WEEK 2 Music History: The Enlightenment and 18th-Century Opera

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, historical figures, and genres from the Enlightenment and Classical-era opera lecture.

Enlightenment

An 18th-century philosophical, scientific, cultural, and political movement—also known as the Age of Reason—that advocated reason and skepticism over tradition and superstition.

Philosophes

Enlightened philosophers in France who applied reason and natural laws to address issues in society, science, politics, and economics.

Empiricism

A scientific method in which knowledge is attained through direct observation and experimentation rather than traditional reflection and assumptions.

Laissez faire

An economic policy advocated by Adam Smith promoting no government restraints in transactions between private parties and governments.

Enlightened despots

A group of 18th-century absolute rulers who implemented altruistic ideals through reforms aimed at improving health, education, and legal fairness.

Joseph II

The Austrian emperor known as the great reformer who ruled during Mozart's decade in Vienna and instituted an unpopular overhaul of the burial system resulting in mass graves.

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

A comprehensive musical reference work first published during the 1780s and edited by George Grove, serving as the primary encyclopedia of music in English.

Charles Burney

An eminent scholar who published one of the first two English-language histories of music in 1776, alongside detailed notes and memoirs of his European travels.

Concert Spirituel

A public series of instrumental concerts that began in Paris in the 1720s and continued throughout the remainder of the 18th century.

Collegium Musicum

Amateur musical ensembles, mainly associated with universities, that began in Germany in the 1730s.

Stile galant (Gallant style)

An interim musical and artistic style prevailing from around 1720 to 1770 that emphasized elegance, charm, intimacy, grace, clarity, and naturalness.

Opera seria

A genre of serious Italian opera focused on tragic stories from antiquity, such as Greek mythology or Roman history.

Pietro Metastasio

An Italian poet and librettist who standardized the structure of opera seria by separating comic and tragic elements.

Johann Hasse

A leading composer of opera seria who collaborated closely with Pietro Metastasio to create over 30 operas.

Coloratura

Elaborate vocal ornamentation sung by star singers during the repeated sections of da capo arias in opera seria.

Opera buffa

Italian comic opera that featured recitative instead of spoken dialogue, excluded castrati, and emphasized the comic bass voice (basso buffo).

Intermezzo

A lighthearted comic musical diversion presented between the acts of a serious opera or play.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

An Italian composer who wrote the famous intermezzo La Serva Padrona before dying of tuberculosis at age 26.

Ballad opera

An English comic opera genre that combined popular strophic ballad tunes with new satirical lyrics and spoken dialogue.

John Gay

The English author who wrote the lyrics for The Beggar's Opera, satirizing the British government, social institutions, and Italian opera seria.

Opéra Comique

French comic opera featuring spoken dialogue, simple popular melodies, and everyday characters.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment philosophe who championed naturalness in music, advocated Italian comic opera, and composed the successful Opéra Comique Le devin du village.

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Bohemian-born composer known as 'il Divino Boemo' who pioneered reform opera to simplify Italian serious opera.

Ranieri Calzabici

An Italian court poet in Vienna who collaborated with Christoph Willibald Gluck to create simplified, dramatic operatic librettos.

Reform opera

An operatic movement created by Gluck and Calzabici combining French dramatic power with Italian lyric simplicity, eliminating da capo arias and expanding the role of the chorus and orchestra.