Equal temperament

Equal temperament refers to a standard scale that subdivides octave into 12 semitones. An empirical example of an equal temperament scale is a piano keyboard. Musical intervals are known as cents, whereby 100cents is equivalent to one tempered semitone. Cents notation enables the artiste to compare intervals in various temperaments to determine the existence of a significant musical difference. The tempered scale is used to turn musical instruments such as pianos, which have a relatively fixed scale. In the guitar case, some frets are well placed to fix it into an equal-tempered scale. The main advantage of an equal-tempered scale is that it is identical in all musical “key.” Therefore, compositions are transposed down or up without affecting the musical intervals. The significance of equal temperament is seen in western music for over a century.

Please discuss the differences between an opera, an oratorio, and a cantata.

Opera refers to the kind of art where musicians and singers conduct a live performance in theatre and involve a dramatic story which incorporates music and libretto. The most outstanding opera feature is that it includes elements of spoken word, scenery, acting, costumes, and sometimes dances. Live performance is usually accompanied by either a small musical ensemble or orchestra.

An Oratorio is a comprehensive composition for orchestra, a chorus, and vocal soloists. It is often set to a narrative text, although it differs from opera because it lacks elements of acting, costumes, and scenery. Oratorio is usually based on stories from the Bible and not used in religious services (Michael, 2018).

A cantata refers to a vocal composition accompanied by instruments in various movements and occasionally involves a choir. Cantatas are based on religious text from familiar hymns or Bible (Bocharov, 2020). It is like a musical sermon that contains the priest’s message, which is based on the Epistle readings or Gospel. It almost resembles the opera because of the use of duet, recitative, and aria and is reminiscent of the fusion of secular and sacred elements in music and art.

Why is the Baroque Suite considered an “international” music genre?

Baroque suite refers to sets of movements inspired by dance. It is regarded as an international music genre since it contains international types of dance. Regardless of the nature of instruments, whether small groups, orchestra, or solo instruments, the baroque suite comprises movements written in the same key, although its tempo, character, and meter are different (Buelow, 2016). These movements that resemble dance originate from different countries. The allemande, which is of a moderate pace, comes from Germany. That may be followed by either moderate gavotte or fast courante from France. Sarabande that is solemn or slow, originated from Spain while fast gigue originated from Ireland and England.

Identify the key features of the Late Baroque style (1690 – 1750) in music.

Baroque music went through three phases, which are described as follows: early phase (1600-1640), middle phase (1640-1690), and the late phase (1690-1750). The late Baroque musicians usually favored polyphonic texture over homophonic texture (Felis, 2019). Elements of harmony also emerged at this phase that involved an emphasis on attraction or focus of the dominant chord to the tonic. Instrumental music was a significant part of late Baroque music, just like the vocal melodies as artistes preferred polyphony. Moreover, another novel feature is the unity of mood whereby composers created mood using affections, which matched the tone and rhythm. Melody also created an incredible feeling of continuity, and it is repeated in the music. Terraced dynamics were usually applied whenever music shifted between loud and soft. Chords formed an essential part of music in this period and emanated from the movement of melodic lines. Basso continuo is another feature that arose due to emphasis on bass and chords. Words and phrases enabled artists to apply word-painting to show the musician’s virtuosity and set the tone during the late Baroque era (Fiore, 2017).