terms

Question 1

Impressionism [style term]

Answer 1

A style emphasizing atmosphere and suggestion in music and art.

Question 2

Characteristics of Impressionist painting & music

Answer 2

Use of light color, soft edges, ambiguous tonality, non-traditional scales.

Question 3

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

Answer 3

French composer associated with Impressionism.

Question 4

Tone poem / Symphonic poem

Answer 4

A one-movement orchestral work conveying a story or scene.

Question 5

Pentatonic scale

Answer 5

A scale with five notes per octave.

Question 6

Whole-tone scale

Answer 6

A scale made entirely of whole steps.

Question 7

Modernism [very broad style term]

Answer 7

An umbrella term for radical artistic innovation in the early 20th century.

Question 8

Avant garde

Answer 8

Art that is experimental or ahead of its time.

Question 9

World War I (1914–1918)

Answer 9

Major global conflict influencing Modernist art.

Question 10

World War II (1939–1945)

Answer 10

Global war that also shaped 20th-century music.

Question 11

Exoticism [style term]

Answer 11

Incorporation of non-Western musical elements.

Question 12

Primitivism [style term]

Answer 12

A style drawing from non-Western or ancient sources.

Question 13

Characteristics of Primitivist painting & music

Answer 13

Strong rhythms, simple melodies, bold colors.

Question 14

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

Answer 14

Russian composer known for his primitivist works.

Question 15

Rite of Spring

Answer 15

A ballet by Stravinsky noted for causing a riot at its premiere.

Question 16

Ballet Russe / Russian Ballet

Answer 16

Company that premiered the Rite of Spring.

Question 17

First performance: Paris, 1913

Answer 17

Premiere of Rite of Spring, caused a riot.

Question 18

Choreography / Choreographer

Answer 18

The art and person responsible for dance movements.

Question 19

Ballet / Ballet score

Answer 19

A staged dance work and its music.

Question 20

Block form

Answer 20

A musical structure using juxtaposed sections.

Question 21

Commission

Answer 21

A request/order to compose a new work.

Question 22

Pizzicato

Answer 22

Plucking the strings of an instrument.

Question 23

Extended techniques

Answer 23

Unconventional ways of playing instruments.

Question 24

Neoclassicism [style term]

Answer 24

A return to Classical ideals with modern twists.

Question 25

Expressionism [style term]

Answer 25

A style that expresses intense emotion and subjectivity.

Question 26

Characteristics of Expressionist painting & music

Answer 26

Dissonance, atonality, distorted forms.

Question 27

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)

Answer 27

Expressionist composer; developed twelve-tone technique.

Question 28

Atonal music / Atonality

Answer 28

Music without a key center.

Question 29

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)

Answer 29

Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist.

Question 30

Ethnomusicology

Answer 30

The study of music in cultural context.

Question 31

Historiography

Answer 31

The study of how history is written.

Question 32

Tone cluster

Answer 32

A chord with adjacent notes played together.

Question 33

String piano

Answer 33

Technique where piano strings are directly manipulated.

Question 34

John Cage (1912–1992)

Answer 34

American composer known for experimental music.

Question 35

4'33" (1952)

Answer 35

Cage piece consisting of silence, highlighting ambient sound.

Question 36

Percussion ensemble

Answer 36

Group composed mainly of percussion instruments.

Question 37

Prepared piano

Answer 37

Piano modified with objects between strings.

Question 38

Aleatoric music / Indeterminacy / Chance music

Answer 38

Music with elements left to chance.

Question 39

‘Chance operations’

Answer 39

Procedures that introduce randomness into composition.

Question 40

Graphic notation

Answer 40

Visual symbols used instead of traditional notation.

Question 41

Cathy Berberian (1925–1983)

Answer 41

Avant-garde singer known for experimental vocal music.

Question 42

Stripsody (1966)

Answer 42

Berberian’s graphic-notation vocal work.

Question 43

Fantasia

Answer 43

Virtuosic solo instrumental work with free form.

Question 44

Vocalise

Answer 44

Wordless song emphasizing vocal technique.

Question 45

György Ligeti (1923–2006)

Answer 45

Hungarian-Austrian composer known for sound-mass music.

Question 46

Sound-mass composition

Answer 46

Blurring individual lines to form a musical texture.

Question 47

Film score

Answer 47

Music composed specifically for a film.

Question 48

Underscoring (non-diegetic)

Answer 48

Background music not heard by characters.

Question 49

Source music (diegetic)

Answer 49

Music heard by the characters in a film.

Question 50

4 basic functions of movie music

Answer 50

Mood, time/place, counterpoint, character development.

Question 51

Leitmotif (in film)

Answer 51

Recurring theme associated with a character or idea.

Question 52

Tan Dun (b. 1957)

Answer 52

Chinese composer known for film music and polystylism.

Question 53

Pipa

Answer 53

Traditional Chinese plucked string instrument.

Question 54

Stylistic pluralism / Polystylism

Answer 54

Combining multiple styles in one work.

Question 55

Quotation music / Musical quotation

Answer 55

Use of direct references to other music.

Question 56

Collage / Pastiche

Answer 56

Patchwork or imitation of different styles.

Question 57

Minimalism [style term]

Answer 57

Repetition and gradual change of musical ideas.

Question 58

Postminimalism [style term]

Answer 58

More expressive development of minimalist ideas.

Question 59

Spiritual minimalism [style term]

Answer 59

Minimalism with religious or meditative content.

Question 60

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)

Answer 60

Estonian composer of spiritual minimalism.

Question 61

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939)

Answer 61

First woman to win Pulitzer Prize for music.