Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Collection

Defining of Genre List
According to “The New Groove Dictionary of Music and Musician” unless specified

Cantata – a work for one or more voice with instrumental accompaniment usually consists of three contrasting sections recitatives, ariosos and arias. Arias become a separate movement in early 18^th century. Up until the 17^th century the cantata was predominantly a secular form with expects to the church cantata.

Dance Music includes fox trot, galop, hornpipe, jig, polka-mazurka, mazurka, polka, polonaise, quadrille, quickstep, reel, schottisch, tyraierre and waltz (valse).

Fox trot – a social dance of the 20^th century. The dance could be done in any popular tune in simple duple metre with regular four-bar phrases. During the 1920’s it developed into two distinct styles, a slow dance in the English style and the quickstep. Slow foxtrot was fashionably regarded as representing a rebellion against 19th century styles of social dance.

Galop – a quick, lively dance in 2/4 time. It was one of the most popular ballroom dances of the 19^th century. It derived its name from the galloping movement of horses and was possibly the simplest dance ever introduced into the ballroom. The dance originated in Germany, was popular in Vienna in the 1820s and spread to France and England in 1829.

Hornpipe – a dance resembling the jig but distinguishing from it by its metre, which may be variously 3/2, 2/4, or 4/4.

Jig – when used in connection with dance, may derive from old French giguer (to leap or to gambol). Used variously for types of music and dance it contains the idea of a vigorous up and down movement, of which the dance is expressive.

Mazurka - a polish country dance that originated in the plains of Mazovia around Warsaw. It is in triple time with strong accents falling on either the second or third beat of the bar.

Polka – a lively couple-dance in 2/4 time. It originated in Bohemia as a round dance, and it become one of the most popular ballroom dance of the 19^th century. Its origins are somewhat obscure. A more probably explanation of the origins is it come from the Czech term for a polish girl either as the title of a vocal accompaniment to the dance or in reference to the krakowiak dance-songs which the Bohemians adapted for their polkas.

Polonaise – a stately Polish Processional dance or an instrumental piece. The instrumental pieces developed largely outside Poland and is characterized by the rhythm. The dance, which took on its French name in the 17^th century, had vocal protypes in old Polish folkdances. Sung as well as danced, they were, and still are, used during public ceremonies and festivities, particularly weddings. The melodies for the dances are in triple meter.

Quadrille – one of the most popular ballroom dances of the 19^th century, with an elaborate set of steps and danced by sets or four, six , or eight couples. The name derived from the Italian ‘Squadrigli’ or Spanish ‘cuadrilla’, was originally applied to a small company or cavalry and an elaborate French ballets of the 18^th century. the Quadrille usually consisted of five distinct parts or figures. The music was in 2/4 time and was usually adapted from popular songs or stage works.

Redowa – a Czech dance. In Czechoslovaki there are two variants of the dance. Performed in succession (Rejdovak) in ¾ time or 3/8 time which is rather like a waltz. the Rejdovacka an after dance in 2/4 time similar to a polka. The ordinary redowa is written in ¾ time and is similar to the mazurka.

Reel – an indigenous and probably very ancient Scottish dance. It may be that the dance is Celtic, and spread to Scotland to Scandinavia and the Netherlands. It is a favorite dance-tune among instrumentalists in Scotland. In North America the reel is the staple musical fare for square dances, though in the central and southern USA it is often known by the name breakdown or hoedown.

Schottische – a round dance, like a polka, but slower. According to Sachs the schottische arose from the incorporation of waltz-like turns into the ecossaise, after the disappearance of the ecossaise lived as a waltz in 2/4 time.

Tyrolienne (French t yrolese and tyrolean) – a fast triple metre dance and song type; It was adopted as an evocative title for pedagogical piano pieces.

Dirge – a burial song or one sung in commemoration of the dead, a song of mourning or an instrumental piece expressive of similar sentiments.

March – music with strong repetitive rhythms and an uncomplicated style usually used to accompany orderly military movements and processions.

Air – a term that originating in England and France in the 16^th century and frequently used rather loosely as synonymous with ‘tune’ or ‘song’. The term air was used first as a lighter piece of music. by the 18^th century it clearly denoted a simple, unpretentious song.

Art Song – a song of serious artistic purpose written by a professional composer, as opposed to a folksong. The term is more often applied to solo than to polyphonic songs and embraces the 19^th century lied and melody.

Ballad – a kind of folk song known throughout Europe since the Middles Ages, combining elements of narrative, dramatic dialogue and lyric. Originally the word referred to dance-songs but by the 14^th century it had lost that connotation in English and became a general designation for a narrative solo song. Ballad text usually deals with popular themes, involving both human and supernatural agents in the action now tragic, now adventurous, now comic. They tend to focus on a single episode, very often a love encounter, of which the conclusion is never left in doubt. They are truthful in the sense of reflecting once current state of mind, which may at last harden into belief.

The ballad poetry of Germanic peoples is less condensed and cohesive. It derivatives’ from its neighbors, borrowing common thematic material from religion, epic, history, romance and the supernatural lore of water spirits, kobolds, dwarves, ghosts and the dead who return to aid or avenge.

The British ballads has generally similar themes and with numerous analogues. Some are realistic and touch on everyday life; some are historical and tell of national figures, of their valour, prowess and loyalty. Many are concerned with the supernatural and treat of mermen and mermaids, trolls, werewolves, monsters, dwarves, magic, runes and transformations. Many deal with tragic love.

Ocean Song – extended vocal and instrumental works about or representing the sea.

Sea Song – folk song and popular song meant to be sung by sailors or a about sailing, ships.

Opera – the generic term for musical dramatic works in which the actors sing some or all of their parts. Opera is a union of music, drama and spectacle. These have been combined in different ways and degrees in different countries and historical periods, though normally with music playing a dominant role. In its general understood sense, opera originated in Italy at the end of the 16^th century. The term derives from the Italian opera meaning work.

Ballad Opera – English 18^th century form, consisting of a play, usually comic in nature, in which spoken dialogue alternates with songs set mostly to traditional or currently popular melodies. In most cases the composers, even if known, were not identified.

Comic Opera – a term used to denote a musico-dramatic work of a light or amusing nature. It does not have any precise historial meaning.

Opera Buffa – a term commonly used to signify Italian comic opera, principally of the 18^th century, with recitative rather than spoken dialogue. An opera buffa was usually a full-length work.

Opera Comique – a term used from the early 18^th century for French stage work with spoken dialogue interspersed with songs and other musical numbers. By the late 19^th century is usually had continuous music.

Scena – the word is derived from the Latin scaena, which in turn comes from the Greek. It is used in opera, as in drama generally, to mean the stage. It could also mean the scene represented on stage and a division in an act.

Singspiel – A German play with music. In a precise and limited sense, the term normally covers those dramatic works that have a liberal infusion of song and occasionally of more ambitious musical form, following the success of the English ballad opera.

Orchestra – in the Greek theatre it donoted the more or less semicircular space in front of the stage where the chorus not only sang but danced. Later the word was applied to the stage itself and was so defined by Isidore of Seville about the beginning of the 7^th century. The term was revived in France in the late 17^th century and was borrowed by Mattheson for the title of his book das neu-eroffnete orchestre a general introduction to music for the educated public. He admitted that the word was not very common defining it as the place in front of the stage where the instrumentalists and their director sat.

Spiritual – a type of folk song which originated in American revivalist activity between 1740 and the close of the 19^th century. The term is derived from ‘spiritual song’, a designation used in early publications of distinguish the texts from metrical psalms and hymns of traditional church usage.

African American spiritual constitute one of the largest bodies of American folksong that have survived to the 20^th century, and are probably the best known. They are principally associated with African American church congregations of the American Deep South. Although African American singing, whether in the fields or in the churches, was remarked upon by many writers in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, few commented upon the songs in detail.

Sonata – a term used to denote a piece of music usually but not necessarily consisting of several movements. Almost invariably instrumental and designed to be performed by a soloist or a small ensemble.

Suite – any ordered set of instrumental pieces meant to be performed at a single sitting.

Serenade – a musical form, closely related to the divertimento. The term originally signified a musical greeting, usually performed out of doors in the evening, to a beloved or a person of rank. The word, derived from the Latin serenus, was used in its Italian form, serenata, in the late 16^th century as a title for vocal works, and in the 17^th century it was used for celebratory works for voice and instruments, by the end of the century it was applied to purely instrumental pieces.