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Age of Absolutism
Many rulers exercised power over their subjects. Aristocracy was enormously rich and powerful.
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Age of Enlightenment
- Reason,
- not custom or tradition, was the best guide for human conduct.
- Political and economic power shifted from aristocracy to the middle
- class.
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Age of Romanticism
Romantics were drawn to the realm of the supernatural, fantasy, the unconscious, and the world of dreams.
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Homophonic texture
- Melody with accompaniment; a melody that is dominant with other lines supporting the main melody.
- Examples: most familiar hymns, art songs, and popular songs.
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Humanism
Focused on human life and its accomplishments. Humanists were not concerned with an afterlife in heaven and hell.
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Melisma
- A setting of a text to music in which one syllable of text is given a series of musical notes.
- Examples: a chant; when pop and gospel singers extend one word by embellishing it with many notes.
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Monophonic texture
- A single-line melody without harmonic accompaniment or other melodic line.
- Examples: a chant; a lullaby; an unaccompanied song; Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam
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Nationalistic Music
- Music with definable national characteristics including
- folk songs, danced, legends, patriotism, and other national material in a
- composition to associate it with the composer's homeland;
- characteristic of the Romantic era.
- Example: Smetana's Moldau
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Opera
- Drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment, usually a
- large-scale composition involving vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra,
- costumes, and scenery.
- Example: Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
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Oratorio
- Large-scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra
- Example: Handel's Messiah
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Polyphonic texture
- Two or more independent, simultaneously sounding melodies; each line has equal emphasis but starts at different times.
- Examples: two- or three-part round; renaissance madrigals; As Vesta was Descending by Weelkes
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Program Music
- instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene; characteristic of the Romantic Era.
- Example: Smetana's Moldau
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Serenade
a work that's usually light in mood, meant for evening entertainment.
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Sonata Form
- A typical first movement form which includes an exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.
- Example: Beethoven's 5th Symphony, 1st Movement
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Symphonic Poem
- Programmatic, one movement work for symphony orchestra.
- Example: Smetana's Moldau
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Theme and Variations
- A basic musical idea - the theme - is repeated over and over and is changed each time.
- Example: Haydn's Surprise Symphony, 2nd Movement
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