As you read about the composers and operas we study in this class, you’ll hear frequent references to other earlier composers. Please read this brief background on the composers and trends that led to the later Romantic operas we will focus on. This site uses the term “vamp” to refer to the simple chordal accompaniment heard supporting bel canto arias. In the United States that term tends to refer to a repeated accompaniment or ostinato, but the Scottish site we’re linking to uses it to mean a particular way of repeating a simple chord. View their site’s definition of vamp here along with a music example.