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Odom || Tuesday, Thursday 2:00pm
Patronage
Sponsorship of an artist or a musician, historically by a member of the wealthy or ruling classes
Symphony
Large work for orchestra, generally in three or four movements
Overture
An introductory movement, as in an opera or oratorio, often presenting melodies from arias to come. Also concert overture
Theme and Variations
Compositional procedure in which a theme is presented and then altered in successive statements; occurs as an independent piece or as a movement of a multimovement cycle
Divertimento
Classical instrumental genre for chamber ensemble or soloist, often performed as light entertainment. Related to serenade
Serenade
Classical instrumental genre that combines elements of chamber music and symphony, often performed in the evening or at social functions. Related to divertimento.
Sonata-Allegro Form
The opening movement of the multimovement cycle, consisting of themes that are stated in the first section (exposition), developed in the second section (development), and restated in the third section (recapitulation). Also sonata form
Modulation
The process of changing from one key to another
Exposition
Opening section. In a fugue, the first section in which the voices enter in turn with the subject. In sonata‐allegro form, the first section in which the major thematic material is stated. Also statement
Theme Group
Several themes in the same key that function as a unit within a section, particularly in sonata‐allegro form
Bridge
Transitional passage connecting two sections of a composition; also transition
Development
Structural reshaping of thematic material. The second section of sonata‐allegro form; it moves through a series of foreign keys while themes from the exposition are developed
Recapitulation
Third section of sonata‐allegro form, in which the thematic material of the exposition is restated, generally in the tonic
Coda
The last part of a piece, usually added to a standard form to bring it to a close
Minuet and Trio
An A‐B‐A form (A = minuet; B = trio) in a moderate triple meter; often the third movement of the Classical multimovement cycle
Raga
Melodic pattern used in music of India; prescribes pitches, patterns, ornamentation, and extramusical associations such as time of performance and emotional character
Sitar
Long‐necked chordophone of northern India, with movable frets and a rounded gourd body; used as a solo instrument and with tabla
Tala
Fixed time cycle or meter in Indian music, built from uneven groupings of beats
Tabla
Pair of single‐headed, tuned drums used in North Indian classical music
Drone
Sustained sounding of one or several pitches for harmonic support, a common feature of some folk musics
Cadenza
Virtuosic solo passage in the manner of an improvisation, performed near the end of an aria or a movement of a concerto
Scherzo
Composition in A‐B‐A form, usually in triple meter; replaced the minuet and trio in the nineteenth century
Cyclical Form
Structure in which musical material, such as a theme, presented in one movement returns in a later movement.
Opera Seria
Tragic Italian opera
Ballad
A form of English street song, popular from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Ballads are characterized by narrative content and strophic form
Singspiel
Comic German drama with spoken dialogue; the immediate predecessor of Romantic German opera
Opéra Comique
French comic opera, with some spoken dialogue
Opera Buffa
Italian comic opera, sung throughout
Trouser Role
In Classical opera, the part of a young man written for a soprano or mezzo‐soprano singer
Requiem
Roman Catholic Mass for the dead
Art Song
A song set to a high‐quality literary text, usually accompanied, and intended for concert performance. See also Lied and mélodie
Lied
German for “song”; most commonly associated with the art song of the nineteenth century, usually accompanied by piano. See also art song
Song Cycle
Group of songs that are unified musically or through their texts
Strophic Form
Song structure in which the same music is repeated with every stanza (strophe) of the poem
Through-Composed
Song structure that is composed from beginning to end, without repetitions of large sections
Modified Strophic Form
Song structure that combines elements of strophic and through‐composed forms; a variation of strophic form in which a section might have a new key, rhythm, or varied melodic pattern
Parlor Song
A song, generally accompanied by piano, intended for home entertainment; the term is particular to nineteenth‐century America
Minstrelsy
A late nineteenth-century American entertainment featuring white performers in blackface acting out stereotypes of African American slaves
Character Piece
A short, lyric piano work often with a descriptive title; popular in the nineteenth century
Rubato
“Borrowed time,” common in Romantic music, in which the performer hesitates here or hurries forward there, imparting flexibility to the written note values
Program Music
Instrumental music endowed with literary or pictorial associations, especially popular in the nineteenth century
Absolute Music
Music that has no literary, dramatic, or pictorial program or associations. Also called pure music
Idée Fixe
“Fixed idea”; term coined by Berlioz for a recurring musical idea that links different movements of a work
Overture
An introductory movement, as in an opera or oratorio, often presenting melodies from arias to come. Also concert overture
Incidental Music
Music written to accompany dramatic works
Symphonic Poem
One‐movement orchestral form that develops a poetic idea, suggests a scene, or creates a mood, usually associated with the Romantic era. Also tone poem
Orchestration
The technique of setting music for instruments in various combinations
Opera Seria
Tragic Italian opera
Bel Canto
“Beautiful singing”; elegant Italian vocal style characterized by florid melodic lines delivered by voices of great agility, smoothness, and purity of tone
Singspiel
Comic German drama with spoken dialogue; the immediate predecessor of Romantic German opera
Melodrama
Theatrical entertainment that alternates spoken dialogue and occasional singing with orchestral music
Music Drama
Wagner’s term for his operas
Leitmotif
Leading motive,” or basic recurring theme, representing a person, object, or idea; widely used in Wagner’s music dramas
Part Song
Secular vocal composition, unaccompanied, in three, four, or more parts
Ballet
A dance form featuring a staged presentation of group or solo dancing with music, costumes, and scenery
Masque
English genre of aristocratic entertainment that combined vocal and instrumental music with poetry and dance, developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Ballet de Cour
An elaborately staged French courtly entertainment of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, featuring dancing, singing, and acting
Pas de Deux
A dance for two, an established feature of classical ballet
Celesta
Percussion instrument resembling a miniature upright piano, with tuned metal plates struck by hammers that are operated by a keyboard
Post-Romanticism
A trend at the turn of the twentieth century in which nineteenth‐century musical characteristics like chromatic harmony and expansive melodies are carried to the extreme
Exoticism
Musical style in which rhythms, melodies, or instruments evoke the color and atmosphere of far‐off lands
Verismo
Operatic “realism,” a style popular in Italy in the 1890s, which tried to bring naturalism into the theater
Impressionism
A French movement developed by visual artists who favored vague, hazy images intended to capture an “impression” of the subject in different lights. Impressionism in music is characterized by exotic scales, unresolved dissonances, parallel chords, rich orchestral tone color, and free rhythm
Ninth Chord
Five‐note chord spanning a ninth between its lowest and highest pitches
Pentatonic Scale
Five‐note pattern used in some African, Far Eastern, and Native American musics, as well as Anglo‐American folk music. See also gapped scale
Camp Meeting
A musical gathering where hymns, spirituals, and folk songs were sung; popular in nineteenth‐century America
Ring Shout
Religious dance of African American slaves, performed with hand clapping and a shuffle step to spirituals
Harlem Renaissance
An early twentieth‐century cultural and artistic movement centered in New York’s Harlem neighborhood and focused on the rebirth of African American arts
Ragtime
Late nineteenth‐century piano style created by African Americans, characterized by highly syncopated melodies; also played in ensemble arrangements. Contributed to early jazz styles. See also piano rag
Strain
One of a series of contrasting sections found in piano rags and marches; generally in duple meter with sixteen‐measure themes
Piano Roll
A perforated paper roll that was recorded by a pianist and then was capable of playing back mechanically on a player piano
Player Piano
An automatic piano with a mechanical device that plays it, usually from a perforated paper roll with holes relating to each piano key
