Fine arts music final

a Cappella

Choral music performed w/o instrumental accompaniment

Castrato

Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve his soprano or alto vocal range: 17th + 18th century opera.

Chamber music

Ensemble for up to about 10 players, with 1 player to a part.

Coda

Last part of a piece usually added to a standard form to bring it to a close.

Concerto

Instrumental genre in several movements for solo instrument and orchestra.

Concerto grosso

Baroque Concerto type based on the opposition between a small group of solo instruments and orchestra.

Counterpoint

The art of combining in a single texture 2 or more melodic lines.

Dynamics

Element of musical expression relating to the degree of loudness or softness, or volume of a sound.

Equal temperament

Tuning system based on the division of the octave into 12 equal half steps.

Form

Structure & design in music, based on repetition, contrast, & variation; the organizing principle of music.

Fugue

Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which 1 or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.

Gregorian Chant

Monophonic melody with a freely flowing unmeasured vocal line; liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.

Improvisation

Creation of music while it is being performed, as in Baroque embellishment, cadences of concertos, jazz, & some non-Western musics.

Incidental music

Music written to accompany dramatic works.

Leitmotif

"Leading motive" or basic recurring theme, representing a person, object, or idea; widely used in Wagner's music dramas.

Libretto

Text or script of an opera, oratorio, cantata, or musical.

Lied

German for "song"; most commonly associated with the solo art song of the 19th century, usually accompanied by piano.

Madrigal

Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem.

Mass

Central services of the Roman Catholic Church.

Minimalism

Contemporary musical style featuring repetitive patterns and a focus on simplicity.

Movement

Complete, self-contained part within a larger musical work

Musique Concrete

Music made up of natural sounds & sound effects that are recorded then manipulated electronically

Nocturne

"Night piece"; introspective work common in 19th century; piano

Opera

Music drama that is generally sung throughout, combining the resources of vocal & instrumental music w/ poetry & drama, acting & dancing, scenery to costumes

Oratorio

Large-scale dramatic genre originating in the Baroque, based on a text of religious or serious character performed by solo voices, chorus & orchestra

Overture

Introductory movement, as in an opera or oratorio, often presenting melodies from arias to come

Program music

Instrumental music endowed w/literary or pictorial associations, especially popular in the 19th century

Recitative

Solo vocal declamation that follows the inflections of the text, often resulting in a disjunct vocal style

Requiem Mass

Roman Catholic Mass for the dead

Ritornello

Short, recurring instrumental passage found in both the aria & the Baroque Concerto

Rubato

"Borrowed time"; common in Romantic music, in which the performer hesitates here or hurries forward there, imparting flexibility to the written note values

Serialism

Method of composition in which various musical elements may be ordered in a fixed series; also called twelve-tone music

Sonata allegro form

Opening movement of the multi-movement cycle consisting of themes that are stated in the 1st section, developed in the 2nd & restated in the 3rd

Sprechstimme

Vocal style in which the melody is spoken at approximate pitches rather than sung on exact pitches; developed by Arnold Schoenberg

Symphonic poem

One-movement orchestral form that develops a poetic idea, suggests a scene, or creates a mood

Symphony

Large work for orchestra, generally in 4 movements

Tempo

Rate, speed, or pace

Texture

Interweaving of melodic & harmonic elements in the musical fabric

Theme

Melodic idea used as a basic building block in the construction of a piece

Theme + Variation

Compositional procedure in which a theme is stated + then altered in successive statements; occurs as an independent piece or as a movement of a multimovement cycle

Tutti

"All"; opposite of Solo

Virtuoso

Performer of extraordinary technical ability

Whole-tone scale

Scale pattern that's built entirely of whole-step intervals; common in music of the French Impressionists

Word-painting

Musical pictorialization of words as an expressive device; prominent feature of the Renaissance madrigal

aria

lyric song for solo voice w/orchestral accompaniment, generally expressing intense emotion found in opera, cantata, oratorio

ballet

a dance form featuring a staged presentation of group or solo dancing W/music, costumes & scenery

basso Continuo

Italian for 'Continuous bass'; refers to a performance group w/ a chordal instrument + 1 bass

bel canto

'beautiful singing'; elegant Italian vocal style characterized by florid melodic lines delivered with smoothness & purity of tone

Cadenza

virtuosic solo passage in the manner of an improvisation, performed near the end of an aria or a movement of a concerto

Cantata

vocal genre for solo singers, chorus, + instrumentalists based on a lyric or dramatic poetic narrative; generally has multiple movements: recitatives, arias, ensemble numbers.