The Basics
This musical element refers to the color or quality of a sound that allows you to distinguish a trumpet from a violin.
What is timbre?
A father rides through the night trying to save his son from the Elf King.
What is Erlkönig?
This servant keeps a catalog of his master's romantic conquests.
Who is Leporello?
This musical tradition used a leader who sang a phrase followed by a group's response, a practice rooted in African musical culture.
What is call and response?
Known as the "Queen of Gospel," this singer frequently performed "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Who is Mahalia Jackson?
Music consisting of a single melodic line without accompaniment is called this.
What is monophony?
This orchestral suite was written for a royal celebration on the River Thame
What is Water Music?
This queen dies after singing "When I Am Laid in Earth."
Who is Dido?
This arranger helped bring Negro spirituals from oral tradition into the classical concert hall.
Who is Henry Thacker Burleigh?
This entertainment form relied on blackface caricatures and harmful racial stereotypes.
What is minstrelsy?
When a single syllable is stretched over many notes, this text-setting style is being used.
What is melismatic?
This sacred work contains the famous "Hallelujah Chorus."
What is Messiah?
This bride-to-be helps expose Count Almaviva's infidelity.
Who is Susanna?
This group toured the world to preserve spirituals while raising money to save Fisk University.
Who are the Fisk Jubilee Singers?
This language replaced Greek as the primary language of the Roman Catholic Church and became the language of sacred music.
What is Latin?
A song in which every verse has different music instead of repeating the same melody is said to be this.
What is through-composed?
This opera follows a prince who must answer three riddles to win a princess.
What is Turandot?
This slave girl sacrifices her life rather than reveal Calaf's name.
Who is Liù?
Originally known as "Georgia Tom," this musician became the Father of Gospel Music.
Who is Thomas A. Dorsey?
These religious wars unexpectedly introduced Western Europe to new musical ideas and instruments from the Middle East.
What are the Crusades?
This musical texture combines one primary melody with chordal accompaniment.
What is homophony?
This Puccini opera follows Magda, a Parisian courtesan who gives up the man she loves because she believes her past makes her unworthy of him.
What is La Rondine?
This title character refuses to repent and is dragged to hell.
Who is Don Giovanni?
The death of Dorsey's wife and infant son inspired him to write this famous gospel hymn.
What is "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"?
Léonin expanded music to two voices, while this composer expanded it to three and four voices.
Who is Pérotin?