Music

• Art song - started during the medieval period but became especially popular during the Romantic era.
• An art song is written by a professional composer and performed by a trained singer
• A group of art song that is connected by a musical idea is called a song cycle
• German art song is known as lied, or lieder when referring to its plural form
• Early lieder were monophonic and existed during the 12th to 13th centuries
• Franz Peter Schubert, the master of songs (wrote more than 200 songs), is called as the “Father of the German Lied”
• Schubert wrote over 600 hundred musical pieces
• Opera - defined as performance presented on stage that involves the use of music, costumes, and scenery with the aim of narrating a story
• Recitative - imitating the pattern and rhythm of speech
• Aria - when a character expresses feelings through a flowing melody
• Bel canto - Italian term for beautiful singing
• Castrato - young boys were castrated before they reached puberty to avoid the deepening of voice
• Comic Opera - referred to as light opera
• Serious opera - opera seria, often presents myths and stories about heroes
• Opera semiseria - type of opera that presents a serious story
• Opera cornique - its performance speak their lines instead of singing
• Grand Opera - type of large-scale opera which traces its origin back to the 19th century in paris
• Opera verismo - verismo is an italian word that means realism; type of opera often has a melodramatic storyline