rag Instrumental work in RAGTIME style, usually in the FORM of a MARCH.
ragtime Musical style that features SYNCOPATED rhythm against a regular, marchlike BASS.
range A span of NOTES, as in the range of a MELODY or of a MODE.
realization Performing (or creating a performable edition of) music whose NOTATION is incomplete, as in playing a BASSO CONTINUO or completing a piece left unfinished by its composer.
recapitulation In SONATA FORM, the third main section, which restates the material from the EXPOSITION, normally all in the TONIC.
recital Term popularized by Franz Liszt for his solo piano performances and used
today for any presentation given by a single performer or a small group.
récitatif mesuré (French, "measured recitative") In French BAROQUE OPERA, RECITATIVE in a songlike, measured style, in a uniform METER, and with relatively steady motion in the accompaniment.
récitatif simple (French, "simple recitative") In French BAROQUE OPERA, RECITATIVE that shifts frequently between duple and triple METER to allow the natural speechlike declamation of the words.
recitation formula In CHANT, a simple outline MELODY used for a variety of texts.
recitative A passage or section in an OPERA, ORATORIO, CANTATA, or other vocal work in RECITATIVE STYLE
recitative style (from Italian stile recitativo, "recitational style") A type of vocal singing that approaches speech and follows the natural rhythms of the text.
recitativo arioso A passage or selection in an OPERA or other vocal work in a style that lies somewhere between RECITATIVE STYLE and ARIA style.
reciting tone (also called TENOR) The second most important NOTE in a MODE (after the FINAL), often emphasized in CHANT and used for reciting text in a PSALM TONE.
recorder End-blown wind instrument with a whistle mouthpiece, usually made of wood.
refrain In a song, a recurring line (or lines) of text, usually set to a recurring MELODY.
reminiscence motive In an OPERA, a MOTIVE, THEME, or MELODY that recurs in a later scene, in order to recall the events and feelings with which it was first associated. Compare LEITMOTIV.
Renaissance (French, "rebirth") PERIOD of art, cultural, and music history between the Middle Ages and the BAROQUE PERIOD, marked by HUMANISM, a revival of ancient culture and ideas, and a new focus on the individual, the world, and the senses.
respond The first part of a RESPONSORIAL CHANT, appearing before and sometimes repeated after the PSALM verse.
responsorial Pertaining to a manner of performing CHANT in which a soloist alternates with a group.
responsory RESPONSORIAL CHANT used in the OFFICE. Matins includes nine Great Responsories, and several other Office services include a Short Responsory.
retrograde Backward statement of a previously heard MELODY, passage, or TWELVE-TONE ROW.
retrograde inversion Upside-down and backward statement of a MELODY or TWELVE-TONE ROW.
revue Type of musical theater that includes a variety of dances, songs, comedy, and other acts, often united by a common theme.
rhythm (1) The pattern of music's movement in time. (2) A particular pattern of short and long durations.
rhythm section In a JAZZ ENSEMBLE, the group of instruments that keeps the beat and fills in the background.
rhythm-and-blues African-American style of POPULAR MUSIC, originating in the 1940s, that featured a vocalist or vocal quartet, PIANO or organ, electric guitar, bass, and drums, and songs built on TWELVE-BAR BLUES or POPULAR SONG formulas.
rhythmic modes System of six durational patterns (for example, mode 1, long-short) used in POLYPHONY of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, used as the basis of the rhythmic NOTATION of the Notre Dame composers.
ricercare (ricercar) (Italian, "to seek out" or "to attempt") (1) In the early to mid-sixteenth century, a PRELUDE in the style of an IMPROVISATION. (2) From the late sixteenth century on, an instrumental piece that treats one or more SUBJECTS in IMITATION.
ripieno (Italian, "full) In a SOLO CONCERTO or CONCERTO GROSSO, designates the full ORCHESTRA. Also called TUTTI.
rite The set of practices that defines a particular Christian tradition, including a CHURCH CALENDAR, a LITURGY, and a repertory of CHANT.
ritornello (Italian, "refrain") (1) In a fourteenth-century MADRIGAL, the closing section, in a different METER from the preceding verses. (2) In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century vocal music, instrumental introduction or interlude between sung stanzas. (3) In an ARIA or similar piece, an instrumental passage that recurs several times, like a refrain. Typically, it is played at the beginning, as interludes (often in modified form), and again at the end, and it states the main THEME. (4) In a fast MOVEMENT of a CONCERTO, the recurring thematic material played at the beginning by the full orchestra and repeated, usually in varied form, throughout the movement and at the end.
ritornello form Standard FORM for fast MOVEMENTS in CONCERTOS of the first half of the eighteenth century, featuring a RITORNELLO (4) for full ORCHESTRA that alternates with EPISODES characterized by virtuosic material played by one or more soloists.
rock and roll (or rock) A musical style that emerged in the United States in the mid-1950s as a blend of black and white traditions of POPULAR MUSIC, primarily RHYTHM-AND-BLUES, COUNTRY MUSIC, POP MUSIC, and TIN PAN ALLEY.
Romantic Term applied to music of the nineteenth century. Romantic music had looser and more extended FORMS, greater experimentation with HARMONY and TEXTURE, richly expressive and memorable MELODIES, improved musical instruments, an interest in musical NATIONALISM, and a view of music as a moral force, in which there was a link between the artists' inner lives and the world around them.
rondeau (pl. rondeaux) (1) French FORME FIXE with a single stanza and the musical FORM ABaAabAB, with capital letters indicating lines of REFRAIN and lowercase letters indicating new text set to music from the refrain. (2) FORM in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century instrumental music in which a repeated STRAIN alternates with other strains, as in the pattern AABACA.
rondellus Technique in medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or three PHRASES of music, first heard simultaneously in different voices, are each sung in turn by each of the voices.
rondo Piece or MOVEMENT in RONDO FORM.
rondo form Musical FORM in which the first or main section recurs, usually in the TONIC, between subsidiary sections or EPISODES.
root The lowest NOTE in a CHORD when it is arranged as a succession of thirds.
rota FORM of medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or more voices sing the same MELODY, entering at different times and repeating the melody until all stop together. See CANON.
rounded binary form BINARY FORM in which the latter part of the first section returns at the end of the second section, but in the TONIC.
row In TWELVE-TONE MUSIC, an ordering of all twelve PITCH-CLASSES that is used to generate the musical content.
rubato (from Italian tempo rubato, "stolen time") Technique common in ROMANTIC music in which the performer holds back or hurries the written NOTE values.
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