Music final

Dodecaphony

Use every one of the 12 chromatic pitches before repetition

Tone Row/series

pattern of 12 pitches

through-composed

music changes based on whats happening in the text

Motive

short reoccuring idea key to composition

Polyphony

2 melodies of equal importance with an acompaniment

Monohpony

one melody with no accompaniment

homophony

1 melody with accompaniment

Libretto

text of an opera

Tonic

the first Pitch

Dynamics

indicate how loud or soft the volume is

phasing

Two or more musical patterns played simulatinously but gradually diverge

Virtuoso

highly skilled musician in one or more instruments

Exposition

The initial section of a musical composition where themes are introduced.

Gesamtkunstwerk

A concept in art that synthesizes multiple art forms, such as music, drama, and visual arts, into a single unified work.

Thematic transformation

The process of changing a theme's character or modifying it in various ways throughout a musical piece, often to create variation or develop ideas.

a capella

Vocal music without instrumental accompaniment.

chromaticism

disonant and harmonically ambigous

Inversion

is a technique in music that involves rearranging the notes of a chord or melody from their original position. This often creates new harmonic or melodic contours.

Harmony

the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions.

Meter

the rhythmic structure of music, determining how beats are organized in time.

timbre

tone coloror quality of sound that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as instruments or voices.

Salon

a gathering of people held by an inspiring host to promote discussion, culture, and art.

Aleatory

some element of of composition is left up to chance

Recapitulation

the restatement of a theme or themes in a musical composition, often occurring near the end of a piece, especially in sonata form.

Strophic

a song structure where each verse or stanza is sung to the same music.

Ideé Fixe

a recurring musical theme that represents a specific idea or emotion, often associated with a character in a narrative.

Orchestration

the arrangement and scoring of music for orchestral instruments, determining how different instruments play together in a composition.

Retrograde

a musical technique where a melody is played backwards, starting from the last note to the first.

Leitmotif

musical themes associated with certain people, ideas or objects in a story

Melody

a sequence of musical notes that are perceived as a single entity, often forming the main theme of a piece.

Tempo

how fast or slow a piece is played

Texture

the way in which different musical sounds and lines combine in a piece, including the number of voices and instruments involved.

Atonality

Intentional avoidance of any pitch

nationalism

loyality and devotion to ones nation

Expressionism

Dissonance, Atonality and unconventional scales, speaking to inner feeling of anxiety and emotional experience in music.

Minimalism

Asthetic simplicity throughout tonal harmonies

Exocticism

A style in music that incorporates elements, instruments, or themes from non-Western cultures, creating an impression of foreignness.

Neoclassicism

Draws from the Baroque and classic eras

Post modernism

reaction against traditions, skeptical of reason, rejection of long held truths, reoccupied with past

Primitivism

escapist fantasies, rejection of European society

Serialism

composing music using a series of values assigned to musical elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, and instrumentation

Romanticism

Emotional expression and rejection of classical era

Program Symphony

form of a multi-movement composition for orchestra that tells a story

Character piece

piano piece that seeks to express a mood

Symphony

4 movement orchestral piece with between 30-60 musicians

ballet

musical score with an accompanying dance

opera

Dramatic work where all dialogue is sung with orchestral accompaniment

Fugue

are a form written in an

imitative contrapuntal style in multiple parts. ____ are based upon their original

tune that is called the subject. The subject is then imitated and overlapped by the

other parts by the called the answer, countersubject, stretto, and episode

Song cycle

set of art songs meant to be performed as a group

Sonata

a musical composition in multiple movements for solo instrument, usually accompanied by the piano.

String Quartet

music written for 2 violins, one cello and one viola

Art Song

solo vocalist and pianist usually in german perform a work by a poet

Musique Concrete

a type of electro-acoustic music that uses both electronically produced sounds (like synthesizers) and recorded natural sounds (like instruments, voices, and sounds from nature)

Cantata

A composite major church choir form from the Baroque period that involves soloist, choir, and orchestra. _____ have several movements and last for fifteen to thirty minutes. ______ are performed without staging but they utilize narration, arias, recitatives, choruses and smaller vocal ensembles.

Concerto

A musical composition for a soloist and orchestra.

Aria

Self contained piece focusing on a single emotion, designed to show off a singers skill

Ternary form

describes a musical composition in three parts, most often featuring two similar sections, separated by a contrasting section and represented by the letters A – B – A.

Themes and Variations

The presentation of a theme and then variations upon it. The theme may be illustrated as A, with any number of variations following it – A’, A’’, A’’’, A’’’’, etc.