Cram Music

Baroque era years

1600–1750

Characteristics of Baroque music

Complex, ornamented melody; homophonic + polyphonic texture

Terraced dynamics

Abrupt changes in volume

Basso continuo

One instrument plays chords, another sustains bass notes

Instruments of basso continuo

Harpsichord + cello (chord + bass)

Harpsichord

A keyboard instrument

Typical Baroque orchestra instrumentation

Violins, viola, cello, harpsichord, bassoon, oboe, timpani

Opera

Drama set to music

Text of an opera

Libretto

Aria

Lyrical song that expresses emotion

Recitative

Speech-like singing

Overture

Instrumental introduction that begins an opera

Ground bass (basso ostinato)

Repeated rhythmic or melodic pattern

First great opera composer

Claudio Monteverdi (Orfeo)

First great English opera composer

Henry Purcell (Dido and Aeneas)

Movement in music

A self-contained section of a larger composition

Concerto grosso

A piece for a small group of soloists and orchestra, usually 3 movements (fast, slow, fast)

Concertino in concerto grosso

Flute, violin, harpsichord

Ritornello form

Orchestra alternates with soloist(s)

Cadenza

Improvised solo passage

Famous late Baroque keyboardist

Johann Sebastian Bach

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

A set of 4 programmatic concertos (one for each season)

Antonio Vivaldi instrument

Violin (virtuoso violinist)

Fugue

A polyphonic composition based on imitation of a main theme (subject)

Subject in a fugue

The main theme/melody

Countersubject in a fugue

A secondary theme played against the subject

Exposition in a fugue

The beginning, where each voice enters successively

Episodes in a fugue

Passages without a full statement of the subject

Augmentation in a fugue

The subject played in longer time values

Diminution in a fugue

The subject played in shorter time values

Retrograde in a fugue

The subject played backwards

Inversion in a fugue

The subject played in the opposite (reversed) direction

J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier

2 volumes with 48 preludes and fugues, a 'guidebook' for keyboardists

Suite in music

A collection of stylized dance movements (usually binary or ternary form)

Chorale

A Lutheran congregational hymn tune in German

Cantata

Multi-movement work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, performed in the Lutheran church

Oratorio

Large-scale, unstaged opera with biblical text

Most important composer in England

George Frideric Handel (wrote Messiah)