Baroque unit study Guide
Terms to know
1. Baroque
2. Counterpoint
3. Ornaments
4. Opera (opera seria & opera buffa)
5. Concerto
6. Interval
7. Harmonic Interval
8. Melodic Interval
9. Improvisation
10. Program music
11. Ritornello
12. Patron
13. Tutti – all
14. Ritornello Principal
Bass clef note names
Intervals
You should also know the versions of these intervals
(2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th)
Major vs. minor
-You should be able to recognize, by listening, a major
and minor chord
Ritornello form
Ritornello 1/ Solo 1 / Ritornello 2 / Solo 2 / Ritornello 3
/Solo 3 / Ritornello 4
Overarching concepts
1. Dances were popular during this era.
2. Music, as well as fashion and architecture, was
extremely ornamented and fancy.
3. There were frequent harmonic (major and minor)
changes.
4. Emphasis on strong beats, upbeats, and fastchanging rhythmic notation.
5. Composers began to express emotions through
dynamics and tempo markings.
6. Improvisation became common, even in the church.
7. Cantatas were like operas, but not staged or acted.
8. Recorders became less popular and viols were
gradually replaced by violins, violas, and cellos.
9. Antonio Vivaldi composed a concerto known as “The
Four Seasons”.
10. Timpani was the only percussion instrument.
11. Concerto grossos features more than one soloist
and had three movements (fast-slow-fast)
12. Instrumental music became as important as vocal
music.
13. Three primary keyboard instruments of the
Baroque era were the clavichord, harpsichord, and
organ.
14. Vivaldi’s “Winter” from “The Four Seasons” is an
example of ritornello form.
15. Vivaldi was also a priest.
16. Vivaldi composed both sacred and secular music.