Listen: Chapters 6-11

basso ostinato

a short musical gesture repeated over and over again (persistent)

fugue subject

a single main theme in the fugue

drone

a single two-note chord running continuously

sonata form

ABA form...opening exposition, development of new ideas, and a return to the opening music called the recapitulation

baroque orchestra size

Back during this period, most composers (many were also "conductors) used what was available. Most of the time the ensembles were quite small maybe 6-8 violins, 2-3 violas, 2 celli, and a contrabass (no one really knows for sure). Plus the winds/brass and ALWAYS a continuo instrument which was chosen from the harpsichord, lute, or small organ; sometimes employing two or more of these instruments for a performance, e.g. harpsichord for choruses, and organ for recitatives and arias. But this practice maybe one created for today's performances.

plainchant

Gregorian Chant

Julius Caesar (The Opera)

Handel's most famous opera, starting with a ritornello in the aria, "La giustizia" (in A B A form)

Messiah

Handel's most famous work, this oratorio is sung today at Christmas and Easter in hundreds of churches around the world. Unlike most oratorios, this composition did not have actual characters depicting a biblical story in recitative and arias, although its text is taken from the Bible. Much like an opera in concert form; the chorus has a large and varied role to play

Messiah Chorus

In the Messiah, sings the words of a group of angels that actually speaks in the Bible. Sometimes it comments on the story, like the soloists. And often the choristers raiser their voices to praise the Lord in Handel's uniquely magnificent manner.

Stylized dances

In the late Baroque, dance music such as the minuet and bouree', that had once been written for actual courtly dancing, now became stylized; in other words, meant for listening rather than dancing

Vivaldi's Violin Concerto

La stravaganza, a concerto for solo violin. The violin soloist is pitted against the basic Baroque orchestra of strings and continuo; the concerto in G begins and ends with movements in the ritornello form

symphonic four movement form

Sonata, Slow form, Minuet with trio, Closing fast movement (often a Rondo form)

baroque orchestra size

The core of the Baroque orchestra was a group of instruments of the violin family (string orchestra); added was a keyboard instrument as a continuo, usually a harpsichord.

melody type

a set of melodic formulas, figures, and patterns which are used in the composition of an enormous variety of music, especially non-Western and early Western music

gigue

a Baroque dance in a lively compound meter

sarabande

a Baroque dance in slow triple meter, with a secondary accent on the second beat

ritornello form

a Baroque musical form based on recurrences of a ritornello (the orchestral material at the beginning of a concerto grosso, which always returns later in the piece)

Galliard

a Renaissance court dance in triple meter

passacaglia

a bass line or harmonic progression, repeats over-and-over while a series of variations are performed over the top

fugue

a composition written systematically in imitative polyphony, usually with a single main theme

Brandenburg Concerto

a concerto grosso for flute, violin, harpsichord, and orchestra composed by Bach

oratorio

a dramatic form similar to opera, in which the story is told in singing, accompanied by orchestra

variation form

a form in which a single melodic unit is repeated with harmonic, rhythmic, dynamic, or timbral changes

concerto

a large composition for orchestra and solo instrument

Kemp's Jig

a lively (perky), simple dance tune in a a b form, with both a and b ending in the same cadence

bourrée

a lively French dance like a gavotte

jongleurs

a medieval secular musician

gavotte

a medium-paced French dance, popular in the 18th century

double-exposition form

a modified version of sonata-allegro form in the first movement of a concerto

dance suite

a piece consisting of a series of dances; can be performed by an orchestra

minuet

a popular 17th- and 18th-century dance in moderate triple meter

Word Painting

a popular compositional effect in which the composer tried to set the "literal" meaning of the words to music

movement

a self-contained section of a larger piece, such as a symphony or concerto grosso

figured bass

a system of notating the continuo chords in Baroque music, by means of figures; sometimes also used to mean continuo

recitative

a technique of declaiming lengthy dialogue with simple accompaniment. In recitative, there is little repetition of lines, and the singing follows the rhythm of the words

ornamentation

addition of fast notes and vocal effects (such as trills) to a melody, making it more florid and expressive; typically improvised in music of all cultures, and in Western music, is often written out

cadenza

an improvised passage for the soloist in a concerto, or sometimes in other works; in concertos, it usually comes near the ends of movements

coloratura

an ornate style of singing, with many notes for each syllable of text

opera buffa

comic opera in Italian is a genre that replaced the older opera seria tradition

ground bass

constructed form the bottom up, the bass instruments play a single short melody many times, generating the same set of repeated harmonies above it

opera

drama presented in music, with characters singing instead of speaking

Pope Marcellus Mass

famous composition by Palestrina that convinced the pope and his council that composers of complicated polyphonic church music could still set the sacred words clearly enough that the congregation could hear them

toccatas

free-formed pieces meant to capture the spirit of Frescobaldi's own improvisation (means touched in Italian)

Madrigal

harmonized love songs and featured a technique know as "word painting."

basso continuo

has the double effect of clarifying the harmony and making the texture bind or jell

continuo

has the double effect of clarifying the harmony and making the texture bind or jell

aria

highly dramatic songs in which the soloist dwells on thoughts and emotions, with lengthy elaborate runs and high notes

troubadour

love song composers in France

minnesingers

love song composers in Germany

trouveres

love song composers in Northern European countries

Gregorian Chant

named after Pope Gregory who standardized the unaccompanied melodies used in the church service

A cappella

performed by voices alone

Estampie

stamp your foot dance music

texture type in Baroque

standard texture type is polyphonic (or contrapuntal), consists of mainly just a melody and bass count as contrapuntal because of the independent melodic quality of the bass

chorale

the German name for hymns in four parts similar to those found in hymnals today

Don Giovanni

the Italian term for the great lover of all women, Don Juan (one of Mozart's operas)

libretto

the complete book of words for an opera, oratorio, cantata, etc.

Hildegard of Bingen

the first great woman composer; composed plainchant melodies in her own highly individual style, to go with poems that she wrote for special services at her convent

concerto grosso

the main early Baroque type of concerto, for a group of solo instruments and a small orchestra

castrato

the soprano/alto male singer in an Italian opera (males subject to castration to maintain high vocal range through puberty)

absolutism

the time of belief in the divine right of kings, the idea that the right of kings to rule was absolute--total, unlimited--because they were chosen by God

opera seria

the traditional style of opera started in the 1600's by composers such as Monteverdi; based on historically-inaccurate versions of old Greek and Roman stories and myths

Bernart de Ventadorn

was one of the finest troubadour poets and probably the most important musically