The Baroque Period in Music
Posted by the_music_room at 09:59 AM on January 10, 2005.
Baroque (1600 - 1750)
+ Growth of Opera / development of instrumental music
+ Restless era in arts (general) dramatic motion, powerful emotional feelings, were expressed by detailed ornamentation, dramatic contrasts, elaborate counterpoint and lavish theatrical production.
+The English word baroque is derived from the Italian barocco, meaning bizarre, though probably exuberant would be a better translation more accurately reflecting the sense.
+The usage of this term originated in the 1860s to describe the highly decorated style of 17th and 18th century religious and public buildings in Italy, Germany and Austria.
+During the early-to-mid 1900s, the term baroque was applied by association to music of the 17th and early 18th century, and today the term baroque has come to refer to a very clearly definable type or genre of music which originated, broadly speaking, around 1600 and came to fruition between 1700 and 1750.
Sociocultural Influences
+Geographic Exploration, scientific discovery and philosophical challenges to the old ways of thinking.
+Rationalism was the prevailing philosophy.
+Emphasis on observation and experience.
+Scientific advances rather than supernatural.
1. Improved navigation equipment, microscopes and telescopes.
2. Invention of Barometers (measuring air pressure), anenometer (wind forces)
3. Confirmation by Galileo of Copernicus' Theory of a Heliocentric Universe.
4. Increased importance of mathematics
5. Publication of William Harvey in 1628, of its finding on the circulation of the blood in the human body.
6. Formulation and publication of Newton's Laws of Gravity and Motion in 1687.
7. Politics / Politically centralized states under absolute monarchies, national styles became more distinct.
Elements of Baroque Music
- Longer, more complex, and more dramatic.
- melodies were called themes or subjects
- idiomatic | more characteristic of the technical aspect of the instruments they are specified
a. Rhythm - Forward motion | Steady Beat
driving rhytmic pattern
follows natural movement of the words of the
vocal text.
Dance Rhythms formed the basis for
movements.
Tempos are designated with Italian terms
gave approximate relative speed indication
b. Harmony - 3 Important changes in the development of harmony that still affect the music of today.
1. Church Modes - Major and minor scale
system.
2. Emphasis on chordal relationships (chords)
3. Use of equal temperament tuning.
c. Texture - Polyphonic
Bass contrasted with the melody
d. Dynamics - Tempo indications came into use for the first
time, indicating greater concern by the
composers for musical expressiveness.
e. Timbre - Improvement of Instruments
f. Forms - Sonatas
Suite - Dance music
Concerto - Solo instrument with orchestral
accompaniment.
Cantata - Choral Works (sacred or secular)
Oratorio - Opera without costumes, acting and
scenery. Based on Biblical stories.
Composers
Antonio Vivaldi
Italian music composer who lived from 1678 to 1741, a period of art commonly known as the Baroque era. He lived in Venice and taught music at an all-girls orphanage for most of his life. He was a master of the violin and often performed his own works. He is widely known as the composer of concertos, a form of music with a small orchestra and solo lead instrument. The Four Seasons is his most famous work, a collection of four concertos that depicts the seasons musically. Aside from concertos, he wrote religious works and operas. After his death he was all but forgotten for 200 years until his works were discovered early in this century.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach is considered by many to have been the greatest composer in the history of western music. Bach's main achievement lies in his synthesis and advanced development of the primary contrapuntal idiom of the late Baroque, and in the basic tunefullness of his thematic material. Bach is also known for the numerical symbolism and mathematical exactitude which many people have found in his music -- for this, he is often regarded as one of the pinnacle geniuses of western civilization, even by those who are not normally involved with music.
Bach spent the height of his working life in a Lutheran church position in Leipzig, as both organist and music director. Much of his music is overtly religious, while many of his secular works admit religious interpretations on some levels. His large output of organ music is considered to be the greatest legacy of compositions for the instrument, and is the measure by which all later efforts are judged. His other solo keyboard music is held in equally high esteem, especially for its exploration of the strictly contrapuntal fugue; his 48 Preludes & Fugues (The Well-Tempered Clavier) are still the primary means by which these forms are taught. His other chamber music is similarly lofty, the sets for solo violin & solo cello being the summits of their respective genres. Bach's large-scale sacred choral music is also unique in its scope and development, the Passions and B Minor Mass having led to the rediscovery of his music in the 19th century. His huge output of cantatas for all occasions is equally impressive. Finally, his large output of concerti includes some of the finest examples of the period, including the ubiquitous Brandenberg Concertos.
George Frederich Handel
Despite being born in Germany he spent most of his adult life in England. Handel was a musical giant of the late baroque period, he successfully combined German, French, Italian, and English musical styles in about 40 operas, 20 oratorios, and numerous other vocal pieces, instrumental works, and church music.
Handel is popular for the chorale work "Messiah" which includes the Hallelujah.
+ Growth of Opera / development of instrumental music
+ Restless era in arts (general) dramatic motion, powerful emotional feelings, were expressed by detailed ornamentation, dramatic contrasts, elaborate counterpoint and lavish theatrical production.
+The English word baroque is derived from the Italian barocco, meaning bizarre, though probably exuberant would be a better translation more accurately reflecting the sense.
+The usage of this term originated in the 1860s to describe the highly decorated style of 17th and 18th century religious and public buildings in Italy, Germany and Austria.
+During the early-to-mid 1900s, the term baroque was applied by association to music of the 17th and early 18th century, and today the term baroque has come to refer to a very clearly definable type or genre of music which originated, broadly speaking, around 1600 and came to fruition between 1700 and 1750.
Sociocultural Influences
+Geographic Exploration, scientific discovery and philosophical challenges to the old ways of thinking.
+Rationalism was the prevailing philosophy.
+Emphasis on observation and experience.
+Scientific advances rather than supernatural.
1. Improved navigation equipment, microscopes and telescopes.
2. Invention of Barometers (measuring air pressure), anenometer (wind forces)
3. Confirmation by Galileo of Copernicus' Theory of a Heliocentric Universe.
4. Increased importance of mathematics
5. Publication of William Harvey in 1628, of its finding on the circulation of the blood in the human body.
6. Formulation and publication of Newton's Laws of Gravity and Motion in 1687.
7. Politics / Politically centralized states under absolute monarchies, national styles became more distinct.
Elements of Baroque Music
- Longer, more complex, and more dramatic.
- melodies were called themes or subjects
- idiomatic | more characteristic of the technical aspect of the instruments they are specified
a. Rhythm - Forward motion | Steady Beat
driving rhytmic pattern
follows natural movement of the words of the
vocal text.
Dance Rhythms formed the basis for
movements.
Tempos are designated with Italian terms
gave approximate relative speed indication
b. Harmony - 3 Important changes in the development of harmony that still affect the music of today.
1. Church Modes - Major and minor scale
system.
2. Emphasis on chordal relationships (chords)
3. Use of equal temperament tuning.
c. Texture - Polyphonic
Bass contrasted with the melody
d. Dynamics - Tempo indications came into use for the first
time, indicating greater concern by the
composers for musical expressiveness.
e. Timbre - Improvement of Instruments
f. Forms - Sonatas
Suite - Dance music
Concerto - Solo instrument with orchestral
accompaniment.
Cantata - Choral Works (sacred or secular)
Oratorio - Opera without costumes, acting and
scenery. Based on Biblical stories.
Composers
Antonio Vivaldi
Italian music composer who lived from 1678 to 1741, a period of art commonly known as the Baroque era. He lived in Venice and taught music at an all-girls orphanage for most of his life. He was a master of the violin and often performed his own works. He is widely known as the composer of concertos, a form of music with a small orchestra and solo lead instrument. The Four Seasons is his most famous work, a collection of four concertos that depicts the seasons musically. Aside from concertos, he wrote religious works and operas. After his death he was all but forgotten for 200 years until his works were discovered early in this century.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach is considered by many to have been the greatest composer in the history of western music. Bach's main achievement lies in his synthesis and advanced development of the primary contrapuntal idiom of the late Baroque, and in the basic tunefullness of his thematic material. Bach is also known for the numerical symbolism and mathematical exactitude which many people have found in his music -- for this, he is often regarded as one of the pinnacle geniuses of western civilization, even by those who are not normally involved with music.
Bach spent the height of his working life in a Lutheran church position in Leipzig, as both organist and music director. Much of his music is overtly religious, while many of his secular works admit religious interpretations on some levels. His large output of organ music is considered to be the greatest legacy of compositions for the instrument, and is the measure by which all later efforts are judged. His other solo keyboard music is held in equally high esteem, especially for its exploration of the strictly contrapuntal fugue; his 48 Preludes & Fugues (The Well-Tempered Clavier) are still the primary means by which these forms are taught. His other chamber music is similarly lofty, the sets for solo violin & solo cello being the summits of their respective genres. Bach's large-scale sacred choral music is also unique in its scope and development, the Passions and B Minor Mass having led to the rediscovery of his music in the 19th century. His huge output of cantatas for all occasions is equally impressive. Finally, his large output of concerti includes some of the finest examples of the period, including the ubiquitous Brandenberg Concertos.
George Frederich Handel
Despite being born in Germany he spent most of his adult life in England. Handel was a musical giant of the late baroque period, he successfully combined German, French, Italian, and English musical styles in about 40 operas, 20 oratorios, and numerous other vocal pieces, instrumental works, and church music.
Handel is popular for the chorale work "Messiah" which includes the Hallelujah.