Western Music History: Renaissance to 20th-Century

These flashcards review the key periods, concepts, composers, forms, textures, and stylistic fingerprints discussed in the lecture notes from the Renaissance through 20th-century music.

What does the word “Renaissance” literally mean in the context of music history?

Revival or rebirth.

Which historical period of Western music spans roughly c.1450-1600?

The Renaissance period.

Name two scientific or exploratory figures whose era coincided with Renaissance music.

Christopher Columbus and Galileo Galilei.

Which two texture types became prominent in Renaissance music?

Homophonic (simple chordal) and polyphonic/contrapuntal textures.

In Renaissance music, what new attitude toward harmony emerged?

Increased awareness of vertical chord progressions and smoother treatment of discords.

Give one sacred vocal form typical of the Renaissance.

Mass, motet, or anthem (any one).

Give one secular Renaissance vocal genre that often used word-painting.

Madrigal, ballett, ayre, or chanson (any one).

Name a common Renaissance dance pair in slow–fast order.

Pavan and galliard.

What family of string instruments did the violin family eventually replace?

The viol family.

Provide one example of a Renaissance composer active before 1500.

Josquin des Prez or Heinrich Isaac (either).

Which Portuguese word meaning “irregular pearl” gave its name to a musical era?

Barroco (source of the word Baroque).

State the conventional dates for the Baroque period.

1600-1750.

What continuo element underpins most Baroque textures?

The basso continuo or figured bass.

Name the two “giants” of the late Baroque.

Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.

Which new vocal-dramatic genre was born at the beginning of the Baroque era?

Opera.

Define ‘ritornello form’.

A Baroque structure featuring recurring orchestral refrains alternating with solo passages.

What doctrine guided Baroque composers to maintain one mood per movement?

The doctrine of the ‘single affection’.

Which keyboard instrument was normally used to realize the figured bass in Baroque music?

Harpsichord (or organ).

Name one prominent Italian Baroque violin virtuoso and composer.

Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, or Giuseppe Tartini (any one).

Which large-scale instrumental genre evolved from the Baroque Italian overture?

The Classical symphony.

Give the standard date range for the Classical period in music.

1750-1810.

Which keyboard instrument replaced the harpsichord during the Classical era?

The piano (fortepiano).

What musical form became the hallmark of first movements in Classical sonatas and symphonies?

Sonata form.

List two key aesthetic ideals of Classical style.

Grace and beauty of line, clarity, balance, moderation, proportion (any two).

Which Classical composer is famous for the ‘London’ symphonies?

Joseph Haydn.

What dynamic indications (gradual changes) became common in Classical music?

Crescendo and diminuendo.

In Classical orchestration, which family became an independent, balanced section?

The woodwind section.

Which dance in triple metre often serves as the third movement of a Classical symphony?

The minuet (or later, scherzo).

State the approximate dates of the Romantic period.

1810-1910.

Which musical term describes the use of notes outside the prevailing key for colour?

Chromaticism.

Name one 19th-century virtuoso idolized by audiences.

Franz Liszt or Niccolò Paganini.

What is ‘programme music’?

Instrumental music that tells a story or paints an extra-musical picture.

Which invention enabled brass instruments to play fully chromatic lines in the Romantic era?

The valve system.

Give one example of a nationalist Romantic composer.

Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, or others.

What Romantic technique unifies large works by returning, transformed themes?

Thematic transformation or the use of leitmotifs/leading motives.

Which German composer bridged the Classical and Romantic eras with nine symphonies?

Ludwig van Beethoven.

Describe one key difference between Baroque and Romantic orchestras.

Romantic orchestras are much larger, with expanded brass and percussion sections.

Which term denotes 20th-century music using two or more simultaneous keys?

Polytonality.

What style associated with Debussy emphasizes tone-colour and atmosphere?

Impressionism.

Name the 12-tone compositional technique pioneered by Schoenberg.

Serialism (dodecaphony or twelve-tone technique).

Define ‘aleatory music’.

Music in which elements of composition or performance are left to chance or performer choice.

Which 20th-century trend produces music directly from recorded natural sounds?

Musique concrète.

What rhythmic feature common in 20th-century music uses constantly repeated patterns?

Ostinato (or motor rhythms).

Identify one hallmark of 20th-century melodic writing.

Short, fragmentary, angular melodies with wide leaps and dissonant intervals.

Which Hungarian composer collected folk music and integrated it into modernist works?

Béla Bartók.

What electronic technique allows composers to create entirely new instrumental sounds?

Electronic synthesis or electronic music production.

Give an example of a 20th-century American style that influenced classical composers.

Jazz or Blues.

What term describes music with no sense of key or tonal centre?

Atonality.

Which Russian composer shocked audiences with ‘The Rite of Spring’?

Igor Stravinsky.

What texture is most characteristic of early Baroque but returns to polyphony later?

Homophonic texture early; later return to contrapuntal/polyphonic writing.

Name one common Renaissance instrument from the wind family.

Recorder, shawm, or crumhorn (any one).

What device in Classical piano writing contrasts sharply detached notes with smooth ones?

Staccato versus legato articulation.

Which 19th-century German composer is noted for four symphonies and the ‘German Requiem’?

Johannes Brahms.

Explain the Baroque ‘ground bass’ variation principle.

A repeated bass-line over which upper parts create continuous variations.