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GLOSSARY AND RESOURCE LIST

Glossary and Resource List

20th Century: The period of from 1900-2000 characterized by atonality, dissonance, neoclassicism, and jazz elements. Aesthetic: Appreciation of something beautiful. Allegro: A fast tempo. Archdiocese: the district for which an archbishop is responsible. Arrangement: The adaptation of a composition for a medium different from that for which it was originally composed. Atonality or Atonal Music: Music organized without reference to key or tonal center and using the tones of a impartially. Audience: A group of listeners or spectators. Auditorium: A room, hall or building used for public gatherings. Baroque Period: The period of music from 1600-1750 characterized by an emphasis on ornate melodies and the development of musical forms such as , cantata, oratorio, and sonata. Cadence: the notes signaling the end of a piece : Music, especially instrumental ensemble music, intended for performance in a private room. Choreograph: To arrange or direct movements especially for dance. Chorus: a group of singers who all sing together or a piece sung by such a group. Classical Period: The period of music from 1750-1825 characterized by an emphasis on balance, clarity and moderation. Coda: A concluding passage that occurs after the structural conclusion of a piece of music. Collaboration: To work jointly with others Commission: to hire a composer to write a piece of music in exchange for a fee Composer: A person who writes music. Composition: A piece of music. Concert: The performance of music (or other art form) for an audience. : A musical work for solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra. Conductor: A person who directs the performance of a musical ensemble. Contemporary: The present period of music; specifically music created from the year 2000 to present. Contrast: To compare or appraise in respect to differences. Critic: One who expresses a reasoned opinion involving a judgment of its value. Csardas: a Hungarian dance with a slow introduction and a fast, wild finish. Dance: A series of rhythmic and patterned bodily movements usually performed to music. Development: The second major division of the sonata-allegro form. The development is based upon the themes in the exposition and elaborates upon them by making new combinations of the figures and phrases while moving through a series of foreign keys.

CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY 1 GLOSSARY AND RESOURCE LIST

Dynamics: The loudness or softness of sound. Ethnomusicology: the study of the music of different cultures, especially non-Western ones. Exotic: Introduced from another country; not native to the place where found. Exposition: In sonata form, the exposition is the first statement of the theme. Finale: The final movement of a musical form; to appear at the end of a composition. Folk music: Music originating among the people of a country or area, passed by oral tradition from one singer or generation to the next. Gypsy: a member of a traveling people who traditionally live by seasonal work, various trades, and fortune telling. : The musical effect derived from combining different pitches simultaneously. : A style of painting and music developed in that was popular from the 1870’s through early 1900’s. It is characterized by the impression produced by a scene, or the creation of an emotion or feeling. Improvise: The creation of music in the course of performance. Key: A specificscale or series of notes defining a particular . Keys may be defined as major or minor, and are named after their tonic or keynote. Kuchka: The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful, The Balakirev Circle, and The New Russian School, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. Leitmotif:A recurring melody that is associated with a specific character, event, or idea. Libretto: A printed copy of the words to an oratorio or an opera; also, the words of the text themselves. Lyrics: the written words in a song. Melody: A succession of notes defined by pitch and rhythm. Meter: A pattern in which a steady succession of rhythmic pulses is organized. Minuet and Trio: A French dance in moderate tempo and ¾ meter. In the Classical period, the minuet was paired with a contrasting movement called the trio. Together, they were played in the pattern of minuet-trio- minuet. Movement: Complete, self-contained section within a larger musical composition. Neoclassicism: Relating to a revival of interest in the Classical era in music, literature, art and architecture. Opera: A story told by music and singing very rarely using spoken words. Orchestra: A group of musicians organized to perform ensemble music. Orchestrate: to arrange the music for an orchestra to play. Orchestration: The art of employing instruments in various combinations, most notably the orchestra. Overture: orchestral introduction that establishes key themes and moods Patron: A person who supports something, like an orchestra, a composer, or an event. Perfect Pitch: an aural ability which allows one to recognize the pitch of a note or to produce any given note without the use of any aural aid

2 CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY GLOSSARY AND RESOURCE LIST

Polonaise: a slow dance of Polish origin in triple time, consisting chiefly of an intricate march or procession. Prodigy: A highly talented child. Ragtime: music characterized by a syncopated melodic line and regularly accented accompaniment, evolved by black American musicians in the 1890s and played on the piano. Relative Pitch: being able to replicate a given musical note by comparing it to a reference note Rhythm: The organization of sound over time. Romantic Period: The period of music from 1825-1900 characterized by an emphasis on subjective emotional qualities and freedom of form. Scale: A graduated series of musical tones ascending or descending in order or pitch. Schanken: respectable working class places for eating and entertainment. Score: The entirety of the instrumental and vocal parts of a composition in written form, placed together on a page in staves placed one below the other. Sonata: A composition for solo piano or instruments usually consisting of three or four movements varying in key, mood, and tempo. : A composition for an ensemble consisting of four solo string instruments, normally two violins, viola and cello. Suite: an ordered series of instrumental movements of any character. Symphonic Poem: see Tone Poem. Symphony: A long and complex work in sonata form for symphony orchestra. Syncopation: A momentary contradiction of the prevailing meter or pulse. Tempo: The speed at which a musical composition is played. Theme: A melodic subject or main idea of a musical composition or movement. Timbre: Quality of sound that distinguishes one instrument or voice from another. Tonality: Central note, scale and chord within a piece, in relationship to which all other tones in the composition are heard. Tone Poem: a poem told through music rather than words Tonic: The note upon which a scale or key is based. Tri-tone: The interval of an augmented fourth. This interval was known as the "devil in music" in the Medieval era because it is the most dissonant sound in the scale. Vaquero: (in Spanish-speaking parts of the US) a cowboy; a cattle driver. Variations: taking a motif and repeating it in several different ways. Verbunkos: an 18th-century Hungarian dance and music genre.

CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY 3