Elaborate passage for the soloist(s) interpolated usually near the end of a movement, often not written out by the composer, but left to the performer to improvise.
Choral or solo vocal form developed in the Baroque period based on secular or religious text, generally with several movements and instrumental ensemble accompaniment.
A chord whose pitches are sounded successively rather than simultaneously.
Exact imitation of the melody in one voice by another, continued for more than one phrase. Best known example: a round.
Vertical line through a musical staff dividing it into measures. 2) A measure.
Music that is “free of” any explicit connection with words or specific meaning.
A slow tempo. Generally slower than andante, but not as slow as largo. Literally, at ease.
A fast or moderately fast tempo.
Use of notes not in the basic scale of a composition or passage. Harmonic style frequently using such notes.
Period in Western music from approximately 1600 to around 1750.
A melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution. Cadences are principal means by which a central pitch, or tonic, is defined in a passage or work.
A composition for solo voice and accompaniment usually within the context of an opera, oratorio or cantata.
An independent bass line continuing throughout a piece on the basis of which harmonies are extemporized on keyboard or chord-playing instruments. In Baroque music, the continuo would usually consist of a harpsichord or organ with a cello reinforcing the bass line.
Played by drawing the bow across the strings.
Concluding section of a composition particularly of a fugue or movement of a sonata or symphony.