1.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, 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. 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, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
2.
Musical notation
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Types and methods of notation have varied between cultures and throughout history, and much information about ancient music notation is fragmentary. Although many ancient cultures used symbols to represent melodies and rhythms, none of them were particularly comprehensive, the seeds of what would eventually become modern western notation were sown in medieval Europe, starting with the Catholic churchs goal for ecclesiastical uniformity. The church began notating plainchant melodies so that the same chants could be used throughout the church, Music notation developed in the Renaissance and Baroque music eras. The introduction of figured bass notation in the Baroque era marked the beginning of the first compositions based around chord progressions, in the classical period and the Romantic music era, notation continued to develop as new musical instrument technologies were developed. Music notation has been adapted to many kinds of music, including music, popular music. The earliest form of notation can be found in a cuneiform tablet that was created at Nippur, in Sumer. The tablet represents fragmentary instructions for performing music, that the music was composed in harmonies of thirds, a tablet from about 1250 BC shows a more developed form of notation. Although the interpretation of the system is still controversial, it is clear that the notation indicates the names of strings on a lyre. Although they are fragmentary, these represent the earliest notated melodies found anywhere in the world. The notation consists of symbols placed above text syllables, an example of a complete composition is the Seikilos epitaph, which has been variously dated between the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. Three hymns by Mesomedes of Crete exist in manuscript, the Delphic Hymns, dated to the 2nd century BC, also use this notation, but they are not completely preserved. Ancient Greek notation appears to have out of use around the time of the Decline of the Roman Empire. Byzantine music has survived as music for court ceremonies, including vocal religious music. It is not known if it is based on the monodic modal singing, unlike Western notation Byzantine neumes always indicate modal steps in relation to a clef or modal key. These step symbols themselves, or better phonic neumes, resemble brush strokes and are colloquially called gántzoi in Modern Greek, Notes as pitch classes or modal keys are represented in written form only between these neumes. In modern notation they simply serve as a reminder and modal and tempo directions have been added. In Papadic notation medial signatures usually meant a change into another echos. With exception of vú and zō they do correspond to Western solmization syllables as re, mi, fa, sol, la, si
3.
Staff (music)
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Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, the absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of a clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff. For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed on the second line, the lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top, the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line. The musical staff is analogous to a graph of pitch with respect to time. Pitches of notes are given by their position on the staff. A time signature to the right of the clef indicates the relationship between timing counts and note symbols, while bar lines group notes on the staff into measures, staff is more common in American English, stave in British English. The plural is staves in either case, stave is, in fact, the vertical position of the notehead on the staff indicates which note to play, higher-pitched notes are marked higher on the staff. The notehead can be placed with the center of its notehead intersecting a line, notes outside the range of the staff are placed on or between ledger lines—lines the width of the note they need to hold—added above or below the staff. Exactly which staff positions represent which notes is determined by a clef placed at the beginning of the staff, the clef identifies a particular line as a specific note, and all other notes are determined relative to that line. For example, the treble clef puts the G above middle C on the second line, the interval between adjacent staff positions is one step in the diatonic scale. Once fixed by a clef, the represented by the positions on the staff can be modified by the key signature. A clefless staff may be used to represent a set of percussion sounds, a single vertical line drawn to the left of multiple staves creates a system, indicating that the music on all the staves is to be played simultaneously. A bracket is a vertical line joining staves, to show groupings of instruments that function as a unit. A brace is used to join multiple staves that represent a single instrument, such as a piano, organ, harp, or marimba. Sometimes, a bracket is used to show instruments grouped in pairs, such as the first and second oboes, or the first. In some cases, a brace is used for this instead of a bracket. When more than one system appears on a page, often two parallel diagonal strokes are placed on the left side of the score to separate them. Four-part SATB vocal settings, especially in hymnals, use a notation on a two-staff system with soprano and alto voices sharing the upper staff
4.
Aria
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An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, the term, which derives from the Greek and Latin aer first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term refers to an instrumental form. By the early 16th century it was in use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry, melodic madrigals. In the context of staged works and concert works, arias evolved from simple melodies into structured forms, the aria evolved typically in one of two forms. Binary form arias were in two sections, arias in ternary form were known as da capo arias, in the da capo aria the B episode would typically be in a different key – the dominant or relative major key. This version of form with ritornelli became a dominant feature of European opera throughout the 18th century. It is thought by some writers to be the origin of the forms of concerto. The ritornelli became essential to the structure of the aria – while the words determine the character of a melody the ritornello instruments often decided in terms it shall be presented. By the early 18th century, composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti had established the aria form and it offered balance and continuity, and yet gave scope for contrast. The very regularity of its conventional features enabled deviations from the normal to be exploited with telling effect. In the early years of the century, arias in the Italian style began to take over in French opera, giving rise eventually to the French genre of ariette, normally in a relatively simple ternary form. Types of operatic aria became known by a variety of terms according to their character – e. g. aria parlante, aria di bravura, aria buffa, and so on. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in a key as it usually was, had modulated to the dominant. The orchestra then played a second ritornello usually shorter than the first, the singer re-entered and sang the same words through a second time. The music of this paragraph was often slightly more elaborate than that of the first. There were more repeats of words and perhaps more florid vocalisations, the key worked its way back to the tonic for the final vocal cadence after which the orchestra rounded the section off with a final ritornello
5.
Key signature
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In musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp, flat, and rarely, natural symbols placed together on the staff. Key signatures are written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a line of musical notation, although they can appear in other parts of a score. A key signature designates notes that are to be played higher or lower than the natural notes and applies through to the end of the piece or up to the next key signature. A sharp symbol on a line or space in the key raises the notes on that line or space one semitone above the natural. An accidental is an exception to the key signature, applying only in the measure in which it appears. Although a key signature may be using any combination of sharp and flat symbols, fifteen diatonic key signatures are by far the most common. A piece scored using a diatonic key signature and no accidentals contains notes of at most seven of the twelve pitch classes. Each major and minor key has a key signature that sharpens or flattens the notes which are used in its scale. However, it is not uncommon for a piece to be written with a key signature that does not match its key, for example, in some Baroque pieces, for example, in his Sonata No.31 in A♭ major, Op. In principle, any piece can be written with any key signature, using accidentals to correct the pattern of whole, the purpose of the key signature is to minimize the number of such accidentals required to notate the music. The sequence of sharps or flats in key signatures is generally rigid in modern music notation and this allows musicians to identify the key simply by the number of sharps or flats, rather than their position on the staff. For example, if a key signature has one sharp, it must be an F sharp. However, in 20th-century music, there are exceptions to this, where a piece uses an unorthodox or synthetic scale. This may consist of a number of sharps or flats that are not the normal ones, key signatures of this kind can be found in the music of Béla Bartók, for example. The effect of a key signature continues throughout a piece or movement, for example, if a five-sharp key signature is placed at the beginning of a piece, every A in the piece in any octave will be played as A sharp, unless preceded by an accidental. In a score containing more than one instrument, all the instruments are usually written with the key signature. Exceptions include, If an instrument is a transposing instrument, If an instrument is a percussion instrument with indeterminate pitch. Composers usually omit the key signature for timpani parts. g, timpani in D–A, if they were tuned A and D
6.
Mode (music)
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In the theory of Western music, mode generally refers to a type of scale, coupled with a set of characteristic melodic behaviours. This use, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the Middle Ages, regarding the concept of mode as applied to pitch relationships generally, Harold S. being in the domain of mode. This synthesis between tonus as a tone and the older meaning associated with an octave species was done by medieval theorists for the Western monodic plainchant tradition. Since the end of the century, the term mode has also applied to pitch structures in non-European musical cultures, sometimes with doubtful compatibility. The word encompasses several additional meanings, however, authors from the ninth century until the early eighteenth century sometimes employed the Latin modus for interval. A scale is a series of pitches that, with the key or tonic as a reference point, defines that scales intervals. The concept of mode in Western music theory has three stages, in Gregorian chant theory, in Renaissance polyphonic theory, and in tonal harmonic music of the common practice period. In all three contexts, mode incorporates the idea of the scale, but differs from it by also involving an element of melody type. By the early 19th century, the mode had taken on an additional meaning. At the same time, composers were beginning to conceive of modality as something outside of the system that could be used to evoke religious feelings or to suggest folk-music idioms. Early Greek treatises describe three interrelated concepts that are related to the later, medieval idea of mode, scales, tonoi—, and harmonia —pl. harmoniai—this third term subsuming the corresponding tonoi but not necessarily the converse. The association of ethnic names with the octave species appears to precede Aristoxenus. Depending on the positioning of the tones in the tetrachords. The diatonic genus, the genus, and the enharmonic genus. The framing interval of the fourth is fixed, while the two internal pitches are movable. Within the basic forms, the intervals of the chromatic and diatonic genera were varied further by three and two shades, respectively, the term tonos was used in four senses, as note, interval, region of the voice, and pitch. We use it of the region of the voice whenever we speak of Dorian, or Phrygian, or Lydian, in Ptolemys system, therefore there are only seven tonoi. Pythagoras also construed the intervals arithmetically, in their diatonic genus, these tonoi and corresponding harmoniai correspond with the intervals of the familiar modern major and minor scales
7.
Accidental (music)
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In music, an accidental is a note of a pitch that is not a member of the scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp, flat, and natural symbols, among others, in the measure where it appears, an accidental sign raises or lowers the immediately following note from its normal pitch, overriding sharps or flats in the key signature. A note is raised or lowered by a semitone, although microtonal music may use fractional accidental signs. One occasionally sees double sharps or flats, which raise or lower the note by a whole tone. Accidentals apply within the measure and octave in which appear, unless canceled by another accidental sign. If a note has an accidental and the note is repeated in a different octave within the same measure, the accidental does not apply to the same note of the different octave. The modern accidental signs derive from the two forms of the letter b used in Gregorian chant manuscripts to signify the two pitches of B, the only note that could be altered. The round b became the sign, while the square b diverged into the sharp. Sometimes the black keys on a keyboard are called accidentals or sharps. In most cases, a sharp raises the pitch of a note one semitone while a flat lowers it a semitone, a natural is used to cancel the effect of a flat or sharp. This system of accidentals operates in conjunction with the key signature, whose effect continues throughout an entire piece, an accidental can also be used to cancel a previous accidental or reinstate the flats or sharps of the key signature. Accidentals apply to subsequent notes on the staff position for the remainder of the measure where they occur, unless explicitly changed by another accidental. Once a barline is passed, the effect of the accidental ends, subsequent notes at the same staff position in the second or later bars are not affected by the accidental carried through with the tied note. Though this convention is still in use particularly in music, it may be cumbersome in music that features frequent accidentals. As a result, a system of note-for-note accidentals has been adopted. Accidentals are not repeated for repeated notes unless one or more different pitches intervene, if a sharp or flat pitch is followed directly by its natural form, a natural is used. Cautionary accidentals or naturals may be used to clarify ambiguities, because seven of the twelve notes of the chromatic equal-tempered scale are naturals this system can significantly reduce the number of naturals required in a notated passage. Thus, the effect of the accidental must be understood in relation to the meaning of the notes staff position
8.
Musical note
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In music, the term note has three primary meanings, A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound, A pitched sound itself. Notes are the blocks of much written music, discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension. In the former case, one note to refer to a specific musical event, in the latter. Two notes with fundamental frequencies in an equal to any integer power of two are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of relations can be grouped under the pitch class. However, within the English-speaking and Dutch-speaking world, pitch classes are represented by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet. A few European countries, including Germany, adopt an almost identical notation, the eighth note, or octave, is given the same name as the first, but has double its frequency. The name octave is also used to indicate the span between a note and another with double frequency, for example, the now-standard tuning pitch for most Western music,440 Hz, is named a′ or A4. There are two systems to define each note and octave, the Helmholtz pitch notation and the scientific pitch notation. Letter names are modified by the accidentals, a sharp ♯ raises a note by a semitone or half-step, and a flat ♭ lowers it by the same amount. In modern tuning a half step has a ratio of 12√2. The accidentals are written after the name, so, for example, F♯ represents F-sharp, B♭ is B-flat. Additional accidentals are the double-sharp, raising the frequency by two semitones, and double-flat, lowering it by that amount, in musical notation, accidentals are placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations to the seven lettered pitches in the scale can be indicated by placing the symbols in the key signature, explicitly noted accidentals can be used to override this effect for the remainder of a bar. A special accidental, the natural symbol ♮, is used to indicate an unmodified pitch, effects of key signature and local accidentals do not accumulate. If the key signature indicates G♯, a flat before a G makes it G♭, though often this type of rare accidental is expressed as a natural. Likewise, a sharp sign on a key signature with a single sharp ♯ indicates only a double sharp. Assuming enharmonicity, many accidentals will create equivalences between pitches that are written differently, for instance, raising the note B to B♯ is equal to the note C
9.
Ossia
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Ossia is a musical term for an alternative passage which may be played instead of the original passage. The word ossia comes from the Italian for alternatively and was originally spelled o sia, ossia passages are very common in opera and solo piano works. They are usually an easier version of the form of passage, but in Mily Balakirevs Islamey, for instance. Bel canto vocal music also frequently uses ossia, also called oppure and this reflects Liszts desire to leave his options open during a performance. Many of his ossia passages are cadenzas, an unusual use of ossia is found in Alban Bergs Violin Concerto where several ossia parts are included for the solo violin. If the soloist chooses to play these, the concertmaster is required to play a different ossia, ossia, Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,2001
10.
Repetition (music)
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Repetition is important in music, where sounds or sequences are often repeated. It may be called restatement, such as the restatement of a theme, while it plays a role in all music, with noise and musical tones lying along a spectrum from irregular to periodic sounds, it is especially prominent in specific styles. A literal repetition of a passage is often indicated by the use of a repeat sign. Repetition is a part and parcel of symmetry—and of establishing motifs and you find a melodic or rhythmic figure that you like, and you repeat it throughout the course of the melody or song. This sort of repetition. helps to unify your melody, its the equivalent of a steady drumbeat. However, too much of a thing can get annoying. If you repeat your figure too often, it start to bore the listener. Memory affects the music-listening experience so profoundly that it would be not be hyperbole to say that without memory there would be no music, as scores of theorists and philosophers have noted. music is based on repetition. Music works because we remember the tones we have just heard and are relating them to the ones that are just now being played, theodor Adorno criticized repetition and popular music as being psychotic and infantile. There is no universal norm or convention for the amount or type of repetition, all music contains repetition - but in differing amounts, thus Middleton distinguishes between discursive and musematic repetition. A museme is a unit of meaning, analogous to morpheme in linguistics. Discursive repetition is at the level of the phrase or section and he gives paradigmatic case, the riff and the phrase. Musematic repetition includes circularity, synchronic relations, and openness, discursive repetition includes linearity, rational control, and self-sufficiency. Discursive repetition is most often nested in larger repetitions and may be thought of as sectional, put more simply, musematic repetition is simple repetition of precisely the same musical figure, such as a repeated chorus. Discursive repetition is, both repetitive and non-repetitive, such as the repetition of the rhythmic figure with different notes. Therefore, they would repeat parts of their song at times, making music like sonata very repetitive, Repetition is important in musical form. The repetition of any section of ternary form results in expanded ternary form, types of repetition include exact repetition, repetition after digression, and nonrepetition. Copland and Slatkin offer Au clair de la lune and Ach. du lieber Augustin Play as examples of aba, at the tone level, repetition creates a drone
11.
Fermata
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A fermata is a symbol of musical notation indicating that the note should be prolonged beyond its normal duration or note value would indicate. Exactly how much longer it is held is up to the discretion of the performer or conductor and it is usually printed above but can be occasionally below the note to be extended. When a fermata is placed over a bar or double-bar, it is used to indicate the end of a phrase or section of a work, in a concerto, it indicates the point at which the soloist is to play a cadenza. A fermata can occur at the end of a piece or in the middle of a piece and it can be followed by either a brief rest or more notes. Other names for a fermata are corona, point dorgue, Fermate and this symbol appears as early as the 15th century. It is quite common in the works of Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, in chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers of the Baroque, the fermata often signifies only the end of a phrase, and a breath is to be taken. In a few compositions, the fermatas occur in different measures for the right and left hands and for the feet. The word lunga is sometimes added above a fermata to indicate a longer duration, however, that is not standard usage. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
