The Baroque Period 1600-1750

1. Music Appreciation Ms. Martin The Baroque Period1600-1750

2. Explanation of Baroque Music • The Baroque period saw the creation of tonality. • During the period, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. • Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established opera as a musical genre. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use today.

3. Music Notation

4. Genres: Toccata • Toccata: (from Italian toccare, "to touch") is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhQTvaZtURY

5. Baroque Organ

6. Genres: Cantata • Cantata: (literally means "sung", derived from the Italian word "cantare") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xq2bq4eDgA

7. Genres: Oratorio • Oratorio: a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. • Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. • However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece—though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form.

8. Genres: Oratorio • In an oratorio there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. • A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-WNkZF8cWo

9. Oratorio

10. Genres: Opera • Opera: is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. • Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance. • The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Vkq5xKkHQ

11. Operahaus

12. Opera

13. Opera

14. Genres: Fugue • Fugue: a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG7rx3BO6JY

15. Genres: Concerto grosso • Concerto grosso: the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists (the concertino) and full orchestra (the ripieno or concerto grosso). • This is in contrast to the concerto which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by the orchestra. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Rhuh2TSR8

16. Instruments • Strings • Violin, Viol, Viola, Tenor violin, Cello, Contrabass, Lute, Mandolin, Guitar, Harp, Hurdy gurdy • Woodwinds • Baroque flute, Baroque oboe, Rackett, Recorder • Brasses • Baroque trumpet, Cornett, Horn, Serpent, Sackbut • Keyboards • Fortepiano – early version of piano, Harpsichord, Organ

17. Melody • Feeling of continuity. • An opening melody will be heard over and over again in the course of the piece. Even if the character of the piece is constant, the passage is varied. • Many baroque melodies are complex and elaborate. They are not easy to sing or play. • Baroque melodies give and impression of dynamic expansion rather than balance and symmetry. It gives a whole feeling of a jumble yet a theme is distinctly heard.

18. Rhythm • Unity of mood in baroque is first conveyed by the continuity of rhythm. • Rhythmic patterns heard at the beginning of the piece are reiterated many times throughout the piece. • This relentless drive compelled the music to push forward. This forward motion is hardly ever interrupted. • The beat is also far more distinct in baroque music.

19. Texture • Late baroque music is often and predominantly polyphonic in texture: many melodic lines compete for the listener’s attention. • Usually the soprano and the bass line are more important and imitation between various lines is very common. • A melodic line that happen in one voice will happen in other voices as well. • However, this was not strict during Bach’s and Handel’s time short snatches of homophonic pieces may also occur.

20. Dynamics • Paralleling the continuity of mood, the dynamics of the piece also stay constant for some period of time before it shifts to another level. • When the dynamics shift, it is sudden like physically stepping of a step. Therefore, terraced dynamics are a distinctive quality of baroque music. • Gradual changes such as crescendo and decrescendos are unheard of, this is partly due to the fact that the manuals of the keyboards instrument then were able to provide only the loud or the soft sound. They were not able to provide the “in between” sound.

21. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): • Born in Venice, Italy • Became an ordained priest in 1703, but no longer wished to celebrate mass because of asthma • Nicknamed “the red-headed priest” • Son of the leading violinist of St. Mark’s Basilica and educated as a musician and priest • Became ill in 1703 and excused from his priestly duties

22. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): • Employed at Conservatory of the Pieta in Venice for 36 years • Was a Conductor, Composer, Teacher, & Superintendent • Wrote 49 operas, numerous cantatas, oratorios, motets • Composed The Four Seasons, Gloria • Listening: Four Seasons-Spring

23. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) • Born in Eisenach, Germany same year as Handel • Spent his entire life within a 40 mile radius of his birth home • Fathered 20 children from his 2 consecutive wives • Received earliest musical training from his father, who was a town musician • After his father died, he studied with his older brother Johann Christoph, an organist • Bach composed in all of the musical forms popular during the Baroque period except opera

24. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) • First three professional positions were as organist • Moved to Cothen to write court entertainment music • Last job in Leipzig where he was responsible for all music in St. Nicholas and St. Thomas churches • Wrote numerous cantatas and sacred music • Famous Cantatas: Christ lag in TodesBanden, Einfeste Burg, Jesu der du meineSeele • Important Large Scale Works: The Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, Mass in B minor, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion • Died in 1750, when the Baroque period ended, many of his works were not performed until 100 years later • Listening: For Unto Us a Child is Born, Magnificat, Toccata in f sharp minor

25. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) • Born in Halle, Saxony-Germany • Pleaded to his father for music lessons as a young man; father sent him to F. W. Zachow to study • Handel became an outstanding organist & harpsichordist; also studied violin and oboe • Graduated from University in Halle in 1702 • First position was as an organist in Halle • Composed music in 4 catagories: • 1. Secular cantata • 2. Catholic sacred mass • 3. Oratorios • 4. Operas

26. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) • At 25 he became Director of the Electoral Court of Hanover under King George I of England • For 35 years his main job was writing operas, but today his oratorios are more popular • Known as the greatest composer of oratorio during the Baroque period • Notable oratorios: Israel in Egypt, Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus • Notable operas: Rinaldo, GiulioCesare, Rodelinda, Orlando, Serse • Buried in Westminster Abbey in London • Listening: Water Music Suite, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Dixit Dominus, Concerto Op 7-Opening, Messiah-Hallelujah Chorus

27. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) • From Naples, Italy • First large-scale work was performed when he was 19 • Many patrons including Prince Ferdinando de Medici, Queen Christina of Sweden, Cardinal Pamphili • Appointed as the Maestro di Cappella • His operas incorporated 3 movement sinfonias (overture), paving the way for the classical symphony • Expanded Sinfonia concept and ventured into orchestral writing • Best known for operas: La Rosaura, Teodora, Tigrane, Griselda • Wrote 600 church cantatas, 150 oratorios, numerous sacred compositions • Listening: Concerto #1 in f, Concerto #4 in g

28. Henry Purcell (1659-1695): • Born in Westminster, England • Considered the greatest English composer of opera • Father was a singer in the court of King Charles II • Started musical career as a chorister in the Chapel Royal • Wrote Dido and Aeneas, an opera written for a girl’s boarding school • In 1669, he became the organist at Westminster Abbey and wrote only sacred music there • Died in 1695, buried beside the organ in Westminster Abbey • Important Works: King Arthur, The Fairy Queen, The Tempest, Orpheus Britannicus, Te Deum and Jubilate • Listening : Trio Sonata 7, Incidental Music from the Fairy Queen