MUSC 2010 - Enjoyment of Music | Module 3

The Renaissance

Block Chords

A passage featuring a series of vertically aligned chords

Cantus Firmus

literally “Fixed Voice,” to designate a pre-existing melody upon which a composition is based.

Counterpoint

The art of setting one musical line against another

Counter-Reformation

The 16th century reaction of the Catholic church against the Protestant reformation

Duple Meter

A meter with two beats per measure, with emphasis on the first beat.

English Madrigal

A secular genre of English vocal music, usually for for or more voices, that developed in the 16th century in response to the Italian madrigal, using light texts in comparison

Fantasia

An instrumental composition of the Renaissance that often features points of imitation

Galliard

A lively Renaissance dance in triple meter

Harmony

The study of chords, vertical collections of pitches sounding simultaneously

Harpsichord

A keyboard instrument in which keys activate a mechanism that plucks strings

Homophony

A type of musical texture that emphasizes vertically aligned chords

Humanism

A movement during the Renaissance that celebrated the study of Greek and Roman antiquity, and focused on human qualities and needs

Linear Perspective

In painting and drawing, a technique developed in the 1420s to simulate a view of a scene or object in depth, as it is actually perceived by the eye

Lute

A plucked instrument with a wooden neck and rounded back

Madrigal

A secular Italian genre, typically for four or more vocal parts, that developed during the 16th century

Motif (motives)

a short musical theme

Pavan

A Renaissance dance in duple meter and in a slow or measured tempo

Point of Imitation

A musical texture in which one part is imitated in turn by other arts, typically one at a time

Protestant Reformation

Movement begun by Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses outlining the abuses of the church to the door of the castle church at Wittenburg

Recorder

A Renaissance wooden musical instrument resembling a flute but blown from the end

Stepwise Motion

Motion in which a pitch moves to its neighboring pitch either above or below

Triad

A chord constructed of thirds, as in a C major triad (C-E-G)

Triple Meter

A meter that has three beats per measure, with an emphasis on the first beat

Viol

A family of Renaissance string instruments, similar in appearance to the cello, played upright between the legs

Virginal

English keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family

Word Painting

A device used in vocal music in which a meaning of the text is mirrored by an appropriate musical gesture