Music History Terms

Lecture 2 - Classical
The Galant Symphony in D major, Prague, 1st Movement - Mozart the main
classical style, elegance, melody over harmony, closely followed conventions.
Characteristics: clarity of phrasing, restrained ornamentation, avoidance of complex
counterpoint, definite affective quality, sensuous - vocal music ideal model. The
Galant was a word much used in the 18th century rather than the classical style.
Sonata form Symphony No. 40 in G minor - Mozart Musical form that uses ABA1.
Sonata form, also known as sonata-allegro form, is an organizational structure based
on contrasting musical ideas. It consists of three main sections - exposition,
development, and recapitulation - and sometimes includes an optional coda at the
end. In the exposition, the main melodic ideas, or themes, are introduced.
Symphony Symphony No. 26 in D minor - Haydn - A term now normally taken to
signify an extended work for orchestra. The symphony became the chief vehicle of
orchestral music in the late 18th century, and from the time of Beethoven came to be
regarded as its highest and most exalted form.
Topics - Characteristic melodic and rhythmic figures. Can allude to a type
of piece or to a musical style.
Empfindsamkeit (German for Sensibility) A sensitive style that can
include: rapid mood changes, broken figures and interrupted continuity,
ornamentation, pauses, shifting + dissonant harmony. The composers
wanted to increase the effect of their music by imbuing each theme with a
well-defined, even exaggerated, expressive character. Because the effect
seemed to be considerably intensified by rapid changes of mood, phrases and
sections of highly contrasting moods were placed in juxtaposition. One of the
the most significant representatives of the empfindsamer Stil were Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach.
The Singing Style (Music Style)- Music performed by human voice (Heinrich
Christoph Koch)
The Brilliant Style - Rapid passages for virtuoso display, has been a
mainstay of modern topic theory, often invoked in conjunction with the singing
style to account for the basic contrastive mechanism of the classical style.
Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) - a late 18th century German literary
movement characterized by works containing rousing action and high
emotionalism that often deal with the individual's revolt against society.
Learned Style (Music Style) -
French Overture -
Turkish Music -
Strict Style -
Minuet (Dance Type)-
Contredanse (Dance Type) -
Gigue (Dance Type)-
March (Dance Type)-
Hunt Style (Music Style) - The sound of hunting trumpets
Pastoral Style (Music Style) -

Lecture 3 Romantic Era

Romanticism Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet 1st movement - A movement or,
more commonly, period of cultural history. When understood as a period,
Romanticism is usually identified with either the first half or the whole of the 19th
century.
-Austria-germany, the dominant site of musical activity.
-Harmonies became more adventurous, breakdown of tonal harmony.
-Freedom of form and design. More personal and emotional.
-Music more closely aligned with other arts. Rise of programme music.
-Experimentation with other genres, e.g. symphonic poem, music drama.
-Size of works operated in two conflicting directions (very big (expansions to the
symphony and opera) and very small (preludes, piano miniatures, song, Liszt piano
transcriptions).
-Strategies developed for extending and unifying works e.g. cyclic forms.
-Song-like melodies (lyrical), as well as more chromatic harmonies and discords.
-Dramatic contrasts of dynamics and pitch.
-Big orchestras, due mainly to the brass and the invention of the valve (the piston
valve was invented in 1938 and patented in 1939)
-Wide variety of pieces (e.g. 5 hour Wagner operas)
-Shape was brought to work through the use of recurring themes.
-Nationalism (a reaction against German influence)
Musical Canon - Prevalence of repeat performances of works. Revivals of past
music. Big-name composers start to dominate the concert hall. Composers start to
become aware of their own legacies. Promotion of composers through criticism,
even after death. (Bach Revival)
Piano Transcriptions Liszt - Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz) - Piano transcriptions
were rewrites of a piece of music, either solo or ensemble, for piano.
Absolute Music Paganini Caprice No. 24 - A term referring to music which does not
relate to a story or scene. It elevated the idea that music was art for arts sake.
Programme Music Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique
depicts the obsessive love of a young artist through his opium-induced dreams elegant. First
movement to intense last movement used the same, varied motifs). - The term
programme music was introduced by Liszt. It means music of a narrative or
descriptive kind; the term is often extended to all music that attempts to represent
extra-musical concepts without resort to sung words. Programme music strives to tell
a story by suggesting visual images and emotions using expressive techniques. The
storyline of this style of music is called the programme and was often suggested in
the title of the piece.
musical motifs (or motives) - short melodic or rhythmic ideas used to represent
characters or images
transformation of themes where a basic theme undergoes changes to mirror a
situation
orchestral colour - use of instruments to represent characters or images
direct imitation of sounds eg birdsong or thunder
harmony, dynamics, tempo and key

The German Lied (The German Song) - (German poetry sung with
accompaniment) Fusion of German sensibility with the richness of Italian vocal
music
Song Cycle - (Schumanns Lied; The entire song-cycle tells the story of a wifes love
for her husband from their meeting to his death)
Incidental Music - Music used in a film or play as a background to create or
enhance a particular atmosphere.
Concerto - A work in which solo instruments are contrasted and blended with the
orchestra.
Symphony - A term now normally taken to signify an extended work for orchestra.
Typically contains multiple movements. The symphony became the chief vehicle of
orchestral music in the late 18th century, and from the time of Beethoven came to be
regarded as its highest and most exalted form.
Symphonic Poem - A large, free form in one movement. Intended to outline a
definite story or paint pictures and evoke moods. Liszt was the first to create a series
of works in this style. The main idea of the symphonic poem was not to pay attention
to musical forms such as the sonata form, but to encourage the audience to reflect
upon scenes and moods that they believe is being expressed.
Etude Paganini Caprice No. 24 - Liszt was one of the main composers to also
specialise in the concert etude, such as his Transcendental tudes. These pieces
were extremely difficult and challenged the skill of the player, meaning musicians
were encouraged to improve and therefore aided the rise of the virtuoso performer ).
Paganini wrote long scalic figures in rapid succession and other virtuosic
compositional features that thoroughly displayed the full range of techniques
possible on the violin; legato, staccato, pizzicato, double stopping, harmonics,
reaching the limits of the violins pitch, conjunct and disjunct melodic lines etc.
Opera - Opera is a drama set to music to be sung with instruments accompanied by
singers usually in costume.

Lecture 4 - Historical Performance Practice + Classical Repertoire

Historical Performance Practice/Authenticity in performance - Being authentic,

being historically accurate, being true to the original sources and context of the
performance. Music is usually played on instruments corresponding to the period of
the piece being played, such as period instruments for early music.
Topics in classical music - Denote musical motifs or ideas of contrasting character
and emotions. Their arrangement in the composition creates a musical narrative (a
story line). Musical topics contribute BOTH to the musical syntax and musics
expressive character. Topics may create a light-hearted, comical, or witty effect, or
more melancholy and reflective character.
Style - In music, style requires a consideration of technical features, such as melody,
texture, rhythm and harmony. Style may determine historical periodisation (Classical,
Romantic, National). Period style is something a composer adopts whilst bringing
their own personal identity to it. Listeners develop a sense of musical style, from
exposure to music, which helps them identify differences between historical periods,
genres, composers and musical works.
E.g. Mozart Piano Sonata No.6 in D major K 284
-

Lecture 5 - Historical Performance Practice + Romantic Era

Early nineteenth-century piano concerto (e.g. Beethovens Op. 58)

Virtuosic - A performance of exceptional accomplishment. There is sometimes an
implication that a virtuoso performance excludes emotional and expressive artistry,
or subdues it to technical display, but a true virtuoso is both technician and artist.
Fortepiano - (e.g. early nineteenth century, una corda & sustaining pedal
mechanism)
It had a large capacity for expression
A stronger/bigger instrument than its earlier keyboard counterparts (the
clavichord and the harpsichord), Beethovens had a six octave range, there
was a sustaining pedal alongside the una corda mechanism, the sustaining
pedal was no longer controlled by a knee level but by a foot pedal and
switching between una corda to due corde to tre corde with foot pedals and
having a sustain pedal creates a nicer tone.
Tempo rubato - The expressive alteration of rhythm or tempo. In an earlier type, the
melody is altered while the accompaniment maintains strict time. A later type
involves rhythmic flexibility of the entire musical substance.
Rhetorical performance practice (i.e. a speaking style of performing) Bringing out
the surface detail through contrast in dynamics, articulation, accents or tempo results
in a rhetorical style of performance. Like speech, which contains variety and
contrast.

Lecture 6 - Popular Music

Popular Music - A term used widely in everyday discourse, generally to refer to
types of music that are considered to be of lower value and complexity than art
music, and to be readily accessible to large numbers of musically uneducated
listeners rather than to an elite. It has roots in European classical music and
African-American music.
Blues - The African-American music that came about as a result of and in response
to the slavery and oppression faced in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Oxford
Companion To Music - A black American folksong tradition that influenced deeply
the evolution of jazz and other popular musics of the 20th century. In origin, the
blues refers to a state of melancholy and depression; it came during the second half
of the 19th century to be seen by Black Americans as their characteristic emotion,
and was later applied to the kind of singing that expressed it.
Progressive Rock - A style of rock music of the early 1970s with a tendency to
eclecticism, producing compositions influenced by classical music, folk music, and
jazz, and also encompassing heavy or hard rock.
Concept Album - A rock album featuring a cycle of songs expressing a particular
theme or idea.

Lecture 7 - Jazz
Jazz - Frank Tirro - the music that came into being through the African-American
experience in the southern part of the United States during the late nineteenth
century and first blossomed in the vicinity of New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth
century. Common features include:
Improvisation
Rhythm sections in ensembles (often drums, bass, and chordal instr.: piano,
banjo guitar)
Metronomic pulse to which syncopated melodies/rhythms are added
Reliance on popular song form and blues form in many performances
 Tonal harmonic organization with frequent use of blues scale for melodic
material
Timbral and articulatory vocal and instr. features (vibratos, glissandi, accents)
Performer or performer/composer aesthetic rather than a composer-centred
orientation
1. Jazz is the right beat.
2. Jazz is inspired improvisation in a syncopated style.
3. Jazz is syncopated syncopation.
4. Jazz is the right swing.
5. Jazz is free syncopated polyphony over a steady beat.
6. Jazz is African rhythms united with European harmony.
7. Jazz is continuous syncopation.
8. Jazz is an African art form which, arising in this country (USA), utilized and
transformed much European material.

Improvisation - The use of free embellishment around a melody, scale, chord

progression or mode. In the early days of jazzs development it was largely focused
on group improvisations (Original Dixieland Jass Band), and then transitioned more
to solo improvisations in the style of Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane &
co.
Syncopation - a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent in music
caused typically by stressing the weak beat
Swing - The placement of eight notes in such a way that the notes alternate from
long-short, as opposed to being the same length, thus giving the music a lilting feel.
A less literal definition would be that it describes the feeling/vibe of a collective group
when playing/collaborating/improvising together.

Lecture 8 - Nationalism
Music Nationalism (in the 19th century) - Difficult to pin down to a single definition.
Also described as Patriotism, which may be expressed in music by composers or
those who control performance.
Romantic nationalism - 19th Century Nationalism and Romanticism often merged
into the same creative agenda: the search for individual expression was now
motivated by the search for a collective identity.The major patrons of music at the
time were aristocrats. Their patronage declined in the nineteenth century as a result
of social revolutions that lessened their political power and gave prominence to the
middle classes.
Folk Music - Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved
from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century
but is often applied to music that is older than that. Folk song and Folk music
became important national-cultural symbols in the 19th century and in the
construction of new-nation states.
Volkslied - Folksong, but often extended to incl. nat. and popular song which is
properly covered by term Volkstmliches Lied.
Folk Tradition (e.g. aurally transmitted, non-notated) - The folk tradition is that
folk music should be aurally transmitted, non-notated music, passed down within
generations.
Strophic form - Strophic form (also called "verse-repeating" or chorus form) is the
term applied to songs in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same
music. The opposite of strophic form, with new music written for every stanza, is
called through-composed. Many folk and popular songs are strophic in form,
including the twelve bar blues, ballads, hymns and chants. Examples include
"Barbara Allen", "Erie Canal", and "Michael Row and the Boat Ashore". Also "Oh!
[3]

Susanna" (A = verse & chorus).

Hardanger fiddle - A Hardanger fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument used
originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very
similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a
standard violin) and thinner wood. Four of the strings are strung and played like a
violin, while the rest, aptly named understrings or sympathetic strings, resonate
under the influence of the other four. The Hardanger fiddle was mainly used in the
southwest part of Norway, whereas an ordinary violin is found elsewhere.
Modes - The scales that dominated European music for 1,100 years and strongly
influenced composers for another hundred years. They have since reappeared in the
work of some composers, especially in the 20th century. The notes of which
constitute the scale were worked out scientifically by Pythagoras and the Greek
thinkers in the 4th century B.C. In the 5th century 4 modes were adopted (authentic
modes) and then between c. 540-604 4 more were added (Plagal) and later 4 more,
making 12. Nearly 1000 years later, Henricus Glareanus had a theory that there
should be 12 modes instead of 8: Dorian, HypoDorian, Phrygian, HypoPhrygian,
Lydian, HypoLydian, Mixolydian, HypoMixolydian, Aeolian, HypoAeolian, Ionian and
HypoIonian. The difference between the various modes is not one of pitch but of the
order in which fall the tones and semitones. With the development of harmonised
music the modal system in time tended to disintegrate: the two Authentic modes
added by Glareanus (Ionian and Aeolian) were felt to be most suited to harmony and
have remained as our major and minor scales. The other modes, however, are
used in Plainsong, some folk-song, and occasionally in the work of certain
composers such as Vaughan Williams, Bartok and Kodaly.

Lecture 9 - 20th Century 1

Modernism - A term used in music to denote a multi-faceted but distinct and
continuous tradition within 20th-century composition. It may also refer to 20th-
century trends in aesthetic theory, scholarship and performing practice. Modernism
is a consequence of the fundamental conviction among successive generations of
composers since 1900 that the means of musical expression in the 20th century
must be adequate to the unique and radical character of the age.

Lecture 10 - 20th Century 2

Expressionism - A term applied to prominent artistic trends before, during and after
World War I, especially in the visual arts and literature in Austria and Germany. By
analogy it may apply to music of that time, or more generally to any music, in which
an extravagant and apparently chaotic surface conveys turbulence in the composers
psyche.

Lecture 11 - Film Music

Mickey-Mousing - A technique in film and animation that syncs the accompanying
music with the actions on screen. Matching movement to music.
Diegetic Music - Music that can be heard within the frame, for example, a radio.
Non-Diegetic Music - Music that cannot be heard within the frame, for example, a
soundtrack.