Pick Your Period Trivia Quiz

Answer: Medieval

A lot of innovation occurred during the long Medieval period. A way to notate rhythm was invented by the 13th century. During the 'Ars antiqua' period of 1170-1310 there were strict rules about rhythm, but these were freed up in the 'Ars nova' music of the 14th century.

Sacred music was sung in plainchant, in which all members of the choir sing the same notes in unison (monophony). By the Late Middle Ages heterophony had been introduced, which means that though everyone is singing the same basic melody, at least one other voice is singing a slightly altered version of the melody, with a little more ornamentation or some other variation. For modality, the church modes as standardized by Pope Gregory I were used starting in the 8th century: four authentic (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixoyldian) and four plagal (Hypodorian, Hypophrygian, Hypolydian, and Hypomixolydian).

Answer: Renaissance

Renaissance music freed itself from medieval constraints on range, harmony, form, and notation, but rules of counterpoint and dissonance became more rigid. In the Franco-Flemish school, composers like Josquin des Prez wrote music with a clear, regular beat (in contrast to the arhythmic Gregorian chant). During the 15th century, we hear a shift from "horizontal" contrapuntal music with interwoven melody lines to more "vertically" constructed music with harmonic progressions (combinations of notes played at the same time, played in a certain way to a certain end), which means lots of full triads: three notes in the form of root, a third, and a fifth -- the most basic chord of Western music during the Common Practice Era (Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods), coming up next.

Answer: Baroque

Named after an architectural and artistic style, Baroque music is tuneful, tightly organized, and highly decorated and elaborate -- but also solemn and regal. We have the invention of equal-temperament tuning of keyboard instruments, which is the way they are tuned now and allows a harpsichordist or pianist to play in any of the 24 keys in tonal music. (And by tonal music, we mean particularly music based on a scale that is built on a key to which the music resolves.) And we see the end church modes and the dominance of the modern major and minor modes, which would last throughout the Common Practice Era.

The Common Practice Era is a grouping of three periods of music (Baroque, Classical, Romantic) that come to mind when the common person thinks of "classical music". The Baroque Period ends by convention with J.S. Bach's death in 1750.

Answer: Galant

Galant music tends to be regarded more as a pre-cursor and/or sub-period of the Classical period, although some music historians say it gave birth to Romanaticism as well. This period or really perhaps style is not often discussed in textbooks, but some historians feel it deserves a place of distinction. It started during the Baroque period and while it is homophonic (there is one melodic line), the ornamentation can be extreme, not unlike the extreme ornamentation of the late Baroque period (sometimes called Rococo). It could be viewed as a transition from Baroque to Classical, and it makes a convenient place to classify transitional composers like C.P.E. Bach and J.C. Bach, sons of J.S. Bach, *the* figure of the Baroque. Early Haydn and Mozart are in the Galant style, with what is called the Alberti accompaniment (like the bass line in Mozart's 'Sonata in C Major'), named after Domenico Alberti.

The distinction between "soloist" and "accompanist" is also solidified at this time. The Old French word 'galant' comes from 'galer', meaning "to make merry".

Answer: Classical

Particularly in the early Classical period there is an outright rejection of Baroque complexity for a cleaner, more economical, and more restrained style which evoked the ideals of classical antiquity, especially Classical Greece. Many forms for instrumental music were invented or developed into their modern form: sonata, trio, string quartet, quintet, symphony, and the solo concerto. Choral works and opera became important as well. The signature form of the period is the Sonata-Allegro form (sometimes shortened to Sonata form), which consisted of three parts: exposition, development, and recapitulation. Early Beethoven is considered Classical.

Personal note: I had a few music teachers who despised using
"Classical" for the whole genre that is not folk, jazz, or pop/rock (i.e. popular). and preferred the term "serious" music. (It never caught on, and the "serious" music world is either resigned to being "classical", or honestly does not care about labels.)

Answer: Romantic

Romantic composers wrote emotional, dramatic, and individualistic works that rejected the strict styles and harmonies of the Classical Period and were more daring with their harmonics, while remaining almost always tonal. Ludwig van Beethoven straddles the Classical and Romantic periods, and one can trace in his works the progression and transition of the two periods.

His "Pastoral" symphony (the Sixth) exemplifies program music, in which music represents something concrete or tells a story. Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns ("Carnival of the Animals"), and Richard Strauss also loved program music, to name a few. (Though he lived well into the 20th century, Strauss persisted in the late-Romantic style).

The Romantic Period also gave us Chopin, Schumann (both Clara and Robert), the grand operas of Wagner, and the fine études of Czerny, which every piano student has had to endure, er, practice. Drawing on folklore and national myth to create a nationalist style were Czech composers Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana, and Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Brahms also drew themes from folk music.

Answer: Impressionism

Overlapping the Common Practice Era (CPE) and the Modern Era, Impressionism rejected the traditional forms and harmonies of earlier periods but also the intensity of Romanticism. Instead, the composer evokes moods or impressions with blurred harmony, loose rhythm, and tonal color (or timbre).* Claude Debussy personifies this period, but he rejected the term as an invention of music critics! Maurice Ravel ('Bolero') also disliked it. Isaac Albéniz is sometimes considered late Romantic; other scholars put him here. Some consider the co-founder of America's National Symphony Orchestra, Mary Howe, to be Impressionistic. With her 'Faust et Hélčne', Lili Boulanger was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, a French scholarship for students of the arts.

*Timbre is a characteristic quality of sound: could be warm, cool, dark, bright, buzzy, sweet, etc. and can be quite subjective.

Answer: Expressionism

Not to be confused with Impressionism! It could be said that Expressionism grew from German angst, particularly after World War I, and that it was reaction against the exquisite sweetness (saccharinity?) and ethereality of Impressionism. Like Expressionist painting, Expressionist music can be said to distort reality, sometimes nightmarishly.

The term was first used in 1918. Arnold Schoenberg (who was also a painter) developed atonality and dodecophany or the twelve-tone scale, really a technique for composition which ensures that all twelve tones of the chromatic scale are used, with none taking precedence.

These ideas were further developed by Alban Berg and Anton Weber, among many others. Supposedly Scott Bradley used dodecaphony to compose at least some of his scores for the 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons for MGM.

In addition to neoclassical works, Paul Hindemith wrote Expressionistic pieces ('The Young Maiden'). Béla Bartók also employed Expressionism in some of his pieces, like 'Bluebeard's Castle' (1911)

Answer: Neoclassicism, primitivism, nationalism

The early 20th century had multiple trends, with composers consciously and unconsciously borrowing from these styles. The Neoclassicist desire for order, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint -- as understood to be ideals of Classical Greece and a conscious a rejection of Romanticism -- competed with the Primitivist turn to (sometimes archaic) indigenous cultures for inspiration. Igor Stravinsky was both a Primitivist ('Rite of Spring'), and a Neoclassicist ('Symphony of Psalms'). Sergei Prokofiev ('Classical Symphony'), Maurice Ravel ('Le Tombeau de Couperin') and Paul Hindemith ('Symphony: Mathis der Maler') produced important neoclassical works, as did Dmitri Shostakovich and American composer-critic Virgil Thomson. Nadia Boulanger, sister of Impressionist Lili Boulanger, taught Neoclassicism and other styles to such students as Philip Glass, Burt Bacharach, Aaron Copland, and Quincy Jones.

At the same time, other composers sought uniquely nationalist rather than universal Western sounds, not unlike the Romantics, only without the caricature that Romantics would sometimes employ. Béla Bartók drew on Hungarian folk music (and indeed rescued it from oblivion), and Aaron Copland epitomized the American vernacular ('Rodeo'). Samuel Barber turned back to Romantic harmonics and expressiveness with his 'Adagio for Strings', creating perhaps the most recognized piece of American classical music, used to mourn both FDR's and JFK's passing.

Answer: Contemporary

For lack of a better name to describe all the eclectic and avant-garde trends of music in the latter 20th century and beyond, the label "Contemporary" may be used in textbooks. Here's a random list of types/trends and composers:

* Aleatoric music: having chance or performer's choice written into the piece, so it's never the same. (John Cage, "Music of Changes")
* Prepared piano: objects put between the strings (John Cage, "Sonatas and Interludes")
* Musique concrčte: the use of the tape recorder as instrument (Pierre Schaeffer)
* Elektronische Musik: pure electronics (no acoustic instruments or recorded sound); grew out of Germany
* Polystylism: juxtaposing any and all styles of music from any period.
* Minimalism: tonality (to an extent), simplicity, and lots of repetition (John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros)