| Classic, or Classical | Having the forms, values, or standards embodied in the art and literature of Greek and Roman civilization; in music, an eighteenth-century style characterized by simplicity, proportion, and an emphasis on structure.
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| Deism | [DEE-iz-uhm] A religion based on the idea that the universe was created by God and then left to run according to natural laws, without divine interference; formulated and practiced in the eighteenth century.
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| Enlightenment | The eighteenth-century philosophical and cultural movement marked by the application of reason to human problems and affairs, a questioning of traditional beliefs and ideas, and an optimistic faith in unlimited progress for humanity, particularly through education.
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| fête galante | [fet gah-LAHNN] In Rococo painting, the theme or scene of aristocrats being entertained or simply enjoying their leisure and other worldly pleasures.
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| key | In music, a tonal system consisting of seven tones in fixed relationship to a tonic, or keynote. Since the Renaissance, key has been the structural foundation of the bulk of Western music, down to the Modernist period.
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| mood | In music, the emotional impact of a composition on the feelings of a listener.
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| Neoclassical style | In the late eighteenth century, an artistic and literary movement that emerged as a reaction to the Rococo style and that sought inspiration from ancient Classicism. In the twentieth century, between 1919 and 1951, Neoclassicism in music was a style that rejected the emotionalism favored by Romantic composers as well as the dense orchestral sounds of the Impressionists; instead, it borrowed features from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music and practiced the ideals of balance, clarity of texture, and nonprogrammatic works.
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| philosophes | [FEEL-uh-sawfs] A group of European thinkers and writers who popularized the ideas of the Enlightenment through essays, novels, plays, and other works, hoping to change the climate of opinion and bring about social and political reform.
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| Physiocrats | [FIZ-ih-uh-kratz] A group of writers, primarily French, who dealt with economic issues during the Enlightenment, in particular calling for improved agricultural productivity and questioning the state's role in economic affairs.
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| pianoforte | [pee-an-o-FOR-tay] A piano; derived from the Italian for "soft/loud," terms used to describe the two types of sound emitted by a stringed instrument whose wires are struck with felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard.
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| rocaille | [roh-KYE] In Rococo design, the stucco ornaments shaped like leaves, flowers, and ribbons that decorate walls and ceilings.
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| Rococo style | [ruh-KOH-koh] An artistic and cultural style that grew out of the Baroque style but that was more intimate and personal and that emphasized the frivolous and superficial side of aristocratic life.
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| scherzo | [SKER-tso] From the Italian for "joke"; a quick and lively instrumental composition or movement found in sonatas and symphonies.
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| sonata form | A musical form or structure consisting of three (or sometimes four) sections that vary in key, tempo, and mood.
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| style galant | [STEEL gah-LAHNN] In Rococo music, a style of music developed by French composers and characterized by graceful and simple melodies.
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| symphony | A long and complex sonata, usually written in three or four movements, for large orchestras; the first movement is traditionally fast, the second slow, and the third (and optional fourth) movement fast.
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| tempo | In music, the relative speed at which a composition is to be played, indicated by a suggestive word or phrase or by a precise number such as a metronome marking. (A metronome is a finely calibrated device used to determine the exact tempo for a musical work.)
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