Scherzo : ("Scherzo" means "joke") A moderately-fast commoner's dance in 6/8 meter which replaced the aristocratic Minuet as the preferred 3rd movement dance used in four-movement Classic instrumental works after 1810. Retransition : In a sonata form, this is the last part of the Development section that sets up the final harmonic return to the home key that happens with the start of the Recaptulation. Recitativo obbligato is a section of recitative that includes brief yet dramatic moments of orchestral support. Recitative : A speech-like manner of singing in a free rhythm - Recitativo secco ("dry recitative") is a term that refers to speech-like singing accompanied sparsely by harpsichord. Program Music : ("programmatic music") Instrumental music intended to tell a story, or give an impression of an image or specific idea. Opus : ("Op." Latin for "work") Opus numbers are assigned by the publisher in the sequence that a composer's works were actually published-not when they were composed (therefore, opus numbers are not necessarily in chronological order-a piece may have been written many years before it was published). Minuet : An aristocratic dance in 3/4 time and moderate speed. Homophonic Texture : Polyphonic music with all the parts moving rhythmically together (chordal texture). Genre : A category (type) of musical composition. (The American Declaration of Independence is based on such enlightened principles.) Enlightenment concepts influenced Classic musical forms and genres based on symmetry and balance, and impacted the types of common characters that were the heroes/heroines of Classic comic operas that spoofed the battle between the upper and lower European classes.įorm : The musical design or shape of a movement or complete work. Įnlightenment : ("The Age of Enlightenment" or "The Age of Reason") An 18th-century philosophical movement in France and later in the American colonies, aimed at improving society by logical thinking, such as the premise that common people could be free from aristocratic rule if they were educated enough to choose their own government and officials. CPE Bach Sonata in A major (1765)-written for the clavichord. Today, the rendering of castrato roles is problemmatic because it requires either a male singing in falsetto (weaker than a castrato) or a female mezzo-soprano (strong in this register, but then the woman has to impersonate a man).Ĭounterpoint : Combining two or more independent melodies to make an intricate polyphonic texture.Įmpfindsam : (German for "sensitive") The term used to describe a highly-expressive style of German pre-Classic/early Classic instrumental music, that was intended to intensely express true and natural feelings, featuring sudden contrasts of mood. Leading male roles were written specifcally for the castrato voice because it had the high range of a woman with the vocal power and strength of a mature male. In Classic concertos, a cadenza occurs at a dramatic moment before the end of a movement, when the orchestra stops so the soloist can play in free time, and then after the cadenza is finished the orchestra reenters to bring the movement to its conclusion.Ĭastrato : The term for a male singer who was castrated before puberty to preserve his high soprano range (this practice lasted in Italy until the late 1800s). Cadenza : An improvised or written-out ornamental virtuosic passage played by a soloist in a concerto. This term is most particularly associated with the type of singing done in early-Romantic operas by Rossini, Bellini, and Donezzetti. It was characterized by impeccable/seamlessly-smooth phrasing (legato) demonstrating great breath control and vocal flexibility throughout the singer's entire range, well-focused tone and diction, no loose vibrato, no forcing in the high register, and and agile ability to ornament tastefully. Alberti Bass: "Broken" arpeggiated triads in a bass line, common in many types of Classic keyboard music named after Domenico Alberti (1710-1740) who used it extensively but did not invent it.Īria : A lyrical type of singing with a steady beat, accompanied by orchestra a songful monologue or duet in an opera or other dramatic vocal work.īel Canto : (means "beautiful singing" in Italian) An Italian tradition of "beautiful singing" primarily in opera seria and opera buffa in the late-17th through early-19th centuries.
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