Dissonance- tension in sound; unstable tone combination which demands onward motion to a stable chord

Consonance- relaxed sound; stable tone combination which indicates a point of rest

Concerto- soloist and orchestra

Cadenza- solo spot within a concerto

Nationalism- homeland; expressed when romantic composers deliberately created music with a national identity using the folk songs, dances, legends and history of their homelands (e.g. Chopin drew on Polish folk dances for inspiration; Smetana’s The Moldau is influenced by folk music and legends of his native Bohemia)

Exoticism- foreign; composers drew on colorful materials from other lands (e.g. Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov suggested an Arabian atmosphere in Scheherazade)

Program music- instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene. The nonmusical element is usually specified by a title or by explanatory elements called a program (e.g. Smetana uses musical effects in The Moldau to suggest a flowing stream, a hunting scene, a peasant wedding, etc.)

Rubato- tempo changes

Art song & Schubert- 600+, vocalist and piano; a composition for solo voice and piano where the accompaniment is an integral part of the composer’s conception and serves as an interpretive partner to the voice and the words come from early nineteenth-century poetry.

Aerophone- winds; flutes, trumpets

Chordophone- strings, harps

Membranophone- drums

Modulation- change of key; shift from one key to another within the same piece of music
Atonality- no tonal center; the absence of tonality or key
Pentatonic scale- far-east

Impressionism- France

Expressionism- Germany; artistic movement of the twentieth century which stressed intense, subjective emotion

Libretto- text for opera, musical theater

Call & Response- characteristic performance style wherein phrases of a soloist are repeatedly answered by those of a chorus

Chopin- piano; Chopin’s Music – is primarily for the piano

Nocturne- night piece; night piece; a slow, lyrical, intimate composition for piano

Idiophone- non-drums, symbols, shakers, whistles

Japanese Koto

The Baroque Orchestra is primarily a string ensemble with basso continuo. Some works (concerti) may include flute, oboe, or bassoon, and larger works (orchestral suites, oratorios and opera/mass) may include a few woodwinds, brass and timpani.

Style Characteristics—Baroque Music:

-a balance of polyphonic and homophonic textures, and a unity of mood

-melody and rhythm are frequently continuous and energetic, in a driving forward manner

-while instrumental music is more common, a good deal of choral music was written

-the basso continuo (bass instrument and keyboard) was standard in most music

The Classical Orchestra of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven is somewhat larger with a standardized instrumentation—more strings and an experienced palette of winds: pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, and clarinets, as well as horns, trumpets and timpani

In addition to opera and mass, composers wrote mostly instrumental music: the piano sonata, the string quartet, the concerto (a work for instrumental soloist and orchestra; piano was favored), and the symphony. The prospering middle class embraced all the arts—theatre, music and literature.

Style Characteristics—Classical Music:

-texture is mostly homophonic and there are more mood contrasts

-melodies are made up of balanced phrase structure; cadences are more clearly defined

-the basso continuo is eliminated

Romantic composers (Beethoven as bridge) wrote colorful, expressive and dramatic music. They scored for a larger orchestra giving more attention to wind instruments, like piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, trombones, tuba, and even percussion.

While many forms [symphony, string quartet, chamber music (music for small groups with one player per part), concerto and opera] remained attractive to 19^th century composers, new forms, such as the art song for Voice&Piano (Schubert first to compose), the short character piece for piano and program music emerged. Composers were more individualists, inspired by nationalism as well as exoticism.

Style Characteristics—Romantic:

-expressive lyrical melodies

-expanded chords and chromatic harmony

-rhythmic and metric flexibility (rubato)

Contemporary trends: Traditional instruments used in a percussive manner; the percussion family, in particular, added an endless number of new and exotic instruments. With the breakdown of representational art and the emergence of abstraction by the Impressionists in the late 19^th century, composers like Debussy and Stravinsky wrote music that obscured tonality; later, Schoenberg (the German Expressionist) created a 12-tone system that avoided tonality altogether (atonality). Modern composers were inspired by folk and pop music, the music of Asia and Africa, and the early church modes.

Style Characteristics—Contemporary-abstraction of the elements:

-breakdown of traditional harmony—leads to atonality

-dissonance vs consonance

-rhythm and changing meters: frequent polyphonic textures

-melody may be fragmented or contain wide leaps

Additional topics/information:

Jazz: improvisation & syncopation; New Orleans style:1900-17; Blue=12 bar pattern; “Swing”/Big Band era 1935-45-call&response; music for dancing

Bebop-frenetic, small groups, for listening

Indian music: improvisatory, Raga (scale), Tala (beat pattern), Sitar (chordaphone)

Impressionism (France): artists interested in the effects of light, color; atmospheric effects; Debussy was inspired by the Balinese music he heard at International Exhibition in 1889

Expressionism: artists from Germany and Austria deliberately distorted subject matter to shock their audience

Beethoven: programmatic Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” & Symphony No. 9 “Choral” for soloists & chorus

Mozart: Don Giovanni- legendary Spanish lover

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring riot of 1913

Puccini: La Boheme – RENT

Jerome Kern: Showboat 1927

Rodgers & Hammerstein: Oklahoma 1943

Bernstein/Sondheim: West Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet)

Music for the cinema: Max Steiner Gone with the Wind

Amadeus: Antonio Salieri

Copland: Billy the Kid, Appalachian Spring, Rodeo ballets

Some 20^th century composers: Debussy, Schoenberg and Stravinsky