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MU 120
Test #2
54
Music
Undergraduate 2
02/14/2012

Additional Music Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
A cappella
Definition
choral music without instrumental accompaniment
Term
Ars Nova "new art"
Definition
a term used by musical theorists to describe the profound stylistic changes of italian and french music in the 14th century
Term
Church Modes
Definition
Scales containing 7 tones with an 8th tone duplicating the first octave higher, but with patterns of whole and half steps different from major and minor scales; used in medieval, Renaissance, and twentieth-century music and in folk
Term
Drone
Definition
long, sustained tone or tones accompanying a melody
Term
Estampie
Definition
a medieval dance that is one of the earliest surviving forms of instrumental music
Term
Gregorian Chant
Definition
melodies set to sacred Latin texts, sung without accompaniment; Gregorian chant was the official music of the Roman Catholic Church
Term
Humanism
Definition
the dominant intellectual movement of the Renaissance, focusing on human life and its accomplishments
Term
Instrumental Music
Definition
consisted of recorders, shawms, cornetts, sackbuts, lutes, viols, organs, regals, and harpsichords
Term
Lute
Definition
Plucked string instrument shaped like half a pear; used in Renaissance and baroque music
Term
Lute Song
Definition
A simpler type of secular music, has a solo voice usually accompanied by a lute. Mostly homophonic texture
Term
Mass
Definition
Sacred choral composition made up of five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei
Term
Mass ordinary
Definition
Roman Catholic Church texts that remain the same from day to day throughout most of the year: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei
Term
Madrigal
Definition
Composition for several voices set to a short secular poem, usually about love, combining homophonic and polyphonic textures and often using word painting; common in Renaissance
Term
Motet
Definition
polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than that of the mass; one of the two main forms of sacred Renaissance music
Term
Organum
Definition
Medieval polyphony that consists of Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines
Term
Renaissance
Definition
(1450-1600) term used to describe the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe, a period of geographic exploration and adventure as well as intellectual curiosity and individualism
Term
Rondeau
Definition
One of the main poetic and musical forms in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century France
Term
Word painting
Definition
musical representation of specific poetic images- ex. running might be heard as rapid notes-often heard in Renaissance or Baroque
Term
Middle Ages
Definition
(450-1450 A.D.)
Term
Baroque period
Definition
1600-1750
Term
Affections
Definition
emotional states like joy, grief, and agitation represented in baroque music through specific musical languages
Term
Terraced Dynamics
Definition
abrupt alteration between loud and soft dynamic levels; characteristic of baroque music
Term
Clavichord
Definition
baroque keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by means of brass blades striking strings, capable of making gradual dynamic changes, but within a narrow volume range
Term
Baso Continuo
Definition
baroque accompaniment made up of a bass part usually played by two instruments: a keyboard plus a low melodic instrument
Term
Figured Bass
Definition
Bass part of a baroque accompaniment with figures (numbers) above it indicating the chords to be played.
Term
Movement
Definition
Piece that sounds fairly complete and independent but is part of a larger composition
Term
Tutti
Definition
In italian, all; the full orchestra, or a large group of musicians contrasted with a smaller group; often heard in baroque music
Term
Ritornello
Definition
in italian, refrain; a repeated section of music usually played by the full orchestra, or tutti, in baroque compositions
Term
Ritornello form
Definition
compositional form usually employed in the baroque concerto grosso, in which the tutti plays a ritornello, or refrain, alternating with one or more soloists playing new material
Term
Subject
Definition
theme of a fugue
Term
Answer
Definition
second presentation of the subject in a fugue, usually in the dominant scale
Term
Countersubject
Definition
in a fugue, a melodic idea that accompanies the subject fairly constantly
Term
Episode
Definition
transitional section in a fugue between presentations of the subject, which offers either new material or fragments of the subject or countersubject
Term
Stretto
Definition
compositional procedure used in fugues, in which a subject is imitated before it is completed; one voice tries to catch the other
Term
Pedal Point (organ point)
Definition
single tone, usually in the bass, which is held while the other voices produce a series of changing harmonies against it; often found in fugues
Term
Inversion
Definition
variation of a fugue subject in which each interval of the subject is reversed in direction
Term
Retrograde
Definition
variation of a fugue subject in which the subject is presented by beginning with its last note and proceeding backward to the first
Term
Augmentation
Definition
variation of a fugue subject in which the original time values of the subject are lengthened
Term
Fugue
Definition
polyphonic composition based on one main theme, or subject
Term
Diminution
Definition
variation of a fugue subject in which the original time values of the subject are shortened
Term
Prelude
Definition
short piece usually serving to introduce a fugue or another composition; a short piece for a piano
Term
Camerata
Definition
in italian, fellowship or society; a group of nobles, poets, and composers who began to meet regularly in Florence around 1575 and whose musical discussions prepared the way for the beginning for opera
Term
Castrato
Definition
male singer castrated before puberty to retain a high voice range; the most important category of vocal soloists in opera during the baroque period
Term
Secco Recitative
Definition
speechlike melody that is sung by a solo voice accompanied only by a basso cantinuo
Term
Accompanied recitative
Definition
speechlike melody that is sung by a solo voice accompanied by the orchestra
Term
Da Capo
Definition
from the beginning; an indication usually meaning that the opening section of a piece is to be repeated after the middle section
Term
Da Capo aria
Definition
aria in A B A form; after the B section, the term da capo is written; this means from the beginning and indicates a repetition of the opening A section
Term
Ground Bass (basso ostinato)
Definition
variation form in which a musical idea in the bass is repeated over and over while the melodies above it continually change; common in baroque music
Term
Basso ostinato
Definition
another term for ground base
Term
Trill
Definition
musical ornament consisting of the rapid alternation of two tones that are a whole or half step apart
Term
Suite
Definition
in baroque music, a set of dance-inspired movements all written in the same key but differing in tempo, meter and character
Term
French overture
Definition
common opening piece in baroque suites, oratorios, and opera; usually in two parts: the first slow, with characteristic dotted rhythms, full of dignity and grandeur; the second quick and lighter in mood, often starting like a fugue
Term
Chorale
Definition
Hymn tune sung to a German religious text
Term
Chorale prelude
Definition
short composition for organ, based on a hymn tune and often used to remind the congregation of the melody before the hymn is sung
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