Vocabulary U3 Flashcards
(42 cards)
highbrow
Refers to music that is elite or intellectually demanding, requiring an audience with a strong understanding of the musical techniques.
e.g. Saariaho, L’Amour de loin
middlebrow
Refers to music that (as opposed to highbrow music) is accessible with only moderate knowledge or intellectual engagement from the audience. Middlebrow music typically adheres to conventional forms and styles, lending it predictability and thus accessibility.
e.g. Sullivan, Pirates of Penzance
e.g. Bizet, Carmen
modernism
A compositional trend in the 20th century of consciously distancing oneself from previous composers as a way to push the Western classical music tradition forwards. Modernist composers often used styles such as impressionism, primitivism, and neo-classicism, and techniques such as increasing dissonance and the suspension of pulse.
e.g. Debussy, Nocturnes, “Nuages”
e.g. Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps
e.g. Prokofiev, Classical Symphony
impressionism
Music that captures a general mood or image through harmony and timbre. The music is not concerned with telling a story in a linear fashion or driving forward, but rather with evoking a broader “impression” of a scene.
e.g. Debussy, Nocturnes, “Nuages”
primitivism
The valuing of simplistic, “uncivilized” ways of life. In music, this involves the prioritization of rhythm over melody, the inclusion of folk elements, and sometimes exoticist undertones.
e.g. Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps
neo-classicism
Music that aims to imitate pre-Romantic music while still introducing new innovations.
e.g. Prokofiev, Classical Symphony - usage of sonata form
collage
A compositional style in which elements from disparate styles/genres/forms/etc. are combined. Collage can be: a) the juxtaposition of many different types of music simultaneously or one after another, b) a stylistic contrast between the genre of the piece and a style within it, c) a historical contrast between elements.
Juxtaposition:
e.g. Ives, “General William Booth Enters into Heaven
e.g. Shaw, Partita for 8 Voices
Stylistic:
e.g. Copland, Appalachian Spring
e.g. Still, Afro-American Symphony
e.g. Marsalis, Blood on the Fields
Historical:
e.g. Woody, Nigra Sum: A Fantasia on Microaggressions
e.g. Enigma, “Mea Culpa”
New Orleans style jazz
An early style of jazz from the early 20th century that featured a few soloists (clarinet, trumpet, and/or trombone) backed by a rhythm section. Soloists may improvise individually or collectively.
e.g. Hardin, “Hotter Than That”
break
A pause in the accompaniment in order to feature a soloist, often in a moment of transition.
e.g. Hardin, “Hotter Than That” (in between solo choruses)
ragtime
A style of popular music at the beginning of the 20th century with syncopated melody and a regular bass.
e.g. Joplin, “Maple Leaf Rag”
Second Viennese School
A group of modernist composers who promoted the widespread usage and development of dissonance. Composers included Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, and characteristics included expressionism, twelve-tone music, sprechstimme, and klangfarbenmelodie.
e.g. Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire
e.g. Berg, Wozzeck
e.g. Webern, Symphony, op. 21
Expressionism
A style concerned with inner feelings, the subconscious, and subjectivity (in opposition to realism). In music it is characterized by the exploration of new sounds and techniques without any obligation to cater to an audience’s expectations.
e.g. Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire
e.g. Berg, Wozzeck
Klangfarbenmelodie
Also called tone-color melody, consisting of a melody that shifts between different instruments (timbres), or in which the “melody” is created by the shifting in timbres itself.
e.g. Webern, Symphony, op. 21
e.g. R. Strauss, Don Quixote
Sprechstimme
A style of singing/speaking that is somewhere in between the two. The rhythms are notated exactly, but the pitch often glides around in a speech-like manner.
e.g. Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire
Twelve-tone music/serialism
A form of atonality that involves the organization and manipulation of all 12 chromatic pitches in a highly regulated manner.
e.g. Webern, Symphony, op. 21
e.g. Berg, Wozzeck
tone row
A series of all 12 chromatic pitches in a specific order. In serialist music, this tone row is manipulated through inversion, retrograde, and transposition in order to determine melody, harmony, and/or counterpoint in the music.
e.g. Webern, Symphony, op. 21
pointillism
e.g. Webern, Symphony, op. 21
folk music
Music passed down through oral tradition in a particular region or community. In the 20th century, modernist composers often synthesized folk music traditions with western classical music.
e.g. Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
e.g. Sheng, Seven Tunes Heard in China
fake music
Music written in the style of folk music, often incorporating elements such as a limited melodic tessitura, modal pitch content, repetition, and harmonic drones/ostinatos.
e.g. Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky
English Musical Renaissance
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, English composers gained interest in developing a national style based off of folk songs. Composers such as Vaughan Williams contributed to this nationalist “break” from a wider classical music tradition.
e.g. Vaughan Williams, Five Tudor Portraits
English Folk Song Society
Pastoralism
Swing style jazz
A popular style of jazz, prominent during the 1930s and 40s, involving a big band instrumentation and associated with partner dancing.
e.g. Ellington, “Ko-Ko”
chorus
