MusiLLection

In French, it means "English." A musical term featuring some dances of English origin, which gained great fame in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. With intense rhythmic growth , anglaise dances required the dancers in a chain-shaped arrangement. In the 18th century, the term was used sporadically in purely instrumental music and in the Third French Suite of  G.S.Bach.

Special method of highlighting psalms (and other prayers), used in Anglican mass since the 17th century. It consists of a kind of correct recitation, characterized by rhythmic and melodic types, more or less stable. These formulas are repeated identically in each of the two halves, in which each verse of the sung text is divided. The Anglicano canto, whose first traces date back to the Middle Ages, stands out from the typical chanting of catholic mass, mainly because, unlike it, it harmonizes in four parts, but follows fairly simple rules.

Polka is a dance of Czech origin and has a lively 2/4 rhythm. It appeared in the early 18th century in rural areas and then spread over the course of the century in Europe and America, about at the same time as the waltz. Very lively, the polka is characterized by a typical half step that closes every meter, giving the movement of the couple who dances it a graceful svelte. Very famous polkas of J.Strauss II are Tritsch-Tratsch and Pizzicato . An also well known polka is from Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride. Jaromir Weinberger's Polka from Schwanda, the Bagpiper is also a very well known polka. Polka's popularity declined in the early 1900s with the emergence of American dances at the rate of contrattempo. Polka howerer, retains a prominent place in the world repertoire.

An Italian term derived from the verb “ricercare” (I’m looking for), which is about an old kind of organic composition of free form, but with mainly a contrapuntal style and character. Also, the term might imply a search for contrapuntal processing, but this is just a hypothesis. The instruments to which ricercare are mainly dedicated are the lite, the organ, the clavecin and other keyboard instruments. Ricercare was used as an introductory piece that indicated the search for the tonality of the price that followed it. Ricercare was widespread in polyphonic form from the 16th century thanks to Marco Antonio Cavazzoni, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Claudio Merulo, while the homophonic form thanks to A. and G.Gabrieli and preceded the fugue. However, the greatest artistic flourish of the ricercare observed in the 17th century with Girolamo Frescobaldi, followed by Alessandro Poglieti, Bernardo Pasquini, Johann Kaspar Kerll and Johann Jacob Froberger. The term was often used in the 29th century ...

A smooth technical slide consisting of a quick pass from one note to another, touching the intermediate notes slightly (without exactly specifying their pitch). The term came from the Italian expression “portamento della voce” (“carriage of the voice”), which is in use in vocal music from the beginning of the 17th century. It is noted with a small line that connects the two notes among  which portamento is played. It is used in both vocal and music for string and wind instruments.

Prayer to the Virgin Mary, consisting of two parts. The first part comes from the Gospel (Lukas 1,28 and 42) and the second part was added in the 13th century (at the end from “Santa Maria”). For this reason, the entire text is only set to music in a relatively late era. Mainly great composers of the polyphonic music of the 16th century (Joaquin des Prez, Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Claudio Monteverdi and others) were enchanted by this prayer and they offered us wonderful compositions. The prayer returned to the pinnacle of its glory in 1800 when F.P.Schubert set Ave Maria to music: Also interesting is Gounaud’s Ave Maria, who was set to music according to the harmonious basis of a prelude of J.S.Bach.