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Explanations of Assignments

I. Definitions of Terms: Please define the following terms and identify the following people. E-mail this as a unit.

Louis IV

Rembrandt

Peter Paul Rubens

William Harvey

John Milton

El Greco

collegium musicum

monody

Camerata

major-minor tonality

terraced dynamics

castrato

recitative

aria

overture

libretto

ritornello

cantata

oratorio

Lutheran Chorale

chamber music

Messiah

Judas Maccabaeus

da capo aria

concerto

harpsichord

basso continuo

concertino

tutti

The Four Seasons

Brandenburg Concertos

suite

movement

alemande

courante

sarabande

gigue

minuet

gavotle

bourée

sonata

Water Music

passacaglia

chorale prelude

fugue

subject of a fugue

II. Comparison of Opera, Cantata, and Oratorio: Please write a one page discussion comparing and contrasting opera, cantata, and oratorio.

III. Description of Brandenburg Concerto orchestra:  Please describe the orchestra Bach used to perform the second Brandenburg Concerto. There are three sections. Tell what instruments make up each of the three: tutti, basso continuo, and concertino. Be sure to look at this picture of the orchestra.

IV. Grid Comparison of Brandenburg Concerto: Pleasel fill in the following grid with the differences between the three movements of the Brandenburg Concerto.

V. Comparison of music of the royals: Please listen to the following audio clips of Handel's Water Music. Iimagine being on a barge on the Thames River, a guest of King George I of England. The orchestra plays all the way to Chelsea as it sails on its hired barge. You are on a guest barge and King George and his entourage are on the royal barge. The music you hear is a suite of dances. As you listen, read pp. 205-208 in the textbook. Note the picture of the barges on p. 205 of your text. Try to feel royal. Listen to the following music clips of Water Music. I.Overture   II.Adagio E Staccato    III.Allegro  IV.Andante.  Write a page describing music used by royals today (think of music in funerals, coronations, and weddings you have heard), comparing it with the kind of music that the royals used for their functions back in the day of King George I.

VI. Comparison of Wachet Auf & Messiah: Please listen to a recitative from Wachet Auf, a cantata by Bach and compare it with an aria from Messiah by Handel. Notice the difference in the declamatory style used to "set the stage and plot" with the recitative and compare it with the beautiful, tuneful melody of the Aria.

VII. "Ritornello" theme from Brandenburg Concerto: Please listen to the opening theme of the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2. Notice as you listen to the rest of the movement how this theme, the "Ritornello" theme, keeps coming back to unify the composition.

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