Genres

Question 1

Aria (a subgenre of monody or song)

Answer 1

Poem, lyrical, song expressing mourning, regret, grief

Question 2

Art song/Lied (for a variety of ensemble types)

Answer 2

Genre of monody composed for solo voice with piano accompaniment. It’s a musical setting for a poem that’s already known. Very popular bc wealthy families had pianos at home.

Question 3

Ballet/Ballet score

Answer 3

Genre that includes both dance and music. The proper term for music alone is ballet score. The proper term for dance alone is choreography.

Question 4

Cantata (can be sacred or secular)

Answer 4

Several sections with different vocal styles intended to be sung.

Question 5

Chamber symphony (chamber anything)

Answer 5

It’s a symphony performed in a room rather than in full-sized concert halls.

Question 6

chant (Gregorian chant/plainchant/plain song)

Answer 6

Lithurgical melody with religious text

Question 7

Character piece

Answer 7

A one-movement miniatures for solo piano, usually brief (2-7 minutes) with more or less descriptive titles. The model for many piano character pieces were the bel canto arias. Usually homophonic pieces. They have a wide variety of fanciful titles.

Question 8

Nocturne (a subgenre of character piece)

Answer 8

Subgenre of Character piece.
Suggests a mood that is sad and obscure

Question 9

Concerto

Answer 9

Large-ensemble music in multiple movements for a featured instrumental soloist with an orchestra.

Question 10

Concerto grosso

Answer 10

Multiple soloists with an orchestra

Question 11

Double concerto (or triple concerto, etc.)

Answer 11

Concerto for 2 instrumental soloists and orchestra

Question 12

Fantasia

Answer 12

A one-movement work for instrument soloist alone, usually in a very virtuosic and improvisatory style (whether involving actual improvisation or not), often based on a single, unifying musical theme that is the subject of variation.

Question 13

film score

Answer 13

The music of a movie.
A film score augments the movie experience by manipulating the viewer/listener in four specific ways, most of which are identical to the ways music had been manipulating opera-goers since 1600.

1. Establishes mood
2. Sets place and time
3. Running counter to the action
4. Character establishment and development. (use of leitmotifs)

Question 14

Mass/Mass movement

Answer 14

Sacred musical composition

Question 15

motet

Answer 15

Polyphonic, a cappella, sets any Latin sacred text that doesn’t belong to the Mass or Divine Office.

Question 16

music drama (as per Richard Wagner)

Answer 16

New genre of opera created by Wagner.

Question 17

oratorio

Answer 17

Large scale music drama for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra. No acting, scenery or costumes.

Question 18

opera

Answer 18

Large scale music drama for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra.

Question 19

When and where was opera invented?

Answer 19

1600. In wealthy Italian courts of Florence.
      Opera as we know it: 1637 in Venice.

Question 20

opera buffa

Answer 20

Comic Italian opera in 2 acts, using recitatives and arias. Plots from contemporary situations and characters, with servants and common people. Appealed to middle-class audiences.

Question 21

opera seria

Answer 21

Serious Italian opera in 3 acts, using recitatives and arias. Plots from classical history or legend. Arias have long melismas, and are virtuosic. Oldest and most serious genre of opera. Associated with aristocratic tastes.

Question 22

piano trio

Answer 22

piano, violin, cello

Question 23

piano quintet

Answer 23

piano, 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello

Question 24

recitative (a subgenre of monody or song)

Answer 24

Subgenre of monody.
Musical declamation of the kind usual in the narrative and dialogue parts of opera and oratorio, sung in the rhythm of ordinary speech with many words on the same note.

Question 25

Requiem Mass (Mass of the Dead)

Answer 25

Musical service or composition in honour of the dead.

Question 26

Singspiel

Answer 26

Light and comic German opera. It’s in German, using arias (no recitative), duets, and choral numbers. Plots are fantastic, exotic, common characters, and play with music.

Question 27

sonata

Answer 27

Multi-movement for 1 instrumental soloist and basso continuo.

Question 28

song cycle/cycle of art songs

Answer 28

A collection of Lieder that are published together with a collective title and share other unifying characteristics.

Question 29

string quartet

Answer 29

2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello

Question 30

suite (of the 3 varying types)

Answer 30

- multi-movement collection of dances (the Baroque dance suite model) - multi-movement collection of programmatic movements with individual descriptive titles, published together under a collective descriptive name - multi-movement collection of excerpts from a larger multi-movement work, such as a ballet

Question 31

symphonic poem (aka tone poem)

Answer 31

A single movement in a free form. Not designed to go specifically at the beginning of a concert, it can be longer. Scored for orchestra, and with a descriptive title. Always program music.

Question 32

"symphonic sketches" (not really a genre)

Answer 32

A sketch in music is an informal document prepared by a composer to assist in the process of composition. or Symphonic Sketches is composed of 4 movements, each of them is inspired by a scene depiction, much like snapshots in an album.

Question 33

symphony

Answer 33

An elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically 4 movements, usually 1 is sonata form.

Question 34

vocalise

Answer 34

A vocal passage of melody without words.

Question 35

woodwind quintet

Answer 35

flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, horn