Music Appreciation - Final
Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet
Duple
O rubor sanguinis and A chantar m'er are both examples of Gregorian chant.
False
Which answer accurately describes harmony during the Romantic period?
Greater use of chromaticism makes the harmony richer and more colorful; sudden shifts to remote chords are used for expressive purposes; more dissonance is used to convey feelings of anxiety and longing.
Finally, how did Vivaldi communicate his "program" to his listeners?
He wrote onomatopoeic music that mimicked in sound the words of his own poem.
Which statement about Wagner is INCORRECT?
His primary interest was in writing music that glorified the potential of the human voice.
What is the trajectory of the voice in this recitative?
It descends to reflect Dido's depressed mood.
How would you characterize the music (ritornello) at the beginning?
It shows polarity in Baroque music: a clear melody with a strong supporting bass (basso continuo).
It relies mostly on oral and aural transmission, and the work can change greatly from one performance to the next.
Popular Music
The low brasses (trombones and tuba) that are prominent in this passage were introduced into the symphony orchestra during which period?
Romantic
Which statement about The Rite of Spring is INCORRECT?
The plot is influenced by the ancient religious rituals of the Christian tradition.
At the very last chord, a crashing, percussive sound is added for emphasis—to signal that this is indeed the last chord of the climax. What instrument is making that sound?
a cymbal
Which answer best describes "glissando"?
a device of sliding up or down the scale very quickly
"Dissonance" describes
a discordant mingling of sounds, resulting in harmonic tension that ultimately seeks resolution.
Which of the following is rarely seen in realistic opera?
a happy ending
Which statement accurately describes "Impressionism"?
a movement that arose in opposition to German Romanticism and its use of precise formal or representational musical structures
What is the definition of "theme and variations"?
a musical form in which a theme continually returns but is varied by changing the notes of the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, or some other feature of the music
"Polyphony" is
a musical texture involving two or more simultaneously sounding lines that are independent and create counterpoint.
"Key" is defined as
a tonal center built on a tonic note and making use of a scale.
Events take on an almost comical air during this passage because it is orchestrated for
bassoon and pizzicato strings.
Which musical form is represented by the following patterns of letters? AB—AABB—ABA—ABACABA—AA1A2A3A4
binary form—binary with repeats—ternary form—rondo—theme and variations
In variation 1, we hear the theme
decorated quickly above in the right hand.
Identify the correct definition of "sampling."
extracting a small portion of prerecorded music and then mechanically repeating it over and over as a musical backdrop to the text of a rap song
Here, at the end, which of the following is an aspect, NOT of Exoticism, but of Modernism?
fortissimo, crashing, dissonant chords
Here, the orchestra and soloist work up to a climax. Do we get a cadenza, or does the trumpeter "chicken out"?
here are two seconds of silence and no cadenza before the refrain returns.
Which term best describes the texture of the listening example?
imitative counterpoint
What does the term "piano" mean?
in musical notation, a dynamic mark indicating "soft"
Listen to the opening section of Josquin's Ave Maria and identify the statement that does NOT describe the passage.
in triple meter
In the twelfth and last variation, Mozart presents the theme
in triple meter and major mode
The Agincourt carol is important in music history because
it shows that everyone (a chorus) sang the chorus, it provides an early example of verse-plus-chorus strophic form, and it is an important monument of English history.
Bach sets the chorale tune in notes that are which?
longer (and hence sound slower) than those of the strings, thereby making the chorale tune more audible
Now we have another innovation of Wagner: the introduction of an infrequently heard brass instrument played here in large numbers. Which instrument does Wagner introduce?
low brass (Wagner tubas)
Vivaldi has modulated to a new key and brings back ritornello part 2. Does it sound at a higher or lower pitch compared to its first appearance?
lower
Debussy, Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
monophonic
What is the texture of the music at the words "all alone"?
monophony
"Serial music" is best defined as
music in which some important component—pitch, dynamics, rhythm—appears in a continually repeating series.
Which type of sound do you hear?
sound from the environment captured on tape (church bell, sleigh bell, drum, gong, or silence)
Which family of instruments dominates the first section of the development?
strings
Identify the genre that was NOT important during the Modern era.
symphonic poem
Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Reed Pipes" from The Nutcracker is composed in
ternary form.
Ritornello part 1 is immediately repeated pianissimo, as is ritornello part 2. Abrupt shifts in dynamics, typical of the Baroque era, are called what?
terraced dynamics
What is the process described by the term "modulation"?
the change in tonal center from one key to another
What is "color"?
the character or quality of a musical tone produced by a voice or an instrument
What is meant by the term "interval"?
the distance between the pitches of a chord or the pitches in a musical scale
The Ordinary of the Mass refers to
the five sung portions of the Mass for which the texts are invariable.
What is meant by the term "accelerando"?
the musical instruction to increase the tempo of the musical performance
Identify the correct definition for "exposition," as used in sonata-allegro form.
the principal section in which all thematic material is presented
Identify the correct definition of "melodic sequence."
the repetition of a musical motive at successively higher or lower degrees of the scale
How many musical lines are sounding in the texture?
three or more
Identify the meter of the listening example.
triple
Because Don Giovanni is implicitly critical of the aristocracy, Mozart and da Ponte had to dance quickly to stay ahead of the imperial censor before production.
true
This verse, as with all verses in the Agincourt carol, is sung by
two soloists.
Identify the INCORRECT statement concerning As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending.
A consort of string instruments was expected to support the singers.
In which country did the habanera originate? (Clue: The name is similar to that of the country's capital city.)
Cuba
In which opera does the soprano live into a happy old age with her lover?
Are you kidding? This is Romantic opera; they all die.
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, 1st movement
B
Identify the statement that does NOT apply to Bach's time in Weimar.
Bach wrote music for university ceremonies and directed the Collegium Musicum.
Beethoven, Ode to Joy
C
Schubert, Symphony No. 9, 1st movement
C
For most people, music means a "song" with words, melody, harmony, and rhythm. Why, then, is the rise of purely instrumental music in the Baroque era seen as a positive development instead of a decline or deprivation? Three of the following statements provide logical explanations regarding the loss of words to sing in Baroque instrumental music. Which one does NOT?
Baroque instrumental music was aesthetically inferior due to the fact that, without the structure given by liturgical texts or secular poetry, it was distorted and grotesque; hence the Portuguese word barroco.
How many times do you hear the pattern here?
10
Which statement about Neo-Romanticism is INCORRECT?
Its compositions are highly unsettling because they are so revolutionary
Handel, Minuet, from Water Music
Major
Identify the mode of the listening example.
Major
Mouret, Rondeau, from Suite de symphonies
Major
Musorgsky, "Great Gate of Kiev," from Pictures at an Exhibition
Major
Which of the following statements is a POOR interpretive comment about this painting?
Medieval cathedrals were often hundreds of feet in length, to accommodate the large crowds that came to hear polyphonic Masses. In contrast, the Renaissance polyphonic madrigal had limited popular appeal, as shown in this picture of an outdoor concert.
Prokofiev, "Dance of the Knights," from Romeo and Juliet
Minor
Which composer begins with a clear-cut pair of four-bar antecedent-consequent phrases?
Mozart
Which composer had to have a compelling melody because he didn't have the orchestral resources to achieve startling special effects?
Mozart
Identify the INCORRECT statement regarding Mozart's life in Vienna during the 1780s.
Mozart was responsible for an orchestra that was never larger than twenty-five musicians and saw to it that all musicians appeared in uniform and followed instructions.
Josquin Desprez, Ave Maria
Polyphonic
Kyrie eleison
Polyphony
Identify the statement that does NOT apply to the "Eroica" ("Heroic") Symphony.
The Austrian emperor asked Beethoven to change the title from "Bonaparte" to "Eroica"; Beethoven complied but demanded an extra fee.
Listen now to the galliard and notice how the feeling of this dance is different. In what way(s) is this so?
The beat seems faster and It has a triple-meter feel to it.
For Haydn, Mozart, and other composers and performers of late eighteenth-century Europe, what opportunities in music did the world offer? Choose the most accurate statement below.
The rise of the middle class - democratization - meant income from concert ticket sales, giving music lessons in homes, and publishing one's compositions for sale to the public.
In this beautiful passage, Debussy comes closest to re-creating the lush sentimentality that is more typical of Romantic than Impressionist music. Which statement is INCORRECT?
There is a solo for the French horn and then the violin at the beginning.
Chopin, Waltz in Eb major
Triple
Are ostinatos present?
Yes
Is the A theme varied further, or is the accompaniment changed in the repeat?
Yes
What is the correct definition for Singspiel?
a German musical comedy with spoken dialogue, tuneful songs, and topical humor
