MEDIEVAL:

Ballade: A piece of music in romantic style with dramatic elements, typically for piano.

Cantus Firmus: A melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition

Church Modes: Four modes correspond to the modern modal scales starting on D
(Dorian), E (Phrygian), F (Ionian = the Gregorian Lydian), and G (Mixolydian).
Conjunct Motion: Stepwise motion

Danse: ?

Gregorian Chant: The central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic,

unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mass Ordinary: The Ordinary of the mass employs texts that remain the same for
every mass. Those sung by the choir are, in the Latin mass, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus (sometimes divided into Sanctus and Benedictus), and Agnus Dei, although the
intonations of Gloria and Credo are sung by the celebrant.
Measured Rhythm: ?
Melisma: Singing of many notes to a singer syllable
Monophonic/Monophony: Unaccompanied, single note

Organum: An early type of polyphonic music based on plainsong with an

accompaniment sung below of above the melody.

Polyphony: The style of simultaneously combining a number of parts, each forming an

individual melody and harmonizing with each other.

Range: Register of notes in a phrase/piece

Responsorial Singing: Alternation between choir and soloist

School of Notre Dame: A school of polyphony which had during the late 12th and
early 13th centuries an important group of composers and singers working under the
patronage there.
Renaissance:
Ballet: A genre of light vocal composition originating in Italy that includes the fa la la
refrain.
Bourree: A lively French dance like a gavotte.

Fa la la: Refrain to a madrigal or ballet

Galliard: The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over
Europe in the 16th century.

Kyrie: Kyrie eleison (Κύριε, ἐλέησον) meaning Lord have mercy is a musical setting of
this text intended for performance within the church

Madrigal: A madrigal is an unaccompanied secular vocal music composition of the

Renaissance and early Baroque eras.
Mass: A musical setting of the main sections of the mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
Agnus Dei
Motet: A motet is a mainly vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style,
from the late medieval era to the present.

Pavanne: The pavane, pavan, paven, pavin, pavian, pavine, or pavyn is a slow
processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century.
Polychoral Motet: A motet with many voices that was cultivated in Venice under
Andrea & Giovanni Gabrieli (e.g. Jubilate deo)

Ricercar: An elaborate contrapuntal instrumental composition in fugal or canonic

style, typically of the 16th to 18th centuries.

Word painting: Music composed in accordance with the emotions conveyed by the
words.
Baroque:
Accompanied Recitative: Recitativo secco (“dry recitative”) is sung with a free
rhythm dictated by the accents of the words. Accompaniment, usually by continuo (cello
and harpsichord), is simple and chordal. The melody approximates speech by using only
a few pitches.
Answer: The second phrase in a call and response succession
Aria: A long song accompanying a solo voice, usually in an opera.
Augmentation: The lengthening of a note or interval. Augmentation is a
compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values
than were previously used.

Baroque Suite: A collection of popular dances usually performed by a soloist or a

small chamber group.
Basso Continuo: A continuous bass usually played on the harpsichord or double bass.

Camerata: A small chamber orchestra or choir with up to 40 – 60 musicians.

Cantata: A vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in
several movements, often involving a choir.
Castrato: A type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo
soprano or contralto. The voice is usually produced by castration of the singer before
puberty.
Chorale: A melody to which a hymn is sung by a congregation, typically harmonizing in
four parts.
Concerto Grosso: A form of music in which the musical material is passed between a
concertino and ripieno to provide contrast.
Countersubject: Contasts with the subject/answer phrase shape.

Diminution: A form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of

shorter, usually melodic, values.

Ensemble: A group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music.

Episode: A digression from the main structure of a composition. It is a passage that is
not a part of the main theme or groups of composition but is an ornamental or
constructive section added to the main elements.

Fugue: A contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a

subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and which recurs frequently in
the course of the composition.

Ground Bass: A short theme, usually in the bass, which is constantly repeated as the
other parts of the music vary

Inversion: The rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a

melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music.
Librettist: The person who sings the libretto
Libretto: The text used in an extended musical work like an opera.

Opera: An art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work
combining text and musical score usually in a theatrical setting.
Oratorio: A piece that is usually lengthy and based on some biblical or religious event.
Overture - French: A musical form with the basical formal division in two parts
usually enclosed by repeat signs and double bars.

Pedal Point: A sustained note typically in the bass while a melodic line is played over
it.
Prelude: A brief composition generally played as an introduction to another larger
piece.
Prompter: A hidden person who tells the singer the first words of each phrase to be
sung.

Recitative: A rhythmically free vocal style that imitates the natural inflections of
speech and that is used for dialogue and narrative in operas and oratorios also : a
passage to be delivered in this style.
Retrograde: It reverses the order of the motive's pitches: what was the first pitch
becomes the last, and vice versa.
Ripieno: It is the body of instruments accompanying the concertino.
Ritornello Form: Characterised by a recurring A section in between new sections.
ABACA

Secco Recitative: It is sung with a free rhythm dictated by the accents of the words.
Accompaniment, usually by continuo (cello and harpsichord), is simple and chordal.
The melody approximates speech by using only a few pitches.
Sonata: A long piece made up of several parts.
Stretto: A close succession of overlapping of statements of the subject in a fugue.
Subject: The melody in which the composition is based.

Terraced Dynamics: Volume levels shift abruptly from soft to loud and back without
crescendos or diminuendos.
Tierce di Picardie: From a minor to major chord (in the same key)
Trill: Rapid alternation between two adjacent notes.
Trio Sonata: Major chamber music genre written in three parts, two top parts played
by violins and a basso continuo.
Tutti – Concertino: The whole orchestra plays with the concertino

Voices Categories of Opera: There are six basic voices in opera and several sub
types: Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Contralto, Tenor, Baritone and Bass.