Transcript The Baroque Period 1600-1750

THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
1600-1750
 Baroque = “irregularly shaped pearl”
 The terms was first used as derogatory to
describe the music at that time
 The music changed from being flowing, and
songlike to being fast, pulsating, and noisy
 The term is also used in art history to describe
the more elaborate, ornamented, lavish style

THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750

Age of Exploration, Colonization, and Scientific
Discovery
 Isaac
Newton – 1642-1727
 Rene Descartes – 1596-1650
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Technologies
 Telescope,
microscope, thermometer, syringe, slide
rule, barometer, wind gauge, pressure cooker,
tuning fork, and steam engine
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750

Two Practices, Three Styles
 First
Practice (Old Style)
 The
music dominates the text
 Second
 The
 Three
Practice (New Style)
text dominates the music
Styles
 Ecclesiasticus
(church)
 Cubicularis (chamber)
 Scenicus seu theatralis (scenic or theater)
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
After taking the time to read and explore the
writing of the Greeks, composers of the
Baroque period being writing for the affections
 Affections – rationalized emotional states or
passions (anger, fear, happiness, love)
 If a listener was unaware of the affections that
a composer was using in a song, that person
would consider the song grotesque

THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750

Music Theory

Key Tonality
 The
evolution of the major and minor scales becomes defined
and used as the standard in Western music

Rhythm
 The
pulse of music remained the same as that of the style of
the Renaissance
 Definitions of tempos begin to appear in musical pieces –
allegro, andante, presto, moderato, etc.

Notation
 As
the printing of music became more refined, bar lines and
measures were created to help organize music
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
 Time
signatures begin to be used define the number of
beats in each measure
 Clef signs begin to be used to define the range of the
notes that are used on a staff – also helps determine the
instrument that was to be played
F Clef – Modern day Bass Clef
 C Clef – Modern day moveable Clef
 G Clef – Modern day Treble Clef

THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
Vocal music and instrumental music continue
to be written together and separate
 Instrumental music begins to gain ground as an
independent musical form
 Composers and musicians begin to write and
perform instrumental music – compositions
and performances begin to accumulate and
gain a heightened status
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THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Monody
 Italian

solo song that is accompanied
Intermedio
 Musical

interlude between acts of plays
Opera
 Italian
drama presented musically
 Combined scenery, costumes, literature, acting,
with vocal and instrumental music

Teatro – theater, performance venue for
operas. Begin popping up in major cities in
Italy
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750

Libretto
A
book of text that is set to music
 Important in creating operas
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Oratorio
 Similar
to an opera except without stage action,
scenery, or costumes
 Has a narrator
 Mainly deals with religious subjects, in Latin

Oratorio Volgare
 Oratorio
in the native language
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Dafne – 1598
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The first opera ever written and performed
In Florence
Jacopo Corsi (1561-1602) Composer
Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621) Librettist
Moral of story – to demonstrate the dangers that await
those who scorn love’s power
Story – Dafne, a nymph, complains about a monster
hunting their sheep, Apollo slays the monster, makes fun of
Cupid, Cupid shoots Apollo with arrow and falls in love with
Dafne, Dafne wants to escape so she prays to the gods who
turn her into a laurel tree, Apollo grieves for Dafne, declares
his love for her in front of the tree, and promises to wear
laurel leaves in his hair.
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Claudio Monteverdi
 1567-1643
 Italian
composer
 Composed 3 operas, a ballet, 12 volumes of 250
madrigals, 5 volumes of sacred music, and 20
sacred pieces
 Famous for integrating the old style and new style
of music together – creating a balance
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Opera flourishes from Florence, to Mantua, to
Rome, to Venice, to Naples, then to Europe
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Alessandro Scarlatti
 1660-1725
 Composed
operas, oratorios, intermedios, and even
comedic works
 Shifted center of music to Naples
 Used the new “Italian Overture” in operas
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Italian Overture – orchestral piece played at the
beginning of an opera, with no musical relation
to the opera, three sections, tempo was fastslow-fast
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Jean-Baptiste Lully
 1632-1687
 French
composer of Ballets and Operas
 Adopted the Italian Opera and created the French
Opera
 Used the “French Overture” in operas
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French Overture – orchestral piece played at
the beginning of an opera, with no musical
relation to the opera, two sections, tempo was
slow-fast
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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England
 Masque
– an aristocratic entertainment blending
the art of poetry, dance, song, and instrumental
music into a dramatic form with elaborate staging

Henry Purcell
 1659-1695
 Greatest
English composer, composed vocal and
instrumental secular and sacred music
 Composed the first English opera “Dido and
Aeneas” in 1689. This opera started with a French
Overture
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Germanic Lands
 German
opera has a slow start, French and Italian
operas are popular instead
 Singspeil – German opera
 Reinhard Keiser
 1674-1739
 The
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most important composer of German operas
Russia
 Italian
operas did not reach Russia until 1730 due
to their isolation
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Spain
 Pedro
Calderon de la Barca
 1600-1681
 Credited
with inventing the Spanish opera
 Zarzuela
 Spanish
opera – Spanish dramatic form with singing,
dancing, and spoken language
 Spanish
 First
America
opera ever written in America was in Peru in 1658,
to honor King Philip V on his 18th birthday and first year
of his reign
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Instrumental Music
 Four
Principal Styles
 Dance
music
 Improvisatory
 Variations
 Imitative counterpoint
 Dance
Music
 music
for dancing
 Allemande – duple meter, moderate tempo
 Courante – French dance, triple meter, moderate tempo
 Saraband – triple meter, slow tempo
 Gigue – duple or triple meter, fast tempo
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Suite
 Grouping
of dance pieces compiled into a single,
complete work
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Improvisatory
 improvised,
made up without preparation
 Fantasia – composition evoking free style
improvisation
 Toccata – sectional composition for a keyboard
 Prelude – self contained movement in an
improvisatory style
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Variations
a
melody that was repeated throughout a song, but
the supporting parts of the melody were changed
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Imitative Counterpoint
 one
melody starts at the beginning of a song and
then the same melody starts at a different part in
the song
 Example: canons and rounds
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Sonata
 Piece
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Cantata
 Piece

of instrumental music
of vocal music
Sonata da chiesa
 Church

sonata – instrumental church music
Sonata da camera
 Court
sonata – instrumental court music
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Concerto
 Vocal
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Concertino
 Small
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ensemble of instruments
Strophic
 Same

ensemble of instruments
Concerto Grosso
 Large

music accompanied by instrumentalists
music for each stanza of text
Through-composed
 New
music for each stanza of text
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Arcangelo Corelli
 1653-1713
 Italian
violinist and composer
 Famous for composing music mostly for violin
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Antonio Vivaldi
 1678-1741
 Italian
composer, violinist
 Composed 49 operas, 90 sonatas,
500 concertos
 Expanded the concerto style of music, used fastslow-fast movements
 Well known for “The Four Seasons” and his
“Gloria’s”
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Jean-Philippe Rameau
 1683-1764
 French
musician, composer, and theorist
 Attempted to compose operas – not very successful
 Composed instrumental music, secular and sacred
 Studied music theory as a science – believed that
all music came from harmony and studied its
effects in nature – vibrations (compared to modern
day sound waves)
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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Johann Sebastian Bach
 1685-1750
 German
composer and great keyboard performer
 Musical genius in composition of keyboard music
and performance
 Composed mainly for instruments, no operas
 Baroque period ends at the death of Bach because
he begins to incorporate “Classical” features in his
musical style
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600-1750
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George Frideric Handel
 1685-1759
 German
composer, but became British citizen
 Composed operas, oratorios, instrumental music
 Best known for the “Messiah” and “Water Music”
 Invented the Organ Concerto