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MUSIC HISTORY

THE BAROQUE ERA

MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE

DATES:

1600AD to 1750AD

BAROQUE TIMELINE

THE BAROQUE ERA

Judith Leyster, The Flute Player

The Baroque Era (16001750) was a time characterized by absolute monarchy in which all art and culture served the ruler

Bloody religious wars (Protestants vs. Catholics)

Exploration and colonization of the New World (Mayflower, 1620)

Both extreme poverty and extreme luxury could be found

Love of the dramatic

THE BAROQUE ERA An Age of Discovery

Sir Isaac Newton formulated the theory of gravity

William Harvey explained the circulation of the blood

Galileo and Copernicus advances in physics and astronomy

THE BAROQUE ERA Major Musical Accomplishments

Monody solo song with instrumental accompaniment

Figured Bass shorthand notation system allowing musician to improvise the chords

Major-Minor system established

Equal Temperament Tuning Established

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

Florentine Camerata:

Group of artists, writers, and musicians who helped to develop the monodic style

Monody: New style featuring single melody with instrumental accompaniment a shift away from the Polyphony of the Renaissance

Young Woman at a Virgina, Jan Vermeer

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

The Camerata realized that the monodic style could be applied to an entire drama

Thus began the OPERA the single greatest achievement of Baroque Music!

The OPERA

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

Figured bass composer put a numeral above or below the bass note to indicate the required chord

This system was known as Basso Continuo - performance group often consisted of two instrumentalistsone playing a melodic bass instrument, such as a cello or bassoon, and another playing a chordal instrument, such as a keyboard.

Musical Example: C.P.E. Bach, Trio Sonata in G

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_yW6cfpL0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_yW6cfpL0

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

Major-Minor System Established

The shift to a simpler style based on a single melody and less complex harmony led to the development of one of the most significant changes in all of music history: the establishment of the Major-Minor Tonality

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

Equal temperament tuning system established during Baroque that allowed instruments to perform in any key - still used today

Based on the division of the octave into twelve equal half steps

Bach wanted to prove he could write in every one of the keys and wrote his Well-Tempered Clavier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezZdbzreNcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezZdbzreNcs

The Baroque Era Musical Key Points

In the early Baroque era, the practice of word painting continued. Music was expected to arouse the emotions or affections such as joy, anger, love or fear

In the height of the Baroque era, the doctrine of the affections was applied that a movement should aim at only one emotion; and to attempt more would risk causing confusion and disorder in the listener.

Handel: Sampson, Let the Bright Seraphim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlZ122DirA

Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Handel_Letthebrig.mp3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlZ122DirAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlZ122DirA

The Baroque Era The Rise of the Virtuoso Musician

Technical improvements in instrument making led to the rise in the level of virtuosic playing

Composers began challenging the performers

Domenico Scarlatti

Antonio Vivaldi

Scarlatti: Sonata in E, Capriccio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaC

wJ1YGns

Vivaldi: Concerto for Piccolo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y14Z3aEhQE

Antonio Vivaldi

Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Scarlatti_Capriccio.mp3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaCwJ1YGnshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaCwJ1YGnsAudio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Vivaldi_PiccoloC.mp3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y14Z3aEhQE

The Baroque Era Exoticism

Age of exploration of the globe introduced

the public to different elements of remote

cultures that were previously unknown

Thus exoticism- a musical style in which

rhythms, melodies, or instruments evoke

the atmosphere of far off lands, also

became a presence in the Baroque era.

Operas were set in faraway lands and

contained scenes, costumes and dances

which appealed to the imagination of the

audience

Music flowed across national boundaries

The Baroque Era THE OPERA

An Opera is a large-scale musical drama combining:

Poetry

Acting

Scenery

Costumes

Singing

Instrumental music Meredith Hall as Poppea in the opera

The Coronation of Poppea

The most important new musical genre of the Baroque Era

The Baroque Era THE OPERA

Mozart: Don Giovanni, Chi la? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

UEXZeoYKoL0

Handel: Messiah, O thou that tellest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5

CjGtVY_cAQ

Plot and action are moved forward through recitative a vocal technique that resembles the natural patterns of speech. The words in a recitative are often sung on the same pitch, and may include rapid question-and-answer dialogue between characters.

An aria (Italian for air) is a song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment, often of an emotional nature. Often in A-B-A form with a beginning, high point, and end

Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Mozart_DonGiovanni_Ah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Mozart_DonGiovanni_Ah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Mozart_DonGiovanni_Ah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Mozart_DonGiovanni_Ah.mp3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEXZeoYKoL0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEXZeoYKoL0Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Handel_Messiah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Handel_Messiah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Handel_Messiah.mp3Audio_Examples/MusicExcerpts/Handel_Messiah.mp3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjGtVY_cAQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjGtVY_cAQ

The Baroque Era THE OPERA

The Role Of The Opera In Baroque Culture:

Royal Weddings

Ceremonial Occasions

Scenic Displays

Lavish Spectacles

English singer, organist, and composer

Sacred and secular music

Most famous stage work: Dido and Aeneas

The Baroque Era Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell (16591695)

The Baroque Era Purcells Dido and Aeneas

The Death of Dido, Giovanni Barbieri

Written in 1689 for a girls boarding school where Purcell taught

Based on an ancient Roman epic that traces the adventures of the hero Aeneas after the fall of Troy

In summary: Aeneas is shipwrecked at Carthage on the northern shore of Africa. He and the young Carthaginian queen, Dido, fall in love. Aeneas receives a message that he must continue on his journey to found Rome, and so he decides that he must leave. In Didos grief, she decides that her fate is death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlUMWUJ-1w

Didos Lament (Aria):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlUMWUJ-1whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlUMWUJ-1whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlUMWUJ-1whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlUMWUJ-1w

The Baroque Era The Cantata

Cantata (Italian to sing) - a

mulitmovement work consisting of arias, recitatives and choruses; with orchestral accompaniment.

Both Sacred and Secular

Based on lyric, dramatic, or narrative poetry

A staple of the Lutheran church service

The Baroque Era Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750), German composer, organist, educator

Culminating figure of the Baroque style and a giant in history of music

Career in northern Germany

Born into a musical family

Known as an organist and composer

Devout Lutheran

Employed by both secular and church patrons throughout his career

The Baroque Era Johann Sebastian Bach

An evening outdoor concert in 1744

by the collegium musicum of Jena, Germany

Bach directed this group for 27 years

At the age of thirty-eight, Bach was appointed to one of the most important music positions in Germanycantor at St. Thomass Church

In 1729, Bach was appointed to an additional post in Leipzig: director of the collegium musicuma group of university students and musicians that gave regular concerts

The Baroque Era Johann Sebastian Bach

Dictionary, J.G. Walther

Bach Wrote:

Sacred Vocal Music (200 church cantatas, 4 Passions, Mass in B minor)

Orchestral Music (4 Suites)

Concertos (Brandenburg Concertos)

Solo Sonatas and Keyboard Music (Well-Tempered Clavier, The Art of Fugue, Toccata and Fugue in D minor)

The Well-Tempered Clavier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXMVkQ70I88

Instrumental Music:

Orchestral suites:

Bach: Flute Sonata No. 2, Siciliano - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKoTMl6GpI

Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe, II - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll9GRQ_5noc

Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2, Badinerie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMtlvOcojU

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, III - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cex