Western Music History 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 Western Music History flashcards as text
Which of the following best describes the historical significance of the 'Querelle des Bouffons' (1752–1754) in France?
Answer: It was a pamphlet war debating the merits of French versus Italian opera styles
The Querelle des Bouffons was sparked by an Italian opera buffa troupe performing in Paris and led to fierce debate between partisans of French and Italian operatic traditions.
The compositional practice known as 'cantus firmus' technique involves:
Answer: Using a pre-existing melody as a structural foundation for a polyphonic composition
A cantus firmus ('fixed song') is a borrowed melody, often from plainchant, placed in one voice while other voices weave counterpoint around it.
Which term describes the late Romantic orchestral technique of building massive climaxes through the gradual addition of orchestral layers and increasing dynamics?
Answer: Orchestral apotheosis
An orchestral apotheosis is a climactic arrival built through the progressive layering of thematic material and dynamic swells, common in late Romantic symphonies.
The American composer Charles Ives is known for his use of 'spatial music,' in which groups of musicians are placed in different locations. Which work is the most celebrated example?
Answer: The Unanswered Question
'The Unanswered Question' (c. 1908) separates the strings (offstage), brass, and solo trumpet into three distinct sonic layers performing in different tempos.
The Burgundian court of the 15th century was a major center for which style of polyphonic secular music?
Answer: The chanson
Burgundian composers such as Dufay and Binchois excelled in the polyphonic chanson, which dominated secular courtly music in the early 15th century.
In the late 19th century, the term 'verismo' in Italian opera refers to a style that emphasized:
Answer: Realistic, gritty portrayals of working-class or peasant life
Verismo ('realism') opera depicted naturalistic everyday subjects with intense, direct emotional expression, reacting against the artificiality of earlier operatic conventions.
John Cage's composition '4'33"' (1952) is significant in music history primarily because it:
Answer: Challenged the definition of music by framing ambient and audience sounds as the composition
'4'33"' consists of a performer not playing their instrument for its duration, directing attention to environmental sounds as the musical content.