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Baroque
Music of the period from roughly around 1600 to 1750, encompassing the first Italian operas to the death of Bach.
Camerata
A group of humanists, musicians, poets, and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under Count Giovanni de’ Bardi's patronage.
Castrato
A male singer who was castrated to maintain a preadolescent vocal range, producing admired stars in the Baroque era.
Favola in musica
Italian for "musical tale".
Figured bass
An ongoing bass line in basso continuo, with harmonies indicated by numbers representing intervals.
Genere concitato
A style of music characterized by agitation, discussed in Claudio Monteverdi's works.
Intermedio
Short musical-dramatic items performed between acts of Renaissance theatrical performances.
Monody
A style of song for one voice and basso continuo, foundational for early opera.
Opera
A drama set to music with instrumental accompaniment, often featuring recitative.
Prima pratica
"First practice"; early seventeenth-century term differentiating Renaissance polyphony from dissonant styles.
Recitative
Speech-like solo singing, free in rhythm and subservient to the text, used in operas.
Seconda pratica
"Second practice"; Monteverdi's term challenging conservative styles of the prima pratica.
Stile rappresentativo
"Representational style"; an expressive singing style that emerged in early Italian monody.
Stile recitativo
A melody imitating speech inflections; closely associated with stile rappresentativo.
Agréments
"Embellishments"; crucial stylistic elements in French Baroque music, involving extensive ornaments.
Ballet de cour
"Court ballet"; a spectacle combining dance, poetry, and decor, often featuring the king.
Cantata
A Baroque vocal piece with instrumental accompaniment, originally for solo voice.
Chaconne
A moderately fast dance in variation form.
Chorale concerto
A work for mixed instruments and voices based on religious texts.
Chorale partita
A large-scale piece based on a chorale, composed for keyboard instruments.
Consort music
Early form of polyphonic instrumental chamber music for similar or mixed instruments.
French overture
An orchestral introduction in French Baroque opera with a slow section followed by a fast section.
Masque
Courtly entertainment in Europe featuring music, dancing, and elaborate stage design.
Oratorio
A large-scale dramatic work based on a religious topic, performed in a concert setting.
Partita
A Baroque suite typically for a solo instrument or chamber ensemble.
Passacaglia
A set of triple-meter variations, originally improvisational, often interchangeable with chaconne.
Rococo
Eighteenth-century aesthetics emphasizing elegance and delicacy, often in French music.
Semi-opera
Entertainments combining spoken plays with singing and dancing episodes.
Toccata
A virtuosic keyboard piece demonstrating dexterity and skill.
Tragédie lyrique
The French equivalent of Italian opera seria with emphasis on text preservation.
Virginal
A smaller member of the harpsichord family, producing sound through a plucking mechanism.
Binary form
Structuring music into two related sections, each of which is repeated.
Cadenza
An improvised or written ornamental passage played unaccompanied by a soloist.
Circle of fifths
Representation of relationships among twelve tones of the chromatic scale and key signatures.
Coloratura
An elaborate melody, especially in virtuosic vocal music.
Concertino
A group of soloists in a concerto grosso, alternating with the ripieno.
Concerto
A musical work usually in three movements featuring a solo instrumentalist with orchestra.
Concerto grosso
An instrumental concerto featuring a small group of soloists against a full ensemble.
Da capo aria
An aria in ABA form, designed to return to the beginning after a contrasting section.
Dominant
The fifth scale degree of diatonic scales.
Episode
A solo section for an instrument within a concerto.
Opera seria
The noble, serious style of Italian opera, alternating recitative and aria.
Ripieno
The tutti group of the orchestra in a Baroque concerto, alternating with the concertino.
Siciliana
A type of slow aria or instrumental movement for dancing during the Baroque period.
Sinfonia
Italian term for symphony.
Sonata da camera
"Chamber sonata"; four-movement sets of instrumental dances for domestic use.
Sonata da chiesa
"Church sonata"; four-movement sets of abstract compositions for use in mass.
Tonic
The first and primary degree of the diatonic scale.
Trio sonata
A Baroque chamber music work for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo.
Allemande
A dance of German origin that became slower and more stately upon reaching France.
Answer
In a fugue, the entrance of the second voice playing the subject at the fifth.
Ballad opera
An English form featuring a spoken play with interpolated songs from popular music.
Chorale prelude
A single-stanza setting cueing the congregation to sing or providing silent meditation.
Countersubject
The counterpoint that accompanies the answer in a fugue.
Courante
A grave triple-meter dance in 3/2 noted for lilting hemiola effects.
Exposition
The opening portion of sonata form introducing keys and thematic material.
Fugue
A texture where a subject is followed by voices entering successively and imitating it.
Galant
The aesthetic emphasis on pleasant melodies with light accompaniment.
Gigue
A standard last movement in a dance suite.
Passion
A setting of the Crucifixion story from a New Testament gospel, featuring recitative and arias.
Prelude
An instrumental introduction to works.
Sarabande
The third movement standard in dance suites.
Stretto
"To tighten"; in a fugue, when voices anticipate entries of the subject and answer.
Subject
The single main theme of a fugue.
Suite
An ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces, generally based on dance movements.
