Terms to keep clear. Ensemble. Genre. Form

A group of performers…
- orchestra
- choir
- band
ENSEMBLE

A category of musical composition…
- song, - opera
- concerto
GENRE

The structural design
of a musical work
or movement…
FORM

Strophic
Binary
Ternary
BASIC FORMS

BASIC FORMS
STROPHIC (many verses sung to the same music)
BINARY ( A vs. B)
TERNARY (A B A)

STROPHIC FORM
Common Example:
“Deck The Halls” . . .

BINARY FORM
(Opposition of 2 contrasting sections)
“A” vs. “B”
Example:
“Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver

TERNARY FORM
(Contrast and Resolution of 2 sections)
“A B A”
Example: “Yesterday” by The Beatles

Beatles: Yesterday (1965)
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. . . Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be . . .
- Why she had to go . . .
- Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play . . .

TERNARY FORM
“A” SECTION:
“Yesterday...” (slow pace, fragmented)
“B” SECTION:
“Why she had to go...” (faster, higher)
“A” returns with new words
Your perception of the issue changes
because you have a complete picture
Example: “Yesterday” by The Beatles

STYLE & INTERPRETATION
STYLE: The manner in which musical elements are used at various points in history
INTERPRETATION: The performer’s manner of STYLE and FEELING that makes each particular rendition of a piece unique.

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

[Anonymous] Alleluia: vidimus stellam (before 1000)
Alleluia (Hallelujah!)
Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente (We have seen the star in the East)
Alleluia (Hallelujah!)

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

Palestrina: “Kyrie” from Pope Marcellus Mass (1567)
Kyrie eleison (Lord Have Mercy)
Christe eleison (Christ Have Mercy)
Kyrie eleison (Lord Have Mercy)

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

Tchaikovsky: “March” from
The Nutcracker (1892)
- Trumpets & Plucked Strings
- Brass & Woodwinds alternate
- Trumpets & Plucked Strings

TERNARY FORM
“A” SECTION:
Brass (trumpet fanfare) & Strings
“B” SECTION:
Woodwinds & Strings
“A” RETURNS:
Brass (trumpet fanfare) & Strings (wave-like effect)
Example: “March of the Tin Soldiers” from
The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky

Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire (1912)
At night, the moon drenches thirsting eyes
and a flood wells up on their still horizon.
Tremulous sighs travel up through the swell.
Waves of wine for thirsting eyes gush forth from the moon at night.
The poet, deep in devotion, grows drunk of the holy drink.
His head turns in ecstasy to the heavens
and reeling, he slips and slurps the "wine" that slakes his thirsting eyes.

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

“Cantus Firmus” Technique
Medieval/early Renaissance
In the Medieval and early Renaissance eras, the Western Christian (“Catholic”) church required all new compositions to be based on pre-existing CHANT tunes. (“cantus firmus” = “fixed voice”)
So… the form of the piece followed the form of the chant.

“Formes Fixes”
Medieval/early Renaissance
In the Medieval and early Renaissance eras, secular (non-religious) music from France and Italy was often based on “fixed” poetic forms, each involving some type of structural contrast between two opposing sections. These poetic forms are called the “Formes Fixes.”

Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
Ballade
Virelai (French)
Ballata (Italian)
Rondeau
A a B
A B b a A
AB a A a b AB

BALLADE Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
A a B
1. 1st idea
2. New words
B
3. 2nd idea
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3

VIRELAI (Ballata) Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
A B b a A
1. 5. 1st idea
4. New words
B
2. 2nd idea
3. New words
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3 4 5

RONDEAU
Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
A
AB a A a b AB
1. 4. 7. 1st idea
3. New words
5. New words
B
2. 8. 2nd idea
6. New words
Lowercase letter means New Words
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

THE 6 STYLE PERIODS
MEDIEVAL c 500-1450
RENAISSANCE c 1450-1600
BAROQUE c 1600-1750
CLASSIC c 1750-1820
ROMANTIC c 1820-1900
MODERN c 1900 to now
of Western Art Music

Formes Fixes (Medieval/early Renaissance)
Ballade
Virelai (French)
Ballata (Italian)
Rondeau
A a B
A B b a A
AB a A a b AB

BINARY FORM
A B
I - V V - I
(as used in Baroque Instrumental music)

Purcell: “Dido’s Lament” from
Dido and Aeneas (1689)
When I am laid in earth, may my wrongs create no trouble . . .
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate . . .
A
B

Baroque Instrumental Suite
SUITE: A sequence of international
BINARY (A vs. B) dance structures based on contrasting movements, speeds, and moods.
Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, Bouree, Air, etc.
Example: Bach, “Air” from Orchestral Suite No. 3

Baroque Ritornello Form
Contrasts Big (“tutti”) vs. “small” (“solo”) groups
Example: Vivaldi, Spring mvt. 1 from The Four Seasons

Baroque Contrapuntal Designs
Example:
Pachelbel Canon in D major
CANON: “Leader” vs. “Follower”

Baroque Contrapuntal Designs
Example: Bach “Little Fugue” in G minor
FUGUE: Complex manipulation of a musical “subject”
Diagram of the opening section of this fugue:

Some terms relating to Fugue
SUBJECT: The main idea
ANSWER: The main idea transposed to a different pitch level.
COUNTERSUBJECT: A contrasting idea that appears more than once against the subject.
FUGAL EXPOSITION: A section where the subject
is being presented in various “voice” parts.
EPISODE: A musical section that modulates using SEQUENCES (stepwise patterns)