Cram Music
Q: What are the years of the Baroque era?
A: 1600–1750
Q: What are the characteristics of Baroque music?
A: Complex, ornamented melody; homophonic + polyphonic texture
Q: What are terraced dynamics?
A: Abrupt changes in volume
Q: What is the basso continuo?
A: One instrument plays chords, another sustains bass notes
Q: Which instruments make up the basso continuo?
A: Harpsichord + cello (chord + bass)
Q: What is a harpsichord?
A: A keyboard instrument
Q: What is the instrumentation of a typical Baroque orchestra?
A: Violins, viola, cello, harpsichord, bassoon, oboe, timpani
Q: What is opera?
A: Drama set to music
Q: What is the text of an opera called?
A: Libretto
Q: What is an aria?
A: Lyrical song that expresses emotion
Q: What is recitative?
A: Speech-like singing
Q: What is an overture?
A: Instrumental introduction that begins an opera
Q: What is a ground bass (basso ostinato)?
A: Repeated rhythmic or melodic pattern
Q: Who composed the first great opera Orfeo?
A: Claudio Monteverdi
Q: Who composed the first great English opera Dido and Aeneas?
A: Henry Purcell
Q: What is a movement?
A: A self-contained section of a larger composition
Q: What is a concerto grosso?
A: A piece for small group of soloists (concertino) and orchestra, usually 3 movements (fast, slow, fast)
Q: What instruments are in the concertino of a concerto grosso?
A: Flute, violin, harpsichord
Q: What is Ritornello form?
A: Orchestra alternates with soloist(s)
Q: What is a cadenza?
A: Improvised solo passage
Q: Which late Baroque composer was most famous as a keyboardist?
A: Johann Sebastian Bach
Q: What is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons?
A: A set of 4 programmatic concertos (one for each season)
Q: What instrument was Antonio Vivaldi famous for playing?
A: Violin (virtuoso violinist)
Q: What is a fugue?
A: A polyphonic composition based on imitation of a main theme (subject)
Q: What is the subject in a fugue?
A: The main theme/melody
Q: What is the countersubject in a fugue?
A: A secondary theme played against the subject
Q: What is the exposition in a fugue?
A: The beginning, where each voice enters successively
Q: What are episodes in a fugue?
A: Passages without a full statement of the subject
Q: What is augmentation in a fugue?
A: The subject played in longer time values
Q: What is diminution in a fugue?
A: The subject played in shorter time values
Q: What is retrograde in a fugue?
A: The subject played backwards
Q: What is inversion in a fugue?
A: The subject played in the opposite (reversed) direction
Q: What is J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier?
A: 2 volumes with 48 preludes and fugues, a “guidebook” for keyboardists
Q: What is a suite?
A: A collection of stylized dance movements (usually binary or ternary form)
Q: What is a chorale?
A: A Lutheran congregational hymn tune in German
Q: What is a cantata and where was it performed?
A: Multi-movement work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, performed in the Lutheran church
Q: What is an oratorio?
A: Large-scale, unstaged opera with biblical text
Q: Which German composer became England’s most important composer?
A: George Frideric Handel (wrote Messiah)