiatura

An extra note in a chord decorations in music

Staccato

Notes are played slightly short.

Legato

Notes are played smoothly, with no breaks in between.

Tenuto

Notes are more connected, separated only very slightly from each other.

Accent

Played louder and more aggressively.

Sforzando

A stronger accent.

Monophonic

One melody without accompaniment.

Homophonic

One melody with accompaniment.

Heterophonic

One melody played by multiple instruments each in their own way.

Polyphonic

Multiple different melodies played at the same time.

Interval

The distance between two notes.

Scale

A sequence of notes (degrees) that provides the raw material for a piece of music, following a set pattern of intervals.

Terraced Dynamics

A sudden change from one dynamic level to another without crescendo or diminuendo.

Baroque

Decorative style of architecture, painting and music in Western Europe between 1600 – 1750

Harpsichord

A keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked, rather than hit with a hammer. You can’t vary the strength of the pluck, so you can’t vary the dynamics.

Harpsichord

Baroque keyboard instrument

Handel

An important composer/violinist in the Baroque era who composed dramatic forms and his works are mainly homophonic.

Oratorio

A dramatic composition dealing with a religious subject, performed by solo singers, choir, and orchestra.

Opera

Italian word for 'work,' an art form that tells a story through music and singing.

Sonata (Baroque)

Long piece of classical music made up of several parts, usually played by one instrument.

Cantata

A composition for one or more voices

Concerto (Baroque)

A composition for solo instruments and orchestra, usually in 3 movements.

Antonio Vivaldi

Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque period, who established the design of the concerto.

Concerto Grosso

A small group of soloists is contrasted with the rest of the orchestra and the basso continuo.

Solo Concerto

A single solo instrument is ‘showcased’ allowing its performer to demonstrate the instrument’s capabilities, accompanied by an orchestra.

Basso Continuo

A continuous bass part, played throughout a piece, based on the chords of the piece.

Organ

Also a piano-like instrument but the sounds is made through pressured air pumped through pipes

String Quartet

An ensemble of 4 string instruments, usually two violins, a viola and a cello

Ornaments

Musical embellishments/flourishes

Classical era

From 1750-1830 influenced by the ancient “classical” world which characterised by simple, clear structure and divisions.

Homophonic Texture (Classical)

Classical music is typically constructed of a melody line with a chord based accompaniment.

Alberti Bass

A style of accompaniment that uses a broken chord pattern playing the root note, then the 5th then the 3rd..

The Viennese School

Leading composers of the Classical and early Romantic period.

Orchestra (Classical)

Instrument very significantly increased in number of instruments included in strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion between 30-60 players.

Piano (Classical)

Replaced the harpsichord and had huge potential as an instrument for composers with early pianos started with 4 octaves.

Basso Continuo (Classical)

Gradually died out as composers specified which instruments would play in accompaniments for a more “structured” approach to music.

Sonata (Classical)

An instrumental composition for a solo instrument.

Sonata Form

Not the structure of a complete work but a special kind of musical form or design used to build up a single movement of a work, is ternary in outline (3 parts).

Symphony

A sonata for orchestra that contains 3 separate movements (fast- slow- fast) and later the minuet and trio were added.

Grand Opera

Serious, and set entirely through music

Opera Seria

Formal, serious opera, often mythological themes

Opera Buffa

Comic, with lighter more everyday themes

Opera Comique

Like opera buffa but with spoken dialogue

Operetta

shorter than proper operas, lighter themes

Aria

A solo piece, backed by orchestra. Used to show the thoughts / emotions of the main character.

Recitative

A song for a soloist that tells the story and moves it along with rhythms that tends to imitate the rhythms of normal speech

Recitative Secco

A recitative that is unaccompanied or backed by simple chords.

Recitative Stromentato or Accompagnato

A recitative with orchestral backing and the accompaniment is used to increase the dramatic tension of the words.

Chorus

Where the whole chorus (choir) sings together in Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass format

Oratorios

Religious versions of operas that often tell bible stories.

Romantic Era

Era that expressed passionate emotions can be expressed through art and music inspired by the natural world.

piano (Romantic)

Melodies were the focus of piano pieces

Chamber Music

Instrumental music played by a small ensemble, with one player to a part, the most important form being the string quartet.

Frédéric Chopin

Wrote mainly solo piano pieces and piano concertos that were characterised by its expressive melodies and unique treatment of the piano.

Impromptus

Compositions with no strict form and an improvised feel

Nocturnes

A piece meant to represent the night and and generally has a sad feel and slow tempo

Étude

French for "study are pieces written with the intention of developing a musician's technique

Prelude

Musical composition, usually brief, that is generally played as an introduction to another, larger musical piece

Robert Schumann

Composed piano music, symphonies, lieder and opera regarded for his ability to combine poetry and music

programme music

Based on a poem or painting.

Lied

A song for one singer and a piano, usually based on German poems or often dramatic stories. The piano part is more than background accompaniment

Mass

A type of Sacred music that its sung by choir and soloists with the words of a mass were traditionally in Latin.

Requiem

A mass for the dead includes Introit, Dies Irae and Pie Jesu instead of Gloria, Credo because it usually in minor key to match the nature of the lyrics.