Adventures with Beethoven

Music Term Glossary

accelerando:  gradually gaining speed

accent:  to give extra weight or stress to a note

accidental:  any change to a note that makes it differ from the key signature of the piece, for example raising or lowering a note by a half step

action: the mechanical assembly on a keyboard instrument. When a key is depressed, a hammer is trigged which strikes a string thus creating the sound. Piano action can be described as “light” or “heavy” depending upon how much force is required to depress the key.

Adonis: an extremely beautiful Greek boy from mythological tales who was a favorite of the goddess Aphrodite. The term can be used to describe an extremely handsome man, who is often a bit vain, especially concerning his appearance.

An die fern Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved): A song cycle written by Beethoven in 1816 based on the poetry of Alois Jeitteles. The piece may have been inspired by Antonie Brentano, one of the women who may have been the “Immortal Beloved.”

Andante favori: A solo piano work written by Beethoven around 1803-04. Initially Beethoven intended it to be the second movement of his Piano Sonata, Op. 53, Waldstein; however, Beethoven removed it from the sonata because the work had gotten too long. The piece was written in honor of Josephine Brunsvik, another “Immortal Beloved” candidate, and is often considered a musical declaration of love by Beethoven.

aria:  the song-like pieces within an opera which are used by the characters to respond emotionally to the dramatic action

augmented:  to raise an interval by an extra half step making it larger than usual, for example changing F-A, normally a major third, to F-A#, now an augmented third. Chords can be augmented as well by raising the top interval by a half step.

bar lines:  the vertical line that separates a measure of music from the subsequent one

Baroque period:  music written between roughly 1600-1750, commonly featuring long melodies, lots of counterpoint, and use of ornamentation. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi were well-known Baroque composers.

bass:  the lowest part of the chord or composition, the notes typically played by the left hand on the piano

bass clef:  the “f clef” that signifies the bass line of the staff

bass line:  the line played by the lowest instruments in a group or the left hand on the piano, typically provides the harmonic foundation for a composition

basso continuo:  a small group of musicians, usually featuring a keyboardist and a low string, that played the bass line of a composition. The keyboardist would add chords to the bass line to fill out the accompaniment.

beat:  the main accent or rhythmic unit in a measure of music, usually the strongest accent is on beat one of a measure

binary form:  a composition which features two main sections which often features two contrasting themes, often noted as AB

brass:  a family of wind instruments made of metal and using a mouthpiece to create sound; features the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba, among others

cadence:  the chord at the end of a harmonic progression that brings a section to an end

cadenza:  an elaborate and highly virtuosic solo line which features the solo performer, often found at the end of a concerto or near the end of arias where the soloist can show off their skills

cantata:  a composition featuring chorus, soloists, and orchestra that is not staged, can be secular or sacred

chant:  also known as Gregorian chant, the collection of sacred music used during religious services, which often features repeated notes to recite long sections of scripture. Chants began simply and later became more complicated and were among the first Western music to use a standardize notation system. Chant used modes as its basic harmonic structure.

chord:  a group of three or more notes played at the same time

chord progression:  a succession of chords that are related to each other forming the harmonic basis of the piece

chromatic:  from the Greek for “color,” a melodic or harmonic passage which features notes outside of the key signature indicated for the work; a scale which moves by half steps using each note available

Classical period:  music written from about 1750-1827, featuring regular phrases, a focus on a single melody, a light texture, and clear cadences. The forms for the symphony, sonata, concerto, and string quartet were standardized. The most famous composers of the period included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

clef:  the symbol at the beginning of the staff that indicates the relative pitches on the clef

coda:  literally the Italian word for “tail,” a short section at the end of the work

concerto:  a work for a soloist with orchestral accompaniment, usually in three movements in a fast-slow-fast pattern; features highly technical writing to show off the instrument. Concertos for piano and violin are the most common.

conductor:  the person who leads a musical group

conversation books: Blank booklets carried by Beethoven beginning around 1818. When Beethoven wanted to have a conversation with someone, they would write their thought or question in the notebook and Beethoven would answer aloud, allowing an easier dialogue because of Beethoven’s increasing hearing loss. These notebooks give historians a great insight into Beethoven’s personal life. The books discuss not only music, but politics, art, and day-to-day life. In total 139 booklets survive spanning 1818 until Beethoven’s death in 1827.

counterpoint:  the technique of writing melodies that work together and are played at the same time

crescendo:  gradually getting louder

decrescendo:  gradually getting softer

degree:  one of the eight notes in a major or minor scale, each degree of the scale is given a name:  tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading tone, and tonic. These names are often used to designate the chords built on each note of the scale.

development:  the section in the middle of Sonata Form where the main themes are explored and move through different keys

Diabelli Variations: a set of theme and variations for piano written by Beethoven between 1819-1823. The original tune came from a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli, an Austrian publisher and composer. Beethoven dedicated this work to Antonie Brentano as well, giving some historians further proof that she was Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved.” Beethoven originally intended to dedicate the work to the wife of Ferdinand Ries, his friend and fellow composer. However, the Rieses were living in London at the time and a delay in shipment changed Beethoven’s plans. Beethoven felt terrible about it and in a letter called himself an “arch-scoundrel” and offered to dedicate another piece to Mrs. Ries.

diatonic:  using the standard major or minor scale as the basis of a harmonic or melodic pattern

diminished:  to lower an interval by an extra half step. For example, F-A is a major third, if the interval is instead F-Ab it becomes a diminished third.

dominant:  the fifth note of the scale and the chord built on that note

dynamics:  how loudly or softly the piece should be played, usually noted in the music with letters or words, such as “p” for piano, meaning soft or “f” for forte, meaning loud

Enlightenment:  a philosophical movement in the 18th century that valued reason, equal rights, science, and individualism

exposition:  the opening section in sonata form where the main melodies are introduced and over the course of the exposition there is a harmonic shift from the home key to another closely related key, usually either the dominant or the relative major or minor

fixed do:  one version of the solfège system which always places the syllable “do” on the note “C”

flat:  to lower a pitch by one half step, noted by the symbol ♭

forte:  the Italian word for loud, to play loudly, often notated as 𝒇

fortepiano:  a predecessor to the modern piano built and used between the late-18th through the early-19th century. This is the instrument that would have been used by Haydn and Mozart and by Beethoven early in his career. Early fortepianos featured thin strings which were struck by leather-covered hammers to create the sound. The outer frame was made of wood, utilizing no outside metal bracing. The action on a fortepiano was very light, making it a very expressive instrument. The earliest version had four octaves of notes which expanded to five octaves by Mozart’s time to six and a half octaves by Beethoven’s day. (A modern piano has seven and one third octaves.) Although quite similar to modern pianos, there were differences between the instruments that would have been used by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven and the pianos used regularly today.

form:  the overall organization of a piece of music, often works can be broken down into binary (two part or AB) form or ternary (three part or ABA or ABC) form.

full cadence:  a closing chord progression that moves from V-I (dominant to tonic), usually found at the end of a composition

half cadence:  a chord progression that moves from I-V (tonic to dominant), often found at midpoints in a piece

half step:  the smallest interval going from one note to the very next note without any tones in between; if you imagine a piano going from one note to its neighbor without skipping any notes

hammer:  the hammer is what strikes the string when a piano key is depressed creating the sound of the note  

Hammerklavier:  the nickname for Piano Sonata No. 29 which was written in 1818. It is often considered Beethoven’s most technically difficult piano sonata and is one of the most demanding solo piano works, lasting 40-50 minutes. The name means “hammer-keyboard” the German term for the fortepiano, the predecessor of today’s modern piano. By calling the piece Hammerklavier, Beethoven was instructing musicians to play the piece on fortepiano not harpsichord.  

harmonic:  the underlying chords that work together to define the tonal center of the piece

harmonic minor scale:  one version of the minor scale which raises the seventh note of the scale one half step to create a leading tone. The scale is played the same way ascending and descending and also features a skip of a step and a half between notes six and seven due to the adjustment to note seven.

harpsichord:  an early keyboard instrument widely used in the Baroque period by composers such as J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. Unlike a piano which uses hammers to strike the strings in the instrument, the harpsichord used quills which plucked the strings instead. This creates a very different sound and one that cannot be sustained. The harpsichord also has a smaller dynamic range than a piano.

Heiligenstadt Testament: a letter written by Beethoven to his brothers explaining his mental anguish over his increasing deafness. Although at one point he contemplated suicide, the letter ends with his promise to overcome his disability and continue writing music.

improvise:  to make up parts of the music as it is happening. Although now more associated with jazz, early musicians, especially in the Baroque period, were expected to make up chordal accompaniment (in the case of basso continuo players) or heavily ornamented lines (as soloists).

interval:  the space between two notes. To find the interval, start with the lower note and count the names of the notes until you reach the upper note, for example C-G, where C-D-E-F-G covers the space of five notes, making the interval a 5th. Intervals are also given qualifying designations to describe the character of the interval, the most common are major, minor, perfect, augmented, and diminished.

introduction:  an opening section that begins a larger work. Occasionally the introduction will feature a melody that will be used later in the work, but this is not very common. Usually the introduction either sets the key or the mood for the rest of the movement.

Kapellmeister:  the German term for “music director”; the title given to the person in charge of a musical establishment, usually for a town, church, or court.

key:  the group of notes which form a home base for a piece of music

key signature:  the notation at the beginning of a line of music that tells the performer which notes are flatted or sharped throughout the piece

leading tone:  the seventh note of the major, harmonic minor, or melodic minor scale which wants to resolve to the last note

libretto: the written text for an opera, cantata, musical, or other extended vocal work. The libretto contains all the words used on stage during the production as well as the stage directions.

lied (s) or lieder (pl):  (lead or leader) a German song, popular during the Romantic period, typically for solo voice plus piano accompaniment. Schubert was an important composer of lieder.

major:  a key that follows a certain scale pattern and sounds more happy or cheerful

measure:  the notes or rests between two bar lines on a staff, often featuring a regular accent pattern, typically with the strongest accent on the first beat

melodic:  the singable line of a piece of music

melodic minor scale:  the version of the minor scale that raises the sixth and seventh notes by a half step going up and uses the natural minor scale going down, creating a scale that sounds like a mixture of major and minor

melody:  a consecutive, sequence of notes that is the principal part of a piece of music, the part you can hum along or sing along with

meter:  the regularly recurring rhythmic structure of a piece, the beat which you can count or clap along with

metronome: a device that produces a sound at a set regular interval which enables a musician to keep a regular tempo, or timing, when practicing. The word comes from ancient Greek meaning “measure” and “manage” as was first invented by Abbas ibn Firnas in the 800s. The modern version of the metronome was patented by Johann Maelzel in 1815. Beethoven was an early adopter of adding metronome marks, a measurement of beats per minute, in his compositions.

mezzo:  the Italian word for half, often used as a modifier before dynamics, such as mezzo forte, meaning literally half loud, or somewhere in the middle

minor:  a key that follows a different scale pattern than major and often sounds more sad or dramatic

Missa Solemnis: The second mass setting composed by Beethoven (after the Mass in C Major) which was written between 1819-1823, around the same time as Symphony No. 9. The work was premiered in 1824 in St. Petersburg, Russia and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, one of Beethoven’s patrons, students, and friends. Although not as commonly known as the Ninth Symphony, it is one of Beethoven’s greatest artistic achievements.

modes:  also called church modes, the system of scales used in early forms of music, often using only white keys (on a keyboard)

modulation:  using some kind of transition to move from one key to another in a piece of music

motive or motif:  a short phrase or section of a melody that can be developed in a composition

motivic development:  when a composer uses a motive or motives as the basis of a piece of music by developing and changing the motives as the work progresses creating a unified piece of music

movable do:  another version of solfège, however this time the tonic of the piece is given the syllable “do” rather than the note “C”

movement:  a section of a larger work, several movements make up the complete composition, usually three for a sonata or concerto, typically four for a symphony

monophonic:  a single melodic line

music theory:  a way of studying the concepts and methods of how music is created. Theory deals with both musical qualities like tone and pitch and also with compositional features such as rhythm and tempo. Theory also looks at the underlying harmonic structure of chords and cadences to help the musician figure out how a piece is put together. By understanding the basic concepts, musicians can learn how the composer put the work together to help the performer better understand the nuances of a composition.

natural:  the sign that shows a note is played in its natural form, neither sharped or flatted; often used to negate a sharp or flat from earlier in a measure. Notated with this symbol ♮

natural minor scale:  the basic form of a minor scale without any changes to the notes; minor scales and keys, in general, sound sadder than their major counterparts

neumes:  the symbols used in Medieval music that represented specific tones; over time neumes also represented more exactly pitches and their rhythmic duration

notation:  the system of symbols that are used to portray music on the page

notes:  the symbols that represent a musical sound and can be used to signify both pitch, by placing it on a staff, and duration, based on the shape of the note

Oberstkämmerer: a position held by a senior noble who served as the head of one of four departments of the Habsburg Imperial court. The Oberstkämmerer was head of the monarch’s private chamber therefore controlling access to the monarch. The Oberstkämmerer was also charged with examining families’ claims of noble heritage, which could allow or prevent marriages.

octave:  a series of eight consecutive tones or the interval that stretches over eight notes, for example C-C, or C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

opera:  a composed and completely sung staged art form featuring sets and costumes; can be funny or tragic

opus:  a system of numbering to order the works by a composer, usually numbered by date of publication, abbreviated Op. Pieces by a composer that have not been categorized are sometimes listed as WoO, an abbreviation for without opus.

oratorio:  a large-scale work featuring soloists, chorus, and orchestra; often on a religious theme that is presented without staging or costumes

orchestra:  an instrumental group, usually made up of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion that plays classical music

ornaments or ornamentation:  embellishments added to a melody line, often adding extra notes to the line to make it more complicated; to create added emphasis on certain notes or to show off the performers’ skill

patrons:  wealthy, and often noble, individuals or families who paid composers to write music for them, providing the composer a steady income. Some patrons requested certain types of compositions or lessons for themselves or their children. Other patrons allowed more freedom to the composers they supported, allowing the composer to write what they wished.

pedals: a set of three foot-operated levers at the bottom of the piano that are used to change the sound of the instrument. The soft pedal, also called una corda, is on the far left, the sostenuto pedal, in the middle, and the damper pedal, on the far right. Pedals were added to the piano early on its development in various guises, some were used by the hand or leg, instead of the foot. Some pianos had only one pedal, others had up to six. Now most modern pianos have the three pedals mentioned above that are used for various effects during performance.

percussion:  the family of musical instruments that are struck, hit, or shaken to make a sound. Some percussion is pitched, having the ability to play a series of tones, such as xylophones, chimes, or marimba; while others are not pitched such as snare drum, maracas, or castanets. The percussion section features a wide variety of instruments and which instruments are needed vary greatly from piece to piece.

perfect:  a designation for certain types of intervals including unison, fourth, fifth, and octave

phrase:  a complete musical idea. In the Classical period phrases were often in eight measure segments with the first four measures stating the start of the melody and the last four measures completing the melody.

phrasing:  shaping the musical phrase to make it sound beautiful and musical, like in speech; finding the most important part of the phrase to draw attention to it and shape the melody by growing louder or softer as the phrase progresses

piano:  the Italian word for soft, to play softly, notated as 𝒑

pitch:  referring to the quality of a sound. Relative pitch means the relationship of one pitch to another in highness or lowness. Absolute pitch is the scientific measurement of a note based on the number of vibrations per second, such as A=440 hertz

polyphonic:  more than one melodic line sounding at the same time

prodigy:  a person, usually young, with exceptional talents and abilities

recapitulation:  the third section in sonata form, following the development section. The recapitulation features the return of the original melodies and key from the exposition; however, this time the entire section stays in the home key leading to the conclusion of the movement

relative major:  the major key that shares the key signature as a minor key. The relative major can be found by going up a third from the starting note of the minor scale; for example from D minor, go up three notes, D-E-F, and F major is the relative major key.

relative minor:  the minor key that shares the key signature with a major key. The relative minor can be found by going down a third from the starting note of a major scale; for example from F major, go down three notes, F-E-D, and D minor is the relative minor key

retransition:  the section in sonata form after the development section where the key moves back to the tonic in anticipation of the recapitulation

rhythm:  the system of arranging musical sounds of varying durations, often with a repeated pattern of accents on certain beats

ritardando:  gradually slowing down

root:  the lowest note of a chord when it appears in its closest position, usually a stack of the third and the fifth notes above the main note

run:  an ornament which features a rapidly ascending or descending passage of notes, usually based on a scale

salons:  social gatherings usually hosted by a prominent society woman that featured artists, musicians, and thinkers

scale:  a collection of notes played linearly up and down. Most commonly in Western music is an eight note scale, but scales can have different numbers of notes including the pentatonic scale that has five notes or a whole tone scale that has seven notes

Schubertiads:  informal gatherings held in people’s homes where Schubert’s music was featured, some including performances by Schubert himself with other musicians. Other artists and poets sometimes participated by sharing their work and the evenings sometimes included dancing and other pastimes. After Schubert’s death, the events became more formal and were celebrations of Schubert’s life and music.

sharp:  raising a pitch a half step, noted with the symbol ♯

solfège:  a music education system used to help teach sight reading and pitch awareness by using assigned syllables to sing melodies. The most common syllables are do, re, mi, fa, so/sol, la, ti/so, and do. There are two widely used systems, fixed do where the note C is always do and moveable do where the tonic note for the melody’s key signature is do.

sonata:  from Italian for “to sound,” initially any piece for instrument, typically now a work for solo instrument or solo instrument with piano accompaniment, typically in 3 movements

sonata form or sonata allegro form:  the most common harmonic structure of the first movement of a sonata, symphony or concerto; begins with an introductory idea, moves to a second section where the idea is developed, and finishes with a reintroduction of the main theme

song cycle:  a group of individual songs intended to be performed as a collection, often featuring the same theme or lyrics by the same poet or author

soundboard: the surface against which strings vibrate, helping to generate sound waves which creates and amplifies the sound. Grand pianos feature a soundboard as part of the case while in upright pianos, the back of the instrument serves as the sound board.

staff:  the system of five lines used to notate music; a grand staff includes both treble and bass clef with middle C in the center

strings:  the family of instruments in the orchestra that makes sound by pulling a bow across tuned strings. The orchestra typically includes violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The string family also includes all instruments that make music by plucking the strings such as guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harp, among others.

string quartet:  a piece written for a group featuring two violins, one viola, and one cello, usually featuring four movements in the same style as a symphony

subdominant:  fourth tonal degree, or the chord built on that note, of the diatonic scale; also called predominant

symphony:  a work for orchestra, typically featuring four movements; usually fast, slow, minuet and trio, and finale

temperament:  a system of tuning that compromises the ratios of some pitches slightly so that all the pitches and scales can be used. Historically there were many different systems of temperament, some of which left some keys unusable because there were notes and intervals that were simply too out of tune to be used. Now most modern Western instruments use the system of equal temperament which allows all 24 major and minor keys to be used.

tempo:  the Italian word for time, an indication of what speed the piece should be played. Metronomes help musicians keep an even tempo by clicking at a set number of beats per minute

ternary form:  a basic three part musical form, most typically ABA or sometimes ABC

theme:  a frequently occurring melody or small group of notes that occurs throughout a composition

tonic:  the first note in a scale or the chord built on that scale

transition:  the section in sonata form between the exposition and the development where the key changes. In major typically this is a progression from tonic to dominant while in minor this might be a movement from the home key to the relative major or the dominant.

treble:  the higher part of the chord composition, the notes typically played by the right hand on the piano

treble clef:  the “g clef” that signifies the treble line of the staff

trill:  a quick alternation between two notes a half or whole step apart, used as an ornamentation on a melody line

virtuoso:  an extremely talented musician, usually displaying high levels of technical ability

virtuosic: a performer who has exceptional technical skill or music that is written for a highly capable performer

whole step:  the interval also called a major second. If you imagine a piano keyboard, a whole step is going from one note to the next with a note in-between, so if you play from one white key to another with a black note in-between that is a whole step

woodwinds: the instrument family in the orchestra whose members either use a reed, either single such as clarinets and saxophones, or double such as oboes and bassoons, or that used to be made out of wood such as flutes and recorders. Sound is made by blowing air through a tube with or without the aid of a reed

Terms for Tempo

Grave:  slow and solemn (20-40 beats per minute)

Lento/Largo:  slowly (40-60 bpm)

Adagio:  slow and stately (60-75 bpm)

Andante:  a walking pace (75-108 bpm)

Moderato:  moderately (108-120 bpm)

Allegro:  fast (120-168 bpm)

Vivace:  lively and fast (140-160 bpm)

Presto:  very fast (168-200 bpm)

Prestissimo:  extremely fast (more than 200 bpm)