-Indicates a particular style in the arts.
-Baroque Art is a complex mixture of -Rationalism
-Gian Lorenzo Bernini
-Peter Paul Rubens
-Rembrandt Van Rijn.
Baroque painters exploited their
materials to expand the potential of color, depth, ornament and detail to create totally structured worlds.
The two giants of baroque composition were J.S.
Bach and George Friederick Handel.
Other Baroque composers were: -Antonio Vivaldi
-Early Baroque composers favored
homophonic texture over the polyphonic texture typical of Renaissance Music.
-Baroque music features contrats
between bodies of sound.
-The early baroque: was characterized by homophonic texture.
to be one of the most revolutionary periods in music history.
favored homophonic texture
Claudio Monteverdi: (Early baroque composer)
-His music was passionate and dramatic.
A diffusion of the style into every corner of Europe
-Composers favored writing compositions for instruments
of the string family.
By about 1680, major and minor
scales were the tonal basis of most compositions.
music became as important as vocal music for the first time.
Musical Characteristics of the
-Affections in baroque usage refers to emotional
states or moods of music.
-A baroque musical composition usually expresses
one basic mood within the same movement.
-The baroque principle of unity of mood may be
temporarily suspended in vocal music when drastic changes of emotion in a text inspires corresponding changes in the music.
-The compelling drive and energy in baroque music
are usually provided by repeated rhythmic patterns.
-Baroque melodies often are elaborated and ornamental.
They give the impression of dynamic expansion.
-Melodic sequences: A successive
repetition of a musical idea at higher or lower pitch levels.
-A characteristic often found in baroque melodies
is a short opening phrase followed by a longer phrase with an unbroken flow of rapid notes.
-Terraced dynamics: The sudden
alternation from one dynamic level to another. -Sudden alternations between loud and soft.-
characteristic feature of baroque music is its use of basso continuo.
continuo: is a bass part together with numbers (figures) that specified chords to be played above it.
-The orchestra evolved
during the baroque period into a performing group based on instruments of the violin family.
A piece that sounds fairly complete and independent but is part of a larger composition.
-A large court during
the baroque might employ more than eighty performers, including the finest opera singers of the day.
music director of a baroque court was usually responsible for :
-Supervising and directing musical performances
-Composing much of the music desired.
-The discipline of the other musicians.
schools were often connected with orphanages.
in the baroque period earned lower pay and had less status than court musicians.
the Great, King of Prusia, was a a flutist, a composer and a general.
of the composer during the baroque period was that of a high-class servant with few personal rights.
-In the baroque
period, the ordinary citizens opportunities for hearing music usually came from the church.
-To get a
job, a musician hat to pass a difficult examination.
- It most often has three
The tempo markings for these three movements usually are fast, slow, fast
The first and last movements of concerti grosso are often in ritornello form..
has two groups of players.
The large group of players is known as the tutti.
It normally involves two to four soloists, and anywhere from eight to twenty or more musicians for the tutti.
It presents a contrast of texture between the tutti and the soloists, who assert their individuality and appeal for
attention through brilliant and fanciful melodic lines.
The principal and often recurring theme of a concerto grosso movement is called the ritornello.
Bachs Brandenburg Concerto N0. 5 is unusual in that it gives a solo role to the harpsichord. The solo instruments in
this concerto are the flute, violin and harpsichord.
Fugue: A cornerstone
of baroque music. This is a polyphonic composition based on one main theme. This main theme is imitated by different voices
through the whole piece. This main theme is called the subject.
- The answer: it is the subject presented in
de dominant scale.
-In many fugues,
the subject in one voice is constantly accompanied in another voice by a different melodic idea called a countersubject.
-Episodes: Transitional sections of a fugue that
offer either new materials or fragments of the subject or countersubject.
-Stretto: it is a musical procedure in which
a fugue subject is imitated before it is completed.
-Pedal Point: It is a single tone, usually in
the bass, that is held while the other voices produce a series of changing harmonies against it.
-Inversion: is a musical procedure consisting
of turning the subject of a fugue upside down, or reversing the direction of each interval.
-Retrograde: It is a musical procedure consisting
of presenting the subject of a fugue going from right to left, or beginning with the last and proceeding backward to the first
-Augmentation: It is a musical procedure consisting
of presenting the subject of a fugue in lengthened time values.
-Diminution: It is a musical procedure consisting
of presenting the subject of a fugue in shortened time values.
-Prelude: is a short
piece of music used to introduced a fugue.
a play, set to music, sung to orchestral accompaniment, with scenary, costumes, and action.
-Libretto: It is the text, or book,
of a musical dramatic work.
-Voice categories in opera are divided more finely
than in other musical genres.
-Operas may contain spoken dialogue, but most
are entirely sung.
-Opera soloists must create a wide variety of
characters, and so need acting skills as well as vocal artistry.
-Basso profundo: Is a singer with
a very low range and powerful voice, who usually takes roles calling for great dignity.
-Basso buffo: Is a singer with
a low range who usually takes comic roles.
-Aria: A song for solo voice with
-Recitative: Refers to a vocal
line that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech.
-Duet: Is a musical number for
two solo voices with orchestral accompaniment.
-Ensemble: Is an operatic number
involving three or more lead singers.
-The conductor: is the person who
beats time, indicates expression, cues in musicians, and controls the balance among instruments and voices.
-Ouverture: An orchestral composition
performed before the curtain rises on a dramatic work.
Members of the Camerata wanted to create a new vocal style based on the music of the ancient Greek tragedies. Most early baroque
operas were based on Greek mythology and ancient history.
-They wanted the vocal line of their music to
follow the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech.
-Polyphony was rejected by the Camerata because
different words sounding simultaneously would obscure the text.
-The earliest opera that has been preserved is
Jacopo Peris Euridice.
-Most early baroque operas were based on Greek
mythology and ancient history.
-The first opera house in Europe to offer entry
to anyone with the price of admission opened in 1637 in Venice.
-The stage machinery of baroque opera bordered
on the colossal.
Castrati: Were male singers who
had been castrated before puberty. Combined the lung power of a man with the
vocal range of a woman. Received the highest fees of any musicians.
-Secco Recitative: Is a speechlike
melody accompanied only by a basso continuo.
-A Typical baroque operatic form was the dacapo
aria in ABA form in which the singer was expected to embellish the returning melody with ornamental tones
-Embellishments: are ornamental
tones not printed in the music that seventeenth-and eighteenth-century performers were expected to add to the melody.
Spent the greater part of his career in the most important church post in Italy: St. Marks, Venice.
-To achieve intensity of expression, Monteverdi used dissonance with unprecedented freedom and daring.
-To evoke angry or warlike feelings in some of his texts, Monteverdi introduced new orchestral effects, including pizzicato
-Monteverdis vocal music ordinarily was supported by a basso continuo and other instruments.
-Monteverdis Orfeo, written in 1607, is considered to be the earliest operatic masterpiece. In this work, Monteverdi
creates variety by using many kinds of music, combining recitatives, arias, duets, choruses, and instrumental interludes into
one dramatic whole. In the Opera Orfeo, Orpheus goes to Hades in the hope of bringing Eurydice back to life.
-Monteverdis works form a musical bridge between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and greatly influenced composers
of the time.
-Purcell mastered all the musical forms of the
late seventeenth-century England, including church music, secular choral music, music for small groups of instruments, songs, and music for the stage.
-Purcells music is filled with lively rhythms
and a fresh melodic style that captures the spirit of English folk songs.
-Dido and Aeneas, which many consider to be the
finest opera ever written to an English text, was composed by Henry Purcell. This work was inspired by the Aeneid, an epic
poem by Vrigil. Dido, in Virgils epic poem that Purcell used as the basis for his opera Dido and Aeneas, was queen of Carthage.
-Some indications of the acclaim and respect
given Henry Purcell by his fellow Englishmen can be seen from the fact that he is buried in Westminster Abbey.
A musical idea repeated over and over in the bass while melodies above it constantly
change. A common variation form in the baroque is based on the use of a ground bass
sonata in the baroque period was a composition in several movements for one to eight instruments.
-The sonata originated in Italy but spread to
Germany, England and France during the seventeenth century.
-Sonatas were played in palaces, in homes, and
even before, during and after church services.
-Baroque trio sonatas usually involve
Corellis Trio Sonata in A minor,
Op3, no 10 is scored for two violins and basso continuo. It consists of four short movements, all in the same key. As characteristic
of baroque trio sonatas, the second movement of this Corellis work is fuguelike.
-Sonata da chiesa: A sonata intended
to be played in church, and therefore dignified and suitable for sacred performance.
de Camera: A sonata to be played at court, and therefore dancelike in character.
The abbreviation Op.
stands for opus, Latin for Work.
-Spent most of his life working at an institution
for orpfhaned and illegitimate girls in Venice.
-He is closely identified with the musical life
-He was famous and influential as a virtuoso
-Some of his instrumental concertos were arranged
by Johan Sebastian Bach.
-He wrote approximately 450 concerti grossi and
-A Vivaldi concerto usually has three movements
-Vivaldi wrote concertos for a great variety
Trill: A musical
ornament consisting of the rapid alternation of two tones that are a whole or half step apart.
-Of Bachs twenty children, four went on to become
-The longest period of his professional life
was spent as director of music at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
-While at Leipzig, Bach taught organ and composition,
gave recitals, and was often asked to judge the quality of organs. He was responsible for the musical education of some fifty-five
students in the St. Thomas school. He rehearsed, conducted, and usually composed an extended work for chorus, soloists and
orchestra for each Sunday and holiday of the church year.
-Bachs music uses operatic forms such as the
arias and recitative.
-Bach created masterpieces in every baroque form
-Bachs music is unique for its combination of
rich harmony and polyphonic texture.
-Bach was recognized as the most eminent organist
of his day.
-Bachs personal music style was drawn from Italian
concertos, French dance pieces, German church music.
Bach achieves unity of mood in his compositions
by using an insistent rhythmic drive.
-Well-Tempered Clavier: A collection
of twice twenty-four preludes and fugues, one in each major and minor key, basic to the repertoire of keyboard players today.
This collection of composition displays all the resources of fugue writing.
is music created at the same time as it is performed.
The Baroque suite:
-Baroque suites often begin with a French overture.
-A baroque suite is made up of different movements
that are all written in the same key but differ in tempo, meter, and character.
-The various dances of the baroque suite are
usually in AABB form.
-Although All the movements of a baroque suite
are written in the same key, they differ in meter, national origin and tempo.
-Baroque suites usually begin with a French ouverture.
The French ouverture: has two sections: slow-fast
-In Bachs day, the Lutheran church service lasted
about four hours.
-The chorale is a Lutheran congregational hymn
-The Lutheran chorale tunes had been adapted
from Catholic hymns. They were composed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They had been adapted from folk songs.
-A Chorale prelude: is a short instrumental composition
based on a hymn tune that reminds the congregation of the hymns melody. It is an instrumental composition.
Cantata: A sung piece, or choral
work with or without vocal soloists, usually with orchestral accompaniment..
-In their use of aria, duet, and recitative,
Bachs cantatas closely resembled the operas of the time.
-In a sense, the cantata was s sermon in music
that reinforced the ministers sermon.
-The cantata of Bachs day might last 25 minutes
and contain several different movements, including choruses, recitatives, arias and duets.
-Oratorio differs from opera in that it has no
acting, scenery, or costumes.
-An oratorio is a large-scale composition for
chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra, usually set to a narrative text.
-The first oratorios were based on stories from
-Pieces of an oratorio are usually connected
together by means of a narrators recitatives.
-The chorus in the oratorio is especially important and serves either to comment on or to participate in the drama.
-In oratorio, the story is carried forward by
the narrators recitatives.
_Oratorios first appeared in Italy
-George Friederick Handels Messiah is an example
of an oratorio.
-He was born in 1685, the same year as J.S. Bach
-Handel spent the major portion of his life in
-He wrote the Messiah, an oratorio.
-Ion addition to being a composer and opera impresario,
Handel was a virtuoso organist.
-Although Handel wrote a great deal of instrumental
music, the core of his huge output consists of English oratorios and Italian operas.
-Handels oratorios are usually based on the Old
-The focus of the Handelian oratorio is sually
-Handels Messiah, set to a text compiled by Charles
Jennings from the Old Testaments, is meditative rather than as dramatic as Handels other oratorios.
Handels oratorios include: Messiah, Israel in
Egypt and Joshua