BAROQUE ART & MUSIC
I.
BAROQUE ART & MUSIC
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. 1600-1750 dominate European art & music
a. known as the Age of Baroque
2. in large part Baroque art & architecture reflected search for power
a. characteristic of much of 17th c.
b. baroque churches & palaces featured
(1) richly ornamental facades
(2) sweeping staircases
(3) display and ostentation
3. word baroque originally meant irregular or misshapen
a. particularly w/reference to pearls
b. but applied by art historians in 19th c to describe type of architecture current in Europe during 17-18th
c. which they condemned as being contrary to classical principles
4. critics said new style did not observe rules of proportion
a. everything done according to the artist's whim not to established practices
5. & so Baroque a deprecatory term like medieval or Gothic
6. it has remained as label for this period but no longer used as term of derision
7. most historians agree age of baroque can be identified w/catholic counter-reformation
8. papacy & Jesuits encouraged growth of this new art movement
9. papal Rome birthplace of this movement
B. CHARACTERISTICS OF BAROQUE ART
1. an intensely emotional, exuberant art
2. appealed to motions rather than to intellect
3. art was to effect your senses & touch your soul
4. saints were made real in their ecstasies & sufferings
5. elaborately designed ceilings in churches intended to overwhelm feelings of beholder
6. As Sir Kenneth Clark has observed:
a. the Church gave imaginative expression to deep-seated human impulses
7. & it was to kindle the faith of ordinary churchgoers
8. while proclaiming the power & confidence of the reformed Catholic Church
9. some detractors said it churches' attempt to impress the masses
10. & induce them to forget the drabness of their own secular lives
11. developed in Catholic areas with special vigor
a. SPAIN
b. LATIN AMERICA
c. AUSTRIA
d. SOUTHERN GERMANY
12. aftermath of Thirty Years' War & battle on two fronts against French & Turks, delayed German-speaking
peoples from playing a leading part in history of modern culture until 18th c.
13. But after that not only Vienna & Berlin but many Germany princes with their own palaces & courts
became notable patrons of the arts
14. they were receptive to baroque style not only in art but in music coming from Italy
15. other areas of Europe had manifestations of Baroque art
a. France
b. England
c. Low Countries
d. but with different characteristics
II. BAROQUE ART IN ITALY
A. GIANLORENZO BERNINI 1598-1680
1. credited with the beginnings of the Baroque art
2. like Michelangelo 100 + years earlier
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versatile artist
Italian architect & sculpture & painter
but primarily a sculpture
he enjoyed patronage of 5 popes
at age of 62 invited by Louis XIV to Paris
monumental piazza in front St. Peters
Baldacchino for St. Peters
a. bronze edifice
b. above main altar under cathedral's dome
c. almost 100 ft high
d. 4 columns, partially fluted & wreathed w/vines
e. communicate their baroque energy to 4 angels standing guard
f. & 4 serpentine brackets that elevate orb & cross,
(1) symbols of triumph of church
10. sculpture of The Ecstasy of St. Teresa
a. in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome
b. to many the epitome of baroque art
B. CARAVAGGIO
1. Baroque painting began with Michelangelo Caravaggio (1573-1610)
2. Caravaggio's
a. SUPPER AT EMMAUS
III. MISCELLANEOUS BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE & SCULPTURE
A. CHURCHES
1. rich baroque altars & decorations filled the Catholic Churches
2. baroque churches intended to glorify not only God but also the ecclesiastical princes of time
3. Baroque churches
a. CHRISTOPHER WREN 1632-1723
b. Finest artist of this period
c. while trained as a mathematician he became Surveyor-General of King Charles II
d. & planned 55 churches
e. as London had the Great Fire in 1666 & much needed to be rebuilt
f. including St. Paul's Cathedral
g. world famous as where Princess Diana & Prince Charles were married
h. miraculously saved during Germany bombing of Britain WWII = Blitz
i. his style has been described as hybrid
(1) late baroque classicism
4. Baroque monasteries
a. Melk on Danube River
B. BAROQUE PALACES
1. as the gothic cathedrals represent the Age of Faith in the Middle Ages
2. so the Baroque palaces symbolize the Age of Absolutism
3. All the absolute rulers of Europe: France, Prussia, Russia, Austria built new edifices or rebuilt older ones
4. including the magnificent interiors
5. even those this movement began in Catholic Church
6. the secular rulers used it for their own purposes
7. intended to overall the people with monarch's strength
8. your text clearly discusses these ideas of palaces & power
9. & mentions places that I would like to show you slides of
10. to help you visualize what we are talking about
11. France
a. Versailles
(1) interior of this palace outstanding example of Baroque style
12. Austria
a. Schonbrunn
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b. Prince Eugene of Savoy's palace in Vienna
(1) Upper & Lower Belvedere
(a) 2 separate buildings joined by a lovely garden
(2) 1 of greatest egs of palace power using baroque beauty
13. Russia
IV. BAROQUE PAINTING IN FLANDERS (MODERN BELGIUM)
A. PETER PAUL RUBENS 1577-1640
1. painter
2. epitome of baroque & catholic
3. the exuberance of the people he painted
4. the sweeping movement of his compositions
5. & intensity of feeling conveyed by his use of color
6. make him one of the creators of the baroque art of the 17th c.
7. regarded as greatest of Flemish painters
8. born in Westphalia, Germany
a. his father had settled there when exiled from Flanders
9. after father's death mother took her children to
a. Antwerp, Flanders
10. aristocratic education
a. spoke 7 languages fluently
11. nearly as famous for his work as diplomat
12. delicate diplomatic missions entrusted to Rubens by Governors of Netherlands carried out while he was
painting portraits
a. activity he used as cover for his diplomatic work
13. associate of princes & scholars
14. court painter to Dukes of Mantua
15. friend of king of Spain & advisor on art collecting
16. painter to Charles I of England
17. painter to Marie de'Medici, queen of France, wife to Henry IV
18. court painter to Spanish governor of Flanders
19. baroque love of magnificent pomp to set off majesty of royalty
a. right to rule by lavish display
20. 1st wife Isabella Brandt
21. 2nd wife after 1st wife's death Helena Fourment
22. among his finest works are paintings of these beautiful women & their children
23. today most famous for his nudes
a. Rubenesque adjective in English
24. painted every type of pictures
a. portraits
b. biblical & classical themes
c. hunting themes
d. landscapes
25. his mythological scenes all have vibrancy of human life
26. while at same time his scenes of human life have a mythological tone
27. Marie de Medici commissioned Rubens to paint a cycle memorializing & glorifying her career & her late
hus Henry IV
a. 21 CANVASES
28. so many orders for large paintings he set up huge studio in his home in Antwerp
29. by now he usually did only sketches for composition, the principal figures & finishing strokes
B. ANTHONY VAN DYKE 1599-1641
1. another Flemish painter
2. studied under Rubens
3. became court painter to James I & Charles I in England
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V. PROTESTANT ART IN NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND)
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. how different Holland art was
2. just north of catholic Flanders
3. protestant - Calvinistic
4. Dutch never accepted the full baroque style
5. puritanical towards religious art, sculptural
6. churches swept clear of images, etc
7. only acceptable images were Holland & the people themselves
a. exactness, w/no embellishments
b. middle class burghers & growing wealth & social positions
8. must keep in mind that so many Dutch painters all trying to make a living
9. & so good paintings numerous & so cheap
10. artists lived in poverty
11. were dependent on patronage of the bourgeoisie & shopkeepers buying their work
B. FRANS HALS 1580-1666
1. Dutchman
2. died in a poorhouse
3. noted for his vigorous portraits of common Dutch people
C. JAN VERMEER 1632-75
1. painted comparatively few pictures, working slowly & w/utmost care
2. his subjects are typically a single figure in a Dutch room
3. again showing the Protestant faith that did not allow for images other than Holland & people
4. engaged in some simple task
5. often window at left or open door through which light illuminates subject
6. for Vermeer also master of light
7. died broke too
D. REMBRANDT VAN RIJN 1606-69
1. born in Leiden, Netherlands
2. made studies of every sort of person in be seen in streets
a. beggars
b. prosperous merchants
c. soldiers
d. cripples
3. when had no other model painted or sketched himself
a. estimated he painted between 50-60 portraits of himself
4. by 1631 work so well known moved to Amsterdam
5. became foremost portrait painter of day
6. no greater master of light
7. he seems to light up not only faces & figures of his subjects but their innermost thoughts as well
8. during later yrs of his life lost some of his popularity & patrons
9. some due to impoverishment of northern Europe after thirty years war
10. as colorful style of Van Dyck became fashionable
11. but many people object to his subjects he painted
12. thought he should follow painters of Italy & paint subjects from history & mythology of Greece & Rome
13. instead of Dutch themes
14. also said he was too independent to cater to popular taste
15. lastly he was bankrupt, house & prized possessions of other paintings sold
a. last 13 yrs spent this way
16. produced 700 pictures
17. self portraits
a. 3 of them
18. night watch
a. 29 city guardsmen awaiting command to fall in line
19. Saskia, his wife who was his model for many pictures
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a. but died while still young after only 8 yrs married to Rembrandt
Mill
a. 1 of most famous paintings in world
b. his masterpiece of landscape painting
c. had great influence on later British artists such as Constable & particularly Turner
Girl with a broom
a. probably a servant girl in his household
His mother
Anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp
Woman bathing in a stream
not accepted as Rubens was
many felt he was concerned w/ugly & ignorant of color
not until 19th c saw his genius
epitome of Protestantism
VI. SPANISH BAROQUE PAINTING
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. in Spain painting & architecture declined in quality as much the same time as the kingdom's political
greatness came to an end
B. EL GRECO Domenico Theotocopuli c. 1548-1614
1. A Greek settled in Spain
2. became leading painter of Spanish mysticism with his distorted figures which expressed style of
Mannerism
3. use strong colors painting ethereal elongated figures which are drawn upwards toward Heaven in a
powerful and mystical way
4. some say the most Spanish of all Spanish painters
5. as his broad humanist education combined with earnest Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation
6. placed him in a unique place to interpret the complex & contradictory spirit of Spain
a. View of Toledo
b. Adoration of the Shepherds
C. BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO c 1617-82
1. notable Spanish painter
2. famous for his religious subjects
3. my favorite Madonna & Child
D. DIEGO VELAZQUEZ 1599-1660
1. outstanding Spanish painter of 17th c.
2. contemporary of Cervantes
3. court painter to Philip IV
a. Philip the IV
4. painted dwarfs, noblemen, humble working people, kings, mythology
5. which belies the fact he spent his life in court circles
6. most famous painting
a. Maids of Honor
b. name given to this painting in 19th c.
c. originally called The Empress with her Ladies-Waiting and a Dwarf
d. in 18th c. known as The Family
e. Philip IV and wife Queen Mariana in portrait at back
f. Infanta Margaret
g. artist himself in seen painting a picture
VII.MUSIC IN BAROQUE PERIOD
A. GENERAL REMARKS
1. 1 of most fertile & inventive periods of western music was Baroque era
2. Baroque music is continually full of surprises
3. Baroque music like Baroque art & architecture emerged around 1600 in Italy
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as an artistic expression of the Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church
Again to regain protestants &
to defend against anyone leaving the church
1st important figure in history of Baroque music was Italian Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643
he found that deep human emotions difficult to convey when members of a chorus singing against each
other in music of late Ren.
9. predictable techniques of Renaissance music were abandoned
10. for him dramatic intensity becomes greatest when music combined with theater
11. remarkably with no classical models to draw upon,
12. Monteverdi virtually single-handedly invented new musical form
a. opera
13. to give his opera singers even greater emotional power he added instrumental accompaniments
a. earning for Monteverdi "father of instrumentation"
14. within a generation operas being performed all leading cities of Italy
15. opera plots of Monteverdi and others while based on classical mythology and drama
16. were transformed in Rome into allegorical works with a moralizing Catholic tendency
a. into a kind of religious drama
b. this variation of opera was baptized oratorio
17. oratorio reached its artistic culmination & greatest popularity ironically only after the great Protestant
masters,
a. especially Handel took hold of it
18. Baroque music was an international movement like Baroque art
a. French, Italian, German composers
b. traveled Europe, employed by rulers
19. not just music composed for Church but for secular occasions
a. Music for Louis XIV
20. with Monteverdi in the vanguard
21. Italy took the lead in Baroque music
22. following in the paths laid out by the musicians of the Renaissance
23. In Rome, Frescobaldi (1583-1644) released the dramatic potentialities of most Baroque instrument, the
organ
a. attracted thousands to his recitals at St. Peters
24. period where most forms of instrumental music originated such as
a. sonata
b. concerto
c. fugue
d. early symphony
25. beginnings of orchestra
a. when composers first began to specify which instruments were to play what music
26. beginnings when composers began to write Italian words such as forte, allegro to tell performers how to
play their music
27. period when violin family reached its highest development
a. & violin became queen of instruments
28. other instruments of Baroque period, viols, cellos, bass, bassoon, sackbut (forerunner of trombone),
harpsichord, recorders
29. it is the period that opened doors to all later music up to its present day
30. for long time many people thought this era was a poor descendant of Renaissance period
31. you probably know more Baroque than you imagine
a. Mouret: Rondeau - Masterpiece Theatre
i) Resurgence of interest today in Baroque
b. albums entitled Go For Baroque
c. Portland Baroque Orchestra
B. Vivaldi ANTONIO VIVALDI 1675-1741
1. 1 of most prolific & inventive of Baroque composers
2. becomes teacher, conductor & director of music at music conservatory of Ospedale della Pieta in Venice
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conservatory like others in Italy home for orphan girls
talented ones given thorough instruction in music
in return performed at important church services
in cities where musical attention centered around opera
performances at charity schools fulfilled purposes much like those of present-day choirs & symphony
orchestras
8. many of most famous Italian musicians w/conservatories at one time or another
9. for this orchestra of young girls that Vivaldi turned out his more than 400 concertos
10. he always trying to keep up w/demand for new material just as Bach did in writing his weekly cantatas
11. & his present fame is due to his instrumental music
12. always looking for new sounds he was one of the 1st composers to make use of the newly invented
clarinet
13. some of the nb of his concertos is due to the influence they had on J.S. Bach
14. Vivaldi interested in program music & 1 of most popular works is group of 4 concertos he The Four
Seasons
a. where he portrays his feelings about spring, summer, fall, & winter
b. most of his music remains unpublished
15. FOUR SEASONS
a. Spring
C. JOHANN PACHABEL 1653-1706
1. created brilliant toccatas which served to show off the technique of the organist
2. had influence on J.S. Bach also
3. but his most beloved today
4. Canon in D
a. my favorite
D. GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL 1685-1759
1. born in central Germany same year as Bach
2. lived in Italy & England
3. eventually became musician for Elector of Hanover in NW Germany
4. but went to England on leave of absence where he was well received
5. he then went back to Germany & after appropriate interval got another leave of absence & returned to
England
6. he stayed so long he feared to return to Germany
7. fortunately fate intervened
8. & his Elector became King of England when Anne died without issue
a. he was a great grandson of James I
9. wrote more than 40 operas
a. at exact peak of London craze for Italian style
b. now being revived
10. including Xerxes
a. famous for Handel's Largo
11. The Messiah
a. greatest of all oratorios
b. used themes from the Bible
c. Handel wrote the music in 24 days
d. for over a century now throughout English speaking word churches & choral groups perform it every
year at Christmas time
E. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
1. German composer & organist
2. Bach family furnished noted musicians to Germany for 6 generations
3. Johann Sebastian soon recognized as greatest of all of them
4. as a young choirboy he spent all his leisure hours at the organ, the clavichord and the harpsichord.
5. He traveled many miles on foot to hear the greatest organists of the day &
6. to study under them.
7. the musical influences on his life again show the internationalism of Baroque music
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8. for his music is a combination of German, French & Italian ideas
9. In later years his duties as choirmaster in Leipzig made demands that might have kept 2 musicians busy.
10. Yet Bach found time to compose chorales & pieces for stringed instruments & the organ that became a
powerful force in the development of music.
11. in fact for years he composed music for the weekly service
12. Some of his finest cantatas were composed for his wife and daughter to sing
13. 1 of greatest organists & clavier players of his day
14. he was the 1st to teach musicians to use all five fingers in playing keyed instruments
15. baroque style in music reached its zenith w/his compositions
16. jesu joy of man's desiring
17. Toccata & Fugue in D Minor