Middle Ages
This German nun was the first woman composer from whom musical works have survived.
Who is Hildegard Von Bingen?
This renaissance invention enabled books and music to be mass-produced and accessible to the general public.
What is the printing press?
He was an Italian composer who was also an ordained Priest. His most notable employment was at a school where girls were taught the arts. His most famous concertos are "The Four Seasons".
Who is Antonio Vivaldi?
A form in which a tuneful main theme (A) returns several times in alternation with other themes (ex. ABACA)
What is Rondo?
A group of songs that are unified by a storyline or musical idea. The songs are meant to be played in order.
What is a song cycle?
This Russian-born composer shocked audiences in 1913 with his ballet The Rite of Spring, known for its rhythmic complexity and dissonance.
Who is Igor Stravinsky?
The pitch symbols used in plainchant.
What are neumes?
A philosophy that focuses on the value of people, as opposed to gods and deities.
What is humanism?
This German composer wrote over 200 cantatas and is regarded as one of the greatest masters of counterpoint.
Who is Bach?
This composer was a child prodigy who left the patronage system to freelance in Vienna. Despite his short life, he composed an immense amount of work.
Who is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
He was a Romantic composer known for his expressive piano works and song cycles, and he often drew inspiration from his wife, Clara.
Who is Robert Schumann?
This 20th-century American composer incorporated jazz elements into classical forms and wrote Rhapsody in Blue.
Who is George Gershwin?
This early period of music featured sacred works, such as this one, which were sung in unison without harmony or instruments.
What is Plainchant/Gregorian Chant?
A renaissance piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love.
What is a madrigal?
The dates that we consider the beginning and end of the baroque era.
What is 1600-1750?
This composer spent his entire career in the patronage system. Considered the father of the symphony, he composed 104 of them.
Who is Joseph Haydn?
This term describes instrumental music that tells a story or paints a picture without using words.
What is program music?
This French composer is often called the founder of Impressionism, though he rejected the label.
Who is Debussy?
The years that we consider the beginning and end of the middle ages.
What is 450-1450?
This musical device, in which composers reflect the text of a piece using musical elements, became widely used during the renaissance.
What is word painting?
A composition for instrumental soloist/s and orchestra, usually in three movements: fast, slow, fast
What is a concerto?
The most common form of the classical period, it consists of three main sections (Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation) and is the standard form for the first movement of a symphony.
What is a sonata?
A composition for solo voice and piano, originally written to be enjoyed at home.
What is an art song?
This composer’s Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man reflect an American nationalist style.
Who is Aaron Copland?
These musicians were an essential source of information and often sang songs composed by troubadours.
Who are minstrels?
The years that we consider the beginning and end of the renaissance.
What is 1450-1600?
A work for voices and instruments that is not staged, can vary in ensemble size, and may be secular or sacred.
What is a cantata?
The years that we consider the beginning and end of the Classical era.
What is 1750-1820?
When composers use folksongs, dances, legend or historical events to evoke the identity of their country.
What is nationalism?
A system of composition that organizes all twelve notes of the chromatic scale into a fixed series, developed by Arnold Schoenberg.
What is 12-tone technique/serialism?
The Pope that standardized the Roman Catholic Church's liturgy and music.
Who is Pope Gregory I?
A polyphonic sacred work made up of five sections.
What is a mass?
A polyphonic composition based on one central theme, called a “subject.”
What is a fugue?
This composer’s works helped bridge the Classical and Romantic eras, expanding symphonies and emphasizing emotion and contrast.
Who is Beethoven?
This Romantic composer never performed or conducted his own pieces, unlike the composers before him. He is most well-known for his art song, “Erlkönig”.
Who is Franz Schubert?
This American composer worked as an insurance salesman while experimenting with layered sounds and unusual rhythms, becoming the first great U.S. composer.
Who is Charles Ives?
French composer who wrote both secular and sacred music. His catalog is one of the largest surviving collections from the middle ages.
Who is Guillaume De Machaut?
This musical texture features multiple independent voice parts imitating one another in balance and clarity.
What is polyphony?
This is considered the world's first great opera, written by Monteverdi.
What is Orfeo?
This city was the center of cultural and musical development during the classical era.
What is Vienna?
A section of music that is used throughout a piece to represent a person, object, or idea.
What is a Leitmotif?
This movement emphasized dissonance, atonality, and the expression of intense emotion, often rejecting beauty or “prettiness” in sound.
What is expressionism?