As in the grave digging scene of Beethoven's Fidelio, instrumental accompaniment to a spoken text. Speech is either accompanied or interspersed. The difference between dialogue and melodrama is t [..]

Allemande: A moderate duple time dance (4 or 2). It generally has a short upbeat of one semiquaver (occasionally three) at the beginning. The Baroque suit usually starts with an allemande, which is fo [..]

A singer whose vocal compass is between the G below middle C and the D above the treble clef. In men, this is usually achieved by a bass singing falsetto, in women it is usually referred to as contral [..]

Starting a phrase with an upbeat note, therefore, making the first note an unaccented one.

In opera, the parts of the plot that are assumed to have happened prior to the action on stage. Il Trovatore and Fidelio are examples of operas, which have extensive antefattos (also called argomento) [..]

Alternating sounding. In its original meaning it meant the singing of the successive verses of a psalm by alternating choruses.

The perfect (quintessential) example; to glorify as of supreme worth (used very frequently to describe a piece of music!)

An unprepared, non-harmonic note, which does not belong to the chord on the strong beat. Approached by leap and resolves downwards or upwards by step (sometimes by leap) into the chord. In contrast, s [..]

A florid melodic section (the real meaning is a florid element in Arabian architecture). Generally used for characteristic pieces of a more or less casual type.

A chord whose notes are presented one at a time successively instead of as a stack of notes sounding at the same time. Also called broken chord.