Monday, September 21, 2015

A Sample Western Music History Study Guide (Part 1)

BOULANGER, NADIA (1887-1979)
--In her whole life, she approached music with an almost
  religious intensity and devotion.
--She began teaching at the American Conservatory at
  Fontainebleau near Paris in 1921 (just as a new
  generation of Americans were arriving in Europoe
  to study music.
--During WWII, she taught at a number of distinguished
  schools in the United States.

BUUS, JACQUES
He was the Italian composer who wrote these organ pieces:
Intabolatura d'organo di ricecari di libro primo, 1549
Ricercari terzo e quarto dell'intabolatura diorgano,  1549

CANARIE
In Louis Couperin's time, it was similar to the quique.

CAPULET, ANDRÉ (1878-1929)
He was a younger composer than Debussy, and also a close
friend of him. He graduated at the Conservatoire, was a good conductor and not a radical.

CIRCULAR CANON
A canon closing in the key a semitone above that in which in begins. The repetitions would thus carry it through the
"circle" of 12 keys.

CHANDOS ANTHEMS
An anthem for soloist, chorus, and orchestra composed by
Handel (1717-1718), for Jars Brydges, later John of Chandos. Included is a Te Deum and a Jubilate.

CIBELL(CIBELL)
An English harpsichord or ensemble piece ca. 1680-1710 in imitation of the gavotte "Descente de Cybelle" in Jean-
Baptiste Lully's opera Alys (1670), act 1. Henry Purcell's
version (or "old Cibell") was itself imitated, creating a
second generation of the genre.

CONCORD SONATA
Charles Ives' 2nd piano sonata, composed in 1910-1915. Its
complete title is Concord, Massachusetts, 1840-1860, and
its four movements are titled, respectively: "Emerson",
"Hawthorne", "The Alcotts", and "Thoreau."  The last movement includes an optional part for flute.

CREATION
An oratorio by Joseph Haydn, which has three parts
Part 1--The First 3 Days
Part 2--The First 4 Days
Part 3--The Garden of Eden

EDGAR
This was Puccini's second opera, which was more of a flop
than the first opera, Le Villi, and he slipped more into
poverty before he made good success on his next opera,
Manon Lescaut.

EUCHORICS
The name given in Britain (apparently from the 1930s) to the art of verse-speaking in chorus, an art successfully produced in various countries.

FRENCH ORGAN COMPOSERS
The common French Baroque organ composers in the period
were:

Louis Daquin (1694-1772)
Nichlas Gigault (1627-1707)
Nicolas Lèbegue (1631-1702)
Louis Marchand (1669-1732
Henri Du Mont (1610-1681)
Guillamue Nivers (1632-1714)
André Raison (1650-1719)
Jean Titelouze (1563-1633)


GAULTIER, DENIS(1603-1672)
He was the principal Fench composer of the Baroque period.

GRACIEUSE, LA
Chopin's Ballad in F major (A minor), op. 38.

GREGORIAN CHANT
Variously referred to us plainsong or plainchant; it was the principal religious music of the Roman Catholic Church
from about the first 1000 years. It constitutes the largest and oldest single body of Christian music. Gregorian chant
is imporant because it was the source of religious polyphony
in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

HEXENMENUET
The 3rd movement of the String Quartet in D minor,  op.
70, no. 2, by Haydn.

I HATE MUSIC
--In F major, this piece by Leonard Bernstein, with some
  5/8 meter in some cases.

INTERDETERMINACY
The intentional utilization of some degree of chance in composition or performance, in which John Cage was the
main composer.

KIRNGERGER, JOHANN PHILIPP (1721-1783)

He was a pupil of Bach, a violinist, composer, and theorist. He left a variety of compositions, and
(especially) many theoretical works.

LANGSAM, MIT INNIGEM AUSDRUCK
Tempo indication of the 6th song from Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben,  which is in C major, and in 4/4/ time.

LIÈGE, JACQUES DE(1260-1330?)
French music composer who composed the treatist Speculum
musicae, the largest surviving Medieval treatise on music.

MELODIA
Zarlino's form for a polyphonic vocal composition, which has the three parts:
--Harmony
--Rhythm
--Text

MINNESINGER
German Medieval musicians who sang of courtly love.

OPEN FORM
A musical form that does not end with a conclusive ending formula or cadence.

OPEN HARMONY
In 4-part harmony, an arrangement of voices such that the
3 upper voices have a total range of more than an octave.

PACHELBEL, WILHELM (1685-1764)
This composer followed his father as organist at Nürnberg. He was a virtuoso-type who transferred his virtuosic style in most of his own compositions, with usu. involves double
trills in thirds.

PANTOMINE
Synonym for atonality. Schönberg preferred this term indi-
cating the combination of all keys rather than the absence
of any.

PASSAMEZZO
An old Italian dance in duple time, like the Pavane, but
faster.

PHILOSOPHIC, THE
Popular name for the Symphony no. 6 in A major by Bruckner.

RAVEL, MAURICE (1875-1937)
--What makes Ravel music different from Debussy that it is 
  more classical, almost always, although Debussy
  experimented in form.
--Also, pedaling was marked more in Ravel, and he does not
  usually use copious musical instructions. yet, he seems
  clear on what the performer expected. His piano style
  had some influence on Debussy, when Ravel wrote his
  Jeux d'eau.
--In general, Debussy was a devotée of Chopin, but Ravel
  seems to have a pianistic style similar to Liszt.
--Like Debussy, Ravel likes to make the piano sound like an
  orchestra.

RONDEAU
This means "round" in French. It refers to Couperin's
ordres; in this piece, the musical form "rondeau" would have an A section, and each new part (B, C, D) would be called a couplet. Soon, rondeaux was passed on to some of
the Baroque keyboard suiets (esp. Bach's Partita in C minor, which has an ABACADA pattern.)

QUODLIBET
A musical medley; potpourri; Dutch concert. Originally,
a piece employing several well-known tunes from various
sources.

RAMEAU, JEAN-PHILIPPE
He was the most important French composer of harpsichord
music.

SCARLATTI, DOMENICO (1685-1757)
He was the son of Alessandro Scarlatti. Domenico moved
to Portugal to play for Princess Maria Barbara. He then got
married and spent the rest of his 28 years (ca. 1729) in
Spain. Domenico had 9 children and 2 wives; he wrote over
500 sonatas.

STATISTICAL MUSIC
This is music that depends only as approximate orientation.

STEIBELT, DANIEL (1765-1823)
He was a famous pianist at the showy stomp, and a composer of operas and other works now forgotten-though occasional piano pieces come the way of the practice pianist.

SUSANNA
This is an American opera written in the 20th century, with music by Carlisle Floyd. Setting: in a Tennesee village.

VERGEBLICHES STAENDCHEN
This art song by Johannes Brahms is in 4 parts in the key of A major, but the third part is briefly in A minor

VISIONS FUGITIVES (FLEETING VISIONS)
Sergei's Prokoviev's title for a series of 20 piano pieces in a vareity of moods, suggested by a poem of the Russian
poet Balmont:

"In every fleeting vision I see worlds full of the changing play of rainbow hues."

ZARLINO
A musical theorist from Italy. He used these Italian/Greek
terms
Diastemata--Spaces or intervals
Maniere--Styles
Systemata--Composers or ordered compounds
Trihemitone--A minor third
Enharmonic by two dieses and a ditone--A major third

ZOPF STIL

A pejorative term used in the 19th century to refer to music by then out of date, from the period of pigtails and powdered wigs of the 18th century.

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