Authentic cadence
A cadence that moves from the dominant (V) to the tonic (I). It is the strongest closing formula in tonal music.
Glossary
Terms used across the site.
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A
B
Basso continuo
The Baroque accompaniment made of a bass line plus a chordal instrument, such as harpsichord, organ or lute, that fills in the harmonies, usually from figures written under the bass.
C
Cadence
A harmonic formula that closes a phrase, section or piece.
Canon
A composition in which a melody is imitated strictly by one or more voices, each entering after a fixed delay.
Cantus firmus
A given melody, usually in long notes, against which the other voices are written in counterpoint exercises.
Circle of fifths
A diagram of the twelve keys arranged so that each step clockwise is a fifth higher, showing how key signatures and related keys are connected.
Counterpoint
The art of combining independent melodic lines so that they sound well together.
D
Deceptive cadence
A cadence in which the dominant (V) moves to a chord other than the tonic, most often the submediant (vi), instead of the expected resolution.
Diatonic
Using only the notes of one major or minor scale, with no chromatic alterations.
F
Figured bass
A bass line with numbers and symbols that tell the player which intervals or chords to add above each note.
Fugue
A contrapuntal composition built on a short theme, the subject, which enters in each voice in turn and returns throughout the piece.
G
Galant style
The light, songlike eighteenth-century style with clear phrases, simple textures and stock musical patterns, in contrast with the dense counterpoint of the late Baroque.
H
Half cadence
A cadence that ends on the dominant (V), leaving the phrase open and unfinished.
I
Imitation
The restatement of a melodic idea in another voice, often at a different pitch.
Invertible counterpoint
Counterpoint in which the voices can be swapped, with the upper voice moved below the lower or the reverse, and still work correctly.
L
Leading tone
The seventh degree of the scale, one semitone below the tonic, which tends to resolve upward to it.
M
Modulation
A change of key within a piece.
Moti del basso
Italian for "motions of the bass": the typical bass-line patterns in partimento, each tied to a standard way of harmonizing it.
P
Partimento
An eighteenth-century Italian teaching exercise: a bass line, sometimes figured, that the student realizes at the keyboard by improvising the upper voices. It was used to teach harmony, counterpoint and composition together.
Plagal cadence
A cadence that moves from the subdominant (IV) to the tonic (I), often called the "Amen" cadence.
R
Regola dell'ottava
The "rule of the octave": a conventional harmonization of the scale in the bass, giving each scale degree, ascending and descending, its own standard chord.
Roman numeral analysis
A way of labelling chords by the scale degree of their root: capital numerals for major chords and lowercase for minor ones.
S
Schema (schemata)
A stock pairing of a melodic pattern with a bass pattern, such as the Romanesca or the Prinner, that composers of the eighteenth century used as building blocks. The term comes from Robert Gjerdingen's studies of the galant style.
Sequence
The repetition of a melodic or harmonic pattern at a higher or lower pitch.
Species counterpoint
A graded method of learning counterpoint, described by Fux, in which a line is added to a cantus firmus in five stages: note against note, two against one, four against one, syncopation, and a free florid line.
Stretto
A passage in a fugue where the subject enters again before the previous entry has finished, so the entries overlap.
Subject and answer
In a fugue, the subject is the main theme stated at the start, and the answer is its imitation in the next voice, usually a fifth higher or a fourth lower.
T
Tonic, dominant, subdominant
The first, fifth and fourth degrees of a scale, and the chords built on them. They form the core of tonal harmony.
V
Voice leading
The way each individual voice or line moves from one chord to the next.