Baroque Period Review Outline

Political/Social Trends and Influences

The term Baroque
Like the Ars Nova, musicians in the early 17th century knew they were creating something new
1300 Ars Nova, rhythm
1400 Renaissance, from Greek philosophy
1600 drama, opera, affections
Musical influences
Originally shaped mostly by politics musicians depended on royal courts, churches, or the city
Later, shaped by the public in the middle to late Baroque
Expanding population, increased trade and travel, growing middle class
High demand for new music
Each important church day required new music
Parties, weddings, private entertainment, etc. required new music
In general, there was a high demand for new music in preference to the old
Led to high output from composers, rapid speed in composing, and changing styles
Longer instrumental works without text conditioned listeners to pay attention to the music
Revivals and respect for past composers
Later, Bach revived composers from 50 years earlier from Italy and France
This started a tradition of revival and respect for the developments of older pieces and composers
Musical Styles and Performance Practice
Focus on drama
Contrast through 1) Range of Affections and 2) Rhythm
Basso Continuo (Continuous Bass or Thoroughbass)
Used for accompanying, not solo playing
Composer wrote out the melody and bass line; the performer filled in the chords and inner parts
Players realized this figured bass shows improvisational skill
Focus on Solo Instruments
Soloists became popular, so composers wrote specifically for solo instruments (violin or solo voice)
Music styles and compositional techniques for each individual solo instrument were developed
Monody
Violin became popular because of overhand bowing (as opposed to the underhand bowing of viols)
Concertato (to reach agreement)
Consorts were more popular in the Renaissance; Mixed ensembles became popular in the Baroque
Concerted works taking existing vocal works and adding instruments
Tuning systems Well Tempered and Equal Temperament
Embellishment and Improvisation in Performance
Written music was a basis for performance, not something unchangeable
Performers were expected to add to what the composer wrote
Ornaments trills, turns, appoggiaturas, mordents, etc.
Ornamentation was supposed to move the affections, not just decorate
Extended embellishments
Scales, arpeggios, created a paraphrase of the original line
Cadenzas decorating important cadences in arias

The Baroque in Italy

Opera
In 1620s, the center for opera moved to Rome
No women on stage in Rome Castrati, first used mid-16th century in churches in Italy
Plots were chosen because of the potential for stage effects
Monody was becoming more and more popular (as opposed to choruses)
Aria and recitative took over
Public Opera and Popularity
Venice was more independent politically and religiously than Rome
1637, the first public opera house in Venice Teatro San Cassiano
Before, supported by wealthy patrons; now, supported by the paying public
Lyrical style of Venice opera spread, and center of opera became Austria opera house built in 1654
Tension between drama, spectacle (in 1620s), lyrical style and divas showing off
By 1650, Italian opera had developed its main features
Solo singing rather than ensembles or instrumental music
Varied styles in solo singing (monody) and instrumental music
Recitative and aria
By 1700, opera was the most popular genre
Principal genre in Venice, with famous public opera houses; stars and big arias attracted audiences
Arias
Librettists would write in poetic meter good for arias, and
Composers would add arias whenever they could, whenever the text allowed
Arias featured repetition
Refrains (repeated sections) allowed the singer to embellish and ornament and show off
Strophic songs with verses led to strophic variations
The da capo aria was most popular in operas and other vocal works
Italian Composers
Peri
Caccini
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Trained in organ and composition, he is best known for keyboard music
Music served as a model for Bach
Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)
Antonio Cesti (1623-1669)
Student of Monteverdis, wrote 4 operas for the Austrian theater
Recitative becomes a way to get lots of dialog quickly; becomes the commons style
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) P.393
First composer to be known for his instrumental music (not vocal)
Only trio and solo violin sonatas and concerto grossos survive earliest in 1681
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Student of Carissimi and father of Domenico
Famous for operas (over 25), oratorios, and over 600 cantatas!
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Great Italian violin makers

Nicolo Amati (1596-1684), Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) P.392, Giuseppe Guarneri (1698-1744)

The Baroque in France

Music in France
Court Ballet
Established by Louis XIII and his son, Louis XIV, was a great dancer
Court Music
150 to 200 musicians total
Music of the Royal Chapel singers, organists, instrumentalists for religious services
Music of the Chamber string, lute, harpsichord, and flutes for indoor entertainment
Music of the Great Stable wind, brass, timpani for military and outdoor ceremonies
Created the first large ensembles of the violin family
Twenty Four Violins of the King (est. Louis XIII) 5 part texture
Small Violin Ensemble (18 violins) was created in 1648 for Louis XIV private use
Dance Music
Stylized
Not intended for dancing, but retained the basic characteristics of each dance
Used more for entertainment or for a small audience
Dance Suite a series of stylized dances
Each suite has a different meter, tempo, rhythms, etc. that made for contrast in a suite
Prelude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gigue
French Opera
French Overture
Homophonic, majestic, with dotted rhythms
Faster and more fugal
Divertissement between acts, not really connected to the plot opportunity for ballet, choruses
Airs songs with rhymed text, regular meter and phrasing, often in a dance form
Less elaborate than Italian arias
Other elements distinctly French
Lute Style broken/arpeggiated chords imitated by harpsichord
Agrments
More subtle, elegant than Italian embellishments, meant to emphasize important notes and give
the melody shape
Elaborate embellishing of Italian singers was considered bad taste
Overdotting
Composers and Musical Influences
King Louis XIV (1643-1715)
Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764)

The Baroque in England

In Venice, Italy opera was supported by the public

In France, opera was supported by the king
In England, neither so opera itself didnt develop until the late 1800s (Arthur Sullivan, Britten)
Like the French resisted Italian opera, so did the English, who preferred their own genres
Masque
Similar to opera: music, dancing, songs, choruses, costumes, scenery, stage effects
Differences: Collaborative efforts, not unified in plot or style more like individual scenes, like French
court-ballets; almost like a series of intermedi
Semi-opera a spoken play with an overture and 4 or 5 masques
Public Concerts
Before 1670, concerts were private. Audiences were invited by the performers if they were amateurs,
by the court, or by conservatories or learning academies.
In London, trends merged:
A middle class interested in listening to music
Large numbers of excellent musicians employed by the court
The King couldnt pay his musicians well, so they needed other means to supplement income
1672, first public concert advertised in London Gazette see P.378
Public concerts came to Paris in 1725 and German cities in the 1740s

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Dido and Aeneas (1689)
English Recitative
Developed by Purcell to fit the English language
More text painting than French or Italian

The Baroque in Germany

Thirty Years War (1618-1648) struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism in Germany
Blending of Styles
Musicians went from post to post, foreign musicians lived in Germany, German composers traveled
Germans drew on Italian and French styles, and blended them in new ways, adding more counterpoint
Professional musicians
Court Musicians (for royalty: princes, dukes, etc.)
Rulers wanted to hold on to power, and they imitated Louis XIV use of the arts as propaganda
City musicians employed a town piper with exclusive rights to produce music in the city
Public ceremonies, weddings, parades, etc.
In Lutheran areas, the city or town was responsible for hiring musicians for churches
Amateur musicians many towns (or schools) had a collegium musicum
Educated middle class
Played or sung together, or went to concerts to hear professionals together
Aristocrats became performs and composers as well as patrons
German Opera
Center was Hamburg, first public opera house in 1678
Catholic Church Music
Two styles: older contrapuntal style (Palestrina) and newer concerted style (more like opera)
Lutheran Music
Chorales
Composers & Instrumentalists
Heinrich Schtz (1585-1672)
Dieterich Buxtehude (1637 5.9.1707)
Georg Philipp Telemann (3.14.1681 6.25.1767)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)