MUH – Historical Periods

organum

Beginning in the 8th or 9th century, it became more common for a second voice to be added at the interval of a fourth or fifth above or below the original chant. This early organum (pl. organa) represented the beginning of Western polyphonic music. In early organum, the voices moved in parallel motion. Later, the voices moved more independently, and a third and fourth voices were added. The composer known only as Léonin, working in the 12th century at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, composed the following two-part organum for the Gradual of the Mass at Christmas. You can hear a single voice holding long notes while a higher voice sings a faster-moving melodic line. Later in the piece, the lower voice moves faster than before, complementing the higher voice but moving independently from it.

Which of the following contains Goliard songs—the earliest surviving examples of secular music?

Carmina Burana

A setting of multiple notes per syllable, as in the setting of the word "alleluia" in the excerpt above, is known as what kind of setting?

melismatic

Which of the following is not part of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass?

Alleluia

True or false: According to the text, one reason why medieval music sounds different from the music we generally hear today is that medieval music was not based on major and minor scales.

True

True or false: Monasteries were responsible for some of the earliest musical manuscripts.

True

Which of the following was regarded as a leading composer of the Ars Nova style?

Guillaume de Machaut

True or false: Francesco Landini was a Medieval composer of sacred works whose output consisted primarily of ballate.

false

True or false: According to the text, the motet became a secular genre even though it grew out of sacred chant.

true

True or false: Ars nova, the "new art" of the fourteenth century, included music of increased rhythmic complexity (e.g., syncopation).

true

True or false: Burgundian composers made each of the standard components of the Mass distinct by using a different cantus firmus melody for each component.

false

According to the text, the Renaissance period was known as:

the golden age of choral music

What do the Renaissance forms motet, Mass, madrigal, chanson, and anthem have in common?

They are choral music forms

True or false: During the Renaissance period, musical textures were primarily monophonic.

false

True or false: Composers increasingly wrote for the organ, harpsichord, and virginal in the 16th century.

true

During the Renaissance, what was the name composers gave to the original chant used as the basis for the main melody in a composition?

cantus firmus

According to the text, which time period is considered the Renaissance period?

1450-1600

True or false: Motets composed in the Middle Ages were easy to confuse with ones composed during the Renaissance because they sounded so similar.

false

True or false: Concentration on vocal music during the Renaissance period meant that instrumental music continued to be used as mere accompaniment for voices.

false

The earliest surviving opera—then called dramma per musica—was written by a member of the Florentine Camerata named:

Jacopo Peri

Which of the following techniques would a Baroque composer most likely employ to evoke an affect of agitation?

tremolo

Which of the following is true of the Florentine Camerata?

Its members were interested in re-creating the music dramas they believed to have been staged by the ancient Greeks.

During the Baroque period, the musical feature that lent harmonic support to the main melodic line of a composition was called:

basso continuo

Who composed L’Orfeo, a work that marks the beginning of opera as a major art form?

Claudio Monteverdi

According to the text, what motivated the creation of the Baroque Doctrine of Affections?

Composers were interested in sustaining a single mood throughout an entire piece

The Baroque concerto is…

A piece that contrasts a soloist or group of soloists against an orchestra

Farinelli was a famous:

castrato

Which of the following characteristics are associated with the rococo style?

Elegance, delicacy, softness, and playfulness

The above Piano Sonata by C.P.E. Bach was representative of the transitional period between the Baroque and Classical periods. Which of the following terms describes this piece?

Empfindsamer Stil (sensitive style)

True or false: According to the text, Classical composers believed that strict, layered polyphony was pleasing to the ear.

false

True or false: During the Classical period, sonata-allegro form was no longer used as the basis for instrumental music.

false

True or false: The symphony had its origins in the overture, which was the introductory music for Italian opera.

true

We can say that the melody in the following example is typical of the Classical period because it is:

Short, symmetrical, and balanced

Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro cemented his reputation as a master of the genre, yet it received a lukewarm reception in Vienna. Which of the following reasons does the text give as to why this was the case?

The opera poked fun of the aristocracy, which unsettled the aristocratic Viennese.

True or false: Although Ludwig van Beethoven’s output was great, he didn’t produce any works for voice.

false

With which royal family was Haydn closely associated?

Esterházy

The following piece, nicknamed "Emperor," features piano sections alternating with orchestral sections. What type of work is it?

concerto

rubato

slight variations in tempo that performers use to add expression to the music

Which of the following statements best describes musical form in the Romantic period?

Romantic composers worked with traditional forms but expanded them in innovative ways to meet their expressive needs.

True or false: According to the text, composers of the Romantic period were reluctant to stray from the seven tones of the traditional scale (i.e., A, B, C, D, E, F, G).

false

True or false: During the Romantic period, composers continued to benefit from the patronage system, and many composers built their careers around service to a royal family.

false

Notes that don’t belong to the traditional scale are known as ______________ alterations.

chromatic

The course places the Romantic period in music between the years:

1820-1910

True or false: During the Romantic period, choral music enjoyed its highest popularity since the Renaissance period.

true

In broad terms, music and other arts of the Romantic period…

Gave full expression to a wide range of feelings, dreams, and the heroic human potential.

An important Romantic composer founded The New Journal of Music, an influential musical periodical still published today. He was known as a master of the miniature. His name is:

Schumann

The above excerpt from Rigoletto showcases its composer’s gift for catchy melodies. Which of the following is the composer?

Giuseppi Verdi

True or false: Verismo is a style of opera that used emotionally charged melodies and harmonies to depict everyday people in melodramatic situations.

true

The bell-like effects in the above excerpt indicate that the piece is:

Liszt’s La Campanella

The following piano sonata was composed by one of the first female virtuoso performers. Identify this composer.

Clara Wieck Schumann

According to the text, which of the following is a Post-Romantic composer?

Rachmaninoff

The composer pictured above is best known for taking older forms and styles and redefining them in modern ways. Antonin Dvorak was inspired by his Hungarian Dance No. 1. What is this composer’s name?

Brahms

His Violin Concerto (below) is a favorite in concert halls all over the world today, but upon its 1881 premiere in Vienna, it was lambasted by critics, including one who called it "odorously Russian." During his lifetime, he was thought of as "too Russian" by foreign critics and "too cosmopolitan" by his countrymen, yet his music endures to this day. Who is this composer?

Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky

His Don Quixote (below) features dissonances used for comic effect. It is one of his many tone poems, in which he explored the boundaries of tonality while telling stories using extra-musical content. He is as remembered for his unique Romantic style as his association with the German Nazi party. What is his name?

Richard Strauss

Which of the following was not a member of the Five?

Pyotr Tchaikovksy

The following choral work, based on the German Bible, was written by:

Brahms

This composer pictured above wrote The Blue Danube, arguably the most famous waltz of all time. His name is:

Johann Strauss Jr.

The following threnody by Krzystof Penderecki was dedicated to the victims of which WWII event?

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan

Which of the following best explains why it is the case that nowadays, older works are performed in concert halls whereas newer works are only heard by a small number of people?

Modern composers do not have audience pleasure as their goal, and their works have become incomprehensible to wider audiences.

True or false: According to the text, modernism consciously rejects tradition and insists on radical experimentation as the way forward.

true

Which composer wrote a light-hearted Ninth Symphony (below) that Soviet leader Stalin deemed inappropriate for the occasion of celebrating the end of WWII? Hint: he was denounced by Pravda, the unofficial mouthpiece of the Communist Party, as a young man.

Shostakovich

Sergei Prokofiev was a composer who enjoyed state support under Stalin when he returned to Russia in 1936, but at the cost of freedom of expression. Which famous work did he compose while in Russia as a way to avoid scrutiny?

Peter and the Wolf

Which composer invented the revolutionary "method of composing with twelve tones related only to each other"?

Arnold Schoenberg

Which composer traveled the countryside recording and transcribing in great detail the music of rural and small-town people?

Bartók

Which of the following composers most heavily influenced the music of the French post-WWI school of musicians known as Les Six?

Erik Satie

True or false: Audiences were quick to embrace the dodecaphonic work of Arnold Schoenberg.

false

True or false: Although Ballets Russes translates as Russian Ballet, the company was based in Paris, France.

true

Given the atonal nature of this example, which of the following is the most likely composer?

Schoenberg

The above etude, named after a sculpture by Brâncuşi, is titled "Coloana fara sfarsit" (Infinite column). Who wrote it?

György Ligeti

The three-movement Symphony of Sorrowful Songs features a different text for each movement. Its second movement (below) concerns the plight of a young Polish prisoner seeking the protection of the Queen of Heaven. Who is the composer of this piece?

Górecki

The above piece, Ionisation, is notable for being the first piece of Western art music composed for percussion alone. Who wrote it?

Edgard Varèse

The following piece was written by a leading figure of the post-WWII German avant-garde. Identify this composer.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

True or false: Nadia Boulanger was a prominent music teacher who taught some of the most influential composers of the 20th century, including Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and Walter Piston

true

Which of the following places holds an annual summer school for new music that was influential in the development of total serialism and the use of electronic music?

Darmstadt, Germany

The above excerpt is based on a poem of violence and terror by Federico García Lorca. What is the name of the piece?

Canción del Jinete, 1860 (Song of the Rider, 1860) by George Crumb

The above work, titled Made in America, was the first commissioned orchestral work from the Made in America project. Who wrote it?

Joan Tower

The above excerpt comes from a work titled Vox Balaenae and was inspired by the singing of humpback whales. Who wrote it?

George Crumb

The polytonality and polyrhythms in the above Country Band March was inspired by the composer’s experience hearing two bands marching around a park playing different tunes. Who is the composer?

Charles Ives

In 1945, Aaron Copland won a Pulitzer Prize for a work about a pioneer celebration in Pennsylvania, set in the 1800s. What is the name of this work?

Appalachian Spring

The above piece from Rodeo incorporates a number of traditional fiddle tunes. Who wrote it?

Aaron Copland

The above movement from Amores was written by which composer?

John Cage

The above piece, "Malambo" from the ballet Estancia, depicts a dance by Argentine cowboys. Who wrote it?

Alberto Ginastera

Which composer, known for his ability to combine the sounds of jazz and Western art music, wrote the above piece?

George Gershwin

The Deer Hunter featured the above piece as its theme. Which of the following pieces is it?

Stanley Myers’ Cavatina

The above prelude to the opera Akhnaten, which premiered in Stuttgart, Germany in 1984, was written by which composer?

Philip Glass