Music in Western Civilization Midterm

Cantata (Lutheran)

Poetry on a sacred theme or topic, rhymed and metered and set to music; principle music of the Lutheran service

Concerto

composition for solo instrument or group of solo instruments and orchestra, showcasing virtuosity and duality

Consonance

pitch or pitches that are contextually stable

“Creative explosion”

35,000 BCE when cave paintings and flutes began to appear

Form

structure of a composition

Genre

type of musical composition

Gregorian chant

music of Roman Catholic church in the Middle Ages: monophonic, modal, a cappella, nonmetric church music sung in Latin

Grotte Chauvet

Paeolithic cave in France

Homophony

two or more parts with identical or similar rhythm supporting a single melody

Imitative polyphony

two or more independent parts, melodic patterns repeated in all parts

Isorhythm

long repeating rhythmic pattern with varied pitch content

Melismatic organum

many notes against the cantus firmus

Meter

hierarchical organization of pulses in groups of twos and threes

Opera

sung drama; secular form of entertainment in the vernacular

Oratorio

large dramatic composition for orchestra, choir, soloists; non-theatrical and non-liturgical

Parallel organum

note against note, same interval throughout

Pleasure in music

balance of simplicity and complexity

Polyphony

two or more parts

Rhythm

patterns of durations of related events called rhythmic groups

Monteverdi’s second practice

music is subordinate to the words; dissonances express the sentiments of the words

String quartet

composition for two violins, a viola, and a cello

Strophic

song form with a single repeating melody and accompaniment and changing lyrics

Style

characteristic quality of music

Style galant

light-textured, elegant sound of the early Classical

Syllabic

one pitch per syllable

Symphony

extended work for orchestra normally in four movements

Triad

3-element pitch collection that can be spelled in thirds and is a subset of the diatonic collection

Monophony

one single pitch or melody

Motet

choral piece on a sacred, non-liturgical text

Music

Mental construct involving creating or imagining qualitative or quantitative relations between collections of pitches.