Listening Guide Quiz 12: Vivaldi: Spring, from The Four Seasons, I

How many preludes and fugues make up J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier?

"48"

What is J. S. Bach's most comprehensive example of contrapuntal writing?

"The Art of Fugue"

The fugue is based on what principle?

"imitation"

What kind of melodies did composers favor in the Classical era?

"symmetrical in balanced phrases"

Listen to the following excerpts and drag them to the correct location on the music chart below.

Blue: 3rdOrange: 2ndGreen: 1st

Which of the following characterize Vivaldi's career?

Correct Answer(s) He was a virtuoso violinist. He was music master at one of Venice's prestigious orphanages (ospedali). His concerts at the girls' school in Venice brought visitors from all over Europe. Incorrect Answer(s) He wrote only sacred music. He wrote only vocal music.

Which of the following are well-known keyboard works by J. S. Bach?

Correct Answer(s) The Art of Fugue The Well-Tempered Clavier Incorrect Answer(s) Water Music

Which of the following statements correctly describe Bach's Contrapunctus I?

Correct Answer(s) This work is a four-voice fugue. The keyboard instrument heard in the recording is an organ. Incorrect Answer(s) This work is in ritornello form. The texture is homophonic.

Which of the following does Vivaldi portray in the first movement of his Spring concerto?

Correct Answer(s) birds brooks thunder Incorrect Answer(s) clouds rabbits

What were the two main keyboard instruments of the Baroque era?

Correct Answer(s) organ harpsichord Incorrect Answer(s) synthesizer piano

Which of the following elements are found in a fugue?

Correct Answer(s) subject exposition episode answer Incorrect Answer(s) ritornello minuet and trio

How does Vivaldi musically evoke the image of birds in the first movement of the Spring concerto?

Correct Answer(s) with running scales with high trills Incorrect Answer(s) with an unusual amount of silence with an aggressive rhythmic pattern with a harmonic drone

What instruments play the opening theme in the second movement of Haydn's MilitarySymphony?

Correct Answer(s) woodwinds strings Incorrect Answer(s) trumpet triangle

In this excerpt, a phrase is repeated. What is different about the second statement of the phrase?

Correct choiceit is quieter

Bach's Contrapunctus I from The Art of Fugue is a three-voice fugue.

F

Baroque concertos tended to have only one movement.

F

Harpsichord strings are struck with hammers to generate sound.

F

The piano was the main keyboard instrument in the Baroque era.

F

Which best describes the speed (tempo) of this example water music?

Fast

Match the descriptive words or phrases with the different elements of music as found in Bach's Contrapunctus I from The Art of Fugue.

Final chord: major Performing forces: keyboard/organ Texture: Imitative polyphony

_________organ builders in the Baroque era created various sets of ______ -each with distinct _______ color.

German pipes tone

Why did Vivaldi write concertos?

He taught at school and concertos allowed students at all levels to play together

The opening melody of a fugue is called the subject. This is immediately followed by repetition of that melody, called an answer, which is in a different voice and begins on a different pitch but retains the same contour, or shape, of the subject melody. After the first statement of the subject in the middle range, you hear the answer in a different range. In this example, is the answer higher or lower than the subject?

Higher

The ritornello contains two sections. The first one you heard in the above questions. This excerpt contains the second section. How is the second section of the ritornello different from the first section?

It has a different tune.

The opening tune of the ritornello in Spring is immediately repeated (at 0:07). When it repeats, what sounds different about it?

It is quieter

In the second ritornello (after the bird episode), Vivaldi doesn't repeat the entire ritornello heard at the very beginning of the movement. How is the second ritornello different from the first?

It uses only the second tune of the opening ritornello

How is the fourth ritornello different from the second and third ritornellos?

It's in minor

What is the unifying formal structure that Vivaldi used in the first movement of the Springconcerto?

Ritornello

A Baroque concerto is characterized by an ensemble featuring one or more solo instruments and orchestra.

T

Although he is known today as a composer, in his own day Antonio Vivaldi was better known as a performer.

T

Keyboard players in the Baroque era often improvised in their performances.

T

Organs have more than one keyboard.

T

The first movement of the Spring concerto is programmatic.

T

The harpsichord is unable to sustain sound the way that modern pianos can.

T

Vivaldi is noted for writing instrumental music that depicts a scene without the use of sung words.

T

How is the first half of the ritornello different from the second half of the ritornello?

The second half has a different tune

Listen to the following music excerpts and drag the corresponding cards to the correct location on the formal structure below.

Y X Z

Which best describes this opening passage?

a single melody

In which order do the voices present the subject in J. S. Bach's Contrapunctus I from The Art of Fugue? Note that simply clicking on the card will select it as an answer.

alto soprano bass tenor

The piece begins with all four voices entering in succession, in the order_____,_____,_____, and ____ This beginning section is called the_____

alto, soprano, bass, and tenor exposition

Put the voice ranges in the correct order in which they enter with the fugue theme in the exposition of Contrapunctus I. (Remember that "voice" here is applied to the different lines of the fugal polyphony, even though no one is singing.) Be aware that clicking on the label will make the system think you are choosing it as an answer; do not click on the label unless you are sure it's the answer you want to choose.

alto, soprano, bass, tenor

What is the genre of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons?

concerto

Vivaldi is known for having written 500_____ about 230 of which were written for solo

concertos violin

Match each definition to the appropriate compositional term that it describes.

diminution =The subject is presented in shorter time values. retrograde=The pitches of the subject are stated backwards. inversion=The pitches of the subject are stated upside down. augmentation=The subject is presented in longer time values.

The sections in a fugue that do not contain the subject are the_______

episode

In Vivaldi's Spring, the orchestral ritornellos alternate with the mostly solo violin_____

episodes

What is first section of a fugue called?

exposition

The tempo scheme of the movements in Vivaldi's Spring concerto is best described as_____ -fast.

fast- slow

After a short pause, a new section of music begins. Which best describes this new music?

fast-moving strings and woodwinds

The beginning of the fourth episode, which features violin trills, sounds most like which other episode?

first (birds)

The ___ differs from the piano in two main ways: the strings are plucked by____ and its tone cannot be______

harpsichord quills sustained.

The fugue is based on the principle of_______

imitation

This fugue begins with four entrances, each in a different "voice" (that is, musical line):0:00 Alto (subject)0:10 Soprano (answer)0:19 Bass (subject)0:28 Tenor (answer)Which best describes the texture of this excerpt?

imitative polyphony

A Baroque concerto is a ___ genre that is based on the_____ between two dissimilar bodies of sound.

instrumental oppostition

What does the solo violin play to suggest a storm?

loud, fast notes

Is the range of the third entrance higher or lower than the second?

lower

In the second episode, which programmatic element is Vivaldi depicting in the music?

murmuring brooks

In ritornello form, the orchestra plays a recurring passage (known as a ritornello) in between different sections of music played by soloists. Vivaldi used ritornello form for the fast movements of his concertos. What are the performing forces in the first movement of Vivaldi's Spring concerto (marked allegro), from The Four Seasons?

orchestra and solo violin

Which instrument is heard performing this work?

organ

Vivaldi's Spring from The Four Seasons is paired with a____ as its literary source

poems

Vivaldi's nickname was "the red_____

preist

Vivaldi wrote instrumental music that depicts a scene without the use of sung words. What is this style called?

program music

What is the term that describes a melody that is stated backwards?

retrograde

This opening passage, known as a_____ serves to unify the entire concerto movement.

ritornello

Which section of music is played more than once during the first movement?

ritornello

This first movement of Vivaldi's Spring concerto from The Four Seasons is an excellent example of_____ form that features an instrumental refrain with contrasting solo_____ The solo instrument is a____ and it represents various images from a______ about spring. The work is an example of program music because of this literary link.

ritornello episodes. violin sonnet

Vivaldi wrote concertos for students of all abilities to perform together. What part do you think his most talented students played?

solo (episode)

In fugues, the term_______ refers to overlapping statements of a subject (melody)

stretto

The next theme has higher pitches than the first theme, and it is played by

strings and flutes

Which instruments do you hear in this example?

strings and woodwinds

Which best describes the ensemble playing Alla hornpipe from Water Music by Handel?

strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion

Match each piece to the correct genre and era to which it belongs.

suite & Baroque era- Handel: Alla hornpipe, from Water Music Classical era & solo concerto- Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, II

In Vivaldi's Spring concerto, the first movement is in ritornello form. What do you hear first?

the orchestra.

In Vivaldi's Spring, the first movement is in ritornello form. What instrument(s) do you hear at the beginning of the movement?

the orchestra.

In terms of length and melodic material, which is the third ritornello more similar to: the second ritornello or the first ritornello?

the second ritornello.

How does the B section contrast with the A section?

the second section is in a minor key with abrupt shifts in dynamics

Match the musical techniques to the image from the poem that Vivaldi was depicting.

thunder, lightning- agitated repeated notes, ascending minor-key scales birds- staccato notes, trills, and running scales

Unlike the first section of this movement, the second section is in C minor and uses which instruments?

triangle, cymbals, and bass drum

In the first episode, the solo instruments play special effects that sound like birds, including repeated notes, running scales, and______

trills

Program music is music that has a literary link of some kind.

true

The subject melody is present in the bass voice in the second excerpt.

true

What solo instrument is featured in Vivaldi's Spring concerto?

violin

At the time Vivaldi was composing, instrumental music was newly freed from an earlier dependence on_____ music

vocal

In Episode 2, how does Vivaldi suggest flowing water?

with a soft, gently rocking motion

In the third episode, the orchestra and solo violin suggest a thunderstorm has arrived. How does the orchestra play to paint that picture?

with fast repeated notes played loudly

In Episode 3, the orchestra and solo violin suggest a thunderstorm has arrived. How does the orchestra play to paint that picture?

with fast, repeated notes played loudly

When the opening theme repeats at 0:16 it is played by

woodwinds