Curious about classical music? Take a seat in Symphony 101! Enhance your music listening experience with a few terms and a bit of history, then research more on your own!
Enjoy the information on this page as they relate to our programs. Check back from time to time for added materials!
ABC's of Musical Terms
Allegro – Italian for cheerful or lively, interpreted in music as rather fast. Indications of tempo can be used as general titles for pieces of music, usually within larger works. The first movement of a sonata, for example, is often an “Allegro”.
Clarinet – The clarinet was invented around 1700 in Nuremberg, Germany, by Johann Christoph Denner, who added a register key and other keys to the existing single-reed chalumeau. This innovation gave the instrument its name, “clarinet,” which means “small trumpet,” and significantly expanded its range. The instrument evolved through the 18th and 19th centuries with more keys and airtight pads, gaining popularity in orchestras and ensembles, becoming a staple in classical, jazz, and klezmer music.
Classical – In music, the general meaning of the term denotes fine or serious music. More specifically, it refers to music from about 1750 to 1830: the age of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The concept of “classical” or “ancient music” emerged with the implication it was still built upon the principles of formality and excellence.
Concerto – instrumental music that contrasts a solo instrument or a small group of solo instruments with the main body of the orchestra, usually a piece in three movements.
Fantasy (English) or Fantasie (German) or Fantasia (Italian) – The term was first applied to music during the 16th century, to refer to the imaginative musical “idea” rather than to a particular compositional genre. With roots in improvisation, it seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form.
Overture – The instrumental music that opens a performance such as opera or ballet. While early overtures were meant to call attention that the performance was about to start and had little relevance to what followed, later composers tended to relate the overture to the following work, thematically or in mood.
Piano – The invention of the piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of the Instruments. Cristofori was an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments, which helped him to develop the first pianos. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of the first piano by 1700. Cristofori named the instrument un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte (“a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud”), abbreviated over time as pianoforte, fortepiano, and later reduced to only piano.
Requiem – The Catholic Mass for the Dead opens with the words “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine” (“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord”), leading to the use of the word Requiem to denote a Mass for the Dead.
Sonata – The term comes from Italian “sonare” (to sound) and implies instrumental rather than sung music. It came to use in the mid 1700’s and, while there is no single model, it is generally agreed that the form consists of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. Originally referring to a melodic instrument with accompaniment, the 1800’s brought greater freedom in form and became more specific to solo keyboard music.
Symphony – Originally indicating an instrumental section or composition, the symphony came to be the principal serious orchestral form of the later 18th century and thereafter. In the late 17th and early 18th century, it evolved as a three-movement overture to opera. The Classical symphony of Haydn and Mozart is generally in four movements, opening with a sonata-form allegro, followed by a slow movement, a minuet and trio, and a rondo finale. With Beethoven, the symphony grew in size and ambition. In the 19th century and into the 20th century the symphony, remained the most respected and demanding form that a composer might tackle. A symphony may loosely be defined as an orchestral composition generally in several movements.
Totentanz – In German, it means “Dance of the Dead”, and refers to a late medieval allegorical art genre depicting the universality of death, where death unites all people regardless of social status. The young Liszt had a fascination with death, and would frequent hospitals, gambling casinos, asylums, and dungeons. That, in addition to attending Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique, inspired Liszt’s Totentanz. The musical motif, Dies Irae, which translates to “Day of Judgement”, is a quote from medieval Gregorian plainsong.
Who's Who
Beach, Amy
September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944
American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her “Gaelic” Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. She was one of the first American composers of her era to succeed without the benefit of European training, and was known as a respected and acclaimed composer and pianist in both America and Germany. She was able to sing forty songs accurately by age one, she was capable of improvising counter-melody by age two, and she taught herself to read at age three. At four, she composed three waltzes for piano during one summer at her grandfather’s farm.
Beethoven, Ludwig Van
17 December 1770 (baptised)– 26 March 1827
German composer and pianist. His works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era. At age 21, he moved to Vienna, which subsequently became his base, and studied composition with Haydn. Beethoven then gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist, and was soon patronised by Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions. From 1802 to around 1812, he developed an individual style from his classical roots, which is sometimes characterised as heroic. During this time, Beethoven began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression.
Brahms, Johannes
7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897
German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied yet expressive contrapuntal textures. He adapted the traditional structures and techniques of a wide historical range of earlier composers. His works include four symphonies, four concertos, a Requiem, much chamber music, and hundreds of folk-song arrangements and Lieder, among other works for symphony orchestra, piano, organ, and choir. He toured Central Europe as a pianist in his adulthood, premiering many of his own works and meeting Franz Liszt in Weimar.
Liszt, Franz
22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886
Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of his era, and his piano works continue to be widely performed and recorded. Liszt received lessons from esteemed musicians Czerny and Salieri. He toured Europe in the 1830s and 1840s, developing a reputation for technical brilliance as well as physical attractiveness, elevating him to an unprecedented degree of stardom. In his later life, Liszt was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Richard Wagner, among others.
Mendelssohn, Fanny
14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847
German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era. Her compositions number over 450, and include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, more than 125 pieces for solo piano, and over 250 lieder. Most were unpublished in her lifetime. Lauded for her piano technique, she rarely gave public performances outside her family circle. She received a thorough musical education from her mother, and the composers Ludwig Berger and Carl Friedrich Zelter. Her younger brother Felix Mendelssohn, composer and pianist, shared the same education and the two developed a close relationship. Owing to her family’s reservations and to social conventions about women at the time, six of her songs were published under her brother’s name in his Opus 8 and 9 collections.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
(27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
Austrian composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers, with his music admired for its “melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture”. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European royalty. Throughout his Vienna years, Mozart composed over a dozen piano concertos, many considered his greatest achievements. In his final years, Mozart wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies and his Requiem.
The History of Applause
Ancient Times: Clapping was formalized during the Roman Empire when theatre and politics merged, when it became one of the chief methods politicians used to evaluate their standing with the public as they entered the arena.
1700’s: Music audiences were rowdy and would clap, talk, and shout during performances.
Composers like Mozart expected audiences to talk, especially during dinner. Mozart enjoyed spontaneous applause and would sometimes play movements again if well-received. The claque, or group of paid applauders to clap at the right time, was a common feature in theaters in France and later other countries.
Mid 1800’s: The tradition of not applauding between movements began in Germany.
Richard Wagner extended the idea that classical music was sacred and deserved reverence.
Late 1800’s: Composers like Mahler, Schumann, and Mendelssohn requested in their scores that their works be performed without breaks between movements. This was done to avoid applause and to create a reverential atmosphere.
Modern etiquette:
Most commonly, applause is encouraged at the very end of a piece after all movements. This indicates that the piece is finished. Some conductors ask the audience not to applaud at the end of a piece if it has serious themes. Some conductors encourage new audiences’ passion for this music and welcome joyful outbursts!
Bottom line: Take the cue from the conductor. When he or she turns to the audience at the end of the piece, or throws a glance and knowing smile between movements, it is permisison for applause.