BAROQUE PERIOD
1600 - 1750
LEARNING INTENTIONS
In this unit we are learning about the Baroque
Period in musical history
• We will learn about different styles of music
composed, the composers and concepts within
these styles.
• We will learn about the social and cultural
influences of music during this time.
 We will be able to listen to excepts of music
and identify musical concepts.
OPERA was invented in the Baroque era. In the years around
1600 a group of noblemen, poets and composers in Florence tried
to recreate the way the Ancient Greeks had performed their
dramas. They mistakenly thought they had been sung throughout
with accompanying instruments and so, through a mistake
OPERA was born.
An OPERA – A drama set to music, acted and sung by SOLOISTS
and CHORUS and accompanied by an ORCHESTRA
An OPERA contains several different types of music:
Recitative
Chorus
Aria
is used to tell
the story. In
recitative the
voice follows the
natural
rhythms and
rise and fall of
the text. The
CHORUSES
are used when
appropriate,
perhaps to
comment on
the action, and
can be for
male, female
or mixed
voices
(S.A.T.B.)
is the term used
for an operatic
song. An ARIA
is sung in the
more reflective
parts of the story
when one of the
characters thinks
about their
situation. The
words are most
important. The
accompaniment
is very simple,
just a bass note
and simple
chords.
music becomes
more important.
An aria in Ternary form, found in opera and
oratorio in the 17th and 18th centuries. The third
section is not written out but the instruction Da
capo (from the beginning) is given instead.
Ternary Form ABA
Da Capo literally translates
form italian as from the
head.
It has many
characteristics
similar to OPERA.
It uses the same range
of performers:
Mixed voice chorus
Orchestra
Soloists
a musical setting of a biblical story
The soloists take on the role of
characters in the drama and the
music makes use of some of the
same forms:
Recitative
Aria
Chorus
The main difference is that ORATORIO
is not acted out, but performed at a
concert and the CHORUS has a very
important role to play.
G.F. Handel (1785-1756)
He was born in
Halle
(Germany) and died
in London.
He is buried in
Westminster Abbey
Examples of his
works include The
Messiah and The
Water Music
(performed on a
boat while sailing
up the Thames
behind King George
I)
He travelled widely
in Europe as a
young man and
settled in England
where he composed
most of his famous
music.
Handel ’s London home
At 23/25 Brook Street in the heart of Mayfair, is
the house George Frideric Handel lived in for
thirty-six years, when he was at the height of his
success composing Messiah, Zadok the Priest, and
Music for the Royal Fireworks.
Two hundred and nine years later a young American musician, Jimi Hendrix largely
unknown in his own country but hoping to establish his name in England, moved in
with his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham. This was his home for the rest of his short life;
he died on 18th September 1970 aged twenty-seven.
Of the many ORATORIOS Handel composed
this is by far the most famous.
It is a very long work taking a whole
evening to perform – yet Handel completed
it in 24 days!
Handel
He began to write ORATORIOS while he was in England
when his OPERAS became less popular.
It premiered in 1743 in London
The Trumpet Shall Sound
ARIA for bass solo, trumpet
OBBLIGATO and strings
OBBLIGATO – a prominent solo part in
a piece of vocal music.
The ARIA opens with an instrumental
introduction featuring an OBBLIGATO
on the trumpet.
The trumpet writing shows what was
possible on the trumpet in the Baroque
Era. The opening arpeggio are the only
notes playable in the lower register,
while the scale passage shows greater
flexibility of the upper register.
We are going to listen to the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah. We
are going to listen for the texture of the piece.
Texture in music is like chocolate bars…
Unison - All parts
playing the same
notes at the same
time
Homophony - All
parts moving in
together at the same
time.
Polyphoney - All
parts moving
indpendatly at the
same time.
Hallelujah Chorus
An excellent example of a CHORUS for the whole choir
This chorus must be the most famous piece Handel wrote. It
demonstrates the variety of textures he liked to use in his choral
writing.
Notice how he writes a new musical phrase for each new phrase of
text.
The first Hallelujah’s are sung HOMOPHONICALLY
Hallelujah Chorus
The words ‘for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth’ are sung twice by all
the voices in UNISON. Different voices then take up the melody in turn
while the rest of the choir interject with lively ‘hallelujah’s’.
HOMOPHONIC writing then
returns on ‘the Kingdom of this
world’
Hallelujah Chorus
Another new theme is introduced for the words ‘and he shall reign
for ever and ever’ This theme is treated in POLYPHONIC
IMITATION as each voice enters in turn with the melody,
beginning with the bases.
The phrase ‘King of King and Lord of Lords’ is sung on one repeated
note in the sopranos, each time it is repeated it is sung at a higher
pitch as a sequence bringing the music to a tremendous climax
Finally, to bring the chorus to a close the ‘Hallelujah’s return.