Music history 101

Charles MaGuire

Accretion

The process of growth or enlargement by gradual buildup as increase by external

addition or accumulation

What is an example of accretion?

As was the case with “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which

started off as a Christian hymn of consolation in grief but then took on new, nostalgic and

ironic meanings in the film True Grit (2010; associated with the character Maddie, her quest

for vengeance, and also to give a “period” flavor) and then as a period piece within the

Sainsbury’s 2014 commercial about World War I.

Canon

A body of works or work considered to be established as the most important or

significant in a particular field. Canons are not universal because they can change and shift

depending on the time and location it is used.

What is an example of a canon?

Many would consider Handel's Messiah to be

within their canon; however, Messiah has had to undergo significant changes to remain

popular, and because of this the work is still widely known and performed.

Fanfare

A flourish for trumpets and other brass instruments, signaling the arrival of a ruler, the

beginning of a battle or hunt, or the start or end of a day.

What is an example of a fanfare?

A fanfare is the basis for the

opening Toccata within Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.

Nostalgia

Pleasure or sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and

wishing that you could experience it again; a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for

return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition,

What is an example of nostalgia?

can be activated in music

in works such as “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

Trope

In historiography, a significant or recurrent theme, especially in a literary or cultural

context.

What is an example of a trope?

A good example is the fanfare in the opening Toccata of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo: the

fanfare is an annunciatory gesture, and here it announces both Monteverdi’s patrons (the

Gonzaga dukes of Mantua) and that the opera is about to begin.

Canon

A body of works or work considered to be established as the most important or significant in a particular field. Canons are not universal because they can change and shift depending on the time and location it is used.

What is an example of a canon?

Many would consider Handel's Messiah to be within their canon; however, Messiah has had to undergo significant changes to remain popular, and because of this the work is still widely known and performed.

da Capo aria

“Aria form with two sections. The first section is

repeated after the second section’s close, which carkes the instruction da capo (Italian,

“from the head”) creating an ABA form.” The A sections have the same music and the

same text; text, music, as well as elements like key, texture, and articulation can change in the B section.

dal Segno aria

Instead of going back to the beginning, the repeat of A can

sometimes start at a symbol designated by the composer (“Segno” in Italian). An

example is “The Trumpet Shall Sound” from Handel’s Messiah.

Melisma

a single syllable of text sung over a group of five or more notes. Melismatic singing

can be contrasted with syllabic styles (one note per syllable) or neumatic styles (two to

four notes per syllable).

What is an example of a melisma?

Melismatic singing occurs in all compositional eras, from the

jubilus of a plainchant “Alleluia” (example: “Alleluia, Pascha nostrum”) to late Medieval

motets (Machaut’s “Inviolata genetrix”), Renaissance masses, motets, and secular

chanson, Baroque monodic vocal music, opera, oratorio (the “ou” syllable of Handel’s

aria, “The Trumpet Shall Sound” from Messiah) and Classic-Era opera and oratorio (for

instance, Donna Elvira’s closing melismas in her aria “Ah! Chi mi dice mai” from Act I,

scene v of Mozart’s Don Giovanni).

Music Festival

A multi-day event, usually for

charity, to hear music, [both instrumental and choral.] In the 18th and 19th centuries,

such festivals raised money for charity.

What is an example of a music festival

[The Three Choirs’ Festival raised money for the

Women and Orphans of the Clergy Fund; the Birmingham Triennial Festival raised funds

for the Birmingham Hospital.] Handel’s Messiah was frequently performed at such

music festivals, as well as excerpts from Saul and as was Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in

its entirety.

Oratorio

Work for [usually] chorus, soloists, and orchestra, on a sacred subject. [This

subject might be historical and drawn from the bible (a “history oratorio”), or it might be

a general set of prayers, praising God (“lauda” oratorio.] Oratorios are not usually

staged or performed with costumes. They do, however, usually use the same types of

musical forms and styles as contemporaneous opera. Oratorios tend to concentrate

more on choral movements and less on solo movements than opera.

What is an oratorio?

Examples include

Handel’s Messiah or his Saul, Haydn’s The Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Stainers’ The

Crucifixion, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven’s Christus am Olberge, etc.

Recitative

"A type of vocal singing that approaches speech and follows the natural

inflections of the text over a rhythmically stagnant bass." In opera, oratorio, cantata,

and other dramatic vocal music, recitatives usually move along the plot, and can be

locations for dialogues.

What is an recitative and examples?

Recitatives are usually syllabic, have a number of repeated

pitches, and can be free rhythmically; during the Baroque era (ca. 1600-1750), they

were typically delivered over either a basso contiuno only (secco recitative, as is the

case in "Where is the Son of Jesse" from Handel's Saul) or the basso continuo plus

other instruments (accompanied recitiative/ recitiativo accompagnato, as is the case

with "The Time at Length Has Come" from Saul or mvt. V (“Wir ehren diese

Herrlichkeit”) from Bach’s Cantata no. 62 (“Nunn komm der Heiden Heiland)). The

recitative style lasted from the baroque well into the twentieth century, with many

changes in texture.

Functional Music

music written for a specific purpose, such as to accompany a religious ritual

What is an example of functional music?

the Alleluia, "Pascha nostrum" from the Mass for Easter Day, or Martin Luther's hymn,

"Ein feste Burg," to be sung by the congregation as part of a Lutheran service) or be the

soundtrack to a film or video (including Howard Shore's score to The Fellowship of the

Ring). Functional music does not start out its existence being thought of as a autonomous art

form, but through accretion, may become such.

Hymn

"Song to or in honor of a god; in the Christian tradition, song of praise sung to God.”

Hymns in the Protestant Christian tradition are "specifically a metrical composition adapted

to be sung in a religious service" ("hymn" in OED). Such hymns have a (usually) metrical

text and a tune which is likely to be harmonized and is most frequently meant to be sung by a

congregation. They are also malleable: hymns can also become a hymn after being something

else (like a protest song) or become something else after being a hymn.

What is an example of a hymn

Examples include

Luther's "Ein feste Burg," Newton's "Amazing Grace," Hoffman and Showalter's "Leaning

on the Everlasting Arms," Johnson and Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing," Parry's

"Jerusalem," and many others.

Meter/metrical

In a hymn, a repetitive syllabic structure within a hymn, where each congruent

line of each stanza has the same number of syllables.

What is an example of meter/metrical?

For instance, in Newton’s “Amazing

Grace,” the meter of the four lines is common meter, or 8.6.8.6 (eight syllables in the first

line of each stanza, six syllables in the second, eight in the third, and six in the fourth and

last).