Baroque Vocab Review

Music

100

a Theater production with actors, sets, and costumes, but everything is SUNG only.

Opera

200

"Continuous Bass." Harpsichord would play a repeated bass line underneath the rest of the players

Basso Continuo

300

Volume suddenly goes from one extreme to the other without a gradual shift (p--f)

Terraced Dynamics

400

Different lines of music IMITATE each other and play at the same time. Bach mostly wrote these.

Fugue

500

A piece for keyboard instruments meant to be played by virtuosos 

Toccata

600

A type of music where each player plays the same melody but they enter at different times, causing the melodies to overlap.

Canon

Composers

100

Wrote The Four Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi

200

Born in Germany, lived in England

George Frideric Handel

300

Nicknamed "the red priest" for his red hair

Antonio Vivaldi

400

Worked for the King of England

George Frideric Handel

500

Lived and worked in different churches and courts in Germany

JS Bach

600

Was imprisoned by a Duke so that he could not leave to write music for other people

JS Bach

Instruments

100

Most common keyboard instrument of Baroque period. Played by plucking the strings on the inside. 

Harpsichord

200

Developed after the harpsichord. Strings played with a hammer

Piano

300

Brass instrument. Had no valves during Baroque period

Baroque Trumpet

400

String instrument. Player used a bow to play strings. Strings made out of animal intestines 

Baroque Violin

500

Keyboard instrument. Sound comes from pumped air that travels through pipes

Pipe Organ

600

String instrument with a long neck. Strings are plucked by player. Resembles a lute/guitar. 

Theorbo

Pieces

100

Piece of music by Vivaldi that represents different times of the year.

The Four Seasons

200

Written by Handel. Used to transport the King across the river

Water Music

300

Oratorio by Handel. The Hallelujah Chorus is from this work. 

The Messiah

400

Written by Bach for the organ. First 3 measures are commonly used in scary movies

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

500

For 3 violins and one cello. Each instrument starts at a different time. Used often for weddings.

Pachelbel's Canon

600

Written by Vivaldi. Two solo cellos against the rest of the orchestra

Concerto for two cellos

Misc.

100

Years of Baroque Period

1600-1750

200

Baroque composers worked for rich families, royalty, or churches to make money. They had to write what they were told to.

Patronage

300

The Baroque Orchestra was ____________ in size than a modern day orchestra.

Smaller

400

Baroque Operas were based off of ________ mythology stories

(Ancient) Greek

500

Music can switch from using notes that sound uplifting and happy to notes that sound sad/mysterious

Major/Minor Tonality

600

Type of song in an opera that a performer sings on their own. Usually dramatic and emotional

Aria