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The Baroque Era

Module 5 YouTube Playlist

Style of Baroque Music

  • Genres: concerto grosso, fugues, cantata, oratorio, opera
  • Predominately instrumental
  • Violin becomes the leading instrument
  • Long, asymmetrical melodies
  • Strong bass line by basso continuo
  • Harpsichord is part of basso continuo
  • Rhythms are repetitious: music chugs, even drives, along
  • A single “ethos” = once a mood is set for a piece, it doesn’t change

The Baroque Period: the Birth of Opera

  • Birth of opera 1600 → Death of Bach 1750
  • Portuguese “barroco” = pearl of irregular shape
  • Renaissance serenity vs. Baroque energy
  • Opera - recreation of ancient Greek tragedy
    • power of drama + power of music = greater power
    • Libretto = text
    • Claudia Monteverdi wrote the 1st opera — Orfeo
  • Monody = solo expressing singing
    • Recitative = what’s happening - simple, straightforward, syllabic
    • Aria = how they feel - elaborate, ornate, melismatic
  • Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas
    • basso ostinato = ground bass repeated
  • Baroque instruments and orchestral
    • Violin = violino = little viol
      • Made with a standard mold
      • Luthier = stringed instrument maker
      • Carrier of melody
    • Theorbo = bass Lute
      • Carrier of bass
    • Harpsichord - the “workhorse” of Baroque music
      • Feather “jack” plucks the string
      • One set of four-foot string, two sets of eight-foot string
      • Two keyboards
      • No gradation of sound
      • Carrier of harmony
  • Basses
    • Basso continuo = bass continued, two instruments to provide foundation of the harmony
    • Figured bass = numerical shorthand places below the bass line, musicians look at these numbers to fill out chordal compliments.
  • Johann Pachelbel, Canon
  • Antonio Vivaldi, The “Spring” Concerto
    • Solo concerto vs Concerto grosso
    • Tutti = Concertino + Concerto grosso
    • Three movements = fast-slow-fast
    • Ritornello-form in 1st movement, melody played in turn by concertino and concerto grosso, refrain that is played over and over
    • Program music = highly descriptive
    • Terrace dynamics = sudden shift of volumes
    • Melodic sequence = motive repeated

Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Toccata = touches the instrument
  • Kappellmeister in Cöthen = chief musician at court
  • Prelude = warm up for the fingers
  • Fugue = Latin fuga, to fly
    • Composition with 2 to 32 lines or parts, voice or instrumental.
    • Best played on instruments that can play multiple lines at a time
    • the Well Tempered Klavier = “Well-Tuned Keyboard”, a collection of preludes + fugues
    • Subject = “Main idea” in Fugue
    • strict imitative → cannon; non-strict imitative → fugue
    • Exposition = each voice presents the subject
    • Episode = modulations, counterpoints, movements, melodic sequence
    • Subject returns in the tonic key
  • The Brandenburg Concertos = a collection of 6 concertos
    • Cadenza = a showy passage for soloist alone
    • Bach send these works out to seek for job in Berlin, didn’t get it.
  • Church Cantata in Leipzig
    • Where Bach worked as a cantor = choir leader
    • “Mini-musical drama”, 30 min duration
    • Multi-movement, arias, recitatives, choruses
    • Spiritual theme, esp. in Germany
    • Usually based on chorale tune
      • Simple melody on sacred text sung by congregation
      • Made up of strophes (stanzas) of texts
    • Wacht auf, ruft uns die Stimme = “Awake, A Voice is Calling”, 1731
    • Chorale = hymn tune

What makes J.S. Bach's music great?

  • Wrote in al genres of his day except opera.
  • Superb craftsmanship, esp. fugues.
  • Greatest contra-puntalist ever.
  • Densely packed with counterpoint but also grandiose and majestic.
  • Often extremely lyrical.
  • Combines counterpoint and lyricism.
  • Enormous scales.

Universality, Craftsmanship, Grandeur, Integrity

George Frederic Handel: Messiah and More

  • CV
    • Born in the same year as Bach, lived in Hamburg, travelled to Italy, back to Hannover, then visited London.
    • “In France and Italy there is something to learn; in London there is something to earn.”
    • Handel then decided to sell Italian opera in London.
    • Handel was employed by the elector of Hannover, who then became the King of England George I.
  • Water Music and Firework Music for the Kings.
    • Played by orchestra of 50 performers. (to project the music in the outdoor)
    • Several suites of dance music.

The Difference between Bach and Handel

Bach was an idealist, Handel was a realist. Handel really wanted to make sure that you heard his music.

Handel tries to double the line in the fugue for audibility.

  • Handel’s opera
    • Opera seria = serious opera, Greek history and Roman Kings and Queens.
    • Heroes and heroines must have high voice → sung by soprano or castrato, sometimes by falsetto.
    • Famous aria in Rinaldo, “Lascia, ch’io pianga” = “Let me languish” = “Let me weep in my cruel fate”
    • Da capo form = “take it from the top” = ABA form
    • Royal Academy of Music - a stock company
    • Handel’s most popular opera: Julius Caesar, Danielle de Niese
    • Handel’s company eventually went bankrupt. He then turn to the middle class.

Similarities between Opera and Oratorio

  • Performed in theater
  • In three acts and preceded by overture
  • Primarily recitatives and arias

How Oratorio Differs from Opera

  • Sung in English
  • No scenery, costumes, or acting
  • Plots taken from scripture
  • Voices less operatic
  • Chorus plays a larger role
  • Appeals to upper middle-class audience
  • Oratorio - Messiah

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