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Home > SparkCharts > Music > Music Theory & History > Musical Forms and Genres

Contents
Music Theory and Notation
Instruments and Ensembles
Musical Forms and Genres
Eras and Movements in
Western Music
Notable Composers in Western
Music

Music Theory & History

Previous: Instruments and Ensembles
Next: Eras and Movements in Western Music

Musical Forms and Genres

Many set forms have emerged as Western music has developed. New forms have
come into being as composers have experimented with preexisting forms.
Ballet: A staged theatrical dance work, typically one that tells a story and
is accompanied by music. A ballet may be full-length or a short repertory
piece.
Cantata: A large-scale vocal work in several movements, typically with
soloist singers, a chorus, and instrumental accompaniment. Although
usually associated with religious functions, they also may be used in
secular settings.
Chamber music: Music for small instrumental ensembles.
Concerto: A piece, typically with three or four contrasting movements, that
sets one or more solo instruments against a larger ensemble. Early
Baroque concertos often took the form of the concerto grossoa small
group of soloist instruments as soloists that exchanged music with a larger
orchestral group. Later, the concerto evolved into a work with one soloist
featured against a full orchestra.
Dance forms: Forms from popular or folk dance used in music, often with
a degree of nationalism present in the composers intent. Examples of
dance forms include the gigue, lndler, mazurka, polonaise, sarabande,
tango, tarantella, and waltz. In Europe, the most prominent of these was
the waltz, an elegant and graceful dance in 3/4 time.
Etude: A short solo piece (literally, French for study) designed to
improve the performers technique by isolating specific difficulties and
concentrating on their mastery.
Fantasia: A free form with loose definitions and unspecified structure.
Many fantasias feature imaginative development and an improvisatory
character.
March: An instrumental piece with strong rhythm in 2/2 or 2/4 time.
Marches were developed for military needs and typically feature brass,
wind, and percussion instruments.
Mass: The standard liturgy of the Catholic church service set to music.
Standard sections of the Mass include the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
and Agnus Dei.
Minuet and trio: The usual form for third movements of Classical
symphonies. Often, the movement is of a light dance quality in triple meter,
beginning with a section called a minuet, followed by a contrasting section
called a trio, and then finished with a return to the minuet (another
example of ABA form). Romantic composers eventually rejected the
minuet and trio in favor of the scherzo.
Motet: A choral composition, usually sacred and without instrumental
accompaniment.
Nocturne: A short, lyrical, and often moody solo piece, typically for piano.
Chopin wrote many notable nocturnes.
Opera: A staged theatrical work in which the drama is conveyed primarily
through singing. Operas feature solo singers and often a chorus and
substantial orchestral accompaniment. Operas often are full-length works,
one to five hours in duration, and usually are divided into acts. The text of
an opera is called a libretto. In many instances, the libretto is written by
an artist other than the composer, although some composers have written
their own.
Oratorio: A non-staged dramatic vocal work of a religious nature. An
oratorio is like a sacred cantata but typically larger in scope and length,
and like an opera but not staged.
Overture: A composition that serves as an introduction for another, longer
work, such as an opera or oratorio.
Prelude: A short character piece, often for piano.
Requiem: A death Mass set to music, following a set structure and often
written to honor a specific individual.
Rhapsody: A freeform instrumental work in one movement, often based
on folk or popular themes.
Scherzo: A light, quick instrumental or vocal work.
Sonata: A piece for one or more solo instruments, usually divided into
three or four (typically contrasting) movements. Sonatas may feature the
solo instrument alone or accompanied, typically with keyboard.
Song cycle: A series of vocal pieces or lieder (plural of lied, the German
word for song) for a soloist with piano accompaniment. The songs within a
cycle may be connected thematically and sometimes feature lyrics written

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by the same author or poet. Schubert is famous for his song cycles.
Symphony: A work for orchestra, usually of substantial length and of
several contrasting movements for example, a fast first movement
followed by a slow second movement. As the symphony developed, it
increased in size and scope: Some Romantic symphonies approach two
hours in length and require a large orchestra.
Theme and variations: A piece that begins with an opening theme that
then evolves and develops through multiple variations. Typically, each
variation comments on the original theme or on the previous variation.
Many composers have written variations on themes written by other
composers, as in Brahmss Variations on a Theme of Haydn.
Tone poem: A freeform single-movement programmatic orchestral work
that recounts a story or depicts an image or setting. Liszt pioneered the
tone poem.

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Next: Eras and Movements in Western Music

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