THE BAROQUE ERA
1600-1750
Journal Entry #8
Given what you know about the Renaissance, what new innovations
and styles you do THINK are coming up in the Baroque era? How will
music progress from here?
Composer Research Paper Assignments
Chris Pearson – Johann Sebastian Bach
Nick Caban – Louis Armstrong
Bilal Aziz – Ludwig van Beethoven
Claire Chandler – Frederic Chopin
Andrew Drake – Scott Joplin
Blake Noud – Andrew Lloyd Webber
Jacob Burns – Claude Debussy
Kalyn Moore – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dominique Flyte – Felix Mendelssohn
Julian Harvey – Carl Orff
Emma Brown – Sergei Rachmaninoff
Kieryn Beyerl – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Phil Kosydor – Franz Schubert
Aaron Brunnworth – Antonio Vivaldi
Taimoor Aziz – Henry Purcell
Alec Camp – Richard Wagner
Sami Greytak – Leonard Bernstein
Nate Novak – John Williams
Ryan Kaminsky – Aaron Copland
Anna Stamer – Igor Stravinsky
THE BAROQUE WORLD
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History
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1607 – Jamestown founded
1643-1715 – Louis XIV reigns in France
1692 – Salem Witch Trials, Salem, MA
1715-1774 – Louis XV reigns in France
Literature
1600
1605
 1611
 1667
 1719
 1726
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–
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–
–
–
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Hamlet (Shakespeare)
Don Quixote (Cervantes)
King James Bible
Paradise Lost (Milton)
Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift)
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…

Science
 1610
– Galileo confirms that Earth revolves
around the sun
 1687 – Newton’s Principia Mathematica
 New approach to science based on
mathematics + experiment
 Discovered mathematical laws governing
bodies in motion
 New inventions, improvements of medicine,
mining, navigation, industry
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…

Art
 Effort
to completely fill space
 Emphasis on motion and drama
 Potential of color, depth, contrasts of light
and dark
 Artists wanted to create totally structured
worlds
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…

Judith Slaying
Holofernes (1612)
 Artemisia
Gentileshi
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…
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1623 – Bernini:
David Slaying
Goliath
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…

1653 – Rembrandt:
Aristotle with a
Bust of Homer
THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…
“Age of Absolutism”
 Aristocracy very rich, powerful, lived in
luxury
(Rest of population barely survived)
 Splendid palaces, magnificent balls, events
 Absolute power – Duke of Weimar and
Bach

THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont…

Religious institutions also shaped style
 Churches
used the emotional and theatrical
style of the day to make worship more
attractive/appealing
 Competing views: Europe divided into Catholic
and Protestant
Catholic: France, Spain, Italy, Austrian Empire
Protestant: England, Netherlands, Denmark,
Sweden, Germany
BAROQUE STYLE

Baroque = “barroco” = irregularly shaped
pearl, term of criticism
decorated, elaborately ornamented
 Emphasis on motion and drama
 Highly
MAJOR COMPOSERS
Two giants: George Frederic Handel and
Johann Sebastian Bach
 Bach’s death: 1750
 Other important composers: Monteverdi,
Purcell, Corelli, Vivaldi
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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC
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Divided into 3 phases
Early: 1600-1640
2. Middle: 1640-1680
3. Late: 1680-1750
1.
GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont…
Music composed for texts conveying
extreme emotion, text ruled music
 Stress on drama and text led to opera –
drama sung to orchestra accompaniment

 Melodies
speech
imitated the rhythms/inflections of
GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont…
GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont…

Early Baroque: Homophonic over
polyphonic texture
 Words
were clearer with one melody over
chordal accompaniment

Dissonance and contrasts of sounds
were used to depict extreme emotions
 Contrasts
 one
of sound examples:
solo singer against an entire chorus
 Singers against instruments
GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont…

Middle Baroque:
 New
style spread from Italy all over
 Church modes officially gave way to major
and minor scales
 Instrumental music important
 Violin family most popular
GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont…
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Late Baroque:
 Most
music heard today is from late Baroque
 Dominant to tonic chords
 Instrumental as important as vocal
 Polyphonic texture returns
BAROQUE MUSIC (SHMRFT)
Sound
 Unity of Mood
 Usually
expresses one basic mood throughout
(but not in vocal music)
 Emotional states represented – joy, grief,
agitation, called affections
 Specific rhythm/melodic patterns became
associated with specific moods
(SHMRFT) cont…
Harmony
 Chords increasingly important
 Chords gave prominence to the bass, which is
the foundation of a chord
 Basso continuo – accompaniment made up of
a bass part usually played by two instruments

a keyboard plus a low melodic instrument like cello or
bassoon
Harmony, cont…
 Basso continuo played in left hand, while
right hand creates chords based on
numbers written in the music, called
figured bass

Example: pg. 129
(SHMRFT) cont…
Filling in chords according to figured bass
is called realization
 Figured bass only specifies basic chords
 Performer has great freedom
 Also saved time for busy Baroque
composers
 Also saved paper, which was very
expensive

(SHMRFT) cont…

Figured bass is the shorthand system that
leads to song lead sheets and jazz
improvisation of today
(SHMRFT) cont…
Rhythm
 Patterns repeat throughout piece
 Created
forward momentum
 Forward motion rarely interrupted

Beat emphasized more than Renaissance
(SHMRFT) cont…
Melody
 Repeated throughout piece, melodies
heard again and again throughout
 Character of the melody remains constant
 Continuous expanding, unfolding, and
unwinding of melody
 Sequences
used
 Ornamentation
 Hard
to sing and remember
LISTENING FOR ORNMENTATION

Sonata da chiesa, Op. 5, No. 1
 Arcangelo
Corelli
 Also listen for harpsichord
(SHMRFT) cont…
Dynamics
 Volume level stays constant for long time
 Terraced dynamics – sudden shifts in
dynamics
 Organ, harpsichord, clavichord: narrow dynamic
changes
Organ and harpsichord – incapable of gradual
dynamic changes
 Clavichord – very small piano-like instrument

 Capable
of gradual dynamic changes, but only within
small range (ppp-mp)
LISTENING FOR TERRACED
DYNAMICS

Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah
 George
Frederic Handel
 Listen for trumpet and timpani
(SHMRFT) cont…
Texture
 Early Baroque: homophonic
 Late Baroque: usually polyphonic
 Soprano and Bass: most important
 Imitation
 Some vocal pieces may switch texture for
change of mood
SHMRFT, cont…
Texture, cont…
 Music depicts specific meanings (word painting)

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“heaven” – high, “hell” – low, “grief” – descending
chromatic scale
Words emphasized by writing many rapid notes
for a single syllable of text - mellismas

Technique also demonstrated singer’s virtuosity
LISTENING TO MELLISMAS

Ev’ry Valley Shall Be Exalted from Messiah
 George
Frederic Handel
THE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
10-40 players
 Based on instruments of violin family
 Main parts

 Basso
continuo – harpsichord & cello or bass
& bassoon
 Upper strings – 1st and 2nd violins & violas
Use of woodwind, brass, percussion varied
 Other instruments could be added –
recorder, flute, oboe, trumpet, horns,
trombone, timpani
 Trumpet & timpani joined in for festive
music

LISTENING FOR FESTIVE TRUMPET

Gloria from Gloria in D Major
 Antonio
Vivaldi

Different than modern orchestra:
4

groups of instruments
Trumpet was different, no valves
 Difficult
to play, associated with royalty
 Trumpeters were the top of the orchestra
ladder
 Treated like military officers
BAROQUE FORMS

movement – a piece that sounds fairly
complete and independent but is part of a
larger composition
 each
movement:
 has
its own themes
 comes to a definite end
 is separated from the next movement by a brief
pause
3-Part: ABA
 2-Part: AB
 Through-composed
 Always contrast between bodies of
sound
 Examples:

 alteration
between small and large
groups of instruments
 Voices and instruments
VOCABULARY
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Galileo
Newton
Baroque
Ornamentation
Opera
Affections
Basso continuo
Figured Bass
Realization
Terraced dynamics
Sequences
Clavichord
Orchestra
GROUP PRESENTATIONS
Isaac Newton
Alec Camp
Aaron Brunnworth
Taimoor Aziz
Nick Caban
Baroque Dance
Dominique Flyte
Claire Chandler
Emma Brown
Julian Harvey
Famous Baroque Operas
Chris Pearson
Nate Novak
Ryan Kaminsky
Blake Noud
Galileo
Bilal Aziz
Jacob Burns
Kieryn Beyerl
Anna Stamer
Baroque Royal Courts
Phil Kosydor
Kalyn Moore
Andrew Drake
Sami Greytak