Music Theory & History PDF

​musical genre A general category of music determined partly by the number and kind of instruments or voices involved, and partly by its form, style or purpose. "Opera", "Symphonic poem" and "sonata" are examples of genre Jongleurs A medieval secular musician alba "Dawn song" Troubadour song about a...

​musical genre A general category of music determined partly by the number and kind of instruments or voices involved, and partly by its form, style or purpose. "Opera", "Symphonic poem" and "sonata" are examples of genre Jongleurs A medieval secular musician alba "Dawn song" Troubadour song about a knight leaving his lady at dawn -Poetic chant Renaissance 1450-1600 "rebirth"; following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome Rebirth in music increase in secular music Shawms (Renaissance) Raucous double-reed instruments and ancestors of today's oboe Baroque 1600-1750 Led by madrigal was an artistic style of the seventeenth century characterized by complex forms, bold ornamentation, and contrasting elements intellectual's came down on this word painting said it was artificial and could not focus to express feelings strongly started in Florence Italy eventually led to the emergence of Opera characterized by excess and extravagance Opera a dramatic work in one or more acts, set to music for singers and instrumentalists. began in Florence apart of Baroque era allowed people to portray emotion Aria -operatic solo; a song sung by one person in an opera or oratorio -much more elaboration and coherence than a passage of recitative vocal part is more melodic and the rhythm is more consistent, meter is clearer and typically accompanied by instruments from the entire orchestra - Here the singer- actor mulls over his or her feelings at some leisure, instead of reacting moment by moment as in recitative, Emotion is controlled and frozen into a tableau or picture. when music grows more elaborate the emotion still stands Arias required artistis who could convert the notes of a score into these tableus of furious, sensuous or tragic emotion. Ostinato a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm Fuge A composition written systematically un imitative polyphony, usually with a single main theme, the fuge subject Arcangelo Corelli Associated with the standardization of two major genres of instrumental ensemble music of the baroque period the concerto and sonata -name Sonata comes from the Italian verb sonare and mean sounded or played. this genre got its start in the early baroque period. typically written for one or two instruments in a high register often violens- with a basso continuo supporting them. A work for one high instrument is called a solo Sonata while the work for two is called a trio Sonata Sonatas usually divided into several distinct sections or movements he helped to set the usual number of movements at four contrasting in tempo in the arrangements slow fast slow fast and usually contrasting in meter, key or Texture as well; but there remained much freedom in the order of movements Mastered (39) You've been getting these terms right! Deselect all 39 Form organization of musical elements in time most common form in ABA A represents of element of repetition B represents of element of contrast A' Can represent a significant modification in A Style The combination of qualities that makes a period of art, a composer, a group of works, or an individual distinctive Era a particular period in history Classical music is not a genre its a____ Era Music and the church -Early western music was heavily influenced by the church -The church cultivated, supported and directed music -monk and clerics were the only people to write music down with the exception of the jongleurs -music was sacred as it was often the singing or chanting of sacred words in service -music provides emphasis, force even magic to words Plain chant Main type of music heard in the Catholic Church for the first half of the Middle Ages. -"Plain" because it consists of unaccompanied, monophonic (one-line) music for voices,takes the form of a melody and nothing more -called "gregorian" after the famous pope and church father Gregory 1 Gregory 1 (c.560-604) Refuted to have assembled and standardized, with divine aid all the basic chants required for the church service of his time-though in fact much Gregorian chant dates from centuries after him What are the two main characteristics of plainchant 1.Nonmetrical They have no clear and established meter and therefore the rhyme is free. a distinctive beat lacking in the music 2.Not constructed in the major or minor mode systems but according to medieval modes (provides for additional arrangements, sound richer and more subtle) music w/o harmony or definite rhythm reciting tone Especially in chant, the single note used for musical "recitation," with brief melodic formulas for beginning and ending melisma In vocal music, a passage of many notes sung to a single syllable sequence In Middle age, a type of plainchant in which successive phrases of text receive nearly identical melodic treatment Troubadours (south of france) A medieval poet and musician who traveled from place to place, entertaining people with songs of courtly love also called trouvères (north) and Minnesingers (Germany) Troubairitz female troubadour strophic A song in several stanzas, with the same music sung for each stanza; as opposed to through-composed song Organum the earliest genre of medieval polyphonic music -Early organum consisted of a traditional plainchant melody to which a composer/singer/improvisor has added another melody sung at the same time with the same words added melody ("The counterpoint") was sung closely parallel to the chant melody, rhythm of this so-called parallel organum was the free rhythm of Georgian chant -Later the counterpoint treated more independently -Singers decorated the counterpoint with melisma's make richer sounding melodies -eventually someone added two counterpoints into a chant -maybe to lessen the difficulty of having two counterpoint, definite rhythms controlled by meter, replaced the chant like free rhythms of the counterpoints- and ultimately the underlying chant itself -flourished in cathedral of Notre dame in Paris Antiphon A genre of plainchant usually in a simple melodic style with very few melismas Paraphrase The embellishes chants with extra notes, set them in graceful rhythms, and smoothed out passages that struck them as awkward or old fashioned mass main Roman Catholic service, or the music written for it.The musical mass consisted of 5 large sections; Kyrie, Gloria, Credo ,Sanctus and Agnus Dei High Renaissance Style -Around 1500 a new style emerged for masses, motets, and chansons hold sway for 16th century -Chief characteristic of high Renaissance was careful blend of two kinds of musical texture: imitative counterpoint and homophony Characterized by 1.Homophony "BlockChord" 2."Acappella"; voices alone 3.Fluid rhythm 4.limited Range Voices never go very high or very low declamation (reniassance) They strove for accurate declamation -That is they made sure that words were sung to rhythms and melodies that approximated normal speech Word painting (renaissance) musical illustration of the meaning of a word or a short verbal phrase Late renaissance Luther=Reformer Motet invented in the late middle ages a short latin piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic had sections in homophony -unaccompanied -Allowed church composers to convey words Madrigal Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem; also popular in England. - four to six voice parts set to a one stanza poem The english madrigal English secular polyphonic song (for two to six voices) developed from the Italian madrigal; often lighter and less serious, featuring refrain syllables (fa-la-la); largely cultivated by amateurs. pavan (renaissance) solemn dance in duple meter instrumental music galliard (renaissance) fast, leaping dance in triple meter instrumental music Sackbuts (Renaissance) early trombones Stylistic Features of Baroque Music 1.Rhythm + meter:A new regularity of rhythm with a emphasis on meter, Bar lines began to be used for the first time in music history.This means musics meter is systematically in evidence rather, than being downplayed as it was in the renaissance, Strong beats were also emphasized by certain instruments 2.Texture:Basso continuo A set of chords continuously underlying the melody in a piece of baroque music bass is performed by bass voice's or low instruments basson or chello but accompanied by harpsichord or organ (enforces this base line) base line + harmony makes music bind and jell constructed from bottom up Ground base:A motive phrase or theme repeated continuously in the bass though also called basso ostinato 3.Functional Harmony: The system whereby all chords have a specific interrelation and function in relation to the tonic 4.opera Recitative A half-singing, half-reciting style of presenting words in opera, cantata, oratorio, etc., following speech accents and speech rhythms closely. Required great singing actors Music in venice Very distinct homophony choirs divided into low-pitched and high pitched groups of three or four voices for each part semichoirs would alternate to answer each other eventually Venetian composers added in instruments that led to a colourful, extravagant and distinct style -Yet despite the desire for freedom with music being more untrammelled in one respect they had to find greater ways to organize music since it was so extravagant and emotional Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) the most important composer of the 17th century, composed Orfeo (1607), the oldest opera still in performance Was seen as too radical in the 1640s he helped inaugurate public opera one of Venice's greatest accomplishment's to the history of music Henry purcell A baroque composer born in 1659. He was from England and is famous mostly for his non-religious music. He wrote sacred and secular songs. He wrote pieces for solo voice, vocal music, instrumental music, and operas. One of his operas is Dido and Aeneas. The rise of instrumental music 1.Dance First of these sources, dated back to the middle ages special impetus from opera 2.Virtuosity 3.Vocal music The principle technique of vocal music, imitative polyphony (imiation) was transferred to the musical medium. monophony single-line texture, or melody without accompaniment 2.homophony/.homophonic A musical texture that involves only one melody of real interest ,combined with chords or other subsidiary sounds 3.polyphony/polyphonic Musical texture in which two or more melodic lines are played or sung simultaneously as opposed to homophony or monophony -contrapuntal -you can see distinctiveness of each melody 4.Imitative polyphony When the various lines sounding together use the same or fairly similar melodies, with one coming shortly after another 5.Non imitative polyphony Occurs when the melodies are different from one another Not studied (3) You haven't studied these terms yet! Select these 3 ground bass (basso ostinato) 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. Passacaglia repetition of a more complex bass ʻthemeʼ Chaconne repetition of a harmonic phrase