Unit Five: The Modern Era

Question 1

dates

Answer 1

ca 1900 - present?

Question 2

composers

Answer 2

Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Alexina Louie

Question 3

musical styles

Answer 3

lack of major/minor tonality, may sound dissonant or unfamiliar. Lack of a tonal centre.

Question 4

genres cultivated

Answer 4

??

Question 5

social and historical context of music in society

Answer 5

very accessible

Question 6

patronage of the arts

Answer 6

practically non-existent

Question 7

expanded tonality

Answer 7

the use of extremely chromatic harmony while still maintaining allegiance to a tonal center

Question 8

polytonality

Answer 8

the simultaneous use of two or more tonal centres

Question 9

modal scales

Answer 9

use of scales (modes) in which the patterns of WS/HS is different from conventional +/- scales (ex. church modes). Rediscovered from Middle-Ages/Renaissance by 20th century composers

Question 10

atonality

Answer 10

the total absence of any tonal centre, characterized by unresolved dissonances

Question 11

Impressionism in music

Answer 11

reflects French art movement. Employs expanded harmonic vocabulary: whole tone, modal, pentatonic scales, parallel chords. Suggests rather than directly depicts. Features innovative orchestral colours, and the obscuring of a metric pulse (Debussy)

Question 12

antique cymbals

Answer 12

small brass disks (finger cymbals), which produce a gentle ringing sound when struck together (Debussy)

Question 13

glissando

Answer 13

derived from French “glisser”, to slide. On the harp, a quick strumming of all the strings with a broad sweeping hand movement, creates beautiful shimmering effects

Question 14

Symbolism

Answer 14

French literary movement of the late 19th century. Authors sought to suggest rather than depict, and stressed the beauty of the word itself (Debussy)

Question 15

symphonic poem

Answer 15

one of the most popular forms of orchestral program music. A single movement work, generally in free-form, with literary or pictoral associations. Invented by Franz Liszt (Debussy)

Question 16

ballet

Answer 16

highly stylized type of dance which often interprets a story. First developed in the court of Louis XIV, 19th-century ballet reached its zenith in the Russian court. Russian dancers dominated the ballet scene throughout most of the 20th century (Petrushka)

Question 17

choreography

Answer 17

the art of designing the dance steps and movements of a ballet (or musical) (Petrushka)

Question 18

primitivism

Answer 18

an effet created largely through rhythm (ex. strong accents, heavy syncopation, polyrhythms, expanded percussion section) (Petrushka)

Question 19

changing meter

Answer 19

shifting of metrical groupings, manifested through changes of time signature (Petrushka)

Question 20

folk song

Answer 20

songs of unknown authorship, passed down through oral tradition rather than written down (Petrushka)

Question 21

musical

Answer 21

a uniquely American genre. A play with spoken dialogue but featuring musical numbers: songs, dances, choruses. Staging is often spectacular (West Side Story)

Question 22

verse-chorus structure

Answer 22

a common song structure in popular music. Verses develop the character/storyline, and choruses act as a tuneful refrain (West Side Story)

Question 23

mambo

Answer 23

a dance of Afro-Cuban origins popular in the 40s and 50s. Moderately fast (4/4). Usually characterized by rhythmic ostinatos as well as “riff” passages (short melodic ostinatos) for wind instruments (West Side Story)

Question 24

cha-cha

Answer 24

popular Cuban dance of the early 50s, derived from the mambo. Its name is derived from the sound of its characteristic rhythm (West Side Story)

Question 25

hemiola

Answer 25

a temporary shift of the metric accents; notes grouped in threes are momentarily grouped in twos, and vice versa (West Side Story)

Question 26

tritone

Answer 26

an aumented 4th / diminished 5th. Made up of three (tri) whole steps (tone) (West Side Story)

Question 27

senza misura

Answer 27

“without measure”. played freely, not in strict time (Alexina Louie)

Question 28

quasi berceuse

Answer 28

quasi - in the style of. berceuse - french for lullaby (Alexina Louie)

Question 29

arch form

Answer 29

a sectional structure, based on repetition in reverse order (ex. ABCBA), which imparts an overall symmetry (Alexina Louie)

Question 30

characteristics

Answer 30

new approaches to rhythm, harmonic language, non-Western influence, innovative orchestration, extra-musical associations, popular influences