The following is a list of terms which appear in relation to the composers and their works. All information has been taken from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, published by Macmillan in 1980. I would like to thank Sue Soames, of Pendlebury Music Library, University of Cambridge, for help in locating information.
-
- Chamber Music:
- This refers to music for small ensembles of solo instruments written for performances under domestic circumstances before an audience of limited size.
- Concerto:
- This is an instrumental work that maintains contrast between an orchestral ensemble and a smaller group or a solo instrument.
- Concerto Grosso:
- This is a type of concerto in which a large group alternates with a smaller group.
- Divertimento:
- This is a musical form of the Classical Period, being a work primarily designed for the entertainment of the listeners and the players and having a lightness of approach.
- Flat:
- It is the notational symbol normally placed to the left of a note, indicating that the note is to be lowered in pitch by one semitone.
- Fugue:
- This is a composition in which imitative counterpointing involving one or more theme is the most important or most characteristic device of formal extension.
- Key:
- It is the quality of a musical composition or passage that causes it to be sensed as gravitating towards a particular note, called the key note or the tonic.
- Köchel:
- This is named after Ludwig von Köchel, whose chronological thematic catalogue of Mozart’s works gave the fullest possible source information for nearly 450 earlier works of the composer.
- Madrigal:
- This is a poetic and musical form of the 14th century; also, in the 16th and 17th centuries of various types and forms of secular verse.
- Major:
- It is the name given to a scale whose octave species is built on the following ascending sequence of intervals: T-T-S-T-T-T-S.
- Minor:
- It is the name given to a scale whose octave species is built on the following ascending sequence of intervals: T-S-T-T-S-T-T.
- Motet:
- This is a most important form of polyphonic music between 1220 and 1750.
- Opera:
- This is the generic term for musical dramatic works in which the actors sing some or all their parts.
- Opus:
- This represents a single-composer publication, not necessarily the chronological order.
- Orchestra:
- In modern times, this is the term which signifies a wide variety of instrumental ensembles.
- Polonaise:
- This is a stately Polish processional dance or instrumental piece.
- Rhapsody:
- This has no regular form and is not confined to any particular medium.
- Scale:
- It is a sequence of notes in ascending or descending order of pitch.
- Schmieder:
- This is named after Wolfgang Schmieder, whose intensive work in music bibliography and source studies is dominated by his Bach-Werke-Vergeichnis, a basic tool for Bach research.
- Serenade:
- Originally, this was a musical greeting to a beloved or a person of rank. Now, it is a musical form closely related to the divertimento.
- Sharp:
- It is the notational sign normally placed to the left of a note, indicating that the note is to be raised by one semitone.
- Sonata:
- This is a term to denote a piece of music, usually of several movements and instrumental, designed to be performed by a soloist or a small ensemble.
- String Quartet:
- This is a composition for four solo string instruments: usually two violins, one viola, and one cello.
- String Quintet:
- This is a composition for five string instruments: usually two violins, two violas, and one cello.
- String Trio:
- This is a composition for three string instruments: two violins and one cello; or one violin, one viola, and one cello.
- Suite:
- This is any ordered set of instrumental pieces meant to be performed at a single sitting.
- Symphonic Poem:
- This is an orchestral form in which a poem or programme provides a narrative or illustrative basis.
- Symphony:
- This signifies an extended work for orchestra.
