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A
- AdagiettosA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played slightly faster than adagio.
- AdagiosA tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner
- AgitatosA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a restless agitated style
- Agnus DeiAgnus Dei, referring to the Christian theological concept of the Lamb of God and the associated liturgical text from the Roman Catholic Latin Mass, has been set to music by many composers, as it is normally one of the movements or sections in a sung Mass setting. However, sometimes it stands alone, e.g. it provides the lyrics for Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, the choral arrangement of his Adagio for Strings.
- AirsAn air (Italian: aria; also ayr, ayre in French) is a song-like vocal or instrumental composition. The term can also be applied to the interchangeable melodies of folk songs and ballads. It is a variant of the musical song form often referred to (in opera, cantata and oratorio) as aria.
- AllegrettosA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played faster than Andante and usually slower than Allegro
- AllegrosA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a quick, lively tempo, faster than allegretto but slower than presto
- AllemandesAn allemande is a renaissance and baroque dance, and one of the most popular instrumental dance styles in baroque music, with notable examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach and Handel. It is often the first movement of a baroque suite of dances, paired with a subsequent courante, though it is sometimes preceded by an introduction or prelude.
- AndantesA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played at a walking pace (76–108 bpm)
- AndantinosA tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played slightly faster than andante (although, in some cases, it can be taken to mean slightly slower than andante) (80–108 bpm)
- AnglaisesAnglaise or Angloise is another term for the English country dance.
- AnthemsAn anthem (derived from the Latin word "antiphon") is a style of choral music written in English. Anthems are typically moderate in length and set to Biblical text.
- AntiphonsAn antiphon is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently in Ambrosian chant, but they are used widely in Gregorian chant as well. They may be used during Mass, for the Introit, the Offertory or the Communion. They may also be used in the Liturgy of the Hours, typically for Lauds or Vespers.
- ArabesquesThe arabesque is a type of music which uses melodies to create the atmosphere of Arabic architecture. It is associated with complexity in decoration and embroidery but can also refer to the ballerinas who performed the elegant and fragile movement called the ‘arabesque’.
- AriasAn aria is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, sharing features of the operatic arias of their periods. The term was originally used to refer to any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer.
- AriettasAn arietta is a short aria.
- AriososIn classical music, arioso is a type of solo vocal piece, usually occurring in an opera or oratorio, falling somewhere between recitative and aria in style. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. Arioso is similar to recitative due to its unrestrained structure and inflexions, close to those of speech. It differs, however, in its rhythm. Arioso is similar to aria in its melodic form, both being closer to singing than recitative; however, they differ in form, arioso generally not resorting to the process of repetition.
- AubadesAn aubade is a morning love song (as opposed to a serenade, which is in the evening), or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn. It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak". In the strictest sense of the term, an aubade is a song from a door or window to a sleeping woman.
- Ave MariaThe Ave Maria is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical episodes featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation), and Mary's subsequent visit to Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist (the Visitation). The Hail Mary is a prayer of praise for and of petition to Mary, regarded as the Theotokos (Mother of God). Since the 16th century, the version of the prayer used in the Catholic Church closes with an appeal for her intercession. The prayer takes different forms in various traditions, and has often been set to music. The Ave Maria has been set to music numerous times, although the title "Ave Maria" has been also given to musical compositions that are not settings of the prayer. One of the most famous is the version by Franz Schubert (1825), composed as Ellens dritter Gesang (Ellen's Third Song), D839, part 6 of his Opus 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's popular epic poem "The Lady of the Lake", translated into German by Adam Storck. Although it opens with the greeting "Ave Maria" ("Hail Mary"), the text was not that of the traditional prayer, but nowadays it is commonly sung with words of the prayer. Its music was used in the final segment of Disney's Fantasia. In Gounod's version, he superimposed melody and the words to the first prelude from Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, omitting only the words "Mater Dei" (Mother of God). Anton Bruckner wrote three different settings, the best known being a motet for seven voices. Antonín Dvořák's version was composed in 1877. Another setting of Ave Maria was written by Giuseppe Verdi as part for his 1887 opera Otello. Russian composer César Cui, who was raised Roman Catholic, set the text at least three times: as the "Ave Maria", op. 34, for one or two women's voices with piano or harmonium (1886), and as part of two of his operas: Le flibustier (premiered 1894) and Mateo Falcone (1907).
B
- BagatellesA bagatelle is a short piece of music, typically for the piano, and usually of a light, mellow character. The name bagatelle literally means "a short unpretentious instrumental composition" as a reference to the light style of a piece. Although bagatelles are generally written for solo piano, they have also been written for various instruments. The earliest use of the name "bagatelle" for a musical work was by François Couperin, in his tenth harpsichord ordre (1717), in which a rondeau is titled "Les bagatelles." The best-known bagatelles are probably those by Ludwig van Beethoven, who published three sets, Op. 33, 119 and 126, and wrote a number of similar works that were unpublished in his lifetime including the piece that is popularly known as Für Elise. Other notable examples are Franz Liszt's Bagatelle sans tonalité (an early exploration into atonality), a set for violin and piano (Op. 13) by François Schubert of which No. 9, The Bee, is often performed, the set by Antonín Dvořák for two violins, cello and harmonium (Op. 47), and sets by Bedřich Smetana, Alexander Tcherepnin and Jean Sibelius.
- BalladesIn classical music, and since the late 18th century, a ballade refers to a setting of a literary ballad, a narrative poem, in the musical tradition of the Lied, or to a one-movement instrumental piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities reminiscent of such a song setting, especially a piano ballade. In 19th century romantic music, a piano ballad (most often spelled ballade) is a genre of solo piano pieces written in a balletic narrative style, often with lyrical elements interspersed. This type of work made its first appearance with Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 of 1831–35, closely followed by the ballad included in Clara Schumann's Soirées musicales Op. 6 published in the same year.
- BalladsIn classical music, and since the late 18th century, a ballade refers to a setting of a literary ballad, a narrative poem, in the musical tradition of the Lied, or to a one-movement instrumental piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities reminiscent of such a song setting, especially a piano ballade. In 19th century romantic music, a piano ballad (most often spelled ballade) is a genre of solo piano pieces written in a balletic narrative style, often with lyrical elements interspersed. This type of work made its first appearance with Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 of 1831–35, closely followed by the ballad included in Clara Schumann's Soirées musicales Op. 6 published in the same year.
- BallatasThe ballata is an Italian poetic and musical form in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. It has the musical structure AbbaA, with the first and last stanzas having the same texts. It is thus most similar to the French musical 'forme fixe' virelai (and not the ballade as the name might otherwise suggest). The first and last "A" is called a ripresa, the "b" lines are piedi (feet), while the fourth line is called a "volta". Longer ballate may be found in the form AbbaAbbaA, etc. Unlike the virelai, the two "b" lines usually have exactly the same music and only in later ballate pick up the (formerly distinctly French) first and second (open and close) endings. The term comes from the verb ballare, to dance, and the form certainly began as dance music. The ballata was one of the most prominent secular musical forms during the 14th century in Italy, the period often known as the Italian ars nova. Ballate are sung at the end of each day of Boccaccio's Decameron (only one musical setting of these poems, by Lorenzo da Firenze, survives). Early ballate, such as those found in the Rossi Codex are monophonic. Later, ballate are found for two or three voices. The most notable composer of ballate is Francesco Landini, who composed in the second half of the 14th century. Other composers of ballata include Andrea da Firenze, a contemporary of Francesco Landini, as well as Bartolino da Padova, Johannes Ciconia, Prepositus Brixiensis and Zacara da Teramo. In the 15th century both Arnold de Lantins and Guillaume Dufay wrote ballate; they were among the last to do so.
- BalletsBallet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that ballet gained status as a “classical” form. In ballet, the terms ‘classical’ and ‘romantic’ are chronologically reversed from musical usage. Thus, the 19th century Classical period in ballet coincided with the 19th century Romantic era in music. Ballet music composers from the 17th–20th centuries, including the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, and Sergei Prokofiev, were predominantly in France and Russia. Yet with the increased international notoriety seen in Tchaikovsky's and Stravinsky's lifetime, ballet music composition and ballet in general spread across the western world.
- Ballets heroiquesLiterally 'heroic ballet'. A type of opéra ballet featuring the heroic and exotic, of the early/mid 18th century.
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- BarcarollesBarcarolles are compositions inspired by the rhythm and character of the songs traditionally sung by Venetian gondoliers. The barcarolle is distinguished by its swaying, lilting, quality, intended to evoke the gentle rocking movement of a boat. The barcarolle peaked during the Romantic era, although traces of the form can be found as early as the 18th century.
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- BurlesquesIn the realm of classical music, "burlesques" refer to a genre that typically embodies a humorous or satirical character. These compositions often feature a playful, lively rhythm and are known for their whimsical and sometimes mocking nature. The term originally stems from a literary form that parodied serious works, and this influence is evident in the musical burlesques, where composers frequently toy with conventional musical forms or themes, sometimes exaggerating them to the point of absurdity. This style allows for a creative and often irreverent approach to composition, encouraging the composer to experiment with unexpected harmonies, rhythms, and structural forms. Despite their humorous undertone, burlesques demand significant technical skill from the performers, as the pieces can be intricate and challenging. This genre is distinct from the more narrative and dance-oriented burlesque seen in theater and has its unique place in the classical music canon, often showcasing the lighter, more playful side of classical music.
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- CanonsIn music, a canon is a contrapuntal compositional technique that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration. The initial melody is called the leader (or dux), while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower (or comes). The follower must imitate the leader, either as an exact replication of its rhythms and intervals or some transformation thereof. Repeating canons in which all voices are musically identical are called rounds—"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Frère Jacques" are popular examples.
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- CantatasA cantata (literally translated from Italian as "sung") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of church services are called church cantata or sacred cantata; other non-religious cantatas are referred to as secular cantatas.
- CanticlesA canticle is a hymn derived from Biblical texts (excluding the Book of Psalms) and incorporated into the liturgy of a Christian church. In the Roman Catholic Church, there are two categories of canticles: the Evangelical Canticles, or cantica majora (major canticles), which are derived from the New Testament, and the cantica minora (minor canticles), which are taken from the Old Testament. Three major canticles—the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), and the Nunc dimittis (Luke 2:29-32)—are used daily in the Roman Rite at Lauds (morning prayer), Vespers (evening prayer), and Compline (nighttime prayer), respectively.
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- ChaconnesA chaconne is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offers a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the passacaglia. It originates and was particularly popular in the Baroque era; a large number of Chaconnes exist from the 17th- and 18th- centuries. The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the tonic to the dominant pitch of the scale; the harmonies given to the upper parts may emphasize the circle of fifths or a derivative pattern thereof. Though it originally emerged during the late sixteenth century in Spanish culture, having reputedly been introduced from the New World, as a quick dance-song characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts, the chaconne by the early eighteenth century had evolved into a slow triple meter instrumental form. Alex Ross describes the origins of the chacona as actually having been a sexily swirling dance that appeared in South America at the end of the sixteenth century and quickly spread to Europe. The dance became popular both in the elite courts and in the general population. "Un sarao de la chacona" is one of the earliest known examples of a "chacona", written down by Spanish musician Juan Arañés. Outstanding examples of early baroque chaconnes are Monteverdi's "Zefiro torna" and "Es steh Gott auf" by Heinrich Schütz. One of the best known and most masterful and expressive examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression in both major and minor modes. However, recently it has been proposed that the form of Bach's "Ciaccona" (he used the Italian form of the name, rather than the French "Chaconne") is really cast in the form of a French theatrical dance known as the "passacaille", although it also incorporates Italian and German style features as well.[6] After the Baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline during the 19th century, though the 32 Variations in C minor by Beethoven suggest its continuing influence. However, the form saw a very substantial revival during the 20th century, with more than two dozen composers contributing examples (see below).
- ChansonsA chanson (French; lit. 'song') is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the polyphonic French song of late medieval and Renaissance music.[3][4][5] The genre had origins in the monophonic songs of troubadours and trouvères, though the only polyphonic precedents were 16 works by Adam de la Halle and one by Jehan de Lescurel.[6] Not until the ars nova composer Guillaume de Machaut did any composer write a significant number of polyphonic chansons.[6] A broad term, the word "chanson" literally means "song" in French and can thus less commonly refers to a variety of (usually secular) French genres throughout history. This includes the songs of chansonnier, chanson de geste and Grand chant; court songs of the late Renaissance and early Baroque music periods, air de cour; popular songs from the 17th to 19th century, bergerette, brunette, chanson pour boire, pastourelle, and vaudeville; art song of the romantic era, mélodie; and folk music, chanson populaire [fr].[4] Since the 1990s, the term may be used for Nouvelle Chanson, a French song that often contains poetic or political content.
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- Character piecesCharacter pieces are a staple of Romantic music, and are essential to that movement's interest in the evocation of particular moods or moments. What distinguishes character pieces is the specificity of the idea they invoke. Many character pieces are composed in ternary form, but that form is not universal in the genre. A common feature is a title expressive of the character intended, such as Stephen Heller's Voyage autour de ma chambre ("Voyage around my room"), an early example of the genre, or Bruckner's Abendklänge ("Evening harmonies"). Many character pieces have titles based on literature (Schumann’s Kreisleriana, 1838) or personal experiences (Schumann’s Kinderszenen, 1838). Other character pieces have titles suggesting brevity and singularity of concept, such as Beethoven's Bagatelles, or Debussy's Préludes, or casual construction: the title Impromptu is common. Many 19th-century nocturnes and intermezzi are character pieces as well, including those of Chopin and Brahms, respectively.
- Chorale preludesA chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 (with a 47th unfinished) examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein, along with multiple other works of the type in other collections.
- ChoralesThe chorale originated when Martin Luther translated sacred songs into German, contrary to the established practice of church music near the end of the first quarter of the 16th century. Luther and his followers not only wrote metrical hymn lyrics, but also composed metrical musical settings for these texts. This music was partially based on established melodies of church hymns and known secular songs. In the 17th century the repertoire was enriched with more choral and organ settings of the chorale tunes. By the end of the century a four-part setting for SATB voices had become the standard for the choral settings, while the congregational singing of chorales was tending towards monody with an instrumental accompaniment. The prolific creation of new Lutheran chorale tunes ended around that time.
- ChorusesA chorus or choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.
- Comic operasComic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria. It quickly made its way to France, where it became opéra comique, and eventually, in the following century, French operetta, with Jacques Offenbach as its most accomplished practitioner. The influence of the Italian and French forms spread to other parts of Europe. Many countries developed their own genres of comic opera, incorporating the Italian and French models along with their own musical traditions. Examples include German singspiel, Viennese operetta, Spanish zarzuela, Russian comic opera, English ballad and Savoy opera, North American operetta and musical comedy.
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- Concerti grossiThe concerto grosso (Italian for big concerto, plural concerti grossi) is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno or concerto grosso). This is in contrast to the solo concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra. The form developed in the late seventeenth century and culminated with Arcangelo Corelli who was the first major composer to use the term concerto grosso for a collection of twelve of his compositions.
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- ConcertosA concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement (e.g., lento or adagio) preceded and followed by fast movements (e.g. presto or allegro), became a standard from the early 18th century.
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- DancesDances are generally composed to facilitate or accompany dancing. The earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are the surviving medieval dances. In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances. In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement in longer and more complex compositions such as symphonies and sonatas, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the classical era. The romantic music period saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise.
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- DivertimentosThe mood of the divertimento is most often lighthearted (as a result of being played at social functions) and it is generally composed for a small ensemble. The term is used to describe a wide variety of secular (non-religious) instrumental works for soloist or chamber ensemble. It is usually a kind of music entertainment, although it could also be applied to a more serious genre. After 1780, the term generally designated works that were informal or light.
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- DuetsA duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo section rather than performing simultaneously. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is a "piano duet" or "piano four hands". A piece for two pianists performing together on separate pianos is a "piano duo". Duets have always been a part of the structure of operas. Early 16th-century operas such as L'Orfeo and L'incoronazione di Poppea involve duets throughout the performance. In 17th-century Italy duets were often used in comic scenes within serious operas. In Baroque France the duet was popular in tragedies, such as songs of vengeance and confrontation. The love duet was characterized by singing in close harmonies of 3rds and 6ths, symbolizing unity after conflict.
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- EcloguesGenre definition coming soon...
- EcossaisesThe Écossaise (in French: Scottish) is a musical form and a type of contradanse in a Scottish style – a Scottish country dance at least in name – that was popular in France and Great Britain at the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th. Despite the Écossaise mimicking a Scottish country dance, it is actually French in origin. The écossaise was usually danced in 2/4 time in two lines, with men facing the women. As the dance is executed, couples progress to the head of the line. Écossaise compositions were mainly written for solo piano, so that couples could dance to it. The musical form was also adopted by some classical composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, (WoO 83 and WoO 86 for piano and WoO 22 and WoO 23,now lost, for military band); Franz Schubert, (D.145,158, 299, 421, 511, 529, 643, 697, 734, 735, 781, 782, 783, 816, and 977); and Frédéric Chopin (Op. 72 number 3). This music usually includes significant dynamic contrasts, with fortissimos and pianissimos very close together, contributing to its unique dynamic energy. They sometimes have a central tune upon which some of the strains are based.
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- ElegiesIn English literature, an elegy is a poem of serious reflection, usually a lament for the dead. However, according to The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy, "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometimes used as a catch-all to denominate texts of a somber or pessimistic tone, sometimes as a marker for textual monumentalizing, and sometimes strictly as a sign of a lament for the dead". "Elegy" may denote a type of musical work, usually of a sad or somber nature. A well-known example is the Élégie, Op. 10, by Jules Massenet. This was originally written for piano, as a student work; then he set it as a song; and finally it appeared as the "Invocation", for cello and orchestra, a section of his incidental music to Leconte de Lisle's Les Érinnyes. Other examples include the Elegy Op. 58 of Edward Elgar and the Elegy for Strings of Benjamin Britten. Though not specifically designated an elegy, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings has an elegiac character.
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- Fairy operasFairy operas (in french Opéra féerie) is a French genre of opera or opéra-ballet, often with elements of magic in their stories. Popular in the 18th century, from the time of Jean-Philippe Rameau onwards, the form reached its culmination with works such as La belle au bois dormant by Michele Carafa and Cendrillon by Nicolas Isouard at the beginning of the 19th century.
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- FantasiasA fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, the fantasia, like the impromptu, seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form. The term was first applied to music during the 16th century, at first to refer to the imaginative musical "idea" rather than to a particular compositional genre. Fantasias peaked in the 19th century during the romantic era with the great pianists and composers Chopin, Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Schumann. The free form of the fantasia made it particularly attractive, as it allowed romantic virtuosity to flourish in a unconstrained way.
- Film scoresA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score forms part of the film's soundtrack, which also, usually includes pre-existing music, dialogue and sound effects, and comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers, under the guidance of, or in collaboration with, the film's director or producer and are then usually performed by an ensemble of musicians – most often comprising an orchestra or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers and recorded by a sound engineer.
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- FolksongsThe terms folk music, folk song, and folk dance are comparatively recent expressions. They are extensions of the term folklore, which was coined in 1846 by the English antiquarian William Thoms to describe "the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes". The term further derives from the German expression volk, in the sense of "the people as a whole" as applied to popular and national music by Johann Gottfried Herder and the German Romantics over half a century earlier. Though it is understood that folk music is the music of the people, observers find a more precise definition to be elusive. Some do not even agree that the term folk music should be used. Folk music may tend to have certain characteristics but it cannot clearly be differentiated in purely musical terms. One meaning often given is that of "old songs, with no known composers," another is that of music that has been submitted to an evolutionary "process of oral transmission.... the fashioning and re-fashioning of the music by the community that give it its folk character."
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- FuguesA fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a musical theme that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. A fugue usually has three main sections: an exposition, a development and a final entry that contains the return of the theme in the fugue's tonic key. Some fugues have a recapitulation.
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- GiguesThe gigue (derived from "jig") is an ebullient, lively dance style of British origin. The gigue typically incorporates a compound meter, and follows a binary pattern, with two distinct (and often repeating) sections. The gigue was most prominent during the Baroque era, and was commonly used as the final movement in Baroque dance suites. It is one of the four standard movements of the baroque dance suite.
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- HymnsA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος (hymnos), which means "a song of praise". Since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong. This type was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes, and most often by monastic choirs. Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys, and came to be led by organ and choir.
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- ImprovisationsGenre definition coming soon...
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- Incidental musicIncidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the film score or soundtrack. Incidental music is often background music, and is intended to add atmosphere to the action. It may take the form of something as simple as a low, ominous tone suggesting an impending startling event or to enhance the depiction of a story-advancing sequence. It may also include pieces such as overtures, music played during scene changes, or at the end of an act, immediately preceding an interlude, as was customary with several nineteenth-century plays. It may also be required in plays that have musicians performing on-stage.
- InterludesGenre definition coming soon...
- IntermezzosGenre definition coming soon...
- IntradasGenre definition coming soon...
- IntroductionsGenre definition coming soon...
- IntroitsGenre definition coming soon...
- InventionsAn invention is a short composition (usually for a keyboard instrument) with two-part counterpoint. (Compositions in the same style as an invention but using three-part counterpoint are known as sinfonias. Some modern publishers call them "three-part inventions" to avoid confusion with symphonies.) Well-known are the fifteen inventions that make up the first half of Johann Sebastian Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias. Inventions are usually not performed in public, but serve as exercises for keyboard students, and as pedagogical exercises for composition students.
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- LamentationsGenre definition coming soon...
- LandlerGenre definition coming soon...
- LarghettosGenre definition coming soon...
- LargosGenre definition coming soon...
- LentosGenre definition coming soon...
- LessonsGenre definition coming soon...
- LibrettosA libretto (lit. "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet.
- LiederThe lied (plural lieder) is a term in the German vernacular to describe setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for German songs from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries. It later came especially to refer to Romantic poetic songs during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and into the early twentieth century. Examples include settings by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann or Richard Strauss. Among English speakers, however, "lied" is often used interchangeably with "art song" to encompass works that the tradition has inspired in other languages. The poems that have been made into lieder often center on pastoral themes or themes of romantic love
- LitaniesGenre definition coming soon...
- LiturgiesGenre definition coming soon...
- LullabiesGenre definition coming soon...
- Lyric comediesGenre definition coming soon...
- Lyric dramasGenre definition coming soon...
- Lyric operasGenre definition coming soon...
- Lyric tragediesGenre definition coming soon...
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- MadrigalsA madrigal is a secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) eras. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number of voices varies from two to eight, but usually features three to six voices, whilst the metre of the madrigal varies between two or three tercets, followed by one or two couplets. Unlike the verse-repeating strophic forms sung to the same music, most madrigals are through-composed, featuring different music for each stanza of lyrics, whereby the composer expresses the emotions contained in each line and in single words of the poem being sung. As written by Italianized Franco–Flemish composers in the 1520s, the madrigal partly originated from the three-to-four voice frottola (1470–1530); partly from composers' renewed interest in poetry written in vernacular Italian; partly from the stylistic influence of the French chanson; and from the polyphony of the motet (13th–16th c.). The technical contrast between the musical forms is in the frottola consisting of music set to stanzas of text, whilst the madrigal is through-composed, a work with different music for different stanzas. Artistically, the madrigal was the most important form of secular music in Italy, and reached its formal and historical zenith in the later 16th century, when the madrigal also was taken up by German and English composers, such as John Wilbye (1574–1638), Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623), and Thomas Morley (1557–1602) of the English Madrigal School (1588–1627). Although of British temper, most English madrigals were a cappella compositions for three to six voices, which either copied or translated the musical styles of the original madrigals from Italy. By the mid 16th century, Italian composers began merging the madrigal into the composition of the cantata and the dialogue; and by the early 17th century, the aria replaced the madrigal in opera.
- MagnificatsThe Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos. The Magnificat is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Within the whole of Christianity, the canticle is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is always sung at Matins. The Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read. As the Magnificat is part of the sung Vespers, many composers, beginning in the Renaissance, set the words to music, for example Claudio Monteverdi in his Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610). Henry Dumont, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 10 settings (H.72, H.73, H.74, H.75, H.76, H.77, H.78, H.79, H.80, H.81), Vivaldi composed a setting of the Latin text for soloists, choir, and orchestra, as did Johann Sebastian Bach in his Magnificat (1723, rev. 1733). Other notable examples include C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat and two extant settings by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 106 is missing). Anton Bruckner composed a Magnificat for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. Rachmaninoff and, more recently, John Rutter also composed a setting, inserting additions into the text.
- MarchesA march is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John Philip Sousa and the martial hymns of the late 19th century. Examples of the varied use of the march can be found in Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, in the Marches Militaires of Franz Schubert, in the Marche funèbre in Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor, and in the Dead March in Handel's Saul.
- MasquesGenre definition coming soon...
- MassesThe mass (Latin: missa), a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy (principally that of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism) to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. Masses can be a cappella, that is, without an independent accompaniment, or they can be accompanied by instrumental lines up to a full orchestra. Many masses, especially later ones, were never intended to be performed during the celebration of an actual mass.
- MazurkasThe Mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with strong accents unsystematically placed on the second or third beat. Originally from the cultural region of Mazovia, it is one of Poland's national dances. The Mazurka, alongside the polka dance, became popular at the ballrooms of Europe in the 19th century, particularly through the notable works by Frédéric Chopin.
- MeditationsGenre definition coming soon...
- MedleysGenre definition coming soon...
- MelodiesGenre definition coming soon...
- MelodramasGenre definition coming soon...
- MethodsGenre definition coming soon...
- MilongasGenre definition coming soon...
- MinuetsA minuet is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. In music, it describes the musical form that accompanies the dance, which subsequently developed more fully, often with a longer musical form called the minuet and trio, and was much used as the third movement in the four-movement classical symphony. Initially, before its adoption in contexts other than social dance, the minuet was usually in binary form, with two repeated sections of usually eight bars each. But the second section eventually expanded, resulting in a kind of ternary form.
- MiserereGenre definition coming soon...
- ModeratosGenre definition coming soon...
- ModinhasGenre definition coming soon...
- MonodramasGenre definition coming soon...
- MotetsA motet is a mainly vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from the late medieval era to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. The late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheo believed that the motet was "not to be celebrated in the presence of common people, because they do not notice its subtlety, nor are they delighted in hearing it, but in the presence of the educated and of those who are seeking out subtleties in the arts". In Baroque music, especially in France, there were two distinct, and very different types of motet: petits motets, sacred choral or chamber compositions whose only accompaniment was a basso continuo; and grands motets, which included massed choirs and instruments up to and including a full orchestra. Jean-Baptiste Lully was an important composer of this last sort of motet.
- MovementsGenre definition coming soon...
- MusettesGenre definition coming soon...
- MusicalsMusical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
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- National anthemsGenre definition coming soon...
- NocturnesA nocturne (from the French for 'nocturnal') is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. Nocturnes are generally thought of as being tranquil, often expressive and lyrical, and sometimes rather gloomy, but in practice pieces with the name nocturne have conveyed a variety of moods: the second of Debussy's orchestral Nocturnes, "Fêtes", for example, is very lively, as are parts of Karol Szymanowski's Nocturne and Tarantella (1915) and Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Symphonic Nocturne for Piano Alone (1977–78). "Nocturne" was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemble piece in several movements, normally played for an evening party and then laid aside. Sometimes it carried the Italian equivalent, notturno, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Notturno in D, K.286, written for four lightly echoing separated ensembles of paired horns with strings, and his Serenata Notturna, K. 239. At this time, the piece was not necessarily evocative of the night, but might merely be intended for performance at night, much like a serenade. The chief difference between the serenade and the notturno was the time of the evening at which they would typically be performed: the former around 9:00pm, the latter closer to 11:00 pm. In its more familiar form as a single-movement character piece usually written for solo piano, the nocturne was cultivated primarily in the 19th century. The first nocturnes to be written under the specific title were by the Irish composer John Field, generally viewed as the father of the Romantic nocturne that characteristically features a cantabile melody over an arpeggiated, even guitar-like accompaniment. However, the most famous exponent of the form was Frédéric Chopin, who wrote 21 of them. One of the most famous pieces of 19th-century salon music was the "Fifth Nocturne" of Ignace Leybach, who is now otherwise mostly forgotten. Later composers to write nocturnes for the piano include Gabriel Fauré, Alexander Scriabin, Erik Satie (1919), Francis Poulenc (1929), as well as Peter Sculthorpe. In the movement entitled 'The Night's Music' ('Musiques nocturnes' in French) of Out of Doors for solo piano (1926), Béla Bartók imitated the sounds of nature. It contains quiet, eerie, blurred cluster-chords and imitations of the twittering of birds and croaking of nocturnal creatures, with lonely melodies in contrasting sections. American composer Lowell Liebermann has written eleven Nocturnes for piano, of which No.6 was arranged by the composer as Nocturne for Orchestra. Other notable nocturnes from the 20th century include those from Michael Glenn Williams, Samuel Barber and Robert Helps.
- NonetsGenre definition coming soon...
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- OctetsGenre definition coming soon...
- OdesThe term 'ode' (from Greek ᾠδή) refers to a form of Ancient Greek lyric poetry found in the works of poets such as Pindar, Alcman, and Stesichorus. The choral ode, typically accompanied by dance, was an essential element of Ancient Greek theatre. In Baroque England, an 'ode' typically referred to a ceremonial cantata, often composed for a monarch or special event, as in Händel's "Ode for Queen Anne's Birthday.
- OffertoriesGenre definition coming soon...
- OffertoriumGenre definition coming soon...
- Opera buffaGenre definition coming soon...
- Opera seriaGenre definition coming soon...
- Opera-balletsGenre definition coming soon...
- OperasOpera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. The words of an opera are known as the libretto (literally "small book"). Some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti; others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e.g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Traditional opera, often referred to as "number opera", consists of two modes of singing: recitative, the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech, and aria (an "air" or formal song) in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action. In some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, recitative, are also referred to as arioso.
- Operas bouffesGenre definition coming soon...
- Operas comiquesGenre definition coming soon...
- OperettasGenre definition coming soon...
- OratoriosAn oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as well as to Biblical topics. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences.
- OrchestrationGenre definition coming soon...
- OstinatosGenre definition coming soon...
- OverturesOverture (from French ouverture, lit. "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme".
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- PantomimesGenre definition coming soon...
- ParaphrasesParaphrase, in music, is the appropriation of a phrase, melody, section, or entire piece for use in another, favoured especially during the Renaissance for masses and motets as well as for keyboard works. The original melody is not generally used as it appeared in its original context but rather is altered by interpolating new notes, by changing the rhythm or the melodic contour, or by condensing or elaborating melodic passages.
- PartitasPartita was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau (Thomaskantor until 1722), his student Christoph Graupner, and Johann Sebastian Bach used it for collections of musical pieces, as a synonym for suite. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two sets of partitas for different instruments. Those for solo keyboard the composer published as his Opus 1 (known as the Klavierübung I). One additional suite in B minor, the Overture in the French Style (often simply called French Overture) is sometimes also considered a partita.
- PassacagliasGenre definition coming soon...
- PassepiedsGenre definition coming soon...
- PassionsGenre definition coming soon...
- PasticciosGenre definition coming soon...
- Pastoral operasGenre definition coming soon...
- PastoralesGenre definition coming soon...
- PavansGenre definition coming soon...
- PiecesA piece is a usually a short instrumental composition.
- PlainchantGenre definition coming soon...
- PolkasThe polka is a Czech dance and genre of dance music which originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. While the polka is Bohemian in origin, most dance music composers in Vienna composed polkas and included the dance in their repertoire at some point in their careers. The Strauss family in Vienna, for example, while better-known for their waltzes, also composed polkas that have survived. In principle, the polka written in the 19th century has a four-theme structure; themes 1A and 1B as well as a 'Trio' section of a further two themes. The 'Trio' usually has an 'Intrada' to form a break between the two sections.
- PolonaisesGenre definition coming soon...
- PostludesGenre definition coming soon...
- PotpourrisGenre definition coming soon...
- PreludesA prelude is a short piece of music which may be thought of as a preface. While, during the Baroque era, for example, it may have served as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that were usually longer and more complex, it may also have been a stand-alone piece of work during the Romantic era. It generally features a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs that recur through the piece. Stylistically, the prelude is improvisatory in nature. The prelude also may refer to an overture, particularly to those seen in an opera or an oratorio.
- PrestosGenre definition coming soon...
- ProcessionalsGenre definition coming soon...
- ProloguesGenre definition coming soon...
- PsalmsThe Book of Psalms, commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is the first book of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, ψαλμοί (psalmoi), meaning "instrumental music" and, by extension, "the words accompanying the music". The book is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many are linked to the name of David, but modern scholarship rejects his authorship, instead placing the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. The Book of Psalms is divided into five sections, each closing with a doxology (i.e., a benediction)—these divisions were probably introduced by the final editors to imitate the five-fold division of the Torah: Book 1 (Psalms 1–41) Book 2 (Psalms 42–72) Book 3 (Psalms 73–89) Book 4 (Psalms 90–106) Book 5 (Psalms 107–150) The composition of the psalms spans at least five centuries, from psalm 29 to others clearly from the post-Exilic period (not earlier than the fifth century BC.) The majority originated in the southern kingdom of Judah and were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, where they probably functioned as libretto during the Temple worship. Exactly how they did this is unclear, although there are indications in some of them: "Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar," suggests a connection with sacrifices, and "Let my prayer be counted as incense" suggests a connection with the offering of incense. In classical music, Psalms have often been set as part of a larger work. The psalms feature large in settings of Vespers, including those by Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote such settings as part of their responsibilities as church musicians. Psalms are inserted in Requiem compositions, such as Psalm 126 in A German Requiem of Johannes Brahms. There are many settings of individual psalms. One of the better known examples is Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei, a falsobordone setting of Psalm 51 ("Have mercy upon me, O God"). Settings of individual psalms by later composers are also frequent: they include works from composers such as George Frideric Handel, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Psalms also feature in more modern musical movements and popular genres.
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- QuadrillesThe quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six contredanses, courtly versions of English country dances that had been taken up at the court of Louis XIV and spread across Europe. The dance is performed by four couples in a rectangular formation. Though different music was composed for each quadrille according to the taste of the composer, the names of the five parts (or figures) remained the same, as did the steps and the figures themselves. The parts were called: Le Pantalon ("Trousers"), l’été ("Summer"), la Poule (The Hen"), la Pastourelle ("The Shepherd Girl"), and the Finale.
- QuartetsA quartet is musical composition for four voices or instruments. In Classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments is the string quartet. They most often consist of two violins, a viola, and a cello. The particular choice and number of instruments derives from the registers of the human voice: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In the string quartet, two violins play the soprano and alto vocal registers, the viola plays the tenor register and the cello plays the bass register. Another common standard classical quartet is the piano quartet, consisting of violin, viola, cello, and piano.
- QuartettinosGenre definition coming soon...
- QuintetsA quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit. In classical instrumental music, any additional instrument (such as a piano, clarinet, oboe, etc.) joined to the usual string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), gives the resulting ensemble its name, such as "piano quintet", "clarinet quintet", etc. A piece of music written for such a group is similarly named. The standard wind quintet consists of one player each on flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, while the standard brass quintet has two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. Other combinations are sometimes found, however.
- QuintettinosGenre definition coming soon...
- QuodlibetsGenre definition coming soon...
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- RagsGenre definition coming soon...
- RecessionalsGenre definition coming soon...
- RecitativesA recitative is a composition in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech.
- RecitsGenre definition coming soon...
- Religious worksReligious music (also sacred music) is composed for religious use or through religious influence. It has diversified over the time, reflecting both its centuries old roots as well as more contemporary musical styles. It is often written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and frequently involves a vocal part sung by a choir.
- RequiemsGenre definition coming soon...
- ResponsoriesGenre definition coming soon...
- RhapsodiesA rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour, and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations. The word rhapsody is derived from the Greek: ῥαψῳδός, rhapsōidos, a reciter of epic poetry (a rhapsodist), and came to be used in Europe by the 16th century as a designation for literary forms, not only epic poems, but also for collections of miscellaneous writings and, later, any extravagant expression of sentiment or feeling. In the 18th century, literary rhapsodies first became linked with music, as in Schubart's Musicalische Rhapsodien (1786), a collection of songs with keyboard accompaniment, together with a few solo keyboard pieces. Although vocal examples may be found as late as Brahms's Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53, in the 19th century the rhapsody had become primarily an instrumental form, first for the piano and then, in the second half of the century, a large-scale nationalistic orchestral "epic"—a fashion initiated by Franz Liszt.
- RicercarsA ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ricercar means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece used as illustration. The term is also used to designate an etude or study that explores a technical device in playing an instrument, or singing. In its most common contemporary usage, it refers to an early kind of fugue, particularly one of a serious character in which the subject uses long note values. However, the term has a considerably more varied historical usage.
- RigaudonsThe rigaudon is a French baroque dance with a lively duple metre. The music is similar to that of a bourrée, but the rigaudon is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight measure phrases are most common). It originated as a sprightly 17th-century French folk dance for couples. Traditionally, the folkdance was associated with the provinces of Vavarais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, and Provence in southern France, and it became popular as a court dance during the reign of Louis XIV. Its hopping steps were adopted by the skillful dancers of the French and English courts, where it remained fashionable through the 18th century. By the close of the 18th century, however, it had given way in popularity as a ballroom dance (along with the passepied, bourrée, and gigue) to the minuet.
- RitournellesGenre definition coming soon...
- RomancesThe term romance has a centuries-long history. Applied to narrative ballads in Spain, it came to be used by the 18th century for simple lyrical pieces not only for voice, but also for instruments alone. It generally implies a specially personal or tender quality.
- RondeauxGenre definition coming soon...
- RondinosGenre definition coming soon...
- RondolettosGenre definition coming soon...
- RondosGenre definition coming soon...
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- Sacred cantatasA cantata (literally translated from Italian as "sung") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of church services are called church cantata or sacred cantata; other non-religious cantatas are referred to as secular cantatas.
- Sacred chorusesGenre definition coming soon...
- Sacred concertosGenre definition coming soon...
- Sacred hymnsA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος (hymnos), which means "a song of praise". Since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong. This type was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes, and most often by monastic choirs. Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys, and came to be led by organ and choir.
- Sacred oratoriosAn oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as well as to Biblical topics. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences.
- Sacred songsSacred songs are generally lyric-driven vocal compositions performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.
- SaltarellosGenre definition coming soon...
- Salve ReginaThe "Salve Regina", also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at Compline in the time from the Saturday before Trinity Sunday until the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. The work was composed during the Middle Ages and originally appeared in Latin, the prevalent language of Western Christianity until modern times. Though traditionally ascribed to the eleventh-century German monk Hermann of Reichenau, it is regarded as anonymous by most musicologists. As an essential component of the Compline service, the hymn has been set to music by various composers, including Victoria, Palestrina, Josquin and Lassus. Charpentier, (5 settings, H.18, H.47, H.23, H.24, H.27), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, (C.114), Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, (7 settings, ZWV 135-141, and ZWV 204), Handel, and Liszt composed their own settings in later years. Schubert composed no fewer than seven versions. Francis Poulenc composed his setting of the text in 1941. Arvo Pärt composed a setting first performed in the Essen Cathedral in 2002. Olivier Latry premiered in 2007 an organ work Salve Regina which reflects in seven movements the lines of the hymn in Gregorian chant.
- SambasGenre definition coming soon...
- SanctusGenre definition coming soon...
- SarabandesThe sarabande (from Spanish: zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced with a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called zarabanda is first mentioned in 1539 in Central America in the poem Vida y tiempo de Maricastaña, written in Panama by Fernando de Guzmán Mejía. The dance seems to have been especially popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, initially in the Spanish colonies, before moving across the Atlantic to Spain.
- ScalesGenre definition coming soon...
- ScherzosA chanson (French; lit. 'song') is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the polyphonic French song of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic songs of troubadours and trouvères, though the only polyphonic precedents were 16 works by Adam de la Halle and one by Jehan de Lescurel. Not until the ars nova composer Guillaume de Machaut did any composer write a significant number of polyphonic chansons. A broad term, the word "chanson" literally means "song" in French and can thus less commonly refers to a variety of (usually secular) French genres throughout history. This includes the songs of chansonnier, chanson de geste and Grand chant; court songs of the late Renaissance and early Baroque music periods, air de cour; popular songs from the 17th to 19th century, bergerette, brunette, chanson pour boire, pastourelle, and vaudeville; art song of the romantic era, mélodie; and folk music, chanson populaire. Since the 1990s, the term may be used for Nouvelle Chanson, a French song that often contains poetic or political content.
- Secular cantatasA secular cantata (literally translated from Italian as "sung") is a non-religious cantata: a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements and often involving a choir.
- Secular chorusesA chorus or choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Secular choral music is the music written for such an ensemble to perform without religious purpose (as opposed to sacred choral music).
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- SeguidillasGenre definition coming soon...
- SeptetsGenre definition coming soon...
- SequencesGenre definition coming soon...
- SerenadesIn music, a serenade (also sometimes called serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. In the oldest usage, which survives in informal form to the present day, a serenade is a musical greeting performed for a lover, friend, person of rank or other person to be honored. The classic usage would be from a lover to his lady love through a window. It was considered an evening piece, one to be performed on a quiet and pleasant evening, as opposed to an aubade, which would be performed in the morning. The most important and prevalent type of serenade in music history is a work for large instrumental ensemble in multiple movements, related to the divertimento, and mainly being composed in the Classical and Romantic periods, though a few examples exist from the 20th century. Usually the character of the work is lighter than other multiple-movement works for large ensemble (for example the symphony), with tunefulness being more important than thematic development or dramatic intensity. Among the most famous examples of the serenade from the 18th century are those by Mozart, whose serenades typically comprise between four and ten movements. His serenades were often purely instrumental pieces, written for special occasions such as those commissioned for wedding ceremonies. Famous serenades by Mozart include the "Haffner" Serenade, Serenade No. 10 for winds commonly known as "gran partita", the Serenata notturna, and one of his most famous works, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The last two of these, had they been written earlier in the century, would have been atypical for using only string instruments.
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- SextetsGenre definition coming soon...
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- SinfoniasSinfonia is the Italian word for symphony. In English it most commonly refers to a 17th- or 18th-century orchestral piece used as an introduction, interlude, or postlude to an opera, oratorio, cantata, or suite.
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- SingspieleGenre definition coming soon...
- SketchesGenre definition coming soon...
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- SonatasLiterally means a piece played (as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung). Though sonata can take different meanings depending on the context and time period, it is most often refered to as a large-scale intrumental work organized in a specific form. The most common layout of movements in a sonata follows the pattern: the 1st movement, the allegro, introduces and develops the theme. The 2nd movement, usually slow, is followed by a dance movement leading to the Finale movement which closes the four-part sonata. Sonatas composed in the early classical period often follow a 3-movement structure, ommiting the dance movement which was introduced later on.
- SonatinasA sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementary, than a typical sonata. The term has been in use at least since the late baroque; there is a one-page, one-movement harpsichord piece by Handel called "Sonatina". It is most often applied to solo keyboard works, but a number of composers have written sonatinas for violin and piano (see list under Violin sonata), for example the Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano by Antonín Dvořák, and occasionally for other instruments, for example the Clarinet Sonatina by Malcolm Arnold.
- SongsA song is generally a lyric-driven vocal composition. There are several types of songs one can encounter in classical music, ranging from the German lied to the French chanson, among many others.
- SpiritualsGenre definition coming soon...
- Stabat MaterThe Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III. The title comes from its first line, Stabat Mater dolorosa, which means "the sorrowful mother was standing". The hymn is sung at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Stabat Mater has been set to music by many Western composers.
- StudiesA Study or étude is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing studies emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano. Of the vast number of études from that era some are still used as teaching material (particularly pieces by Carl Czerny and Muzio Clementi), and a few, by major composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy, achieved a place in today's concert repertory. Études written in the 20th century include those related to traditional ones (György Ligeti) and those that require wholly unorthodox technique (John Cage).
- SuitesA suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with a prelude, by the early 17th century. The separate movements were often thematically and tonally linked. During the 18th century the suite fell out of favour as a cyclical form, giving way to the symphony, sonata and concerto. It was revived in the later 19th century, but in a different form, often presenting extracts from a ballet (Nutcracker Suite), the incidental music to a play (L'Arlésienne Suites), opera, film (Lieutenant Kije Suite) or video game (Motoaki Takenouchi's 1994 suite to the Shining series), or entirely original movements (Holberg Suite, The Planets).
- Symphonic poemsA symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term Tondichtung (tone poem) appears to have been first used by the composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt first applied the term Symphonische Dichtung to his 13 works in this vein. While many symphonic poems may compare in size and scale to symphonic movements (or even reach the length of an entire symphony), they are unlike traditional classical symphonic movements, in that their music is intended to inspire listeners to imagine or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not (necessarily) to focus on following traditional patterns of musical form such as sonata form. This intention to inspire listeners was a direct consequence of Romanticism, which encouraged literary, pictorial and dramatic associations in music. According to the musicologist Hugh Macdonald, the symphonic poem met three 19th-century aesthetic goals: it related music to outside sources; it often combined or compressed multiple movements into a single principal section; and it elevated instrumental program music to an aesthetic level that could be regarded as equivalent to, or higher than opera. The symphonic poem remained a popular composition form from the 1840s until the 1920s, when composers began to abandon the genre. Some piano and chamber works, such as Arnold Schoenberg's string sextet Verklärte Nacht, have similarities with symphonic poems in their overall intent and effect. However, the term symphonic poem is generally accepted to refer to orchestral works. A symphonic poem may stand on its own (as do those of Richard Strauss), or it can be part of a series combined into a symphonic suite or cycle. For example, The Swan of Tuonela (1895) is a tone poem from Jean Sibelius's Lemminkäinen Suite, and Vltava (The Moldau) by Bedřich Smetana is part of the six-work cycle Má vlast. While the terms symphonic poem and tone poem have often been used interchangeably, some composers such as Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius have preferred the latter term for their works.
- SymphoniesA symphony is a musical composition written for orchestra. It usually consists of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts, such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
- Symphonies concertantesGenre definition coming soon...
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- TambourinsGenre definition coming soon...
- TangosGenre definition coming soon...
- TarantellasGenre definition coming soon...
- Te DeumThe "Te Deum" is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Church with other parts of the Milanese Rite in the 6th to 8th centuries. The text has been set to music by many composers, with settings by Zelenka, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Bruckner, Furtwängler, Dvořák, Britten, Kodály, and Pärt among the better known. Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote a setting of Te Deum for the court of Louis XIV of France, and received a fatal injury while conducting it. Michel Richard de Lalande wrote a setting of the "Te Deum", S.32.
- Theatrical WorksTheatre or theater[a] is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice Pavis defines theatricality, theatrical language, stage writing and the specificity of theatre as synonymous expressions that differentiate theatre from the other performing arts, literature and the arts in general. Modern theatre includes performances of plays and musical theatre. The art forms of ballet and opera are also theatre and use many conventions such as acting, costumes and staging.
- ThrenodiesGenre definition coming soon...
- TientosGenre definition coming soon...
- ToccatasToccata (from Italian toccare, literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo being a notable example). The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers such as Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Adriano Banchieri, and Luzzasco Luzzaschi. These are keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. The Baroque toccata, beginning with Girolamo Frescobaldi, is more sectional and increased in length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. It often featured rapid runs and arpeggios alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there was a lack of regular tempo and almost always an improvisational feel. Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and his Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today
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- TonadillasGenre definition coming soon...
- Tragedies en musiqueGenre definition coming soon...
- TranscriptionsGenre definition coming soon...
- TriosA trio is a method of instrumentation or vocalization by three different sounds or voices to make a melodious music or song.
- TyroliennesGenre definition coming soon...
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- VariationsA variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these. Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" (1785), known in the English-speaking world as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" exemplifies a number of common variation techniques.
- VaudevillesGenre definition coming soon...
- VersetsGenre definition coming soon...
- VespersGenre definition coming soon...
- VillancicosGenre definition coming soon...
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- VocalisesA vocalise is a melody sung without text. Traditionally, vocalises have served as vocal exercises, but in the early 20th century, the concert vocalise also gained popularity. Perhaps the most famous concert vocalise can be found in the final movement of Rachmaninoff's Op. 34, written for violin and piano. Vocalises are also occasionally included in larger orchestral works as textures or effects, as in the "Neptune" movement of Holst's "The Planets".
- VolteA court dance of the Renaissance originating in Province. The dance is characterized by three quarter turns, executed by jumps or by the male dancer lifting the lady dancer. The volte resembled the galliard and was in triple meter.
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- WaltzesA waltz (German: Walzer; French: Valse, Italian: Valzer, Spanish: Vals, Polish: Walc) is dance music in triple meter, often written in 3/4 time. A waltz typically sounds one chord per measure, and the accompaniment style particularly associated with the waltz is to play the root of the chord on the first beat, the upper notes on the second and third beats.
- Wedding marchesGenre definition coming soon...
- Wedding musicGenre definition coming soon...
- WritingsGenre definition coming soon...