Romanticism in Music

English horn Double-reed woodwind instrument, slightly larger than the oboe and with a lower range, straight in shape with an egg-shaped bell.

Accelerando Becoming faster.

Art song Setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, translating the poem's mood and imagery into music, common in the romantic period.

Bass clarinet Member of the clarinet family, having a low range. Its shape is curved at the end before flaring into a bell.

Chromatic harmony Use of chords containing tones not found in the prevailing major or minor scale but included in the chromatic scale (which has twelve tones); often found in romantic music.

Chromatic scale Scale including all twelve tones of the octave; each tone is a half step away from the next one.

Contrabassoon Double-reed woodwind instrument with a register one octave lower than that of the bassoon.

Dissonance Tone combination that is unstable and tense.

Exoticism Use of melodies, rhythms, or instruments that suggest foreign lands; common in romantic music.

Improvisation Creation of music at the same time as it is performed.

Nationalism Inclusion of folksongs, dances, legends, and other national material in a composition to associate it with the composer's homeland; characteristic of romantic music.

Program Explanatory comments specifying the story, scene, or idea associated with program music.

Program music Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene, often found in the romantic period.

Romance In nineteenth-century music, a short lyrical piece for piano or solo instrument with piano accompaniment.

Rubato Slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo to intensify the expression of the music, often used in romantic music.

Thematic transformation Alteration of the character of a theme by means of changes in dynamics, orchestration, or rhythm, when it returns in a later movement or section; often found in romantic music.

The Art Song

Art song Setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, translating the poem's mood and imagery into music, common in the romantic period.

Modified strophic form Form in which two or more stanzas of poetry are set to the same music while other stanzas have new music; found in art songs of the Romantic period.

Postlude Concluding section; the section at the end of an art song which sums up its mood, played by the piano or orchestra, without the voice.

Song cycle Group of art songs unified by a story line that runs through their poems, or by musical ideas linking the songs; often found in romantic music.

Strophic form Vocal form in which the same music is repeated for each stanza of a poem.

Through-composed form Vocal form in which there is new music for each stanza of a poem.

Franz Schubert

Robert Schumann

Clara Wieck Schumann

Frédéric Chopin

Etude In French, study; a piece designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties.

Nocturne In French, night piece; a composition, usually slow, lyrical, and intimate in character, often for piano solo.

Polonaise Composition in triple meter with a stately character, often for piano solo; originally a Polish court dance.

Franz Liszt

Symphonic poem (tone poem) Programmatic composition for orchestra in one movement, which may have a traditional form (such as sonata or rondo) or an original, irregular form.

Virtuoso Performing artist of extraordinary technical mastery.

Felix Mendelssohn

Cadenza Unaccompanied section of virtuoso display for the soloist in a concerto, usually appearing near the end of the first movement and sometimes in the last movement.

Concerto Extended composition for instrumental soloist and orchestra, usually in three movements: (1) fast, (2) slow, (3) fast.

Improvisation Creation of music at the same time as it is performed.

Oratorio Large-scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra, usually set to a narrative text, but without acting, scenery, or costumes; often based on biblical stories.

Program Music

Absolute music Instrumental music having no intended association with a story, poem, idea, or scene; nonprogram music.

Concert overture Independent composition for orchestra in one movement, usually in sonata form, often found in the romantic period.

Incidental music Music intended to be performed before and during a play, setting the mood for the drama.

Nationalism Inclusion of folksongs, dances, legends, and other national material in a composition to associate it with the composer's homeland; characteristic of romantic music.

Overture (prelude) Short musical composition, purely orchestral, which opens an opera and sets the overall dramatic mood. Orchestral introductions to later acts of an opera are called preludes.

Program Explanatory comments specifying the story, scene, or idea associated with program music.

Program music Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene, often found in the romantic period.

Program symphony Symphony (a composition for orchestra in several movements) related to a story, idea, or scene, in which each movement usually has a descriptive title; often found in romantic music.

Symphonic poem (tone poem) Programmatic composition for orchestra in one movement, which may have a traditional form (such as sonata or rondo) or an original, irregular form.

Hector Berlioz

Idee fixe Single melody used in several movements of a long work to represent a recurring idea.

Program music Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene, often found in the romantic period.

Program symphony Symphony (a composition for orchestra in several movements) related to a story, idea, or scene, in which each

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Concert overture Independent composition for orchestra in one movement, usually in sonata form, often found in the romantic period.

Johannes Brahms

Ground bass (basso ostinato, passacaglia) Variation form in which a musical idea in the bass is repeated over and over while the melodies above it constantly change; common in baroque music.

Giuseppe Verdi

Opera Drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment, usually a large-scale composition employing vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, costumes, and scenery.

Giacomo Puccini

Exoticism Use of melodies, rhythms, or instruments that suggest foreign lands; common in romantic music.

Libretto Text of an opera.

Opera Drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment, usually a large-scale composition employing vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, costumes, and scenery.

Recitative Vocal line in an opera, oratorio, or cantata that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech, often serving to lead into an aria.

Richard Wagner

Chromatic harmony Use of chords containing tones not found in the prevailing major or minor scale but included in the chromatic scale (which has twelve tones); often found in romantic music.

Dissonance Tone combination that is unstable and tense.

Leitmotif Short musical idea associated with a person, object, or thought, characteristic of the operas of Wagner.

Opera Drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment, usually a large-scale composition employing vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra, costumes, and scenery.