Category: Glossary

This topic emerges in the context of Baroque opera to represent a storm or an agitated emotional state.

«Tempesta operates not just as a piece of tone-painting, but as a way of expressing all kinds of turmoil, both literal and metaphorical. It can communicate rage, panic, passion, pursuit, conflict, or madness, all recurring themes in the Romantic repertoire, but also present throughout much of the music written in the eighteenth century».

Referencias: McClelland, 2017: ix; Grimalt, 2020: 353-367.

See also tempesta topic video.

This topic evokes a dark, shadowy, and sinister atmosphere, occasionally alluding to the mysterious or the supernatural. It conveys emotional states such as fear, terror, and anguish. Typically employed in theatrical contexts, the ombra style served to underscore the sinister, the unsettling, or the tragic.

Referencias: McClelland, 2012; Grimalt, 2020: 350-352.

See also ombra topic video

It is a musical device associated with the lament topic. It consists of a melodic motive built on a descending minor second, imitating the sob of someone weeping.

«[The pianto], the motive of a falling minor second, has represented a lament since the sixteenth century. At first it always accompanied the textual idea of weeping – words like “pianto” or “lagrime” – but it soon began to signify merely grief, pain, regret, loss – in other words, the indexicality of its immediate object. During the eighteenth century the related idea of the sigh replaced that of weeping. For this reason Riemann, finding this figure in early Classical music, called it “the Mannheim sigh”».

Referencias: Monelle, 2000: 17; Grimalt, 2020: 33-35.

This topic brings together a set of musical devices to express affliction, pain, grief, or profound sadness. Among them are the pianto (weeping) motive, the descending tetrachord, the minor mode, and slow tempo.

References: Rosand, 1979; Grimalt, 2020: 33-35.

See also lament topic

Dance in ¾, slow tempo, with regular phrasing (4+4), it has an elegant and refined character. It is associated with the courtly context and the gallant style.

References: Ratner, 1980; Allanbrook, 1983; Hatten, 2014.

See also: video on the theme of the minuet.

The style is characterised by a cantabile melody with a lyrical quality, articulated phrasing in long values, and a slow tempo. It is often referred to as the ‘aria style’ due to its intimate character.

References: Ratner, 1980; Agawu, 2009; Day-O’Connell, 2014; Grimalt, 2020.