BAROQUE

1. BAROQUE 1600-1750

2. CHARACTERISTICS • Rise of drama • Theatre, painting, architecture, and music were all characterized by grandiose concepts, magnificent gestures, ornate design, and overall theatrical contrasts. • The grand and the small, the brilliant and the dull, the extraordinary and the ordinary all co-existed • 2 styles, the old (stile antico) and the new (stile moderno.

3. Dualism -The old practice was that of vocal counterpoint, while the new practice continued development of homophony, vocal and instrumental Vocal against instrumental, solo against ensemble. Was manifest in the use of different dynamic levels. (Terraced dynamics). Dualism was at play even in the relationship of melody and bass. Harmonies were organized around the opposing functions of the dominant (implying tension) and the tonic (implying resolution) It was used in practice, but was not recognized in theory until the late Baroque in Rameau’s Traite’ de l’harmonie (1722) The Baroque saw the decline of the church and the aristocracy as primary benefactors of musical life. Bach most important church music figure. The cosmopolitan George Frederic Handel(1685-1750) was more typical and his livelihood often came from the public. Operas, invented as entertainment for the private elite, became public in 1643. Concerts, originally for the privileged, later sponsored by private organizations, were first opened to the public in 1672. Arising and influential middle class demanded and received music appropriate to its taste and pocketbook.

4. OPERA • Opera was the central innovation of Italy. It soon influenced virtually all types of Baroque music. • Association of music and drama goes back to Antiquity. • A. Text is called libretto • B. Solos-arias • C. Ensembles of 2 or more voices-duets, trios, etc. D. Recitative-declamatory style of singing dialogue. E. Chorus F. Orchestra • G. Overture- instrumental intro. to an opera. • H. and in some operas dances called ballets

5. Four Cities • FLORENCE, ROME, VENICE, AND NAPLES • Most important opera composer of the 1st half of the 17th century was Claudio Monteverdi. Florentine opera was based more on the dramatic effects than the musical aspects. • Rome became the center of opera development in the 1630’s. Based more on religious subjects than on Greek mythology, and it made more use of choruses. • Venetian Opera-Venice assumed the leadership in middle of the century . • Until the 1st public opera house was opened in 1637, opera had been primarily a spectacle for the wealthy. • Venetian opera had 1 more emphasis on formal arias, and 2 the beginning of “bel canto” (beautiful singing). 3 Less use of choral and orchestral music, 4 complex and improbable plots 5 elaborate stage machinery, and 6 short fanfare instrumental introductions, the prototypes of the later overture.

6. INCIDENTAL MUSIC • A significant amount of incidental music was written to be performed during the action of plays and in between scenes or acts. • Incidental music for some plays was so extensive that they approached true opera.

7. TYPES OF OPERA • Comic opera in Italy, called opera buffa, originated as intermezzi between acts of serious opera. • Comic opera emerged in the early 18th century primarily as a reaction to Italian serious opera (opera seria). • French comic opera, known as operacomique, originated in the early 18th century as a form of popular entertainment. • English ballad opera-A form of comic opera , flourished in England in the second quarter of the 18th century. It was called ballad opera. • The word singspiel meant serious opera at the beg. of the 18th century. About the middle of the century it came to designate German comic opera.

8. VOCAL CHAMBER MUSIC • Though less important than opera, a considerable literature of nontheatrical vocal music was composed in the Baroque. • 2 general types of vocal chamber music were solo songs and chamber cantantas. • Famous composers for chamber music were Alessandro Scarlatti, Jean Philippe Rameau, Georg Phillip Teleman, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Henry Purcell. Figure what country each as from…..

9. RELIGIOUS MUSIC • Although overshadowed and strongly influenced by opera, religious music consisted a significant portion of Baroque literature. • Main development in Protestant church music took place in Germany. • Nonliturgical music is music based on religious subjects but not intended to be performed as part of a church service. The principal category is ORATORIO. • In its mature form oratorio employed most of the musical components of opera: arias and duets for solo voices, recitatives, chorus, overture, and other instrumental pieces. • Oratorio differs from opera in two additional respects: it employs a narrator who tells the religious story in recitative, and it makes considerably more use of chorus than opera does. • The culmination of Baroque oratorio is represented by George Frideric Handel, (1685-1759), who in his later years abandoned opera for oratorio. Best know among his more than 20 oratorios are Samson, Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabaeus, Solomon, and the famous MESSIAH, composed in Dublin in 1741.

10. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC • During the Baroque, instrumental music for the 1st time became as important as vocal music, in quality as well as in quantity. • Musical Developments-A. Improvisation was an important discipline in the Baroque, and generally more important in instrumental than in vocal music. Realization of the following: A. Figured Bass B. Ornamentation C. Improvisations on a given theme. D. Variations E. Sequence • Tuning- Equal-tempered tuning of keyboard instruments replaced the older method, called meantone intonation in the late Baroque.

11. INSTRUMENTSOF THE BAROQUE • Clavichord-used primarily in Germany in the home. Strikes the string when key is depressed • Harpsichord-one of the most distinctive sounds of the Baroque. • Piano- was invented in 1709 by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence • Organ-remarkable growth of idiomatic organ literature.

12. Stringed instruments • Viols-instruments of the viol family were the principal strings during the 17th century, but around 1700 were being replaced by the new instruments of the violin family. • The 18th century found viols replaced by violins, violas, and cellos. The bass viol (or double bass) was retained form the viol family. • The lute lost its place of eminence during the 17th century.

13. WIND INSTRUMENTS • Principal woodwind instruments were the oboe, bassoon, and flute. • Brass instruments included various kinds of trumpets, horns, and trombones, which were employed mostly in large ensembles, rarely as solo instruments. • Timpani were the only percussion instruments in general use, and they were employed in unusually large orchestras.