Musicology Flashcards
7 cards from real BM or BMus Bachelor of Music practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Musicology flashcards as text
Heinrich Schenker's analytical method centers on which concept?
Answer: Ursatz (fundamental structure)
Schenker proposed that tonal masterworks reduce to an Ursatz—a fundamental melodic and harmonic background structure.
The 'Gesamtkunstwerk' concept, unifying all arts in a single dramatic work, was championed by which composer-theorist?
Answer: Richard Wagner
Wagner advocated for the Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork) in his theoretical writings, particularly 'Opera and Drama' (1851).
Which ancient Greek music treatise by Aristoxenus argued that musical intervals should be judged by ear rather than mathematics?
Answer: Elementa Harmonica
Aristoxenus's Elementa Harmonica countered the Pythagorean mathematical approach by prioritizing acoustic perception in determining intervals.
The term 'musica ficta' refers to which practice in medieval and Renaissance music?
Answer: The addition of unnotated accidentals by performers
Musica ficta involved performers adding chromatic alterations not written in the score, guided by rules avoiding tritones and creating leading tones.
Alan Lomax is best known for his contributions to which branch of musicology?
Answer: Ethnomusicology and folk music field recording
Alan Lomax was a pioneering ethnomusicologist who conducted extensive field recordings of American folk and blues music for the Library of Congress.
Which analytical approach, developed by Milton Babbitt and others, applies set-theory mathematics to post-tonal music?
Answer: Pitch-class set theory
Pitch-class set theory provides a systematic method for analyzing atonal music using mathematical sets of pitch classes.
The concept of 'topic theory' in musicology, associated with Leonard Ratner, refers to which phenomenon?
Answer: Conventional musical styles or figures that carry expressive meaning
Topic theory identifies recurring stylistic conventions (such as the march, hunt, or Sturm und Drang) that 18th-century listeners recognized as meaningful expressive signs.