Enlightenment

philosophical

scientific

political

movement that dominated 18 c. thought

ballad

(1) a narrative poem or its musical setting

(2) a traditional, usually strophic, song that tells a lengthy story

Sammartini

empfindsamer Stil

sentimental style

term applied to the hyper-expressivity that affected northern European, and particularly German, arts generally in the second half of the 18 c.

ballad opera

a type of popular 18 c. English musical theater using re-texted ballads (or other popular songs) and spoken dialogue rather than recitative

Johann Quantz

Concert spirituel

one of the first and foremost public concert series founded in Paris in 1725;

originally formed to give a public hearing to religious music sung in Latin, its repertory soon came to emphasize instrumental symphonies and concertos as well

reform opera

first created in the 1760's by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Ranieri Calzabigi in an attempt to combine the best features of the Italian and French operatic traditions, to yoke Italian lyricism to the French concern for intense dramatic expression

les philosophes

intermezzo

a musical diversion between the acts of an opera or a play

Leopold Mozart

gallant style

French term used by music historians (rather than "Enlightenment style") to describe 18 c. music that is graceful, light in texture , and generally symmetrical in melodic structure

obbligato recitative

recitative in which the full orchestra is necessary to the desired effect (also known as accompanied recitative)

Metastasio

acciaccatura

a technique of crunching dissonant chords used by Domenico Scarlatti

Mannheim

coloratura

florid figuration assigned to the soprano voice in an opera; also the high female voice capable of singing such a florid part

Singspiel

(sung play)

a genre of German opera appearing in the 18th and 19th centuries using a folkish or comic spoken play with musical numbers inserted

antecedent phrase

the opening, incomplete-sounding phrase of a melody; often followed by a consequent phrase that brings closure to the melody

JC Bach

opera seria

serious, not comic, opera;

the term is used to designate the heroic, fully sung Italian opera that dominated the stage at the courts of Europe during the 18 c.

comic opera

a simple, direct type of musical theater that made use of comic characters, dealt with everyday social issues, and emphasized values more in step with those of the middle class

opera comique

 similar to Italian opera buffa, has characters from the everyday world, singing in a fresh, natural style, and the dialogue is generally spoken or sometimes delivered in recitative; the principals sing either simple airs or popular melodies

consequent phrase

the second phrase of a two-part melodic unit that brings a melody to a point of repose and closure

La Guerre des Bouffons

(The War of the Buffoons)

a paper war over the relative merits of Italian and French musical style; it raged, on and off, for several years in Paris during the 1750s and centered on the question of what sort of opera was appropriate for the French stage

opera buffa

the name for Italian comic opera but which, unlike most other forms of comic opera, uses rapid-fire recitative rather than spoken dialogue

Italian opera overture

CPE Bach