MIDTERM EXAM--TAKE HOME

DUE 25 JULY 2005

Choose FOUR of the following topics and write, for each, an essay of not more than 1250 words (= five double-spaced pages of 12-point Courier type with 1-inch margins all around).  You may use any sources available in the library; however, if you do, please be sure to credit them in end-notes (which do not count in the word or page total!).  Please be sure to also use musical examples, both from the assigned listening and any others you may find useful.  Whenever appropriate you may use diagrams and other illustrative materials (again, not counted in the page total).

1)     Discuss the development of Italian opera from 1600 through the works of Vivaldi.

2)     Discuss the transition from the sound ideal of the Renaissance to that of the Baroque: trace changes in instrumentation, compositional techniques, and the use of ornamentation.

3)  Discuss the shift in musical aesthetics that prompted the Artusi-Monteverdi controversy.

4)  Discuss the ways in which tragedie lyrique differs from Italian opera of the 17th century.

5)  Discuss the work of the Florentine Camerata in developing its ideas about monody, theatrical music, and eventually opera.