Abgesang (pronounced AHP-ge-zong) See BAR FORM.

absolute music Music that is independent of words, drama, visual images, or any kind of representational aspects.

a cappella (Italian, "in chapel style") Manner of choral singing without instrumental accompaniment.

accidental Sign that calls for altering the pitch of a NOTE: a sharp raises the pitch a semitone, a flat lowers it a semitone, and a natural cancels a previous accidental.

accompanied recitative RECITATIVE that uses ORCHESTRAL accompaniment to dramatize the text.

act Main division of an OPERA. Most operas have two to five acts, although some have only one.

affections Objectified or archetypal emotions or states of mind, such as sadness, joy, fear, or wonder; one goal of much BAROQUE music was to arouse the affections.

Agnus Dei (Latin, "Lamb of God") Fifth of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based on a litany.

agrément (French, "charm"; pronounced ah-gray-MANH) ORNAMENT in French music, usually indicated by a sign.

air English or French song for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, setting rhymed poetry, often STROPHIC, and usually in the METER of a dance.

air de cour (French, "court air") Type of song for voice and accompaniment, prominent in France from about 1580 through the seventeenth century.

Alberti bass Broken-CHORD accompaniment common in the second half of the eighteenth century and named after Domenico Alberti, who used the FIGURATION frequently.

Alleluia Item from the MASS PROPER, sung just before the Gospel reading, comprising a RESPOND to the text "Alleluia," a verse, and a repetition of the respond. CHANT alleluias are normally MELISMATIC in style and sung in a RESPONSORIAL manner, one or more soloists alternating with the CHOIR.

allemande (French for "German") Highly stylized DANCE in BINARY FORM, in moderately fast quadruple METER with almost continuous movement, beginning with an upbeat. Popular during the RENAISSANCE and BAROQUE; appearing often as the first dance in a SUITE.

alto (from ALTUS) (1) Relatively low female voice, or high male voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.

altus (Latin, "high") In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, a part in a range between the TENOR and the SUPERIUS; originally CONTRATENOR ALTUS.

Ambrosian chant A repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in Milan.

answer In the EXPOSITION of a FUGUE, the second entry of the SUBJECT, normally on the DOMINANT if the subject was on the TONIC, and vice versa. Also refers to subsequent answers to the subject.

anthem A POLYPHONIC sacred work in English for Anglican religious services.

antiphon (1) A LITURGICAL CHANT that precedes and follows a PSALM or CANTICLE in the OFFICE. (2) In the MASS, a chant originally associated with ANTIPHONAL PSALMODY; specifically, the COMMUNION and the first and final portion of the INTROIT.

antiphonal Adjective describing a manner of performance in which two or more groups alternate.

Aquitanian polyphony Style of POLYPHONY from the twelfth century, encompassing both DISCANT and FLORID ORGANUM.

aria (Italian, "air") (1) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, any section of an Italian STROPHIC poem for a solo singer. (2) Lyrical monologue in an OPERA or other vocal work such as CANTATA and ORATORIO.

arioso (1) RECITATIVO ARIOSO. (2) Short, ARIA-like passage. (3) Style of vocal writing that approaches the lyricism of an ARIA but is freer in form.

arpeggio (from Italian arpa, "harp") Broken-CHORD FIGURE.

Ars Nova (Latin, "new art") Style of POLYPHONY from fourteenth-century France, distinguished from earlier styles by a new system of rhythmic NOTATION that allowed duple or triple division of NOTE values, SYNCOPATION, and great rhythmic flexibility.

Ars Subtilior (Latin, "more subtle art") Style of POLYPHONY from the late fourteenth or very early fifteenth centuries in southern France and northern Italy, distinguished by extreme complexity in rhythm and NOTATION.

art music Music that is (or is meant to be) listened to with rapt attention, for its own sake. Compare POPULAR MUSIC.

art song A song intended to be appreciated as an artistic statement rather than as entertainment, featuring precisely notated music, usually THROUGH COMPOSED, and requiring professional standards of performance. Compare POPULAR SONG.

atonal, atonality Terms for music that avoids establishing a central pitch or tonal center (such as the TONIC in TONAL music).

aulos Ancient Greek reed instrument, usually played in pairs.

authentic mode A MODE (2) in which the RANGE normally extends from a STEP below the FINAL to an octave above it. See also PLAGAL MODE.

avant-garde Term for music (and art) that is iconoclastic, irreverent, antagonistic, and nihilistic, seeking to overthrow established aesthetics. ballad (1) Long narrative poem, or musical setting of such a poem. (2) Late-eighteenth-century German poetic form that imitated the folk ballad of England and Scotland and was set to music by German composers. The ballad expanded the LIED in both FORM and emotional content.

ballad opera GENRE of eighteenth-century English comic play featuring songs in which new words are set to borrowed tunes.

ballade (1) French FORME FIXE, normally in three stanzas, in which each stanza has the musical FORM aab and ends with a REFRAIN. (2) Instrumental piece inspired by the GENRE of narrative poetry.

ballata (from Italian ballare, "to dance"; pl. ballate) Fourteenth-century Italian song GENRE with the FORM AbbaA, in which A is the ripresa or REFRAIN, and the single stanza consists of two piedi (bb) and a volta (a) sung to the music of the ripresa.

ballet In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France, an entertainment in which both professionals and guests danced; later, a stage work danced by professionals.

balletto, ballett (Italian, "little dance") Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, dancelike, HOMOPHONIC style with repeated sections and "fa-la-la" refrains.

band Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments, or of brass and percussion instruments without winds.

bar form Song FORM in which the first section of MELODY is sung twice with different texts (the two STOLLEN) and the remainder (the ABGESANG) is sung once.

bard Medieval poet-singer, especially of epics.

Baroque (from Portuguese barroco, "a misshapen pearl") PERIOD of music history from about 1600 to about 1750, overlapping the late RENAISSANCE and early CLASSIC periods.

bas (French, "low"; pronounced BAH) In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, term for soft instruments such as VIELLES and HARPS. See HAUT.

bass (from BASSUS) (1) The lowest part in an ENSEMBLE work. (2) Low male voice. (3) Low instrument, especially the string bass or bass VIOL.

basse danse (French, "low dance") Type of stately couple DANCE of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

basso continuo (Italian, "continuous bass") (1) System of NOTATION and performance practice, used in the BAROQUE PERIOD, in which an instrumental BASS line is written out and one or more players of keyboard, LUTE, or similar instruments fill in the HARMONY with appropriate CHORDS or IMPROVISED MELODIC lines. (2) The bass line itself.

basso ostinato (Italian, "persistent bass") or ground bass A pattern in the BASS that repeats while the MELODY above it changes.

bassus (Latin, "low") In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the lowest part; originally CONTRATENOR BASSUS.

bebop (or bop) A style of JAZZ developed in New York in the 1940s that had a diversified RHYTHMIC texture, enriched HARMONIC vocabulary, and an emphasis on IMPROVISATION with rapid MELODIES and asymmetrical PHRASES. bel canto (Italian, "beautiful singing") Elegant Italian vocal style of the early nineteenth century marked by lyrical, embellished, and florid melodies that show off the beauty, agility, and fluency of the singer's voice.

big band Type of large JAZZ ENSEMBLE popular between the world wars, featuring brass, reeds, and RHYTHM SECTIONS, and playing prepared arrangements that included rhythmic unisons and coordinated dialogue between sections and soloists.

binary form A FORM comprised of two complementary sections, each of which is repeated. The first section usually ends on the DOMINANT or the relative major, although it many end of the TONIC or other KEY; the second section returns to the tonic.

blue note Slight drop or slide in pitch on the third, fifth, or seventh degree of a MAJOR SCALE, common in BLUES and JAZZ.

blues (1) African-American vocal GENRE that is based on a simple repetitive formula and characterized by a distinctive style of performance. (2) TWELVE-BAR BLUES.

bop See BEBOP.

branle gay RENAISSANCE DANCE in a lively triple METER based on a sideways swaying step.

breve (from Latin brevis, "short") In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE that is normally equal to half or a third of a LONG.

bull lyre Sumerian LYRE with a bull's head at one end of the soundbox.

burden (1) In English medieval POLYPHONY, the lowest voice. (2) In the English CAROL, the REFRAIN.

Byzantine chant The repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in the Byzantine RITE and in the modern Greek Orthodox Church.
cabaletta In the operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the last part of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, which was lively and brilliant and expressed active feelings, such as joy or despair. See also CANTABILE and TEMPO DI MEZZO.

cabaret Type of nightclub, first introduced in nineteenth-century Paris, that offered serious or comic sketches, dances, songs, and poetry.

caccia (Italian, "hunt"; pronounced CAH-cha; pl. cacce) Fourteenth-century Italian FORM featuring two voices in CANON over a free untexted TENOR.

cadence MELODIC or HARMONIC succession that closes a musical PHRASE, PERIOD, section, or COMPOSITION.

cadenza (Italian, "cadence") Highly embellished passage, often IMPROVISED, at an important CADENCE, usually occurring just before the end of a piece or section.

café-concert Type of dining establishment, prominent in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Paris, that combined the food and drink of a café with musical entertainment, usually songs on sentimental, comic, or political topics.

call and response Alternation of short PHRASES between a leader and a group; used especially for music in the African-American tradition.

cambiata (Italian, "changed") Figure in sixteenth-century POLYPHONY in which a voice skips down from a DISSONANCE to a CONSONANCE instead of resolving by STEP, then moves to the expected NOTE of resolution.

Camerata (Italian, "circle" or "association") Circle of intellectuals and amateurs of the arts that met in Florence, Italy, in the 1570s and 1580s.

canon (Latin, "rule") (1) Rule for performing music, particularly for deriving more than one voice from a single line of notated music, as when several voices sing the same MELODY, entering at certain intervals of time or singing at different speeds simultaneously. (2) COMPOSITION in which the voices enter successively at determined pitch and time intervals, all performing the same MELODY.

cantabile (Italian, "songlike") (1) Songful, lyrical, in a songlike style. (2) In the operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the first section of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, somewhat slow and expressing a relatively calm mood. See also CABELETTA and TEMPO DI MEZZO.

cantata (Italian, "to be sung") (1) In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a vocal chamber work with CONTINUO, usually for solo voice, consisting of several sections or MOVEMENTS that include RECITATIVES and ARIAS and setting a lyrical or quasi-dramatic text. (2) Form of Lutheran church music in the eighteenth century, combining poetic texts with texts drawn from CHORALES or the Bible, and including RECITATIVES, ARIAS, chorale settings, and usually one or more CHORUSES. (3) In later eras, a work for soloists, CHORUS, and ORCHESTRA in several MOVEMENTS but smaller than an ORATORIO.

canticle HYMN-like or PSALM-like passage from a part of the Bible other than the Book of Psalms.

cantiga Medieval MONOPHONIC song in Spanish or Portuguese.

cantilena (Latin, "song") POLYPHONIC song not based on a CANTUS FIRMUS; used especially for polyphonic songs by English composers of the late thirteenth through early fifteenth centuries.

cantillation Chanting of a sacred text by a solo singer, particularly in the Jewish synagogue.

cantional style (from Latin cantionale, "songbook") Manner of setting CHORALES in CHORDAL HOMOPHONY with the MELODY in the highest voice.

cantor In Jewish synagogue music, the main solo singer. In the medieval Christian church, the leader of the CHOIR.

cantus (Latin, "melody") In POLYPHONY of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, the highest voice, especially the texted voice in a polyphonic song.

cantus firmus (Latin, "fixed melody") An existing MELODY, often taken from a GREGORIAN CHANT, on which a new POLYPHONIC work is based; used especially for MELODIES presented in long NOTES.

cantus-firmus mass POLYPHONIC MASS in which the same CANTUS FIRMUS is used in each MOVEMENT, normally in the TENOR.

cantus-firmus/imitation mass POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same polyphonic work, using that work's TENOR (sometimes the SUPERIUS) as a CANTUS FIRMUS, normally in the tenor, and borrowing some elements from the other voices of the model to use in the other voices of the mass.

cantus-firmus variations Instrumental GENRE of the late 1500s and early 1600s, comprising a set of VARIATIONS in which the MELODY repeats with little change but is surrounded by different CONTRAPUNTAL material in each variation.

canzona (canzon) (Italian, "song") (1) Sixteenth-century Italian GENRE, an instrumental work adapted from a CHANSON or composed in a similar style. (2) In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, an instrumental work in several contrasting sections, of which the first and some of the others are in IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT.

canzonetta, canzonet (Italian, "little song") Sixteenth-century Italian (and later English) song GENRE in a simple, mostly HOMOPHONIC style. Diminutive of CANZONA.

capriccio (Italian, "whim") (1) In the BAROQUE PERIOD, a FUGAL piece in continuous IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT. (2) In the nineteenth century, a short COMPOSITION in free FORM, usually for PIANO.

carol English song, usually on a religious subject, with several stanzas and a BURDEN, or REFRAIN. From the fifteenth century on, most carols are POLYPHONIC.

carole Medieval circle or line dance, or the MONOPHONIC song that accompanied it.

castrati (sing. castrato) Male singers who were castrated before puberty to preserve their high vocal RANGE, prominent in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, especially in OPERA.

catch English GENRE of CANON, usually with a humorous or ribald text.

cauda (Latin, "tail"; pl. caudae) MELISMATIC passage in a POLYPHONIC CONDUCTUS.

centonization (from Latin cento, "patchwork") A process of composing a new MELODY by combining standard MOTIVES and formulas, used in BYZANTINE CHANT.

chacona (Italian, ciaccona) A vivacious dance-song imported from Latin America into Spain and then into Italy, popular during the seventeenth century

chaconne (or ciaccona) BAROQUE GENRE derived from the CHACONA, consisting of VARIATIONS over a BASSO CONTINUO.

chamber sonata See SONATA DA CAMERA.

chance Approach to composing music pioneered by John Cage, in which some of the decisions normally made by the composer are instead determined through random procedures, such as tossing coins. Chance differs from INDETERMINACY but shares with it the result that the sounds in the music do not convey an intention and are therefore to be experienced only as pure sound.

chanson (French, "song"; pronounced shanh-SONH) Secular song with French words; used especially for POLYPHONIC songs of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries.

chanson de geste (French, "song of deeds") Type of medieval French epic recounting the deeds of national heroes, sung to MELODIC formulas.

chansonnier (French, "songbook") Manuscript collection of secular songs with French words; used both for collections of MONOPHONIC TROUBADOUR and TROUVèRE songs and for collections of POLYPHONIC songs.

chant (1) Unison unaccompanied song, particularly that of the Latin LITURGY (also called PLAINCHANT). (2) The repertory of unaccompanied liturgical songs of a particular RITE.

chant dialect One of the repertories of ecclesiastical CHANT, including GREGORIAN, BYZANTINE, AMBROSIAN, and OLD ROMAN CHANT.

chapel A group of salaried musicians and clerics employed by a ruler, nobleman, church official, or other patron, who officiate at and furnish music for religious services.

character piece A piece of CHARACTERISTIC MUSIC, especially one for PIANO.

characteristic (or descriptive) music Instrumental music that depicts or suggests a mood, personality, or scene, usually indicated in its title.

charts In postwar POPULAR MUSIC, weekly rankings of songs by sales or other measures of popularity.

choir A group of singers who perform together, singing either in unison or in parts. Used especially for the group that sings in a religious service.

choral society Amateur CHORUS whose members sing for their own enjoyment and may pay dues to purchase music, pay the CONDUCTOR, and meet other expenses.

chorale (pronounced ko-RAL) STROPHIC HYMN in the Lutheran tradition, intended to be sung by the congregation.

chorale motet CHORALE setting in the style of a sixteenth-century MOTET.

chorale prelude Relatively short setting for organ of a CHORALE MELODY, used as an introduction for congregational singing or as an interlude in a Lutheran church service.

chorale variations A set of VARIATIONS on a CHORALE MELODY.

chord Three or more simultaneous NOTES heard as a single entity. In TONAL music, three or more notes that can be arranged as a succession of thirds, such as a TRIAD.

chorus (1) Group of singers who perform together, usually with several singers on each part. (2) A MOVEMENT or passage for such a group in an ORATORIO, OPERA, or other multimovement work. (3) The REFRAIN of a POPULAR SONG. (4) In JAZZ, a statement of the HARMONIC PROGRESSION of the opening tune, over which one or more instruments play variants or new musical ideas.

chromatic (from Greek chroma, "color") (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD comprising a minor third and two SEMITONES, or a MELODY that uses such tetrachords. (2) Adjective describing a melody that uses two or more successive semitones in the same direction, a SCALE consisting exclusively of semitones, an INTERVAL or CHORD that draws NOTES from more than one DIATONIC scale, or music that uses many such melodies or chords.

chromatic saturation The appearance of all twelve PITCH-CLASSES within a segment of music.

chromaticism The use of many NOTES from the CHROMATIC SCALE in a passage or piece.

church calendar In a Christian RITE, the schedule of days commemorating special events, individuals, or times of year.

church sonata See SONATA DA CHIESA.

ciaccona See CHACONA.

Classic period In music history, the era from about 1730 to about 1815, between and overlapping the BAROQUE and ROMANTIC PERIODS.

classical music (1) Common term for ART MUSIC of all PERIODS, as distinct from POPULAR MUSIC or FOLK MUSIC. (2) Music in the tradition of the repertoire of musical masterworks that formed in the nineteenth century, including lesser works in the same GENRES (such as OPERA, ORATORIO, SYMPHONY, SONATA, STRING QUARTET, and ART SONG) or for the same performing forces and newly composed works intended as part of the same tradition. (3) Music in the CLASSIC PERIOD.

classical style Musical idiom of the eighteenth century, generally characterized by an emphasis on MELODY over relatively light accompaniment; simple, clearly articulated harmonic plans; PERIODIC phrasing; clearly delineated FORMS based on contrast between THEMES, between KEYS, between stable and unstable passages, and between sections with different functions; and contrasts of mood, style, and figuration within MOVEMENTS as well as between them.

clausula (Latin, "clause," pl. clausulae) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a self-contained section of an ORGANUM that closes with a CADENCE.

clavecin French term for HARPSICHORD. A person who performs on or composes works for the clavecin is known as a clavecinist.

clavichord Keyboard instrument popular between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The loudness, which depends on the force with which a brass blade strikes the strings, is under the direct control of the player.

clos See OPEN AND CLOSED ENDINGS.

coda (Italian, "tail") A supplementary ending to a COMPOSITION or MOVEMENT; a concluding section that lies outside the FORM as usually described. .

collage Work or passage that uses multiple QUOTATIONS without following a standard procedure for doing so, such as QUODLIBET or medley.

collegium musicum An association of amateurs, popular during the BAROQUE PERIOD, who gathered to play and sing together for their own pleasure. Today, an ensemble of university students that performs early music.

color (Latin rhetorical term for ornament, particularly repetition, pronounced KOH-lor) In an ISORHYTHMIC COMPOSITION, a repeated MELODIC pattern, as opposed to the repeating rhythmic pattern (the TALEA).

coloratura Florid vocal ORNAMENTATION.

Communion Item in the MASS PROPER, originally sung during communion, comprising an ANTIPHON without verses.

composition The act or process of creating new pieces of music, or a piece that results from this process and is substantially similar each time it is performed; usually distinguished from IMPROVISATION and performance.

concert band Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments that performs seated in concert halls, like an ORCHESTRA.

concert étude See éTUDE

concertato medium (from Italian concertare, "to reach agreement") In seventeenth-century music, the combination of voices with one or more instruments, where the instruments do not simply double the voices but play independent parts.

concerted madrigal Early-seventeenth-century type of MADRIGAL for one or more voices accompanied by BASSO CONTINUO and in some cases by other instruments.

concerto (from Italian concertare, "to reach agreement") (1) In the seventeenth century, ENSEMBLE of instruments or of voices with one or more instruments, or a work for such an ensemble. (2) COMPOSITION in which one or more solo instruments (or instrumental group) contrasts with an ORCHESTRAL ENSEMBLE. See also SOLO CONCERTO, CONCERTO GROSS, and ORCHESTRAL CONCERTO.

concerto grosso Instrumental work that exploits the contrast in sonority between a small ENSEMBLE of solo instruments (concertino), usually the same forces that appeared in the TRIO SONATA, and a large ENSEMBLE (RIPIENO or concerto grosso).

concitato See STILE CONCITATO.

conductor A person who leads a performance, especially for an ORCHESTRA, BAND, CHORUS, or other large ENSEMBLE, by means of gestures.

conductus A serious medieval song, MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic Latin poem.

conjunct (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective used to describe the relationship between two TETRACHORDS when the bottom NOTE of one is the same as the top note of the other. (2) Of a MELODY, consisting mostly of STEPS.

conservatory School that specializes in teaching music.

consonance INTERVAL or CHORD that has a stable, harmonious sound. Compare DISSONANCE.

consort English name (current ca. 1575-1700) for a group of instruments, either all of one type (called a full consort), such as a consort of VIOLS, or of different types (called a broken consort).

consort song RENAISSANCE English GENRE of song for voice accompanied by a CONSORT of VIOLS.

contenance angloise (French, "English guise") Characteristic quality of early-fifteenth-century English music, marked by pervasive CONSONANCE with frequent use of HARMONIC thirds and sixths, often in parallel motion.

continuo BASSO CONTINUO.

continuo instruments Instruments used to REALIZE a BASSO CONTINUO, such as HARPSICHORD, organ, LUTE, or THEORBO.

contrafact In JAZZ, a new MELODY composed over a HARMONIC PROGRESSION borrowed from another song.

contrafactum (Latin, "counterfeit"; pl. contrafacta) The practice of replacing the text of a vocal work with a new text while the music remains essentially the same; or the resulting piece.

contrapuntal Employing COUNTERPOINT, or two or more simultaneous MELODIC lines.

contratenor (Latin, "against the tenor") In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century POLYPHONY, voice composed after or in conjunction with the TENOR and in about the same RANGE, helping to form the HARMONIC foundation.

contratenor altus, contratenor bassus (Latin) In fifteenth-century POLYPHONY, CONTRATENOR parts that lie relatively high (ALTUS) or low (BASSUS) in comparison to the TENOR. Often simply written as "altus" or "bassus," these are the ancestors of the vocal ranges ALTO and BASS.

cornett Wind instrument of hollowed-out wood or ivory, with finger holes and a cup mouthpiece, blown like a brass instrument.

counterpoint The combination of two or more simultaneous MELODIC lines according to a set of rules.

country music (also known as country-and-western) A type of POPULAR MUSIC associated primarily with white southerners, that blends elements of FOLK MUSIC, POPULAR SONG, and other traditions.

couplet In a RONDO or seventeenth- or eighteenth-century RONDEAU, one of several PERIODS or passages that alternate with the REFRAIN.

courante A DANCE in BINARY FORM, in triple METER at a moderate tempo and with an upbeat, featured as a standard MOVEMENT of the BAROQUE dance SUITE.

court ballet Seventeenth-century French GENRE, an extensive musical-dramatic work with costumes, scenery, poetry, and dance that featured members of the court as well as professional dancers.

courtly love See FINE AMOUR.

Credo (Latin, "I believe") Third of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, a creed or statement of faith.

crumhorn RENAISSANCE wind instrument, with a double reed enclosed in a cap so the player's lips do not touch the reed.

cumulative form FORM used by Charles Ives and others in which the principal THEME appears in its entirety only at the end of a work, preceded by its DEVELOPMENT.

cycle A group of related works, comprising MOVEMENTS of a single larger entity. Examples include cycles of CHANTS for the MASS ORDINARY, consisting of one setting each of the KYRIE, GLORIA, SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI (and sometimes also Ite, missa est); the POLYPHONIC MASS cycle of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries; and the SONG CYCLE of the nineteenth century.
da capo aria ARIA FORM with two sections. The first section is repeated after the second section's close, which carries the instruction da capo (Italian, "from the head"), creating an ABA FORM.

dances Pieces in stylized dance rhythms, whether independent, paired, or linked together in a SUITE.

descriptive music See CHARACTERISTIC MUSIC.

developing variation Term coined by Arnold Schoenberg for the process of deriving new THEMES, accompaniments, and other ideas throughout a piece through variations of a germinal idea.

development (1) The process of reworking, recombining, fragmenting, and varying given THEMES or other material. (2) In SONATA FORM, the section after the EXPOSITION, which MODULATES through a variety of KEYS and in which THEMES from the exposition are presented in new ways.

diastematic Having to do with INTERVALS. In diastematic motion, the voice moves between sustained pitches separated by discrete intervals; in diastematic NOTATION, the approximate intervals are indicated by relative height (see HEIGHTED NEUMES).

diatonic (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD with two whole tones and one semitone. (2) Name for a SCALE that includes five WHOLE TONES and two SEMITONES, where the semitones are separated by two or three whole tones. (3) Adjective describing a MELODY, CHORD, or passage based exclusively on a single diatonic scale.

diegetic music or source music In film, music that is heard or performed by the characters themselves.

digital Relating to methods for producing or recording musical sounds by translating them into a coded series of on-off pulses, or 1s and 0s, in the same way that computers store and transmit data.

diminution (1) Uniform reduction of NOTE values in a MELODY or PHRASE. (2) Type of IMPROVISED ORNAMENTATION in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which relatively long notes are replaced with SCALES or other FIGURES composed of short notes.

direct Pertaining to a manner of performing CHANT without alternation between groups (see ANTIPHONAL) or between soloist and group (see RESPONSORIAL).

discant (Latin, "singing apart") (1) Twelfth-century style of POLYPHONY in which the upper voice or voices have about one to three NOTES for each note of the lower voice. (2) TREBLE part.

disjunct (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective used to describe the relationship between two TETRACHORDS when the bottom NOTE of one is a whole tone above the top note of the other. (2) Of a MELODY, consisting mostly of skips (thirds) and leaps (larger INTERVALS) rather than STEPS.

dissonance (1) Two or more NOTES sounding together to produce a discord, or a sound that needs to be resolved to a CONSONANCE. (2) A NOTE that does not belong to the CHORD that sounds simultaneously with it; a nonchord TONE.

diva A leading and successful female OPERA singer. See also PRIMA DONNA.

divertissement In TRAGéDIE EN MUSIQUE, a long interlude of BALLET, solo AIRS, choral singing, and spectacle, intended as entertainment.

division See DIMINUTION (2).

dominant In TONAL music, the NOTE and CHORD a perfect fifth above the TONIC.

double leading-tone cadence CADENCE popular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which the bottom voice moves down a WHOLE TONE and the upper voices move up a SEMITONE, forming a major third and major sixth expanding to an open fifth and octave.

double motet Thirteenth-century MOTET in three voices, with different texts in the DUPLUM and TRIPLUM.

Doxology A formula of praise to the Trinity. Two FORMS are used in GREGORIAN CHANT: the Greater Doxology, or GLORIA, and the Lesser Doxology, used with PSALMS, INTROITS, and other chants.

dramatic opera Seventeenth-century English mixed GENRE of musical theater, a spoken play with an OVERTURE and four or more MASQUES or long musical interludes. Today often called SEMI-OPERA.

drone NOTE or notes sustained throughout an entire piece or section.

duplum (from Latin duplus, "double") In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, second voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, above the TENOR.

dynamics Level of loudness or softness, or intensity.

echos (Greek; pl. echoi) One of the eight MODES associated with BYZANTINE CHANT.

electronic music Music based on sounds that are produced or modified through electronic means.

empfindsam style (German, "sensitive style" or "sentimental style") Close relative of the GALANT style, featuring surprising turns of HARMONY, CHROMATICISM, nervous RHYTHMS, and speechlike MELODIES.

enharmonic (1) In ancient Greek music, adjective describing a TETRACHORD comprising a major third and two quartertones, or a MELODY that uses such tetrachords. (2) Adjective describing the relationship between two pitches that are notated differently but sound alike when played, such as G< sharp > and A< flat >.

ensemble (1) A group of singers or instrumentalists who perform together. (2) In an OPERA, a passage or piece for more than one singer.

episode (1) In a FUGUE, a passage of free COUNTERPOINT between statements of the SUBJECT. (2) In RONDO FORM, a section between two statements of the main THEME. (3) A subsidiary passage between presentations of the main thematic material.

equal temperament A TEMPERAMENT in which the octave is divided into twelve equal SEMITONES. This is the most commonly used tuning for Western music today.

estampie Medieval instrumental DANCE that features a series of sections, each played twice with two different endings, OUVERT and CLOS.

ethos (Greek, "custom") (1) Moral and ethical character or way of being or behaving. (2) Character, mood, or emotional effect of a certain TONOS, MODE, METER, or MELODY.

étude (French, "study") An instrumental piece designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique. Certain nineteenth-century études that contained significant artistic content and were played in concert were called CONCERT éTUDES.

exoticism Nineteenth-century trend in which composers wrote music that evoked feelings and settings of distant lands or foreign cultures.

experimental music A trend in twentieth-century music that focused on the exploration of new musical sounds, techniques, and resources.

exposition (1) In a FUGUE, a set of entries of the SUBJECT. (2) In SONATA FORM, the first part of the MOVEMENT, in which the main THEMES are stated, beginning in the TONIC and usually closing in the DOMINANT (or relative major).

expressionism Early-twentieth-century term derived from art, in which music avoids all traditional forms of "beauty" in order to express deep personal feelings through exaggerated gestures, angular MELODIES, and extreme DISSONANCE.

faburden English style of IMPROVISED POLYPHONY from the late Middle Ages and RENAISSANCE, in which a CHANT in the middle voice is joined by an upper voice moving in parallel a perfect fourth above it and a lower voice that follows below the chant mostly in parallel thirds, moving to a fifth below to mark the beginning and end of phrases and the ends of most words.

fantasia (Italian, "fantasy"), fantasy (1) Instrumental COMPOSITION that resembles an IMPROVISATION or lacks a strict FORM. (2) IMITATIVE instrumental piece on a single subject.

fauxbourdon (pronounced FOH-boor-donh) Continental style of POLYPHONY in the early RENAISSANCE, in which two voices are written, moving mostly in parallel sixths and ending each PHRASE on an octave, while a third unwritten voice is sung in parallel perfect fourths below the upper voice.

figuration, figure MELODIC pattern made of commonplace materials such as SCALES or ARPEGGIOS, usually not distinctive enough to be considered a MOTIVE or THEME.

figured bass A form of BASSO CONTINUO in which the BASS line is supplied with numbers or flat or sharp signs to indicate the appropriate CHORDS to be played.

final The main NOTE in a MODE; the normal closing note of a CHANT in that mode.

finale Last MOVEMENT of a work in three or more movements, or the closing portion of an ACT in an OPERA.

fine amour (French, "refined love"; pronounced FEEN ah-MOOR; fin' amors in Occitan; also called courtly love) An idealized love for an unattainable woman who is admired from a distance. Chief subject of the TROUBADOURS and TROUVèRES.

first practice See PRIMA PRATICA.

florid organum Twelfth-century style of two-voice POLYPHONY in which the lower voice sustains relatively long NOTES while the upper voice sings note-groups of varying length above each note of the lower voice.

folk music (1) Music of unknown authorship from a particular region or people, passed down through oral tradition. (2) In the decades after World War II, a type of POPULAR MUSIC that drew on folk traditions, which included both genuine FOLK SONGS and POPULAR SONGS.

folk song Song of unknown authorship from a particular region or people, passed down through oral tradition.

form The shape or structure of a COMPOSITION or MOVEMENT.

formes fixes (French, "fixed forms"; pronounced form FEEX) Schemes of poetic and musical repetition, each featuring a REFRAIN, used in late medieval and fifteenth-century French CHANSONS; in particular, the BALLADE, RONDEAU, and VIRELAI.

Franconian notation System of NOTATION described by Franco of Cologne around 1280, using noteshapes to indicate durations.

free jazz An experimental JAZZ style introduced in the 1960s by Ornette Coleman, using IMPROVISATION that disregards the standard FORMS and conventions of jazz..

free organum Style of ORGANUM in which the ORGANAL voice moves in a free mixture of contrary, oblique, parallel, and similar motion against the CHANT (and usually above it).

French overture Type of OVERTURE, used in TRAGéDIE EN MUSIQUE and other GENRES, that opens with a slow, HOMOPHONIC, and majestic section, followed by a faster second section that begins with IMITATION.

frottola (pl. frottole) Sixteenth-century GENRE of Italian POLYPHONIC song in mock-popular style, typically SYLLABIC, HOMOPHONIC, and DIATONIC, with the MELODY in the upper voice and marked rhythmic patterns.

fugal Resembling a FUGUE; featuring fugue-like IMITATION.

fuging tune Eighteenth-century American type of PSALM or HYMN tune that features a passage in free IMITATION, usually preceded and followed by HOMOPHONIC sections.

fugue (from Italian fuga, "flight") COMPOSITION or section of a composition in IMITATIVE TEXTURE that is based on a single SUBJECT and begins with successive statements of the subject in all voices.

full anthem ANTHEM for unaccompanied CHOIR in CONTRAPUNTAL style.

fundamental bass Term coined by Jean-Philippe Rameau to indicate the succession of the roots or fundamental tones in a series of CHORDS.

futurism, futurists Twentieth-century movement that created music based on noise. galant (French, "elegant") Eighteenth-century musical style that featured songlike MELODIES, short PHRASES, frequent CADENCES, and light accompaniment.

galliard Sixteenth-century dance in fast triple METER, often paired with the PAVANE and in the same FORM (AABBCC).

gamut The entire range of pitches normally written in the Middle Ages (see p. 47).

gavotte BAROQUE duple-time dance in BINARY FORM, with a half-measure upbeat and a characteristic rhythm of short-short-long.

Gebrauchsmusik (German "utilitarian music" or "music for use") Term from the 1920s to describe music that was socially relevant and useful, especially music for amateurs, children, or workers to play or sing.

genre Type or category of musical COMPOSITION, such as SONATA or SYMPHONY.

genus (Latin, "class"; pronounced GHEH-noos; pl. genera) In ancient Greek music, one of three forms of TETRACHORD: DIATONIC, CHROMATIC, and ENHARMONIC.

Gesamtkunstwerk (German, "total artwork" or "collective artwork") Term coined by Richard Wagner for a dramatic work in which poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music all work together toward one artistic expression.

gigue (French for "jig") Stylized DANCE movement of a standard BAROQUE SUITE, in BINARY FORM, marked by fast compound METER such as 6/4 or 12/8 with wide MELODIC leaps and continuous triplets. The two sections usually both begin with IMITATION.

Gloria (Latin, "Glory") Second of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, a praise formula also known as the Greater DOXOLOGY.

goliard songs Medieval Latin songs associated with the goliards, who were wandering students and clerics.

Gradual (from Latin gradus, "stairstep") Item in the MASS PROPER, sung after the Epistle reading, comprising a RESPOND and VERSE. CHANT graduals are normally MELISMATIC in style and sung in a RESPONSORIAL manner, one or more soloists alternating with the CHOIR.

grand motet French version of the large-scale SACRED CONCERTO, for soloists, double CHORUS, and ORCHESTRA.

grand opera A serious form of OPERA, popular during the ROMANTIC era, that was sung throughout and included BALLETS, CHORUSES and spectacular staging.

Greater Perfect System In ancient Greek music, a system of TETRACHORDS spanning two octaves.

Gregorian chant The repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT used in the Roman Catholic Church.

ground bass BASSO OSTINATO.

half step (or semitone) The smallest INTERVAL normally used in Western music, equivalent to the interval between any two successive NOTES on the PIANO keyboard; half the size of a WHOLE STEP.

harmonia (pl. harmoniai) Ancient Greek term with multiple meanings: (1) the union of parts in an orderly whole; (2) INTERVAL; (3) SCALE type; (4) style of MELODY.

harmonic progression A logical succession of CHORDS with a sense of direction; especially, the succession of chords used to accompany a MELODY or used as the basis for VARIATIONS.

harmony Aspect of music that pertains to simultaneous combinations of NOTES, the INTERVALS and CHORDS that result, and the correct succession of chords.

harp Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, neck, and strings in roughly triangular shape. The strings rise perpendicular from the soundboard to the neck.

harpsichord Keyboard instrument in use between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It was distinguished from the CLAVICHORD and the PIANO by the fact that its strings were plucked, not struck.

haut (French, "high"; pronounced OH) In the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, term for loud instruments such as CORNETTS and SACKBUTS. See BAS.

head-motive Initial passage or MOTIVE of a piece or MOVEMENT; used especially for a motive or PHRASE that appears at the beginning of each movement of a MOTTO MASS or CANTUS-FIRMUS MASS.

heighted neumes In an early form of NOTATION, NEUMES arranged so that their relative height indicated higher or lower pitch. Also called DIASTEMATIC neumes.

hemiola (from Greek hemiolios, "one and a half") A metrical effect in which three duple units substitute for two triple ones, such as three successive quarter NOTES within a MEASURE of 6/8, or three two-beat groupings in two measures of triple METER. Hemiola may occur between voices or successive measures.

heterophony Music or musical TEXTURE in which a MELODY is performed by two or more parts simultaneously in more than one way, for example, one voice performing it simply, and the other with embellishments.

hexachord (from Greek, "six strings") (1) A set of six pitches. (2) In medieval and RENAISSANCE SOLMIZATION, the six NOTES represented by the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which could be transposed to three positions: the "natural" hexachord, C-D-E-F-G-A; the "hard" hexachord, G-A-B-C-D-E; and the "soft" hexachord, F-G-A-B-C-D. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first six or last six notes in the ROW.

historia In Lutheran music of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, a musical setting based on a biblical narrative. See PASSION.

hocket (French hoquet, "hiccup") In thirteenth- and fourteenth-century POLYPHONY, the device of alternating rapidly between two voices, each resting while the other sings, as if a single MELODY is split between them; or, a COMPOSITION based on this device.

homophony Musical TEXTURE in which all voices move together in essentially the same RHYTHM, as distinct from POLYPHONY and HETEROPHONY. See also MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT.

homorhythmic Having the same RHYTHM, as when several voices or parts move together.

humanism Movement in the RENAISSANCE to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture and to study things pertaining to human knowledge and experience.

hurdy-gurdy An instrument with MELODY and DRONE strings, bowed by a rotating wheel turned with a crank, with levers worked by a keyboard to change the pitch on the melody string(s).

hymn Song to or in honor of a god. In the Christian tradition, song of praise sung to God.
idée fixe (French, "fixed idea") term coined by Hector Berlioz for a MELODY that is used throughout a piece to represent a person, thing, or idea, transforming it to suit the mood and situation.

imitate (1) To repeat or slightly vary in one voice or part a segment of MELODY just heard in another, at pitch or transposed. (2) To follow the example of an existing piece or style in composing a new piece.

imitation (1) In POLYPHONIC music, the device of repeating (imitating) a MELODY or MOTIVE announced in one part in one or more other parts, often at a different pitch level and sometimes with minor MELODIC or rhythmic alterations. Usually the voices enter with the element that is imitated, although sometimes imitation happens within the middle of a segment of melody. (2) The act of patterning a new work after an existing work or style; especially, to borrow much of the existing work's material.

imitation mass (or parody mass) POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same polyphonic model, normally a CHANSON or MOTET, and all voices of the model are used in the mass, but none is used as a CANTUS FIRMUS.

imitative counterpoint CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE marked by IMITATION between voices.

imperfect (or minor) division In medieval and RENAISSANCE NOTATION, a division of a NOTE value into two of the next smaller units (rather than three). See MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

impresario During the BAROQUE PERIOD, a businessman who managed and oversaw the production of OPERAS; today, someone who books and stages operas and other musical events.

impressionism Late-nineteenth-century term derived from art, used for music that evokes moods and visual imagery through colorful HARMONY and instrumental TIMBRE.

improvisation, improvising Spontaneous invention of music while performing, including devising VARIATIONS, embellishments, or accompaniments for existing music.

indeterminacy An approach to composition, pioneered by John Cage, in which the composer leaves certain aspects of the music unspecified. Should not be confused with CHANCE.

instrumental family Set of instruments, all of the same type but of different sizes and RANGES, such as a VIOL CONSORT.

intabulation Arrangement of a vocal piece for LUTE or keyboard, typically written in TABLATURE.

intermedio Musical interlude on a pastoral, allegorical, or mythological subject performed before, between, or after the acts of a spoken comedy or tragedy.

intermezzo Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, performed between acts of a serious OPERA or play.

interval Distance in pitch between two NOTES.

intonation The first NOTES of a CHANT, sung by a soloist to establish the pitch for the CHOIR, which joins the soloist to continue the chant.

Introit (from Latin introitus, "entrance") First item in the MASS PROPER, originally sung for the entrance procession, comprising an ANTIPHON, PSALM verse, Lesser DOXOLOGY, and reprise of the ANTIPHON.

inversion (1) In a MELODY or TWELVE-TONE ROW, reversing the upward or downward direction of each INTERVAL while maintaining its size; or the new melody or row form that results. (2) In HARMONY, a distribution of the NOTES in a CHORD so that a note other than the ROOT is the lowest note. (3) In COUNTERPOINT, reversing the relative position of two melodies, so that the one that had been lower is now above the other.

isorhythm (from Greek iso-, "equal," and rhythm) Repetition in a voice part (usually the TENOR) of an extended pattern of durations throughout a section or an entire COMPOSITION.
jazz A type of music developed mostly by African Americans in the early part of the twentieth century that combined elements of African, popular, and European music, and that has evolved into a broad tradition encompassing many styles.

jongleur (French) Itinerant medieval musician or street entertainer.

jubilus (Latin) In CHANT, an effusive MELISMA, particularly the melisma on "-ia" in an ALLELUIA.

just intonation A system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE, common in the RENAISSANCE, in which most (but not all) thirds, sixths, perfect fourths, and perfect fifths are in perfect tune.

key In TONAL music, the hierarchy of NOTES, CHORDS, and other pitch elements around a central note, the TONIC. There are two kinds of keys, major and minor.

kithara Ancient Greek instrument, a large LYRE.

Klangfarbenmelodie (German, "tone-color melody") Term coined by Arnold Schoenberg to describe a succession of tone colors that is perceived as analogous to the changing pitches in a MELODY.

Kyrie (Greek, "Lord") One of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based on a BYZANTINE litany.
lauda (from Latin laudare, "to praise") Italian devotional song.

Leitmotiv, leitmotive (German, "leading motive") In an OPERA or MUSIC DRAMA, a MOTIVE, THEME, or musical idea associated with a person, thing, mood, or idea, which returns in original or altered form throughout.

Lesser Doxology See DOXOLOGY.

libretto (Italian, "little book") Literary text for an OPERA or other musical stage work.

Lied (German, "song"; pl. Lieder) Song with German words, whether MONOPHONIC, POLYPHONIC, or for voice with accompaniment; used especially for polyphonic songs in the RENAISSANCE and songs for voice and PIANO in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

ligature NEUME-like noteshape used to indicate a short RHYTHMIC pattern in twelfth- to sixteenth-century NOTATION.

liturgical drama Dialogue on a sacred subject, set to music and usually performed with action, and linked to the LITURGY.

liturgy The prescribed body of texts to be spoken or sung and ritual actions to be performed in a religious service.

long In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE equal to two or three BREVES.

lute Plucked string instrument popular from the late Middle Ages through the BAROQUE PERIOD, typically pear- or almond-shaped with a rounded back, flat fingerboard, frets, and one single and five double strings.

lute song English GENRE of solo song with LUTE accompaniment.

lyre Plucked string instrument with a resonating soundbox, two arms, crossbar, and strings that run parallel to the soundboard and attach to the crossbar.

lyric opera ROMANTIC OPERA that lies somewhere between light OPéRA COMIQUE and GRAND OPERA.
madrigal (Italian madrigale, "song in the mother tongue") (1) Fourteenth-century Italian poetic form and its musical setting having two or three stanzas followed by a RITORNELLO. (2) Sixteenth-century Italian poem having any number of lines, each of seven or eleven syllables. (3) POLYPHONIC or CONCERTATO setting of such a poem or of a sonnet or other nonrepetitive VERSE form. (4) English polyphonic work imitating the Italian GENRE.

madrigal comedy, madrigal cycle In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a series of MADRIGALS that represents a succession of scenes or a simple plot.

madrigalism A particularly evocative-or, if used in a disparaging sense, a thoroughly conventional-instance of TEXT DEPICTION or WORD-PAINTING; so called because of the prominent role of word-painting in MADRIGALS.

major scale DIATONIC succession of NOTES with a major third and major seventh above the TONIC.

march A piece in duple or 6/8 METER comprising an introduction and several STRAINS, each repeated. Typically there are two strains in the initial KEY followed by a TRIO in a key a fourth higher; the opening strains may or may not repeat after the trio.

masque Seventeenth-century English entertainment involving poetry, music, DANCE, costumes, CHORUSES, and elaborate sets, akin to the French COURT BALLET.

Mass (from Latin missa, "dismissed") (1) The most important service in the Roman church. (2) A musical work setting the texts of the ORDINARY of the Mass, typically KYRIE, GLORIA, CREDO, SANCTUS, and AGNUS DEI. In this book, as in common usage, the church service is capitalized (the Mass), but a musical setting of the Mass Ordinary is not (a mass).

mazurka A type of Polish folk dance (and later ballroom dance) in triple METER, characterized by accents on the second or third beat and often by dotted figures on the first beat, or a stylized PIANO piece based on such a DANCE.

mean-tone temperament A type of TEMPERAMENT in which the fifths are tuned small so that the major thirds sound well; frequently used for keyboard instruments from the RENAISSANCE through the eighteenth century.

measure (1) A unit of musical time consisting of a given number of beats; the basic unit of METER. (2) Metrical unit set off by barlines.

mediant In a PSALM TONE, the CADENCE that marks the middle of the PSALM verse.

Meistersinger (German, "master singer") Type of German amateur singer and poet-composer of the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries, who was a member of a guild that cultivated a style of MONOPHONIC song derived from MINNELIEDER.

melisma A long MELODIC passage sung to a single syllable of text.

melismatic Of a MELODY, having many MELISMAS.

melodrama A GENRE of musical theater that combined spoken dialogue with background music.

melody (1) Succession of tones perceived as a coherent line. (2) Tune. (3) Principal part accompanied by other parts or CHORDS.

melody and accompaniment A kind of HOMOPHONIC TEXTURE in which there is one main MELODY, which is accompanied by CHORDS or other FIGURATION.

mensuration canon A CANON in which voices move at different rates of speed by using different MENSURATION SIGNS.

mensuration signs In ARS NOVA and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, signs that indicate which combination of time and prolation to use (see MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION). The predecessors of TIME SIGNATURES.

meter Recurring patterns of strong and weak beats, dividing musical time into regularly recurring units of equal duration.

metrical psalm Metric, rhymed, and STROPHIC vernacular translation of a PSALM, sung to a relatively simple MELODY that repeats for each strophe.

minim In ARS NOVA and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, a NOTE that is equal to half or a third of a SEMIBREVE.

minimalism One of the leading musical styles of the late twentieth century, in which materials are reduced to a minimum and procedures simplified so that what is going on in the music is immediately apparent. Often characterized by a constant pulse and many repetitions of simple RHYTHMIC, MELODIC, or HARMONIC patterns.

Minnelieder (German, "love songs") Songs of the MINNESINGER.

Minnesinger (German, "singer of love"; also pl.) A poet-composer of medieval Germany who wrote MONOPHONIC songs, particularly about love, in Middle High German.

minor scale DIATONIC SCALE that begins with a WHOLE STEP and HALF STEP, forming a minor third above the TONIC. The sixth and seventh above the tonic are also minor in the natural minor scale but one or both may be raised.

minstrel (from Latin minister, "servant") Thirteenth-century traveling musician, some of whom were also employed at a court or city.

minstrelsy Popular form of musical theater in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century, in which white performers blackened their faces and impersonated African Americans in jokes, skits, songs, and dances.

minuet DANCE in moderate triple METER, two-measure units, and BINARY FORM.

minuet and trio form FORM that joins two BINARY-FORM MINUETS to create an ABA pattern, where A is the minuet and B the TRIO.

mixed media Trend of the late twentieth century that combines two or more of the arts, including music, to create a new kind of PERFORMANCE ART or musical theater.

mixed parallel and oblique organum Early form of ORGANUM that combines parallel motion with oblique motion (in which the ORGANAL VOICE remains on the same NOTE while the PRINCIPAL VOICE moves) in order to avoid tritones.

modal Making use of a MODE. Compare TONAL.

mode (1) A SCALE or MELODY type, identified by the particular INTERVALLIC relationships among the NOTES in the mode. (2) In particular, one of the eight scale or melody types recognized by church musicians and theorists beginning in the Middle Ages, distinguished from one another by the arrangement of WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES around the FINAL, by the RANGE relative to the final, and by the position of the TENOR or RECITING TONE. (3) RHYTHMIC MODE. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

mode, time, and prolation (Latin modus, tempus, prolatio) The three levels of rhythmic DIVISION in ARS NOVA NOTATION. Mode is the division of LONGS into BREVES; time the division of breves into SEMIBREVES; and prolation the division of semibreves into MINIMS.

modernists Twentieth-century composers who made a radical break from the musical language of their predecessors and contemporaries while maintaining strong links to the tradition.

modified strophic form Variant of STROPHIC FORM in which the music for the first stanza is varied for later stanzas, or in which there is a change of KEY, RHYTHM, character, or material.

modulation The TONAL music, a gradual change from one KEY to another within a section of a MOVEMENT.

monody (1) An accompanied solo song. (2) The musical TEXTURE of solo singing accompanied by one or more instruments.

monophonic Consisting of a single unaccompanied MELODIC line.

monophony Music or musical TEXTURE consisting of unaccompanied MELODY.

motet (from French mot, "word") POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.

motive Short MELODIC or RHYTHMIC idea that recurs in the same or altered form.

motto mass POLYPHONIC MASS in which the MOVEMENTS are linked primarily by sharing the same opening MOTIVE or PHRASE.

movement Self-contained unit of music, complete in itself, that can stand alone or be joined with others in a larger work. Some types of COMPOSITION typically consist of several movements (such as the four movements common in the SYMPHONY).

music drama Nineteenth-century GENRE created by Richard Wagner in which drama and music become organically connected to express a kind of absolute oneness. See also GESAMTKUNSTWERK.

music video Type of short film popularized in the early 1980s that provides a visual accompaniment to a POP SONG.

musica ficta (Latin, "feigned music") (1) In early music, NOTES outside the standard GAMUT, which excluded all flatted and sharped notes except B< flat >. (2). In POLYPHONY of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, the practice of raising or lowering by a semitone the pitch of a written note, particularly at a CADENCE, for the sake of smoother HARMONY or motion of the parts.

musica mundana, musica humana, musica instrumentalis (Latin, "music of the universe," "human music," and "instrumental music") Three kinds of music identified by Boethius (ca. 480-ca. 524), respectively the "music" or numerical relationships governing the movement of stars, planets, and the seasons; the "music" that harmonizes the human body and soul and their parts; and audible music produced by voices or instruments.

musical GENRE of musical theater that features songs and dance numbers in styles drawn from POPULAR MUSIC in the context of a spoken play with a comic or romantic plot.

musical figure In BAROQUE music, a MELODIC pattern or CONTRAPUNTAL effect conventionally employed to convey the meaning of a text.

musique concrète (French, "concrete music") Term coined by composers working in Paris in the 1940s for music composed by assembling and manipulating recorded sounds, working "concretely" with sound itself rather than with music NOTATION.

musique mesurée (French, "measured music") Late-sixteenth-century French style of text-setting, especially in CHANSONS, in which stressed syllables are given longer NOTES than unstressed syllables (usually twice as long).

mutation In SOLMIZATION, the process of changing from one HEXACHORD to another.


nationalism (1) In politics and culture, an attempt to unify or represent a particular group of people by creating a national identity through characteristics such as common language, shared culture, historical traditions, and national institutions and rituals. (2) Nineteenth- and twentieth-century trend in music in which composers were eager to embrace elements in their music that claimed a national identity.

neoclassicism Trend in music from the 1910s to the 1950s in which composers revived, imitated, or evoked the styles, GENRES, and FORMS of pre-ROMANTIC music, especially those of the eighteenth century.

neo-Romanticism A trend of the late twentieth century in which composers adopted the familiar tonal idiom of nineteenth-century ROMANTIC music and incorporated its sounds and gestures.

neotonal Term for music since the early 1900s that establishes a single pitch as a tonal center, but does not follow the traditional rules of TONALITY.

neumatic In CHANT, having about one to six NOTES (or one NEUME) sung to each syllable of text.

neume A sign used in NOTATION of CHANT to indicate a certain number of NOTES and general MELODIC direction (in early forms of notation) or particular pitches (in later forms).

New Objectivity Term coined in the 1920s to describe a kind of new realism in music, in reaction to the emotional intensity of the late ROMANTICS and the EXPRESSIONISM of Schoenberg and Berg.

New Orleans jazz Leading style of JAZZ just after World War I, which centers on group VARIATION of a given tune, either IMPROVISED or in the style of improvisation.

nocturne Type of short PIANO piece popular during the ROMANTIC PERIOD, marked by highly embellished MELODY, sonorous accompaniments, and a contemplative mood..

nondiegetic music or underscoring In film, background music that conveys to the viewer a mood or other aspect of a scene or character but is not heard by the characters themselves. Compare DIEGETIC MUSIC.

notation A system for writing down musical sounds, or the process of writing down music. The principal notation systems of European music use a staff of lines and signs that define the pitch, duration, and other qualities of sound.

note (1) A musical TONE. (2) A symbol denoting a musical tone.

notes inégales (French, "unequal notes"; pronounced NOTS an-ay GALL) Seventeenth-century convention of performing French music in which passages notated in short, even durations, such as a succession of eighth notes, are performed by alternating longer notes on the beat with shorter offbeats to produce a lilting rhythm.

Notre Dame polyphony Style of POLYPHONY from the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, associated with the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
octatonic scale (or octatonic collection) A SCALE that alternates WHOLE and HALF STEPS.

Offertory Item in the MASS PROPER, sung while the COMMUNION is prepared, comprising a RESPOND without VERSES.

Office (from Latin officium, "obligation" or "ceremony") A series of eight prayer services of the Roman church, celebrated daily at specified times, especially in monasteries and convents; also, any one of those services.

Old Roman chant A repertory of ecclesiastical CHANT preserved in eleventh- and twelfth-century manuscripts from Rome representing a local tradition; a near relative of GREGORIAN CHANT.

open and closed endings (French, ouvert and clos) In an ESTAMPIE, BALLADE, or other medieval form, two different endings for a repeated section. The first ("open") closes on a pitch other than the FINAL, and the second ("closed") ends with a full CADENCE on the final.

opera (Italian, "work") Drama with continuous or nearly continuous music, staged with scenery, costumes, and action.

opera buffa (Italian, "comic opera") Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian comic OPERA, sung throughout.

opéra bouffe ROMANTIC operatic GENRE in France that emphasized the smart, witty, and satirical elements of OPéRA COMIQUE.

opéra comique (French, "comic opera") (1) In the eighteenth century, light French comic OPERA, which used spoken dialogue instead of RECITATIVES. (2) In nineteenth-century France, opera with spoken dialogue, whether comic or tragic.

opera seria (Italian, "serious opera") Eighteenth-century GENRE of Italian OPERA, on a serious subject but normally with a happy ending, usually without comic characters and scenes.

operetta Nineteenth-century kind of light OPERA with spoken dialogue, originating in OPéRA BOUFFE.

opus (Latin, "work") Work or collection of works in the same GENRE, issued as a publication.

oratorio GENRE of dramatic music that originated in the seventeenth century, combining narrative, dialogue, and commentary through ARIAS, RECITATIVES, ENSEMBLES, CHORUSES, and instrumental music, like an unstaged OPERA. Usually on a religious or biblical subject.

orchestra ENSEMBLE whose core consists of strings with more than one player on a part, usually joined by woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments.

orchestral concerto Orchestral GENRE in several MOVEMENTS, originating in the late seventeenth century, that emphasized the first VIOLIN part and the BASS, avoiding the more CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE of the SONATA.

orchestral suite Late-seventeenth-century German SUITE for ORCHESTRA patterned after the groups of DANCES in French BALLETS and OPERA.

Ordinary (from Latin ordinarium, "usual") Texts of the MASS that remain the same on most or all days of the CHURCH CALENDAR, although the tunes may change.

organ mass Setting for organ of all sections of the MASS for which the organ would play, including ORGAN VERSES and other pieces.

organ verse Setting for organ of an existing MELODY from the Roman Catholic LITURGY.

organal voice (Latin, vox organalis) In an ORGANUM, the voice that is added above or below the original CHANT MELODY.

organum (Latin; pronounced OR-guh-num) (1) One of several styles of early POLYPHONY from the ninth through thirteenth centuries, involving the addition of one or more voices to an existing CHANT. (2) A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT. The plural is organa.

organum duplum In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in two voices.

ornament A brief, conventional formula, such as a TRILL or turn, written or IMPROVISED, that adds expression or charm to a MELODIC line.

ornamentation The addition of embellishments to a given MELODY, either during performance or as part of the act of COMPOSITION.

ostinato (Italian, "obstinate") Short musical pattern that is repeated persistently throughout a piece or section. See BASSO OSTINATO.

ouvert See OPEN AND CLOSED ENDINGS.

ouverture (French, "opening") (1) OVERTURE, especially FRENCH OVERTURE. (2) SUITE for ORCHESTRA, beginning with an OVERTURE.

overdotting Performing practice in French BAROQUE music in which a dotted NOTE is held longer than written, while the following short note is shortened.

overture (1) An ORCHESTRAL piece introducing an OPERA or other long work. (2) Independent ORCHESTRAL work in one MOVEMENT, usually descriptive.

parallel organum Type of POLYPHONY in which an added voice moves in exact parallel to a CHANT, normally a perfect fifth below it. Either voice may be doubled at the octave.

paraphrase Technique in which a CHANT or other MELODY is reworked, often by altering rhythms and adding NOTES, and placed in a POLYPHONIC setting.

paraphrase mass POLYPHONIC MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on the same MONOPHONIC MELODY, normally a CHANT, which is PARAPHRASED in most or all voices rather than being used as a CANTUS FIRMUS in one voice.

parlor song Song for home music-making, sometimes performed in public concerts as well.

parody mass IMITATION MASS.

partbook A manuscript or printed book containing the music for one voice or instrumental part of a POLYPHONIC COMPOSITION (most often, an anthology of pieces); to perform any piece, a complete set of partbooks is needed, so that all the parts are represented.

partita BAROQUE term for a set of VARIATIONS on a MELODY or BASS line.

partsong (1) A song for more than one voice. (2) In the nineteenth century, a song for CHORUS, parallel in function and style to the LIED or PARLOR SONG.

passacaglia BAROQUE GENRE of VARIATIONS over a repeated BASS line or HARMONIC PROGRESSION in triple METER.

Passion A musical setting of one of the biblical accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, the most common type of HISTORIA.

pastoral drama Play in verse with incidental music and songs, normally set in idealized rural surroundings, often in ancient times; a source for the earliest OPERA LIBRETTOS.

pavane (pavan) Sixteenth-century dance in slow duple METER with three repeated sections (AABBCC). Often followed by a GALLIARD.

perfect (or major) division In medieval and RENAISSANCE NOTATION, a division of a NOTE value into three (rather than two) of the next smaller unit. See MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

perfection (1) What we all strive for. (2) In medieval systems of NOTATION, a unit of duration equal to three TEMPORA, akin to a MEASURE of three beats.

performance art A type of art that first came to prominence in the 1960s, based on the idea that performing a prescribed action in a public place constitutes a work of art.

period (1) In music history, an era whose music is understood to have common attributes of style, conventions, approach, and function, in contrast to the previous and following eras. (2) In musical FORM, especially since the eighteenth century, a complete musical thought concluded by a CADENCE and normally containing at least two PHRASES.

periodic Organized in discrete PHRASES or PERIODS.

periodicity The quality of being PERIODIC, especially when this is emphasized through frequent resting points and articulations between PHRASES and PERIODS.

petit motet (French, "little motet") French version of the SMALL SACRED CONCERTO, for one, two, or three voices and CONTINUO.

phrase A unit of MELODY or of an entire musical TEXTURE that has a distinct beginning and ending and is followed by a pause or other articulation but does not express a complete musical thought. See PERIOD (2).

Phrygian cadence CADENCE in which the bottom voice moves down a semitone and upper voices move up a whole tone to form a fifth and octave over the cadential NOTE.

piano or pianoforte A keyboard instrument invented in 1700 that uses a mechanism in which the strings are struck, rather than plucked as the HARPSICHORD was, and which allowed for crescendos, dimuendos, and other effects.

pipe and tabor Two instruments played by one player, respectively a high whistle fingered with one hand and a small drum beaten with a stick or mallet.

pitch-class Any one of the twelve NOTES of the CHROMATIC SCALE, including its ENHARMONIC equivalents, in any octave.

pitch-class set (or set) A collection of PITCH-CLASSES that preserves its identity when transposed, inverted, or reordered and used MELODICALLY or HARMONICALLY.

plagal mode A MODE (2) in a which the RANGE normally extends from a fourth (or fifth) below the FINAL to a fifth or sixth above it. See also AUTHENTIC MODE.

plainchant, plainsong A unison unaccompanied song, particularly a LITURGICAL song to a Latin text.

plainsong mass A MASS in which each MOVEMENT is based on a CHANT to the same text (the KYRIE is based on a chant Kyrie, the GLORIA on a chant Gloria, and so on).

point of imitation Passage in a POLYPHONIC work in which two or more parts enter in IMITATION.

polonaise A stately Polish processional DANCE in triple METER, or a stylized piece in the style of such a dance.

polychoral For more than one CHOIR.

polychoral motet MOTET for two or more choirs.

polyphony Music or musical TEXTURE consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent MELODY. See also COUNTERPOINT.

polystylism Term coined by Alfred Schnittke for a combination of newer and older musical styles created through QUOTATION or stylistic allusion.

polytonality The simultaneous use of two or more KEYS, each in a different layer of the music (such as MELODY and accompaniment).

pop music Term coined in the 1950s for music that reflected the tastes and styles popular with the teen and young adult market.

popular music Music, primarily intended as entertainment, that is sold in printed or recorded form. It is distinguished from FOLK MUSIC by being written down and marketed as a commodity, and from CLASSICAL MUSIC by being centered on the performer and the performance, allowing great latitude in rearranging the notated music.

popular song Song that is intended primarily to entertain an audience, accommodate amateur performers, and sell as many copies as possible. Compare ART SONG.

portative organ Medieval or RENAISSANCE organ small enough to be carried, played by one hand while the other worked the bellows.

positive organ Organ from the medieval through BAROQUE PERIODS that was small enough to be moved, usually placed on a table.

postmodernism Trend in the late twentieth century that blurs the boundaries between high and popular art, and in which styles of all epochs and cultures are equally available for creating music.

post-tonal General term for music after 1900 that does not adhere to TONALITY but instead uses any of the new ways that composers found to organize pitch, from ATONALITY to NEOTONALITY.

prelude Introductory piece for solo instrument, often in the style of an IMPROVISATION, or introductory MOVEMENT in a multimovement work such as an OPERA or SUITE.

prepared piano An invention of John Cage in which various objects-such as pennies, bolts, screws, or pieces of wood, rubber, plastic, or slit bamboo-are inserted between the strings of a PIANO, resulting in complex percussive sounds when the piano is played from the keyboard.

prima donna (Italian, "first lady") A soprano singing the leading female role in an OPERA. See also DIVA.

prima pratica (Italian, "first practice") Claudio Monteverdi's term for the style and practice of sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, in contradistinction to the SECONDA PRATICA.

prime In TWELVE-TONE music based on a particular ROW, the original form of the row, transposed or untransposed, as opposed to the INVERSION, RETROGRADE, or RETROGRADE INVERSION.

principal voice (Latin, vox principalis) In an ORGANUM, the original CHANT MELODY.

program Text to accompany an instrumental work of PROGRAM MUSIC, describing the sequence of events depicted in the music.

program music Instrumental music that tells a story or follows a narrative or other sequence of events, often spelled out in an accompanying text called a PROGRAM.

prolation See MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

Proper (from Latin proprium, "particular" or "appropriate") Texts of the MASS that are assigned to a particular day in the CHURCH CALENDAR.

psalm A poem of praise to God, one of 150 in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Christian Old Testament). Singing psalms was a central part of Jewish, Christian, Catholic, and Protestant worship.

psalm tone A MELODIC formula for singing PSALMS in the OFFICE. There is one psalm tone for each MODE.

psalmody The singing of PSALMS.

psalter A published collection of METRICAL PSALMS.

psaltery A plucked string instrument whose strings are attached to a frame over a wooden sounding board.

Pythagorean intonation A system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE, common in the Middle Ages, in which all perfect fourths and fifths are in perfect tune. quadruplum (Latin, "quadruple") (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, fourth voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR, DUPLUM, and TRIPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in four voices.

quodlibet (Latin, "whatever you please) COMPOSITION or passage in which two or more existing MELODIES, or parts of melodies, are combined in COUNTERPOINT.

quotation Direct borrowing of one work in another, especially when the borrowed material is not reworked using a standard musical procedure (such as VARIATIONS, PARAPHRASE, or IMITATION MASS) but is set off as a foreign element.
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.

sackbut RENAISSANCE brass instrument, an early form of the trombone.

sacred concerto In the seventeenth century, a COMPOSITION on a sacred text for one or more singers and instrumental accompaniment.

salsa A type of dance music that emerged in the 1960s combining elements of Cuban dance styles with JAZZ, ROCK, and Puerto Rican music.

sampling A process of creating new COMPOSITIONS by patching together snippets of previously recorded music.

Sanctus (Latin, "Holy") One of the five major musical items in the MASS ORDINARY, based in part on Isaiah 6:3.

sarabande (1) Originally a quick dance-song from Latin America. (2) In French BAROQUE music, a slow DANCE in BINARY FORM and in triple METER, often emphasizing the second beat; a standard MOVEMENT of a SUITE.

scale A series of three or more different pitches in ascending or descending order and arranged in a specific pattern.

scat singing Technique in JAZZ in which the performer sings nonsense syllables to an IMPROVISED or composed MELODY.

scherzo (Italian, "joke") A joking or particularly fast MOVEMENT in MINUET AND TRIO FORM.

score notation A type of NOTATION in which the different voices or parts are aligned vertically to show how they are coordinated with each other.

seconda pratica or second practice Monteverdi's term for a practice of COUNTERPOINT and COMPOSITION that allows the rules of sixteenth-century counterpoint (the PRIMA PRATICA) to be broken in order to express the feelings of a text. Also called stile moderno.

semibreve In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, a NOTE that is normally equal to half or a third of a BREVE.

semiminim In ARS NOVA and RENAISSANCE systems of rhythmic NOTATION, a NOTE that is equal to half of a MINIM.

semi-opera Modern term for DRAMATIC OPERA.

semitone (or half step) The smallest INTERVAL normally used in Western music; half of a TONE.

sequence (from Latin sequentia, "something that follows") (1) A category of Latin CHANT that follows the ALLELUIA in some MASSES. (2) Restatement of a pattern, either MELODIC or HARMONIC, on successive or different pitch levels.

serenata (Italian, "serenade") A semidramatic piece for several singers and small ORCHESTRA, usually written for a special occasion.

serial music Music that uses the TWELVE-TONE METHOD; used especially for music that extends the same general approach to SERIES in parameters other than pitch.

series (1) A ROW. (2) An ordering of specific durations, dynamic levels, or other non-pitch elements, used in SERIAL MUSIC.

Service A setting of Anglican service music, encompassing specific portions of Matins, Holy Communion, and Evensong. A Great Service is a MELISMATIC, CONTRAPUNTAL setting of these texts; a Short Service sets the same text in SYLLABIC, CHORDAL style.

set PITCH-CLASS SET.

shape-note singing A tradition of group singing that arose in nineteenth-century America, named after the NOTATION used in song collections in which the shape of the noteheads indicates the SOLMIZATION syllables, allowing for easy sight-reading in parts.

shawm Double reed instrument, similar to the oboe, used in the medieval, RENAISSANCE, and BAROQUE PERIODS.

sinfonia (1) Generic term used throughout the seventeenth century for an abstract ENSEMBLE piece, especially one that serves as an introduction to a vocal work. (2) Italian OPERA OVERTURE in the early eighteenth century. (3) Early SYMPHONY.

simple recitative Style of RECITATIVE scored for solo voice and BASSO CONTINUO, used for setting dialogue or monologue in as speechlike a fashion as possible, without dramatization.

Singspiel (German, "singing play") German GENRE of OPERA, featuring spoken dialogue interspersed with songs, CHORUSES, and instrumental music.

sketch General term for a compositional idea jotted down in a notebook, or an early draft of a work.

slow-movement sonata form Classic-era variant of SONATA FORM that omits the DEVELOPMENT.

small sacred concerto Seventeenth-century GENRE of sacred vocal music featuring one or more soloists accompanied by organ CONTINUO (or modest instrumental ENSEMBLE).

socialist realism A doctrine of the Soviet Union, begun in the 1930s, in which all the arts were required to use a realistic approach (as opposed to an abstract or symbolic one) that portrayed socialism in a positive light. In music this meant use of simple, accessible language, centered on MELODY, and patriotic subject matter.

solmization A method of assigning syllables to STEPS in a SCALE, used to make it easier to identify and sing the WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES in a MELODY.

solo concerto CONCERTO in which a single instrument, such as a VIOLIN, contrasts with an ORCHESTRA.

solo madrigal In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a THROUGH-COMPOSED setting of a nonstrophic poem for solo voice with accompaniment, distinguished from an ARIA and from a MADRIGAL for several voices.

sonata (Italian, "sounded") (1) A piece to be played on one or more instruments. (2) BAROQUE instrumental piece with contrasting sections or MOVEMENTS, often with IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT. (3) GENRE in several movements for one or two solo instruments.

sonata da camera or chamber sonata BAROQUE SONATA, usually a SUITE of stylized DANCES, scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

sonata da chiesa or church sonata BAROQUE instrumental work intended for performance in church; usually in four MOVEMENTS-slow-fast-slow-fast-and scored for one or more TREBLE instruments and CONTINUO.

sonata form FORM typically used in first MOVEMENTS of SONATAS, instrumental chamber works, and SYMPHONIES during the CLASSIC and ROMANTIC PERIODS. An expansion of ROUNDED BINARY FORM, it was described in the nineteenth century as consisting of an EXPOSITION, DEVELOPMENT, and RECAPITULATION based on a limited number of THEMES.

sonata-rondo A FORM that blends characteristics of SONATA FORM and RONDO FORM. One frequent structure is ABACABA, in which A and B correspond to the first and second THEMES of SONATA FORM and B appears first in the DOMINANT and returns in the TONIC.

song cycle A group of songs performed in succession that tells or suggests a story.

soprano (from SUPERIUS) (1) High female voice. (2) Part for such a voice in an ENSEMBLE work.

soul The leading African-American tradition of POPULAR MUSIC in the 1960s that combined elements of RHYTHM-AND-BLUES and gospel singing in songs on love, sex, and other secular subjects.

sound mass Term coined by Edgard Varèse for a body of sounds characterized by a particular TIMBRE, register, RHYTHM, or MELODIC gesture, which may remain stable or may be transformed as it recurs.

source music See DIEGETIC MUSIC.

spatial Pertaining to a conception of music as sounds moving through musical space, rather than as the presentation and VARIATION of THEMES or MOTIVES.

species The particular ordering of WHOLE TONES and SEMITONES within a perfect fourth, fifth, or octave.

spiritual African-American type of religious song that originated among southern slaves and was passed down through oral tradition, with texts often based on stories or images from the Bible.

Sprechstimme (German, "speaking voice") A vocal style developed by Arnold Schoenberg in which the performer approximates the written pitches in the gliding tones of speech, while following the notated rhythm.

Stadtpfeifer (German, "town pipers") Professional town musicians who had the exclusive right to provide music within city limits.

step INTERVAL between two adjacent pitches in a DIATONIC, CHROMATIC, OCTATONIC, or WHOLE-TONE SCALE; WHOLE STEP or HALF STEP.

stile antico (Italian, "old style") Style used in music written after 1600, in imitation of the old contrapuntal style of Palestrina, used especially for church music.

stile concitato (Italian, "excited style") Style devised by Claudio Monteverdi to portray anger and warlike actions, characterized by rapid reiteration of a single NOTE, whether on quickly spoken syllables or in a measured string tremolo.

stile moderno (Italian, "modern style") Seventeenth-century style that used BASSO CONTINUO and applied the rules of COUNTERPOINT freely. See SECONDA PRATICA.

Stollen See BAR FORM.

stop (1) Mechanism on an organ to turn on or off the sounding of certain sets of pipes. (2) The particular set of pipes controlled by such a mechanism.

string quartet (1) Standard chamber ENSEMBLE consisting of two VIOLINS, viola, and cello. (2) Multimovement COMPOSITION for this ENSEMBLE.

strain In a MARCH or RAG, a PERIOD, usually of sixteen or thirty-two measures.

strophic Of a poem, consisting of two or more stanzas that are equivalent in form and can each be sung to the same MELODY; of a vocal work, consisting of a strophic poem set to the same music for each stanza.

strophic variation Early seventeenth-century vocal GENRE, a setting of a STROPHIC poem, in which the MELODY of the first stanza is varied but the HARMONIC plan remains essentially the same, although the duration of harmonies may change to reflect the accentuation and meaning of the text.

style luthé (French, "lute style") or style brisé (French, "broken style") Broken or ARPEGGIATED TEXTURE in keyboard and LUTE music from seventeenth-century France. The technique originated with the lute, and the FIGURATION was transferred to the HARPSICHORD.

subdominant In TONAL music, the NOTE and CHORD a fifth below the TONIC.

subject THEME, used especially for the main MELODY used in a RICERCARE, FUGUE, or other IMITATIVE work.

substitute clausula In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a new CLAUSULA (usually in DISCANT style) designed to replace the original polyphonic setting of a particular segment of a CHANT.

suite A set of pieces that are linked together into a single work. During the BAROQUE, a suite usually referred to a set of stylized DANCE pieces.

superius (Latin, "highest") In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century POLYPHONY, the highest part (compare CANTUS).

suspension DISSONANCE created when a NOTE is sustained while another voice moves to form a dissonance with it; the sustained voice descends a STEP to resolve the dissonance.

syllabic Having (or tending to have) one NOTE sung to each syllable of text.

symphonic poem (or tone poem) Term coined by Franz Liszt for a one-movement work of PROGRAM MUSIC for orchestra that conveys a poetic idea, story, scene, or succession of moods by presenting THEMES that are repeated, varied, or transformed.

symphonie concertante A CONCERTO-like GENRE of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for two or more solo instruments and ORCHESTRA, characterized by its lightheartedness and MELODIC variety.

symphony Large work for ORCHESTRA, usually in four MOVEMENTS.

swing A style of JAZZ originating in the 1930s that was characterized by large ENSEMBLEs and hard-driving jazz rhythms.

synchopation Temporary disruption of METER by beginning a long NOTE on an offbeat and sustaining it through the beginning of the next beat.

synthesizer Electronic instrument that generates and processes a wide variety of sounds. tablature A system of NOTATION used for LUTE or other plucked string instrument that tells the player which strings to pluck and where to place the fingers on the strings, rather than indicating which NOTES will result. Tablatures were also used for keyboard instruments until the seventeenth century.

tabor See PIPE AND TABOR.

talea (Latin, "cutting"; pronounced TAH-lay-ah) In an ISORHYTHMIC COMPOSITION, an extended rhythmic pattern repeated one or more times, usually in the TENOR. Compare COLOR.

temperament Any system of tuning NOTES in the SCALE in which pitches are adjusted to make most or all INTERVALS sound well, though perhaps not in perfect tune.

tempo (Italian, "time") Speed of performance, or relative pace of the music.

tempo di mezzo (Italian, "middle movement") The operatic scene structure developed by Gioachino Rossini in the early nineteenth century, the middle section of an ARIA or ENSEMBLE, usually an interruption or a TRANSITION, that falls between the CANTABILE and the CABALETTA.

tempus (Latin, "time"; pl. tempora) In medieval systems of NOTATION, the basic time unit. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.

tenor (from Latin tenere, "to hold") (1) In a MODE or CHANT, the RECITING TONE. (2) In POLYPHONY of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the voice part that has the chant or other borrowed MELODY, often in long-held NOTES. (3) Male voice of a relatively high range.

tenor mass CANTUS-FIRMUS MASS.

termination In a PSALM TONE, the CADENCE that marks the end of the PSALM VERSE.

ternary form A FORM in three main sections, in which the first and third are identical or closely related and the middle section is contrasting, creating an ABA pattern.

tetrachord (from Greek, "four strings") (1) In Greek and medieval theory, a SCALE of four NOTES spanning a perfect fourth. (2) In modern theory, a SET of four pitches or PITCH-CLASSES. (3) In TWELVE-TONE theory, the first four, middle four, or last four notes in the ROW.

text depiction Using musical gestures to reinforce or suggest images in a text, such as rising on the word "ascend."

text expression Conveying or suggesting through musical means the emotions expressed in a text.

texture The combination of elements in a piece or passage, such as the number and relationship of independent parts (as in MONOPHONY, HETEROPHONY, POLYPHONY, or HOMOPHONY), groups (as in POLYCHORAL music), or musical events (as in relatively dense or transparent sonorities).

theme Musical subject of a COMPOSITION or section, or of a set of VARIATIONS.

thematic transformation A method devised by Franz Liszt to provide unity, variety, and a narrative-like logic to a composition by transforming the thematic material into new THEMES or other elements, in order to reflect the diverse moods needed to portray a PROGRAMMATIC subject.

theorbo Large LUTE with extra BASS strings, used especially in the seventeenth century for performing BASSO CONTINUO as accompaniment to singers or instruments.

thoroughbass BASSO CONTINUO.

through-composed Composed throughout, as when each stanza or other unit of a poem is set to new music rather than in a STROPHIC manner to a single MELODY.

tiento Spanish IMPROVISATORY-style instrumental piece that features IMITATION, akin to the sixteenth-century FANTASIA.

timbre or tone color Characteristic color or sound of an instrument or voice.

time signature Sign or numerical proportion, such as 3/4, placed at the beginning of a piece, section, or MEASURE to indicated the METER.

Tin Pan Alley (1) Jocular name for a district in New York where numerous publishers specializing in POPULAR SONGS were located from the 1880s through the 1950s. (2) Styles of American popular song from that era.

toccata (Italian, "touched") Piece for keyboard instrument or LUTE resembling an IMPROVISATION that may include IMITATIVE sections or may serve as a PRELUDE to an independent FUGUE.

tonal Operating within the system of TONALITY.

tonality The system, common since the late seventeenth century, by which a piece of music is organized around a TONIC NOTE, CHORD, and KEY, to which all the other notes and keys in the piece are subordinate.

tone (1) A sound of definite pitch. (2) See WHOLE STEP.

tone cluster Term coined by Henry Cowell for a CHORD of DIATONIC or CHROMATIC seconds.

tone color See TIMBRE.

tone poem SYMPHONIC POEM, or a similar work for a medium other than ORCHESTRA.

tonic (1) The first and central NOTE of a MAJOR or MINOR SCALE. (2) The main KEY of a piece or MOVEMENT, in which the piece or movement begins and ends and to which all other keys are subordinate.

tonos (pl. tonoi) Ancient Greek term used with different meanings by various writers; one meaning is a particular set of pitches within a certain RANGE or region of the voice.

topics Term for the different and contrasting styles in Classic-era music that serve as subjects for musical discourse.

total serialism The application of the principles of the TWELVE-TONE METHOD to musical parameters other than pitch, including duration, intensities, and TIMBRES. See SERIAL MUSIC.

Tract (from Latin tractus, "drawn out") Item in the MASS PROPER that replaces the ALLELUIA on certain days in Lent, comprising a series of PSALM VERSES.

tragédie en musique (French, "tragedy in music"; later tragédie lyrique, "lyric tragedy") French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century form of OPERA, pioneered by Jean-Baptiste Lully, that combined the French classic drama and BALLET traditions with music, DANCES, and spectacles.

transcription Arrangement of a piece for an instrumental medium different from the original, such as a reduction of an ORCHESTRAL score for PIANO.

transition (1) In the EXPOSITION of a MOVEMENT in SONATA FORM, the passage between the first and second THEMES that effects the MODULATION to a new KEY. (2) More generally, a passage between two MOVEMENTS or SECTIONS of a work.

transverse flute Flute blown across a hole in the side of the pipe and held to one side of the player; used for medieval, RENAISSANCE, and BAROQUE forms of the flute to distinguish it from the RECORDER, which is blown in one end and held in front.

treble (French, "triple") (1) A high voice or a part written for high voice, especially the highest part in three-part POLYPHONY of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (2) Pertaining to the highest voice.

treble-dominated style Style common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which the main MELODY is in the CANTUS, the upper voice carrying the text, supported by a slower-moving TENOR and CONTRATENOR.

Trecento (Italian, short for mille trecento, "one thousand three hundred"; pronounced treh-CHEN-toh) The 1300s (the fourteenth century), particularly with reference to Italian art, literature, and music of the time.

triad CHORD consisting of two successive thirds (for instance, C-E-G), or any INVERSION of such a chord.

trill Rapid alternation between a NOTE and another HALF STEP or WHOLE STEP above.

trio (1) Piece for three players or singers. (2) The second of two alternating DANCES, in the Classic-era MINUET AND TRIO FORM. (3) The second main section of a MARCH.

trio sonata Common instrumental GENRE during the BAROQUE PERIOD, a SONATA for two TREBLE instruments (usually VIOLINS) above a BASSO CONTINUO. A performance featured four or more players if more than one was used for the continuo part.

triple motet Thirteenth-century MOTET in four voices, with a different text in each voice above the TENOR.

triplum (from Latin triplus, "triple") (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, third voice from the bottom in a three- or four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR and DUPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in three voices.

tritone INTERVAL spanning three WHOLE TONES or six SEMITONES, such as F to B.

trobairitz (from Occitan trobar, "to compose a song") A female TROUBADOUR.

trope Addition to an existing CHANT, consisting of (1) words and MELODY; (2) a MELISMA; or (3) words only, set to an existing melisma or other melody.

troubadour (from Occitan trobar, "to compose a song") A poet-composer of southern France who wrote MONOPHONIC songs in Occitan (langue d'oc) in the twelfth or thirteenth century.

trouvère (from Old French trover, "to compose a song") A poet-composer of northern France who wrote MONOPHONIC songs in Old French (langue d'oïl) in the twelfth or thirteenth century.

tutti (Italian, "all") (1) In both the SOLO CONCERTO and the CONCERTO GROSSO, designates the full ORCHESTRA. Also called RIPIENO (Italian, "full"). (2) Instruction to an ENSEMBLE that all should play.

twelve-bar blues Standard formula for the BLUES, with a HARMONIC PROGRESSION in which the first four-measure PHRASE is on the TONIC, the second phrase begins on the SUBDOMINANT and ends on the tonic, and the third phrase starts on the DOMINANT and returns to the tonic.

twelve-tone method A form of ATONALITY based on the systematic ordering of the twelve notes of the CHROMATIC scale into a ROW that may be manipulated according to certain rules.

unmeasured prelude A French BAROQUE keyboard GENRE, usually the first MOVEMENT in a SUITE, whose nonmetric NOTATION gives a feeling of IMPROVISATION.

underscoring See NONDIEGETIC MUSIC. variation The process of reworking a given MELODY, song, THEME, or other musical idea, or the resulting varied FORM of it.

variations (variations form) FORM that presents an uninterrupted series of variants (each called a VARIATION) on a THEME; the theme may be a MELODY, a BASS line, a HARMONIC plan, or other musical subject.

vaudeville In late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America, a type of variety show including musical numbers, but without the common theme of a REVUE.

verismo (Italian, "realism") Nineteenth-century operatic MOVEMENT that presents everyday people in familiar situations, often depicting sordid or brutal events.

verse (1) Line of poetry. (2) Stanza of a HYMN or STROPHIC song. (3) Sentence of a PSALM. (4) In GREGORIAN CHANT, a setting of a Psalm verse or similar text, such as the verses that are part of the INTROIT, GRADUAL, and ALLELUIA.

verse anthem ANTHEM in which passages for solo voice(s) with accompaniment alternate with passages for full CHOIR doubled by instruments.

verse-refrain form A FORM in vocal music in which two or more stanzas of poetry are each sung to the same music (the VERSE) and each is followed by the same REFRAIN.

versus (Latin, "verse") A type of Latin sacred song, either MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic poem.

vielle Medieval bowed string instrument, early form of the fiddle and predecessor of the VIOLIN and VIOL.

vihuela Spanish relative of the LUTE with a flat back and guitar-shaped body.

villancico (from Spanish villano, "peasant"; pronounced vee-yan-THEE-co) Type of POLYPHONIC song in Spanish, with several stanzas framed by a REFRAIN; originally secular, the FORM was later used for sacred works, especially associated with Christmas or other important holy days.

villanella Type of sixteenth-century Italian song, generally for three voices, in a rustic HOMOPHONIC style.

viol (viola da gamba) Bowed, fretted string instrument popular from the mid-fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, held between the legs.

violin Bowed, fretless string instrument tuned in fifths (g-d'-a'-e").

virelai French FORME FIXE in the pattern A bba A bba A bba A, in which a REFRAIN (A) alternates with stanzas with the musical FORM bba, the a using the same music as the refrain.

virginal (1) English name for HARPSICHORD, used for all types until the seventeenth century. (2) Type of HARPSICHORD that is small enough to place on a table, with a single keyboard and strings running at right angles to the keys rather than parallel with them as in larger harpsichords.

virtuoso Performer who specializes in one instrument and dazzles audiences with his or her technical prowess.

voice exchange In POLYPHONY, technique in which voices trade segments of music, so that the same combination of lines is heard twice or more, but with different voices singing each line.

walking bass BASS line in BAROQUE music-and later in JAZZ-that moves steadily and continuously.

waltz Type of couple dance in triple meter, popular in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, or a short, stylized work for the PIANO in the style of such a dance.

whole step (or whole tone) An interval equivalent to two SEMITONES.

whole-tone scale (or whole-tone collection) A SCALE consisting of only WHOLE STEPS.

wind ensemble Large ENSEMBLE of winds, brass, and percussion instruments, mostly with one player per part, dedicated solely to serious music, rather than to the mix of MARCHES and other fare typically played by BANDS.

word-painting TEXT DEPICTION.

zarzuela Spanish GENRE of musical theater, a light, mythological play in a pastoral setting that alternates between sung and spoken dialogue and various types of ENSEMBLE and solo song.