Baroque history final

Tonality

a system for organizing harmony and structuring dramatic contrasts (balanced with tonal/tonic continuities)

Concerto grosso

a genre Corelli was essential in developing with concertino, contrasted with ripieno

soloist

concertino

larger accompaning ensemble

ripieno

solo concerto

more dramatic version of concerto grosso featuring one single protagonist-like soloist

programmatic music

not “purely instrumental music”; uses texts and mimesis to represent reality in instrumental sound

mimesis

impersonation of real-world sounds

An example of programmatic music

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

an example of absolute music

vivaldi’s violin concerto in D major

common practice period

the standardization of both form and content (language) allowed for composers and musicians to generate almost endless variations on preset structures (Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart)

Cantata

a religious Lutheran work for multiple voices, instruments, and basso continuo

Lutheran Chorale

Congregational hymn tune central to Lutheran worship; typically sung with the melody in the soprano line and harmonized for choir or organ in four parts

Compositional virtuosity

a work that paradoxically praises god and showcases the compositional skills and briliance of it’s composer (a mixture of human brilliance and religious humbleness)

fugue

when a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part taken up by others and developed by interweaving parts

motet

a short piece of sacred choral music typically polyphonic and unaccompanied

oratorio

sacred opera

oratorio definition

a fusion of music and drama with singers representing characters, full chorus and orchestral accompaniment

chromaticism

a feeling of the music’s coloration through modulation to distant keys

contrapuntal density

the treatment of individual melodic lines combined together to create complexly interwoven textures

Opera Seria

Serious Opera

Opera Seria definition

focus on virtuosic opera solo singing

de capo aria

A, B, A1 format