Midterm 1 Flashcards

Question

What's the proper of mass (mass proper)?

Answer 1

- Parts of the text in the liturgy that change according to the particular day in the liturgical year - Tended to be reserved for the choir and solo singers - Historically, the Mass Proper is older and more closely tied to the texts of the scripture than the Ordinary - Part of the traditional chant

Answer 2

- Divine Office - Mass

Answer 3

- A public setting for worship - It has 2 parts: Foremass and Eucharist

Answer 4

- AKA medieval modes - “modal harmony” - The scales (a hierarchical and limited set of musical pitches) that served as the basis for the harmonic language of Medieval music - Mode: limited collection of pitches that are organized within a piece of music to emphasize one particular pitch, called the final - Modal harmonic system allows the construction of cadences of various strengths, allowing the motion of the music to accentuate the meaning and structure of the text that it sets - In plainchant, the location and relative strengths of all cadences were determined by the syntax of the sacred text, which existed before the music was composed

Answer 5

- Solo or unison performance of the music throughout - One person or multiple people singing the same thing together (not in alternation)

Answer 6

- A solo singer or ‘leader’ performs verses of the text and the choir and/or congregation answers each verse with the following verse or with a response or refrain - Common responses were the simple Hebrew words amen (an expression of affirmation) and hallelujah (‘praise Jahweh’), but others were more expansive

Answer 7

Singers were divided into 2 groups that took turns singing phrases of text in alternation (with no individual ‘leader’)

Answer 8

- The often unwritten rules regarding how music is performed - Most manuscripts of medieval chant contain simply the text and the music, and provide no directions at all regarding ‘performance practice’ - 3 general manners of performing any chant (direct performance, responsorial singing, antiphonal singing)

Answer 9

- Direct performance - Responsorial performance - Antiphonal performance

Answer 10

Part in music performance

Answer 11

- The music of Hildegard of Bingen - Earliest extant manuscripts of secular vocal music - Earliest extant manuscripts of instrumental music (ALL dances of various types) - The beginning of the Notre Dame School of polyphonic music

Answer 12

- Medieval sacred vocal genre - A genre of polyphonic music dating back (in the extant written record) to the 9th century - A genre of Medieval polyphony created by adding additional melodic lines (usually one to three) to a pre-existing plainchant melody - There are parallel organums and florid organums

Answer 13

- Literate secular poets/composers - Sometimes members of aristocratic families, sometimes musically literate courtiers, sometimes monks, nuns, priests, and other educated members of the clergy - Secular pieces by these troubadours and trouvères functioned as entertainment in royal courts, most of which employed musicians, and some of which had very sophisticated musical establishments that particularly cultivated music

Answer 14

- Illiterate ‘free-lance’ musicians who made a living/supplemented their incomes by playing music for dances, civic functions, etc. - They typically either played memorized repertory and/or improvised, so their musical tradition left no written record and is entirely lost

Answer 15

- Originally, a pre-existing chant melody (therefore, a sacred melody and text) that is recycled into a new composition - The chant melody that serves as the basis for a new musical creation - Often a plainchant

Answer 16

- General term (not specific enough to be genre) for any piece of polyphonic music in which one of the melody lines is a cantus firmus (it's not original but was borrowed or recycled from the earlier musical tradition) - Composers in the late Medieval and early Renaissance eras created cantus firmus Masses, cantus firmus organa, cantus firmus motets, etc.

Answer 17

- School of polyphonic music at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris - 12th & 13th centuries - Ars antiqua style - Beginning of an important traditional of polyphonic music in Paris, France - Many works in the Medieval genres of organum, motet, conductus, and Mass movements were composed by the composers of the Notre Dame School

Answer 18

- 'the old art’ - Style term only associated with the music of the 12th and 13th centuries - Léonin and Pérotin are the only ars antiqua composers whose names have survived in the historical record, thanks to a student (Anonymous IV) who wrote about them around the 1270-80s - The genre of conductus is associated exclusively with the ars antiqua style

Answer 19

- ‘new art’ - Style term - 14th-century - 14th-century composers invented a new system of music notation -> ars nova notation - Guillaume da Machaut was an ars nova style composer-poet

Answer 20

- 1300-1377 - A cleric in the Church, a courtier, and a widely celebrated poet/musician - Active at a variety of royal courts, including the Court of Charles - Widely known as the greatest musician of his time -> renowned even long after his death - Top composer-poet of the Ars Nova style - Composed both sacred and secular poetry and music - Composed the earliest extant complete setting of the Mass Ordinary -> Notre Dame Mass

Answer 21

Earliest extant complete setting of the Mass Ordinary composed by Guillaume da Machaut

Answer 22

Intellectual movement and ethical system focused on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity, and freedom, often emphasizing secular culture and sensuality over sacred concerns

Answer 23

- Invention in 1450 during Renaissance - Music printing soon followed -> expanding affordable access to vocal and instrumental music of all genres (sacred and secular)

Answer 24

- AKA Lutheran Reformation - Early 16th century (1500 and after) - Martin Luther - Separation of protestant Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church - Leads to great diversity in post-1500 Christian sacred music

Answer 25

- Music is composed in a way that the sound of the music reflects the meaning of the text - Ex: an allusion to heaven in the text might be set to a vocal line that is rising in pitch or the mention of “pain” or “tears” in the text might be set to harsh sounding, dark, or dissonant harmony

Answer 26

In imitative polyphony, the individual parts share brief snippets of melody so that you can occasionally hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another

Answer 27

- Most important secular vocal genre of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods - Polyphonic, secular vocal genre invented in Italy in the 16th century (late Renaissance) - Settings of secular poetry on a variety of topics (love, Greek mythology, etc.) in the vernacular language (always in Italian for Monteverdi and M. Casulana) - Nearly always settings of celebrated contemporary poetry by someone other than the composer - Genre of ‘high art’ -> created and performed for the entertainment of royalty and other educated members of royal courts - Commoners rarely/never heard this music - Imitated and adapted by international composers in royal courts in France and England, where they created madrigals using poetry in their own languages

Answer 28

- 1520 - after 1561 - Portuguese composer, music theorist, and Roman Catholic priest (later converted to Protestantism) of African descent - Sparse biography provides a rare glimpse of African presence in Renaissance Europe’s musical life - Evidence of Lusitano’s racialized identity -> in 17th-century biographical manuscript in which he's referred to as ‘homem pardo’ - Characteristics of Lusitano’s professional position within the Catholic Church -> the fact that he never held a benefice (i.e., a paid, permanent position) nor served as a maestro di capella, align with the limitations placed on priests of African descent - Lack of info about Lusitano is directly related to his failure to find a secure position at church or court (fate of many musicians at the time) - The institutional racism of both his own time and of later historiographical approaches (except for a few Portuguese scholars) erased him from all histories of Renaissance music until recently

Answer 29

- Genre of sacred vocal music - Polyphonic vocal genre, usually performed a cappella, that sets any Latin sacred text that doesn't belong to the Mass or Divine Office - Definition changes slightly during music history depending on time and place of composition

Answer 30

- 1567-1643 - Perhaps most important musician in late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy - Excelled in nearly all the major genres of the period - His 9 books of madrigals consolidated the achievement of the late Renaissance masters and cultivated new aesthetic and stylistic paradigms for the musical Baroque - In his operas for Mantua and Venice he took the experiments of the Florentines (who originally invented opera circa 1600) and developed powerful ways of expressing and structuring musical drama - Composer of high Renaissance and early Baroque music -> Transitional composer who ‘bridged’ between these 2 musical style periods, composing in and embodying the styles and genres of both style periods, composing a great deal of sacred and secular music for voices and instruments in all combinations - Composed operas that were performed in the local opera houses of Venice -> most of these works survive, and they have earned Monteverdi the title of ‘first great composer of opera’ -> still performed today - Traveled regularly to the wealthy Italian court of Ferrara, where he wrote music for a famous group of professional female singers known as the Concerto delle donne - Published 8 books of madrigals (1587-1643) -> 9th was published after his death

Answer 31

Claudio Monteverdi

Answer 32

- 1587-after 1641 - Composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist (keyboards and stringed instruments), music teacher and musica (all-around musician) serving at the Medici court in Tuscany - Entered service to the Medici’s in 1607 and served in the women’s court for more than 30 years - Oldest legitimate child of Giulio Caccini - Contemporary of Galileo and Monteverdi, both of whom she knew - Composed at least 17 theatrical works, nearly all of which were performed at court, along with hundreds of shorter vocal works meant for chamber performance - Little of her music survives

Answer 33

An all-around musician

Answer 34

- 1626-1714 - Italian castrato and composer in the service of the de’ Medici family in Tuscany * From an artisan-class family, one of seven brothers, all of who became musicians and four of whom were castrati vocalists * Premiered the title role in Rossi’s tragic-comic opera L’Orfeo - 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 * His vocal abilities created demand for his services at courts all over Europe - His patrons used him as a secret diplomatic courier (a spy) - In hundreds of letters, he 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 effective cover for gathering info * Such pursuits were dangerous -> resulted in his banishment from France for a time * Louis XIV made him a gentleman of his chamber and titular abbot of a monastery in Normandy, the republic of Venice and cities of Lucca and Bologna granted him patrician status - His network of patrons provided him with many sources of income * He recognized that a career in diplomacy offered greater rewards than music alone -> so he devoted the latter half of his life to diplomacy, completely giving up his professional musical career

Answer 35

* Male singer castrated before puberty to retain the pre-adolescent high (soprano or alto) vocal range * Most important category of vocal soloists in opera (and other vocal genres) during the baroque - Most of them were employed by Italian churches * Many leading operatic roles for men (hero or romantic lead) were written for castrati - Castrati commonly performed women’s roles * The “rock stars” of their day -> most successful castrati enjoyed great popularity and financial reward * Today, the operatic roles and other vocal parts originally composed for castrati are sung by women or countertenors or falsettists (male sopranos)

Answer 36

- During the Baroque Era, 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 - Often consisted of only bowed strings and sometimes a harpsichord or organ - Wind instruments (brass and woodwinds) could be used and often were, including a limited array of percussion - Bowed strings were the core of the orchestra from its earliest inception

Answer 37

- Soprano (women, boys & castrati) - Alto (women, boys & castrati) - Tenor (adult men) - Bass (adult men)

Answer 38

- Short bass theme (or any musical figure) that repeats over and over as an accompaniment, laying a harmonic foundation over which other prominent melodies occur - Basso ostinatos/ground basses of lament arias typically consist of a descending figure in a slow triple meter

Answer 39

- Flute - Wind instruments - Various sizes capable of playing in 4 SATB ranges and much higher and much lower

Answer 40

- Each of the individual pieces that comprise a multi-movement genre - Multi-movement genre: musical work under one title that's composed of several separate musical pieces that are always played together in the same order - The individual movements with any multi-movement genre are designed to complement and contrast with one another regarding key, tempo, and musical material.

Answer 41

- Solo sonata - 2 types -> both with the same title - 1. Multi-movement genre for a solo instrumentalist and basso continuo or * 2. Multi-movement genre for a solo keyboard (commonly harpsichord)

Answer 42

- Multi-movement genre for 2 instrumental soloists and basso continuo - The ensemble can vary widely -> the basso continuo part might be played by 1-3 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 more

Answer 43

Multi-movement (usually 3 -> not standardized in baroque era) genre for a single instrumental soloist (of any type) and orchestra (including basso continuo)

Answer 44

- Concerto grossi (Italian plural) - Multi-movement (usually 3 -> could be more) genre for 2 or more instrumental soloists and orchestra (including basso continuo) - Many were written for 2 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 -> contrast of the smaller solo group with the larger orchestra - During Baroque Era, concerto grosso were never titled Concerto Grosso -> usually titled ‘concerto’, making it difficult to differentiate from a solo concerto by title alone

Answer 45

* AKA Orchestral Dance Suite - Multi-movement genre for orchestra without any particular featured soloists - Each movement is usually named after and is an example of a particular dance type -> though some might have other inspirations and be unrelated to dance * Dance suites could be used for dancing or simply as concert works for listening enjoyment

Answer 46

Multi-movement collection of dances

Answer 47

- Entire piece or distinct subsection of music that employs imitative polyphony in a strictly prescribed manner - A fugue can be a genre (if an entire piece or movement contains nothing but that fugue), but it's also possible for a subsection of a piece to be described as a fugue * Fugues may be written for any instrument capable of polyphonic solo playing, or any combination of voices or instruments, or instruments and voices together * First musical theme of a fugue -> the subject

Answer 48

- The subject - After its first appearance in a single voice or part, we then hear that same melody again and again in the other parts

Answer 49

Type of form where the music played by the orchestra appears both at the beginning, end, and several times during the movement

Answer 50

- 1750 - This date marks the end of the Baroque Period

Answer 51

- 1685-1750 - German, Lutheran composer - One of the most influential figures in Western music history - Foremost Baroque composer to be ‘revived’ in the early 19th century - Musician-composer all his life - His sacred and secular works are among the most studied and performed in the canon - Born into a family of musicians, all of whom worked in churches and town bands * Orphaned at an early age -> prepared for the musical profession by his older brother, an organist * Eventually known as a virtuoso organist himself - H was highly regarded as an expert on organ construction and maintenance * At 23, he was appointed court organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Weimar * He later worked at the court of the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, where he wrote some of his most famous instrumental works (including The Brandenburg Concertos) * Bach composed 6 “Brandenburg” concertos, 5 of which have 3 movements (No. 1 in F major has 4), and each for a different ensemble for instrumental soloists with orchestra - His "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of Western classical music - His music is generally regarded as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the Baroque Period - Near the end of his life, J. S. Bach created an incomplete collection of keyboard works titled The Art of the Fugue, perhaps to preserve the High Baroque polyphonic musical tradition he loved - At 38 he was appointed as a cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig -> he was in charge of all of the music performed in the 4 municipal Lutheran churches in and around Leipzig - During his years as Cantor, Bach composed hundreds of sacred cantatas for use in worship services in the Lutheran Church

Answer 52

Music director

Answer 53

- 1678-1741 - The “Red Priest” -> was a priest with red hair * Famous and influential as a virtuoso violinist and composer * Born in Venice, Italy - Son of violinist employed at St. Mark’s Cathedral * Worked as a violin teacher, composer, and conductor at the Music School of the Pietà (orphanage for girls) * Orchestra and chorus at this school was one of the finest in Italy, and much of Vivaldi’s music was composed for them to perform * He composed operas and church music - Best known for his ~450 concertos (solo concerti and concerti grossi)

Answer 54

- Genre of secular vocal music - Multi-movement works that contain introductory orchestral overtures, arias, recitatives, duets, trios, choral numbers, and interludes for orchestra alone * Usually based on a narrative libretto with plots and characters, and often a narrator - There is no acting, scenery, or costumes (unlike an opera) - Singers stand in place during their recitatives and arias, without moving about or pretending to be their characters * Despite their biblical subject matter, oratorios were originally conceived as a secular genre -> composed and performed for entertainment purposes and didn't have a place in the worship practice of their original audiences - Very successful with the English audience

Answer 55

Specific type of ternary form (A—B—A’)

Answer 56

* 1685-1759 - German-born composer - Created numerous works in every genre of his day, including orchestral dance suites, organ concertos, and concerti grossi - Most remembered for his 39 Italian-style operas and his oratorios for English audiences * Handel wasn't from a musical family -> studied with a local organist and composer from a young age * At 18, worked as a violinist and harpsichordist in the orchestra of an opera house in Hamburg - At 20 he produced his first successful opera * At 21 he went to Italy, where he further studied the Italian opera style -> composed and produced operas in several Italian cities * In 1710 Handel took a well-paid position as music director for Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover, who became Handel’s patron -> he allowed Handel to travel extensively and promote his music on the international stage * He became London’s most important composer and a favorite of Queen Anne * He became the director of the Royal Academy of Music and then later his own opera company -> both of these went bankrupt for a variety of reasons, including a decline in English enthusiasm for Italian opera * He began to compose and produce the genre of oratorio -> these were usually based on stories from the Old Testament (ex: Handel’s oratorios Israel in Egypt and Joshua) - Handel’s oratorios propelled him into the developing ‘canon’ of great composers that coalesced during the 19th century -> he was one of the first canonic composers

Answer 57

- 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

Answer 58

The relative loudness or softness of the music

Answer 59

- Fascination with and study of Greek and Roman Antiquity becomes more common among the literate classes - The architecture, visual arts, poetry, and music of the renaissance demonstrates this influence - Ex: operas (attempts to recreate the ancient Greek dramas), madrigals (sometimes about Greek mythology)

Answer 60

- New vocal style and texture in 1600 - Literally ‘one song’ - Characterized by a solo vocal melody with instrumental accompaniment - Writings of Francesca Caccini’s father (& other music theorists in 1600) demonstrated a new style of vocal writing -> monody - Arias and recitatives fall under the general vocal category of monody -> includes all works that can be correctly referred to as a “song” of one kind or another - Homophonic texture

Answer 61

* 1, 2, or more instruments that accompany one or more vocal or instrumental soloists, reading from a musical part called the figured bass * The continuo or figured-bass part is notated as a single musical line (the bass line) over which numbers and other symbols (‘figures’) indicate which other notes should be played in each chord * At least one of the basso continuo instruments plays the bass line as written by the composer, while the other (or others) improvises chords indicated by the figured bass * A typical basso continuo consists of a low bass string instrument (such as viola da gamba or violoncello) or low wind (bassoon) and a keyboard (harpsichord, organ) and/or plucked string instruments (lute, archlute) that is capable of realizing the chords * In Baroque and early Classical periods, the keyboard instrument in the basso continuo was nearly always the harpsichord or the organ * The instrumentation of the basso continuo (the continuo or the continuo group) was never specified in the music - Musicians and composers of the period were very practical about performance practices, and their music was designed to accommodate a wide variety of performance situations

Answer 62

The instrumentation of the basso continuo

Answer 63

Spontaneously adding something to a performance

Answer 64

* Practice (vocal and instrumental) of spontaneously adding (improvising) short decorative flourishes to the written music during performance - These additional notes are called ornaments or embellishments - The ornaments 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 instrumental treatises appeared that provided detailed instructions on how to practice and play ornaments - Francesca Caccini’s father Giulio included such details in his publications of monody * Musicians who wish to recreate baroque music in a historically-informed manner -> must include ornamentation

Answer 65

- In the wealthy Italian courts of Florence - In ~1600 - Invented by a group of intellectuals, poets and musicians who were attempting to recreate the ancient Greek dramas, which they determined had been sung in a very declamatory (speech-like) style - Originally a genre designed for aristocratic entertainment - By 1637 the city of Venice opened the first public opera house that sold tickets and operated on basis of profit - Opera was to become one of the most important public venues for musical entertainment in all of history

Answer 66

- 1597-1653 - 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 enjoyed wide popularity, and he composed operas for both the papal family and the French royal court - Rossi’s L’Orfeo (1647)

Answer 67

* Song for solo voice, often with a larger ensemble (orchestra) playing the accompaniment * Strongly metrical -> has a strong and recognizable beat (not necessarily fast) * Melodious or lyrical song that expresses an outpouring of emotion, thereby developing the character of the person singing the aria * Very lyrical, ‘musically oriented,’ often repeating fragments of the text, and containing melismas that ‘show off’ the technical and expressive abilities of the star singers * Arias became the most well-known parts of an opera, and the most famous ones were/are often performed as ‘stand-alone works’ without the rest of the opera * Arias appear in other Baroque-era, large-scale vocal genres (ex: oratorios and secular cantatas and sacred cantatas) * Arias were composed as ‘stand-alone’ works (works that were/are performed alone without being part of a larger work) -> they're determined by their musical style not by their placement within larger genres to which they were first associated - Ex: Francesca Caccini, Lasciatemi qui solo (1618) -> lament aria

Answer 68

* Song that imitates the rhythms and pitch patterns of natural speech * Usually carries the action and dialogue of an opera (used to forward the action of drama) * Not very lyrical and melodious -> sounds more like speech or recitation - Often largely syllabic and contains many repeated pitches * Good for expressing text in which meaning is important - Usually doesn't have long melismas or repetitions of text * Rhythmically ‘free’ or nonmetrical -> contains no strong beat * Usually accompanied by 1 or 2 instruments (basso continuo) who closely follow the singer (and/or conductor) * Recitatives appear in other Baroque-era, large-scale vocal genres (ex: oratorios and secular cantatas and sacred cantatas) * Recitatives were composed as ‘stand-alone’ works (works that were/are performed alone without being part of a larger work) -> they're determined by their musical style not by their placement within larger genres to which they were first associated

Answer 69

- Recitative - Aria

Answer 70

The relative speed of the beat in music

Answer 71

- Presto = very fast - Allegro = fast - Allegretto = moderately fast - Moderato = moderate rate (slower than allegretto) - Adagio/Andante = slow - Largo = slowly

Answer 72

* Poem (or song) expressing grief, regret or mourning * Musical subcategory of recitative and aria - Very popular in the 17th century and after * Baroque lament arias often featured a basso ostinato (ground bass) - The basso ostinatos or ground basses of lament arias typically consist of a descending figure in a slow triple meter * Common form of lament uses a descending tetrachord (4 descending notes) over and over (basso ostinato) as the basis of the basso continuo part

Answer 73

- Genre of early opera - Ex: Francesca Caccini's Il liberazione di Ruggeiero dall’isola d'Alcina (1625) -> 75mins long

Answer 74

Medieval secular vocal genre

Answer 75

- 17th century - Large work for solo vocalist, basso continuo, and occasionally other instruments, featuring secular texts that are often sad but might be humorous - One-movement works divided into several sections featuring a variety of vocal styles (recitative, arioso, and aria) with changing meters and tempos - Cantatas of this sort were common forms of entertainment at court in 17th Century

Answer 76

- A medieval sacred vocal genre - Performed during Mass while the lectionary (a book of sacred writings) was carried from its place of safekeeping to the place from which it was to be read aloud to the congregation - Associated exclusively with the ars antiqua style, for they were not composed before the 12th century (probably invented circa 1150) and were no longer composed by the late Medieval Era (14th century) - Many conductus were composed for 2 or 3 voices

Answer 77

- 'Scoring', 'Orchestration' -> what timbres are heard in the piece? - What instruments and/or voices are included in the ensemble? - Are there vocalist(s)? - Dynamics (the relative loudness or softness at any given point in the music)

Answer 78

- Means ‘for the choir’ - Type of ensemble - The use of only voices (without any instruments)

Answer 79

4-part choir including (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)

Answer 80

* Instrumental piece (for orchestra alone) that introduces an opera - First thing you hear at the beginning of the opera, often before main opera characters come on stage * Often contain musical themes from the vocal pieces to follow -> ‘foreshadowing’ the action of the opera

Answer 81

- A specific category of musical composition, as defined by that composition’s stylistic traits, considering all relevant aspects - Ex: a plainchant, an organum, a string quartet, a piano sonata, a symphony, an opera buffa, a rock opera, a polka Mass, etc.

Answer 82

- Piece of music that contains all of the parts in that piece - For practicality -> each musician in a large ensemble (ex: orchestra) may perform from a piece of music containing only their part - Only the conductor would have a score

Answer 83

- Piece of music that contains musical instructions for a single instrument or voice within an ensemble - It's common for multiple players to play the same part (doubling, tripling, etc.) -> number of performers and number of parts in a piece are often not the same

Answer 84

- Monophonic texture (monophony) - Polyphonic texture (polyphony - counterpoint, contrapuntal texture) - Homophonic texture (homophony)

Answer 85

- Type of texture (monophonic texture) - Music consists only of a single melody line - Whether sung by an individual, a small group, or a large group, there is only one part and everyone sings that same part

Answer 86

- Type of texture (polyphonic texture) - Music consists of 2 or more different melody lines - Imitative and non-imitative polyphony

Answer 87

- Type of texture (homophonic texture) - Music consists of vocal melody over improvised instrumental accompaniment (melody + accompaniment)

Answer 88

- Stylistic development of the Renaissance - AKA continuous imitation - Brief fragments of melody (motives) are passed from voice to voice (or instrument to instrument) within the performing group, so that these motives are heard again and again within close proximity of each other, making the music easier to comprehend and follow - In imitative polyphony the individual parts share brief snippets of melody so that you can occasionally hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another (‘points of imitation’) - Much easier to understand than non-imitative polyphony -> aural relationship between the independent parts - After invention of imitative polyphony, most polyphony composed thereafter is imitative

Answer 89

- Contrary to imitative polyphony - Medieval polyphony - Harder to understand -> little to no aural relationship between the independent parts

Answer 90

- Musical texture in which all of the parts move together rhythmically - Type of texture - Renaissance music often alternates between polyphonic passages (all parts are rhythmically independent) and homorhythmic passages (all parts move together in the same rhythm)

Answer 91

- Syllabic - Melismatic (melisma)

Answer 92

- Each syllable of the text is set to only one pitch - In general, it presents the sacred words in the plainest or most easily understood manner

Answer 93

- Text setting that contains melismas (a single syllable of text that is set to a large number of pitches) - It elongates the syllables and might make the text more obscure - A melismatic presentation might not impede comprehension when the sacred text is very brief (ex: Kyrie of the Mass) or well-known to the audience

Answer 94

- A sound-producing vibration that oscillates (beats) at a definite and prescribed rate of speed - Ex: the pitch A = 440 MHz (beats per second) - Musical instruments are designed to produce focused, clear pitches through the manipulation of lengths of pipe or string and/or through the closing and opening of holes in an instrument’s body - Since the early Medieval era, pitches in Western Europe have been designated using only the first 7 letters of the alphabet, in a system that repeats for each octave (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)

Answer 95

- Keyboard instrument that plucks the strings - Looks like a piano with 2 keyboards - Extremely popular in the Renaissance and Baroque Periods as both a soloist and a continuo instrument

Answer 96

Larger bass lute

Answer 97

- Plucked string instrument - Introduced to Europe by Muslim communities (called it an ud) living in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) during the medieval era - Important instrument both for solo performance and for accompanying singers or other instrumental soloists

Answer 98

Air-powered keyboard instrument

Answer 99

- AKA viola da gamba - Similar to modern orchestral strings - Held in front of the body and rested on the knees - In the Baroque Era the large bass viola was a typical basso continuo instrument

Answer 100

* Story or text of an opera, written by the librettist * Operas were/are intended as entertainment and use secular texts in a vernacular language * Subject matter of librettos varies widely, covering the range of human experiences, but love, sex and violence are always favorites (even when based on biblical story) * Earliest operas drew their subject matter from the myths, dramas and histories of ancient Greece and Rome, and often feature mythical figures, gods, etc. - Early operas contained choruses that comment on the plot and circumstances of the main characters

Answer 101

- Composer/writer of a libretto - Rarely the composer herself -> rather someone with literary and poetic skills

Answer 102

- 1098-1179 - One of the first composers for whom we have numerous pieces of music and a well established biography - She was well known in her day -> her musical works, poetry and other writings were widely copied and disseminated around Europe - She lived all of her life in service to the Church, eventually becoming a convent abbess and founding her own convent in Rupertsburg (western Germany) - A noted visionary, mystic, and prolific writer of original poetry, prose and music - In addition to her spiritual writings and morality plays, Hildegard wrote on a wide variety of topics, including science, medicine, botany, and sexuality - Her visions and prophecies made her famous throughout Europe: popes, kings, and priests sought her advice on political and religious issues - She was an unusually well-educated, famous and powerful woman for her time - She wrote religious poetry with music, collected in the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations) - Her poetry is characterized by brilliant imagery and visionary language - Much of her original poetry celebrates the lives of local saints, such as St. Rupert, the patron saint of Hildegard’s convent and of the Virgin Mary - Her musical style is rather unusual for her time -> uses an expansive range, occasional wide intervallic leaps, and florid melismas -> suggests Hildegard worked with talented singers in a sophisticated musical establishment

Midterm 1 Flashcards

(128 cards)