Music 110 Quiz

Musical Terminology & Concepts

• Concerto: A piece of classical music featuring a solo instrument or group accompanied by an orchestra, typically in multiple movements. A concerto is distinct from a symphony, which is written for a full orchestra.
• Pizzicato: Plucking the strings of a string instrument instead of using a bow.
• Arco: Playing a string instrument using a bow.
• Crescendo: Gradual increase in volume of music, reaching a climax.
• Drone: Sustained, continuous notes.
• Diminuendo: Gradual decrease in volume of music.
• Legato: Smooth, connected flow of notes.
• Staccato: Detached, short notes.
• Tremolo: Rapidly repeating a single note, usually by plucking or bowing.
• Trill: Rapid alternation between two consecutive notes.
• Accelerando: Gradually increasing tempo.
• Ritardando: Gradually decreasing tempo.
• Requiem: Music for a funeral service.
• Allegro: Fast tempo.
• Moderato: Moderate tempo.
• Adante: Walking tempo.
• Largo: Slow tempo.
• Whole note: 4 beats
• Half note: 2 beats
• Quarter note: 1 beat
• Eighth note: ½ beat
• Opera: A dramatic work combining singing, acting, costumes, and scenery, often including soloists, orchestra, choir, and sometimes dancing.
• Oratorio: A religious opera, typically without costumes or scenery; a form of performance.
• Recitative: Dialogue-style singing in opera.
• Aria: A solo song in opera (e.g., Nessun Dorma).
• Cantata: Church music with solo and choral voices and instruments.
• Lent: A 40-day period before Easter, sometimes with restrictions on musical performances (e.g., opera during Lent).

Composers and Periods

• Monteverdi: A prominent early opera composer (L'Orfeo, Poppea). His first opera was L'Orfeo and his last opera was Poppea. The first opera house was in Venice, Italy.
• Giacomo Puccini: Notable classical-era opera composer (Madame Butterfly, Turandot, La Bohème).
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Baroque composer.
• Antonio Vivaldi: Baroque composer, featuring a solo violin in The Four Seasons.
• George Frederic Handel: Baroque composer.
• Mozart: Classical composer.
• Mendelssohn: Romantic composer.
• Clara & Robert Schumann: Romantic composers.
• Franz Schubert: Romantic composer.
• Palestrina: Renaissance composer.
• William Byrd: Renaissance composer.
• Thomas Tallis: Renaissance composer.
• Leonin: Medieval composer (worked in Notre Dame).
• Perotin: Medieval composer (worked in Notre Dame).

Musical Periods

• Middle Ages: 400-1400
• Renaissance: 1400-1600
• Baroque: 1600-1750
• Classical: 1750-1820
• Romantic: 1820-1900

Ancient Greek Music & Philosophy

• Seven Liberal Arts (Ancient Greece): Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) & Quadrivium (Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Music).
• Boethius' Philosophy on Music: Music exists in three forms: musica instrumentalis (concert music), musica humana (music within the human soul), and musica mundana (music of the spheres).
• Greek Gods and Instruments:
  • Apollo: Associated with the lyre (stringed instrument).
  • Dionysus: Linked to the aulos (wind instrument).

Other Information

• Origin of Chant: Chants arose from chanting religious texts, using melodies to enhance meaning.
• Keyboard Instruments Before the Piano: Harpsichord and organ.
• Piano vs. Harpsichord: Piano uses hammers to strike strings; harpsichord plucks strings.
• Plucked String Instrument: Lute.
• Double Stops: Playing two notes simultaneously on a string instrument.
• Human Voice Parts: Soprano, alto, countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass.
• Musical Notation Terms: Melismatic (one syllable to many notes) and Syllabic (one syllable per note).
• Reformation and Congregational Singing: Martin Luther led the Reformation and promoted congregational singing.
• Martin Luther's Tunes: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" and "Come, Now Is the Time to Worship."
• Solfege: Guido d'Arezzo.
• Pipe Organ: Long pipes produce low sounds; shorter pipes produce high sounds; stop tabs choose sounds; pedals used by feet.
• Les Miserables: A well-known musical.
• Asiago: (likely a typo)

Instrumental Families

• String Family: Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass
• Brass Family: Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Tuba