MUSIC LITERATURE

Industrial Revolution

The impetus for major change in the arts

Texture

homophonic

Scherzo

Beethoven's rendition of a minuet and trio (ternary form)

Tone poem, symphonic poem, concert overture

A single movement piece for orchestra that has a background of a poem, literary work or
philosophical idea

song cycle

a group of songs with a common poetic theme or an actual story connecting all of the songs

Beethoven

Bridge composer from the Classical to Romantic Period

Timbre

addition of new instruments

ex. Saxophone, English horn, much of the percussion instruments

Golden Age of the Piano

Most important time for piano music

Rhythm

A slowing down or speeding up at will by the pianist

Con fuoco tempo

Tempo meaning with fire

Mysterioso tempo

Mysterious tempo

Melody

wider leaps, more disjunctive, more singable

Harmony

more chromatic and bigger chords

Dynamics

rapidly changing/ undulating

Text painting

the use of the piano accompaniment to create a mood

Program music

music with a poetic, literary or philosophical background as its form

Program Symphony

multi-movement program piece

Hector Berlioz

father of the program symphony

Idee Fixe

the recurring musical idea in the "Symphony fantistique"; It represents his lover

Franz Liszt

father of the tone poem. Wrote for the piano, most famous pianist of his time

Thematic transformation

the transformation of a theme from the beginning of a piece of the end to make it more grand

Incidental music

background music for films, ballet, or plays

Character piece, Etude, Nocturne, berceause, polonaise

A short piece for the piano with one predominant mood

Chopin

wrote etudes (study pieces) and many other character pieces for the piano. He was called the "Poet
of the Piano"

George Sand

the Lover and patron of Chopin

Schubert/ Schumann

the most important writers of Lieder ( German songs)

Schumann

Married to Clara, student was Brahms. Song composer

Leider, chanson, art songs

Songs of the Romantic Era, all are strophics

Strophic

the same music for each verse of poetry

Modified strophic

the same music for each verse of poetry with one slight modification

verse refrain

the same music for each verse with a chorus after each verse

through-composed

different music for each verse of poetry

Clara Weick

Wife of Schumann, lover of Brahms

Heine, Schiller, Goether

All of these men wrote poems that were used by Schumann, Schubert and Brahms to write songs

Absolute Music

music for its own sake without a program like a poem or story. Used for traditional forms like the
Sonata-allergro and the rondo

Brahms

Lover of Clara Schumann; chief composer of absolute music; Romantic composer

Symphony

three or four movements of alternating tempos and meters for orchestra

String quartet

three or four movements of alternating tempos and meters for 4 string instruments

Concerto

three or four movements of alternating tempos and meters for solo instrument and orchestra

Mendelssohn

founded the Leipzig conversatory; Was called the "Romantic Classicist; Revived J.S Back's music by
putting on "the St Matthew Passion" 100 years after Bach was dead

Set Opera

traditional opera with a clear delineation bitten the recitative and the aria. The orchestra takes a
background role to the singer

Verdi

the chief composer of set opera; Founded "Verdi Home for the Retired Opera Singers" in Italy

Through-composed opera

opera that there is no delineation between the orchestra and the singer. The orchestra and the
singer take an equal position. It uses a very large orchestra. He called it Gesamsunskwerk or total
work of art
Wagner

German composer of through composed opera. He wrote an opera cycle called the "Ring of the
Nebulungs"

Leitmotive

The recurring musical idea in a Wager opera. Each person, place, or thing has their own musical
melody that can be heard throughout the opera

Verismo Opera

realistic opera. Opera that is not based on mythology, rather it is based on real life things.

Puccini

The composer that started verismo opera

Bel Canto Opera

the art of beautiful singing. Opera that uses a lot of notes

Nationalism

the use of folk songs and dances within a piece of music to depict one's homeland

Impressionism

the movement started by Monet that made music more chromatic, less melodic, less rhythmic, more
modal; Debussy and Ravel are the composers of this kind of music

Monet, Manet, Degas

Impressionistic painters

Exoticism

the use of rhythms, melodies, and tunes of countries that a composer foes not live in to write a piece
of music

Expressionism

the use of erratic rhythms, used dissonance, rapidly changing dynamics and bold melodies

Picaso, Pissaro

two expressionistic artists

Stravinsky

early experssionist