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The Late Seventeenth Century. Opera in seventeenth-century France. Absolute monarchy — established by Cardinal Richelieu under Louis XIII Académies 1635 Académie française (for belles lettres) set up by Richelieu — rationalistic, idealistic, classicistic in sense of restraint, balance
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Opera in seventeenth-century France • Absolute monarchy — established by Cardinal Richelieu under Louis XIII • Académies • 1635 Académie française (for belles lettres) set up by Richelieu — rationalistic, idealistic, classicistic in sense of restraint, balance • Académie de musique (1669) • Ballet de cour • social, participatory with courtiers as dancers • danced in center space in open hall • included instrumental music, spoken narrative and dialogue, airs • Opera’s arrival in France • Italian works during regency of Anne of Austria (1643–1653) • nationalism — exploited by librettist Pierre Perrin (ca. 1620–1675) under Louis XIV
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687) • Florentine, moved to Paris 1646 • Instrumental composer to Louis XIV from 1653 • member of existing Vingt-quatre violons du roi • Petits violons (sixteen, later twenty-one) under Lully from 1656 set new performance standards • superintendent of music from 1661 • Comédies-ballets with Molière 1663–1672, e.g., Le bourgeois gentilhomme 1670 • fused music, dance, poetry — developing style • influence of Italian pastoral operas, French ballet de cour • 1672 — took over Académie de musique — complete control of musical life in France
Tragédies lyriques • Lully and Philippe Quinault (1635–1688) • Mythological plots with allegorical allusions to France and king • French style • five acts — Classic model from Greek antiquity • emphasis on ballet derived from ballet de cour tradition • more chorus than contemporary Italian opera • spectacle — machines, sets • récitatif — carries action, carefully measured, simple • air modeled on French air de cour — nondramatic, often employs dance rhythms and forms • functions of instrumental music • articulative — especially overture • dramatic — accompaniment to singing • dance accompaniments
English music in the late seventeenth century • Isolation — especially under Cromwell and Commonwealth 1649–1660 • Restoration began to recover court following French model
English church music in the seventeenth century • Beginning of century continued music of English Reformation • Services • full and verse anthems • Church musicians abolished under Puritan regime • Restoration recovered choral music tradition, including concerted compositions
Instrumental music in England • Keyboard tradition from sixteenth century • dances • variation sets • Ensemble music • fantasy (fancy) for consort of viols • later, Italian-style sonatas
Musical drama during the Restoration period • Theater music tradition of court masque • recitatives • songs • choruses • dances • Theater suppressed during Commonwealth — concerts still permitted • Opera after the Stuart Restoration still very limited
Henry Purcell (1659–1695) • Time of Stuart Restoration, worked in court and Westminster Abbey • Sacred works associated with church employment — anthems, services • Dramatic music for court milieu • opera Dido and Aeneas • semiopera, e.g., The Fairy Queen • Odes and welcome songs — royal welcomes, weddings, birthdays, St. Cecilia’s Day • Songs • Instrumental — keyboard, ensemble (fantasies, sonatas, etc.)
Spanish opera in the seventeenth century • Based on pastoral court entertainment tradition — use of mythical, allegorical plots • Solo singing • all female in leading parts — except for comic male peasant • not separated into distinct style of recitative and aria but used strophic songs for both dialogue and affective moments • Spanish instrumentation — continuo uses harp and guitar • Choruses in familiar style
Neapolitan opera in the late seventeenth century • Naples as focus of stylistic progress in Italy • Sharp distinctions • serious vs. comic scenes — later to be split away • solo almost completely displaces chorus, mostly displaces ensembles • recitative extremely differentiated from aria — differentiated as simple, accompagnato; arioso
Da capo aria design A Ritornello home key Solo modulating Ritornello contrast key Solo modulating Ritornello home key B Solo modulating A da capo — ornamented in performance
Cantata • Chamber vocal genre (cubicularis) for • voice (possibly voices) • continuo (possibly obbligato instruments) • Multiple movements • Vocal styles of opera • recitative • aria
Later seventeenth-century instrumental genres Organ music, Suite, Sonata, Concerto
German organ music in the late seventeenth century Two classifications of organ compositions • Frei — figurational material; free from contrapuntal texture • prelude, toccata, etc. • Gebunden — based on established melodic material, follows contrapuntal rules • chorale-based pieces • fugues
Chorale settings for organ • Chorale fugue — chorale melody treated in fugal texture • Chorale fantasia — extended elaborations of each phrase with repetitions and interruptions in c.f. • Chorale prelude — one more-or-less continuous statement of chorale melody as c.f. • c.f. with or without ornamentation — ornamentation usually only if c.f. is soprano • accompaniment either independent or derivative — Vorimitation • Chorale partita — series of short chorale settings in contrasting styles • alternatim usage in service — organ, choir, congregation
Fugue • Antecedents • sixteenth-century imitative pieces based on vocal models — ricercar (from motet) and canzona (from chanson) • early seventeenth-century monothematic fantasia or ricercar • Theoretical and stylistic principles in mature fugue • monothematicism • subjects more instrumental in melodic and rhythmic profile, unlike ricercar and fantasia • tonal answer • countersubject • tonal unity and plan for entire piece • pedal point — especially approaching final cadence • stretto, especially for end of piece
The French keyboard suite (ordre) • Importance of dance — court ballet tradition • Harpsichord — intimate style suited to taste of courtly amateurs • Rhythm — derived from dance styles • Melody — agréments; ornamented doubles • Forms • binary dance form — variety of midpoint cadence choices • rondeau
Standard order of dances in the late seventeenth-century suite Derived from publication of suites by Johann Jacob Froberger (1616–1667) • Allemande — duple meter, moderate tempo • Courante — flowing triple meter (often with hemiola) • Sarabande — slow triple meter, emphasis on second beat 2 of the measure • Gigue — fast compound meter
Two important French suite composers • Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729) • François Couperin "le grand" (1668–1733) — often used descriptive titles rather than dance names, turning dance movements into character pieces
Sonata • Scoring • violin(s) or other melodic instruments and b.c. • instrumental idiom, not vocal style • Ensembles • trio sonata — duet and b.c. • most popular • combines clarity of b.c. texture with polyphonic interest • solo sonata — solo and b.c. • allows for more virtuosity • Major composer — Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)
Sonata types • Sonata da camera (chamber sonata) • stylized dances — actually a dance suite • Sonata da chiesa (church sonata) • abstract movements (at least ostensibly) • alternating tempos, usually slow-fast-slow-fast
Concerto • Derived from sonata by reinforcing some passages with multiple instruments • Two major composers • Giuseppe Torelli (1658–1709) —established structural principles • Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) — worked out types of material to exploit principles of form
Concerto types • Ripieno (full) concerto — uses all instruments freely • Solo concerto — solo vs. ripieno group • Concerto grosso — concertino group (often trio group) vs. ripieno
Form in the Baroque concerto • Three movements (usually) — fast, slow, fast • Outer movements usually in ritornello form:
Questions for discussion • How did political structures affect musical life and express themselves through musical style in the late seventeenth century? • Why would it be appropriate to describe a large Italian opera aria as a concerto movement for voice? What significant differences are there between the two structures? • How did the idea of affective expression and of key center support large forms in instrumental and vocal music in the seventeenth century?