Midterm #1 Flashcards
(37 cards)
Alleluia! O Virga mediatrix - Hildegard of Bingen
Text = Sacred (function) Language (Latin)
Texture = Monophonic
is a responsorial performance
Ensemble = acapella
Agnus Dei From Notre Dame Mass - Guillaume de Machaut
Genre - mass movement (ars nova)
text = latin sacred
texture = non imitative polyphony 4 voices
ensemble = accapella
style = ars nova
Vincente Lusitano - Regina Caeli
genre = motet
language = Latin (sacred text)
ensemble = SATB a cappella
texture = imitative polyphony (four parts)
Francesca Caccini, Lasciatemi qui solo (lament aria, 1618)
- Aria
- soprano voice (soloist) with lute & bass viol
Antonia Vivaldi - Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, op. 8,
RV297, I’inverno (Winter from The Four Seasons)
First movement: Allegro non molto (fast but not very fast)
- The first movement of this work is a RITORNELLO FORM: the music played by the orchestra
appears both at the beginning, end, and several times during the movement. This ritornello is alternated with the SOLO EPISODES played by the featured violin soloist.
- Second movement: Largo (slowly)
- The second movement is ‘brighter’ (in a major key) and more tuneful than the first or last.
This movement is a very simple binary form (A-B), in which both halves have the same bass
George Frideric Handel - Giulio Cesare, Act III scene 2, “La giustizia ha già sull’arco”
genre of this specific movement = soprano aria from an opera seria
ornamentation
- Ornamentation was the practice (both vocal and instrumental) of spontaneously adding
(improvising) short decorative flourishes to the written music during performance. These
additional notes are generally called ornaments or embellishments, although there are dozens and
dozens of names for specific ornaments. The ornaments used were not random but followed the
written and unwritten (aural) traditions of musical performance relevant to the specific music being
performed (national origin of the music, the general musical style, the performance situation, etc.). - Some Baroque composers used specially designed symbols to notate the ornaments that they
preferred. During the High Baroque (early 18th century) instrumental treatises began to appear that
provide detailed instructions on how to practice and play ornaments.
Luigi Rossi (c. 1597/8-1653)
Italian composer and keyboard player who was
active in Naples, Rome and Paris.
* Considered by many to have composed some
of the finest vocal music of the 17th century.
* His canzonettas (short love songs) and cantatas
(a genre we’ve studied) enjoyed wide
popularity, and he composed operas for both
the papal family and the French royal court
Atto Melani (1626-1714)
- an Italian castrato and composer in the service of the de’ Medici family in Tuscany Although he premiered the title role in Rossi’s tragic-comic opera L’Orfeo, he most often performed in private settings for his patrons and their guests, and at the aristocratic courts where his patrons sent him as an emissary
- Melani’s patrons also used Melani as a secret diplomatic courier (basically a spy). In hundreds and hundreds of letters, Atto kept patrons at the courts of Florence, Rome, Paris, Mantua, Turin,
Innsbruck and Regensburg apprised of the military plans and political machinations of the others,
his vocalism serving as an effective cover for gathering information. - Such pursuits were dangerous, and the singer’s wide-ranging correspondence finally resulted in his
banishment from France for a time
The Castrato
male singer castrated before puberty to retain the pre-adolescent high (soprano or alto) vocal range.
* the most important category of vocal soloists in opera (and other vocal genres) during the baroque,
although most of them were employed by Italian churches.
* Many leading operatic roles for men—whether hero or romantic lead—were written for castrati. Castrati also commonly performed women’s roles.
LAMENT (or Lament aria)
- a poem (or, when set to music, a song) expressing grief, regret or mourning.
- As a musical subcategory of recitative and aria, it was very popular in the 17th century and after.
- Baroque lament arias often featured a basso ostinato (also known as a ground bass), which is a short
bass theme that repeats over and over. The basso ostinatos or ground basses of lament arias typically consists of a descending figure in a slow triple meter.
basso ostinato / ground bass
- An ostinato is any musical figure that repeats over and over as an accompaniment, laying a harmonic foundation over which other prominent melodies occur.
MULTI-MOVEMENT WORK
a musical work under one title that is actually several separate musical pieces that are always played together in the same order. Each of the individual pieces that comprise a multi-movement genre is called a MOVEMENT.
solo sonata
SOLO SONATA (two types, both with the same title)
* (1) - 1) single soloist + basso continuo
- 2) solo keyboard
both mass multimovement genres
trio sonata
- multi-movement genre for TWO instrumental soloists and basso continuo.
Be careful about this one, because the ensemble can vary widely. Since the basso continuo part might be played by one, two or three people, the total ensemble of a trio sonata could include from 3 players (2 soloists + 1 continuo player) to 5 players (2
soloists + 3 continuo players) or even more
concerto grosso
multi-movement (usually three but could be more) genre for two or more instrumental soloists
and orchestra (including the basso continuo).
- Many such works were written for two violinists and basso continuo (the solo group) accompanied by a larger group (the orchestra, which usually also consisted of strings only). Part of the interest in such works is the exciting contrast of the smaller solo group with the larger orchestra.
- During the Baroque Era, concerto grosso (concerto grossi is the Italian plural) was NEVER titled Concerto Grosso. They were usually titled simply ‘concerto,’ and are therefore difficult to differentiate from a solo concerto by title alone
suite / dance suite / baroque dance suite
- a multi-movement genre for orchestra without any particular featured soloists. Usually each
movement is named after and is an example of a particular dance type, although some
movements might have other inspirations and be unrelated to dance. - SUITE, by definition, means a multi-movement collection of dances.
- Dance suites could be used for dancing or simply as concert works for listening enjoyment.
-The prominence of this
genre during the baroque period highlights the importance of dance during the period.
monody
-Both arias and recitatives fall under the general vocal category of monody, which includes all works that can be correctly referred to as a “song” of one kind or another.
- Monody involves a single vocal melody above an instrumental accompaniment; therefore, monody has, by definition, a homophonic texture.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
- death marks the end of the Baroque period
- German, Lutheran composer
- Bach composed six “Brandenburg” concertos, five of which have three movements (No. 1
in F major has four), and each for a different ensemble for instrumental soloists with orchestra.
In 1721 Bach sent manuscripts of these newly composed work to the Margrave
of Brandenburg, a nobleman (thus the collection’s title), probably hoping to gain employment at that court or perhaps earn a monetary gift.
Homophonic and polyphonic (in baroque era)
- melody + accompaniment in a hierarchical
relationship; characterized by a clear bass line. - Homophonic texture can be created by vocalists
alone, instruments alone, or any combination of the
two, and both voices and instruments are capable of performing in the role of accompaniment. - Homophonic texture is NOT determined by the presence of instruments but by the relationship
between the parts being played (or sung), regardless of ensemble type. - Despite the prevalence of homophony (for instance in opera), imitative polyphony remained
important in many Baroque genres. However, the Baroque polyphony often occurs between
melodic upper voices/parts performed ‘over’ a basso continuo, creating a complex texture that is
a dynamic mixture of polyphony and homophony.
dynamics markings to know
DYNAMICS—refers to the relative loudness or softness of the music. There are many such
terms
forte f = play loudly
mezzo forte mf = somewhat loudly (less loud than f)
mezzo-piano mp = somewhat softly (less loud than mf)
piano p = play softly
crescendo < = to become gradually louder
decrescendo > = to become gradually softer
Tempo terms
- Refers to the relative speed of the beat in music. There are many terms (in all languages)
that indicate tempo, but you are responsible for six.
presto = very fast
allegro = fast
allegretto = moderately fast
moderato = at a moderate rate (slower than allegretto)
adagio or andante = slow
ornamentation
Ornamentation was the practice (both vocal and instrumental) of spontaneously adding
(improvising) short decorative flourishes to the written music during performance. These
additional notes are generally called ornaments or embellishments,
Baroque orchestra
It was during the Baroque Era that our modern conception of the orchestra, as a group centered
around a group of bowed strings, first developed. Baroque orchestras were much smaller than the
orchestras used in later art music, usually included only 10 to 25 people, and often consisted of
nothing but bowed strings and perhaps a harpsichord or organ. Wind instruments (brass and
woodwinds) could be used and often were, including a limited array of percussion, but the bowed
strings were the CORE of the orchestra from its earliest inception.
