Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Music for Baccalaureate

Vocal and Dramatic Forms

Color

Use of letters that pertain to hue. (Note: This definition is vague in the original text.)

Virtuosity

The complete mastery of the possibilities of an instrument or voice.

Melody Accompanied

A single melodic line with accompaniment.

Basso Continuo

An accompaniment system characteristic of Baroque music, consisting of a bass line over which improvised chords are played.

Castrato

Singers who were castrated when young, before their voice changed, to stop the growth of the larynx. The castrato's voice remained childlike throughout his life, but with the lung capacity and power of an adult.

Cantata

Similar to the oratorio in structure, but usually shorter, not staged, and lacking a narrative history.

Passion

Recounts the Passion...

Traditional Anonymous Poetry and Troubadours

Traditional anonymous poems and parallelistic songs are a significant part of Galician literature. Troubadours also played a crucial role, exploring historical themes like "Pranto da Frouseira", a lament for the death of Pardo de Cela's son, and "Sack of Cangas by the Turks", a secular piece.

Renaissance and Baroque Periods

The Renaissance in the 17th century saw the rise of academic poetry, exemplified by the "Sonnet of Monterrei", an anonymous, dialogued piece featuring a knight, a lover, and a shepherd. The "Sonnet to the Countess of Altamira", dedicated to Alonso de Ercilla, is another notable work. The Baroque period brought forth works like "Respice Finem", "Sonnet to a Skirt", and "Decimas do...

1. Hellenic Civilization: The Thought of Music

Hellenic civilization conceived music as a divine art. Their legends attribute the invention of musical instruments to certain gods and grant them supernatural powers.

2. The Concept of Music in Greece

The concept of music in Greece encompassed the arts of poetry, sound, and dance. Music was often textured with monodic or heterophonic accompaniment. The Greeks used serial notations for pitches and measured durations using metrical feet.

3. Greek Scales and Modal Systems

The scales and their different Greek modes produced distinct sonorities that influenced musical behavior and were fundamental in education.

Greek Modes

• Doric
• Phrygian
• Lydian
• Mixolydian

4. Medieval Period and the Church

The Medieval period covers...

Author: Edvard Munch

Visual Elements and Composition

The protagonist's vital discomfort expresses itself through the sinuous curves that dominate the entire canvas, except for the bridge, the railings, and two characters in the background, which are drawn with straight lines. The predominant use of unnatural shades of red, blue, and black helps highlight the feeling of sorrow.

The Protagonist and Background

In the foreground, an individual cries out with all his energy; the deformed facial features were probably inspired by a Peruvian mummy on display at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. There are two characters that walk at the other end of the bridge and remain indifferent, appearing to lack solidarity with the protagonist.

The railings of the bridge...

Romanticism: New Ideas and Feelings

Romanticism introduced new ideas and different ways of thinking and feeling. It began in Western Europe during the latter half of the 18th century, championed by poets, artists, and philosophers. It is often considered the birth of the modern world.

Key Events

• The Salon in Paris (May 1762): Focused on children's care.
• August 1770, Brook Street, London: Thomas Chatterton committed suicide. He was a poet who did not wish to be a lawyer, leading to the idea of the sensitive person being born.
• 1774: Publication of The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Romantics deeply loved nature and sought to express and release human feelings.

British Authors

• Mary Shelley: Never formally educated, she ran away with a married man. She is considered

...

Ars Nova

Ars nova

• Polyphonic, French music
• New system of notation
• Note values to be divided into two or three parts
• Plus different levels of division
  • Mode (long) - perfect / imperfect
    • Triple is perfect / duple is imperfect
  • Time (breve) - perfect / imperfect
  • Prolation (semibreve) - major and minor
    • Major is triple / minor is duple

Philippe de Vitry

Philippe de Vitry

Cum statua / Hugo, Hugo / Magister Invidiae

• Note values
• Isorhythmic motet
• A structural principle
• Tenor: talea and color(es)
• Color
  • Repeat of melodies in a phrase
• Talea
  • Repeat of rhythm in a phrase
• Hocket

Polyphonic Mass Cycle

Polyphonic mass cycle

• Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
• Use same number of voices, rhythm, melodies among the setting movements
• Ite, missa est is the 6-1-

Guillaume de Machaut

Guillaume

...

Empowering Women in Electronic Music

It’s hard for women in male-dominated fields like electronic music to get an equal amount of respect, attention, and credit as their male counterparts—especially when their struggles are belittled and doubted by promoters, fans, and colleagues. Collectives like Discwoman and female:pressure (as well as countless solo activists) have attempted to balance this dynamic with all or mostly female lineups, which draw attention to the dearth of female names on global festival and club bills.

Lilith Unfair: Berlin’s Techno-Feminist Bonanza

The biggest such techno-feminist bonanza to take place in the world’s underground clubbing capital, Berlin, joins the cause with Lilith Unfair. This festival is devoted to...

Essential Literary Terms and Definitions

Definitions for key literary devices and concepts found on textbook pages 18, 35, 123, 137, 156, 168, and 198.

• Assonance: The repetition of similar vowel sounds in unrhymed, stressed syllables.
• Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in stressed syllables.
• Elegy: A formal poem mourning the loss of someone or something important.
• Folk Epic: A long narrative poem originating from ancient times, about heroes, typically recited or sung, and passed orally from generation to generation (e.g., Beowulf).
• Literary Epic: A long narrative poem about heroes, originally written by an individual author (e.g., Homer's Odyssey).
• Epic Conventions: Traditional characteristics or features found in epic poetry.

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The Baroque Period

A historic and cultural period immediately following the Renaissance, which continued and completed its artistic renewal.

Historical and Social Context

• Economic crisis
• Spanish decline
• Emigration to America
• New mysticism and religious meaning

Baroque Characteristics

Baroque literature adopted and repeated Renaissance themes, but instead of using them for pleasure or conviction, it emptied them of content and presented them as deception or illusion, like a reflection in a mirror. This reflected a loss of faith in humanity and a devaluation of the world.

Ideology and Attitudes

1. Confrontation, rebellion, and nonconformity, visible in political and moral spheres.
2. Evasion through content inherited from the Renaissance and easily recognizable

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The Spanish Vihuela: History and Characteristics

The practice of the lute in Europe coincided with the heyday of the Spanish Vihuela, which constitutes the typical Spanish instrument of the era. Unlike the lute, the vihuela's body is flat and its neck is short. It was played by plucking the strings with the fingers and typically had six courses (pairs of strings).

The vihuela was an aristocratic instrument, unlike the 17th-century guitar, which was popular. It was also a polyphonic instrument, and like the lute, it came in different sizes.

Vihuela Repertoire and Cultural Significance

The vihuela's peak was very short, lasting about half a century, yet in that brief time, its repertoire eclipsed that of almost any other noble instrument in Spain....