Music notes

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (BWV 582) is an organ piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Presumably composed early in Bach’s career, it is one of his most important and well-known works, and an important influence on 19th and 20th century passacaglias: Robert Schumann described the variations of the passacaglia as “intertwined so ingeniously that one can never cease to be amazed.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passacaglia_and_Fugue_in_C_minor,_BWV_582

Passacaglia

Bernardo Storace, last bars of Passagagli sopra A la mi re and beginning of Passagagli sopra C sol fa ut, from Selva di varie compositioni(Venice, 1664)

The passacaglia (/pæsəˈkɑːliə/; Italian: [pasːaˈkaʎːa]) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passacaglia

Concerto grosso

A concertino, literally “little ensemble”, is the group of soloists in a concerto grosso. This is opposed to the ripieno and tutti which is the larger group contrasting with the concertino.

Though the concertino is the smaller of the two groups, its material is generally more virtuosic than that of the ripieno. Further, the concertino does not share thematic material with the ripieno, but presents unique ideas. This contrast of small group to large group and one thematic group against another is very characteristic of Baroque ideology—similar to terraced dynamics where the idea is significant contrast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto_grosso#Concertino

Erdmann Neumeister

Erdmann Neumeister (12 May 1671 – 18 August 1756) was a German Lutheran pastor and hymnologist.

He was born in Uichteritz near Weißenfels in the province Saxonia of Germany. As a 15-year-old boy he started his studies in Schulpforta, an old humanistic gymnasium. He became a student of poetology and theology in the University of Leipzig between 1691 and 1697. He began his career as a minister of religion in the spa town of Bibra. He became diaconus (deacon) for the duke of Saxonia-Weissenfels. From 1705 to 1715, he was superintendent in Sorau (today Zary in Poland). He left for Hamburg because of theological disputes. (As an adult, he would become a vehement opponent of Pietism). He died in Hamburg as an honoured main pastor. His grave in the St. Jacobi Church was destroyed during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmann_Neumeister

Dotted note

Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called ties, add the note values together.

In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it. In modern practice, the first dot increases the duration of the basic note by half of its original value. This means that a dotted note is equivalent to writing the basic note tied to a note of half the value – for instance, a dotted half note is equivalent to a half note tied to a quarter note. Subsequent dots add progressively halved value, as shown in the example to the right. Though theoretically possible, a note with more than three dots is highly uncommon; only quadruple dots have been attested.

The use of a dot for augmentation of a note dates back at least to the 10th century, although the exact amount of augmentation is disputed; see Neume.

A rhythm using longer notes alternating with shorter notes (whether notated with dots or not) is sometimes called a dotted rhythm. Historical examples of music performance styles using dotted rhythms include notes inégales and swing. The precise performance of dotted rhythms can be a complex issue. Even in notation that includes dots, their performed values may be longer than the dot mathematically indicates, a practice known as over-dotting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dotted_note

Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV; Bach works catalogue) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue’s second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a, was published in 1998.

1126 compositions were assigned a BWV number in the 20th century. More compositions were added to the catalogue in the 21st century. The Anhang (Anh.; Annex) of the BWV lists over 200 lost, doubtful and spurious compositions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis

Ordinary (liturgy)

The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Eucharist or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. It is contrasted to the proper, which is that part of these liturgies that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the liturgical year, or of a particular saint or significant event, and to the common, which contains those parts that are common to an entire category of saints, such as apostles or martyrs.

The ordinary of both the Eucharist and the canonical hours does, however, admit minor variations in accordance with the seasons, such as omission of “Alleluia” in Lent and its addition in Eastertide.

These two are the only liturgical celebrations in which a distinction is made between an ordinary and other parts. It is not made in other celebrations of Christian liturgy: administration of sacraments other than the Eucharist, blessings, and other rites.

In connection with liturgy, the term “ordinary” may also refer to Ordinary Time – those parts of the liturgical year that are part neither of the Easter cycle of celebrations (Lent and Eastertide) nor of the Christmas cycle (Advent and Christmastide), periods that were once known as “season after Epiphany” and “season after Pentecost”.

In addition the term “ordinary liturgy” is used to refer to regular celebrations of Christian liturgy, excluding exceptional celebrations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_(liturgy)

Dies irae

Dies irae (Latin pronunciation: [ˈdi.ɛs ˈi.rɛ]; “Day of Wrath”) is a Latin sequence attributed to either Thomas of Celano of the Franciscans (1200 – c. 1265)or to Latino Malabranca Orsini (d. 1294), lector at the Dominican studium at Santa Sabina, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome.[2] The sequence dates from at least the thirteenth century, though it is possible that it is much older, with some sources ascribing its origin to St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), or Bonaventure (1221–1274).

It is a Medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic. The poem describes the Last Judgment, trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.

It is best known from its use in the Requiem (Mass for the Dead or Funeral Mass). An English version is found in various Anglican Communion service books. The melody is one of the most quoted in musical literature, appearing in the works of many composers.

Source: Dies irae – Wikipedia

Steps and skips

In music, a step, or conjunct motion, is the difference in pitch between two consecutive notes of a musical scale. In other words, it is the interval between two consecutive scale degrees. Any larger interval is called a skip (also called a leap), or disjunct motion.

In the diatonic scale, a step is either a minor second (sometimes also called half step) or a major second (sometimes also called whole step), with all intervals of a minor third or larger being skips. For example, C to D (major second) is a step, whereas C to E (major third) is a skip.

More generally, a step is a smaller or narrower interval in a musical line, and a skip is a wider or larger interval with the categorization of intervals into steps and skips is determined by the tuning system and the pitch space used.

Melodic motion in which the interval between any two consecutive pitches is no more than a step, or, less strictly, where skips are rare, is called stepwise or conjunct melodic motion, as opposed to skipwise or disjunct melodic motion, characterized by frequent skips.

Source: Steps and skips – Wikipedia