Music Glossary: M - R

Charles Mackerras

(Born 17 November 1925)

Sir Charles Mackerras (full name Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras) is an Australian conductor.  He was knighted in 1979 and is commonly associated with the works of Mozart and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Melody

A succession of musical tones, a tune

Minuet

A stately, graceful couple dance

Movement

A unit or section of a musical composition.  To some extent, a movement may be self-contained but it may still be related musically or thematically to the work's other movements or to the piece as a whole.  Generally, pieces are performed with a momentary break between movements (during which hiatus it is not deemed proper etiquette for an audience to applaud) but pieces are occasionally intended to be enjoyed without such pauses.

Ornament

A musical decoration, a flourish

Overture

The introductory music to an opera or ballet.  The overture is an opportunity for the audience to settle down, and for the composer to present the musical ideas that are to be developed throughout the piece.  It also helps set the scene and mood.  Many overtures are so popular that they are performed separately in concerts.

The overture was brought to popularity first in France during the 17th century by Jean-Baptiste Lully and consisted of a slow section in pompous, dotted rhythm, followed by a fast, imitative allegro section.  The Italians developed their own form of overture during the 17th century, which comprised three movements (allegro – adagio – allegro) and was established by Alessandro Scarlatti.  During the Classical period of the 18th century, the overture became one single movement, and the composers began to use the form to prepare the audience for the awaited drama.

The overture contains the first clues about the nature of the work to follow.  In Don Giovanni the opening chords of the slow introduction immediately suggest that the opera will have serious undertones. It is used again in Act II to accompany the appearance of the Commendatore’s ghost.  The bustling, faster section that follows the slow introduction points towards the lively, humorous and adventurous aspects of the drama.

Parlour music

Very popular in the 19th century but superseded by the gramophone as a means of bringing music into the home, parlour music was written to be performed as entertainment by amateurs in their own drawing rooms.

Polyphony

A musical style particularly prevalent in the Baroque period based on the interplay of two or more independent melodies played simultaneously.

Giacomo Puccini

(22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924)

Italian composer (full name Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini) whose operas, especially La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926), have become perennial favourites and staples of the repertoire.  Many of his arias – perhaps the most famous being 'Nessun Dorma' from Turandot – have infiltrated popular culture and would be well-known even to people who know little about opera.

Romantic period

Coming after the Classical period, the music’s Romantic period (c.1820-1920) was characterised by simultaneous advances in structural planning and harmonic ambiguity as composers strove to achieve a both greater variation and a heightened sense of unity within a composition.  Innovative composers such as Wagner helped expand the art form, laying the foundations for much 20th century music.

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