The Baroque Era
1600-1750
Expressing Emotion
• Expressing emotion was the highlight of the
baroque era.
• Art and music were closely linked to the different
affections that humans feel.
• The affections: Joy, Love, Sorrow, Anger, Fear,
Excitement.
• Descartes: Once these affections were engaged
by stimulation to the senses, they conveyed their
motion to the soul, bringing out specific
emotions.
Expressing Emotion
• Artists focused on physical action and
psychological reaction.
• Judith Slaying Holofernes – Gentileschi
• http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc8wd2
YD781rq50oko1_1280.jpg
General Characteristics
• Common goal: Express or represent a wide
range of feelings vividly.
• Rather than expressing personal feelings, they
attempted to represent generic human
emotions, or the affections.
• The motion from dissonance to consonance
gave meaning to music. Helped release the
affections.
Music in Venice
• We begin to see the rise of musical extravagance.
• Think wealthy and uppity. Along with music,
Venice produced architects whose buildings were
built from multicolored materials and varied
paints.
• Explored the idea of “semi-choirs” built from Late
Renaissance composers. Now alternated 3 or
even 4 whole choirs.
• Homophony trumped polyphony as full choirs
answered one another in call and response.
• Rise of varied instrumentation – basso continuo.
Rhythm and Meter
• Rhythms become more definite, regular, and insistent.
• A single rhythm or similar rhythms can be heard
throughout a piece. What does this remind you of?
• Compare to floating rhythms of Renaissance music as they
change from section to section only as the imitative
polyphony motifs change.
• So what brings out this change? We now see the use of bar
lines. Music was still written in phrases and not measures
until this point.
• We begin to see the use of meter, and thus metric accents.
• Giovanni Gabrieli – O Magnum Mysterium
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRgaV4uWgRo
Texture
• Basso Continuo – A bass instrument and a chordal instrument to
accompany baroque music. Often a cello and a harpsichord or
organ.
• Bass part is played in a low instrument as well as a chordal
instrument. The latter reinforces the bass line as well as the
harmonic structure.
• Basso Ostinato – A repeated bass line in a piece of music. Bass plays
a single short melody many times, accompanied buy the chordal
instrument.
• “Dido’s Lament” by Henry Purcell
• Listen for the Basso Ostinato.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_HVKuPRHrE
• And there’s this…
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
Functional harmony
• Renaissance music had still used medieval modes.
• Baroque musicians developed the modern
major/minor system. A sense of tonality grew much
stronger.
• Composers developed a new way of handling all
chords. The chords now played a special role in relation
to the tonic chord. Now, when a chord follows another,
it does so in a purposeful and predictable way.
• Harmonies no longer tend to wander and detour, but
rather give us something to expect.
Greek Tragedy Reborn
• Early Opera composers hoped to revive ethical
power from ancient tragedy.
• Girolamo Mei (1519-1594) – Main motivator to
review Greek Tragedy. Spoke with colleagues in
Florence, Italy, to communicate his ideas for
modern adaptation of these ideas.
• Those interested, held an academy (gatherings) at
his palace in Florence to gain perspective from
musicians on the topic. Vincenzo Galilei was one
of them.
Vincenzo Galilei
• Criticized theory and how chords were put
together and proposed the union of music and
poetry through the idea of monody.
• Monody: All styles of solo singing.
• Argued that the emotional message of the text
was impaired by polyphony.
• Made his case by stating that as some lines
ascended, others descended, as well as some
moved slowly and others moved quickly,
contradicting the emotional message.
Baroque Aria vs. Madrigal
• Giulio Caccini: Compiled Le Nuove Musiche, a 1602 collection of
solo songs (monody) with basso continuo. Contained Arias and
Madrigals.
• Aria: Strophic
• Madrigal: Through composed
• Vedro 'l mio sol – Caccini (madrigal)
• Each line of poetry is set to a phrase, and ends in a cadence. This
allows him to shape his melody according to the natural
accentuation of the text.
• Embellishments: Added notes to ornament the melody.
• It was often expected that singers would embellish the melody
themselves; however, he would often notate it do demonstrate
exactly how he wanted.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-DaH6zpLjs
Types of music: Opera
• A drama presented in music with the
characters singing rather than speaking.
• Combined many different arts: Music, drama,
poetry, dancing, scene design, and special
effects.
• Special effect designers, would be tasked with
creating brilliant machines, shipwrecks,
volcanoes, and all kinds of natural and
supernatural phenomena.
Types of music: Opera
• Originally court entertainments put on to
celebrate royal weddings and other occasions of
that sort.
• 1637 the first public opera house was opened in
Venice. Incredible step for the music as an art
form movement.
• Opera was the main form of entertainment.
Imagine rock concerts today.
• Monteverdi – Orfeo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oSsnrtQeVw
Types of music: Recitative
• Italian for recitation – a declamation or
reading aloud.
• Technique of declaiming words musically in a
heightened, theatrical manner.
• The singing voice closely follows the free
rhythm of a highly emotional speech.
• Mirrors and exaggerates the natural ups and
downs of speech.
Types of music: Recitative
• Accompaniment is usually kept at a minimum. Allows
the singer to interpret the dialogue as he/she pleases.
Ensures that the words can be heard clearly.
• The goal of recitative is to release dialogue quickly and
so that they may be heard clearly and be
uninterrupted.
• Overall, think of someone speaking rather than singing
in an opera. Text between actors.
• Handel’s Messiah: Listen for the declamation of the
text out of rhythm.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCrL-Pbd5iE
Types of music: Aria
• Extended piece for a solo singer that has much more
musical elaboration and coherence that a passage of
recitative.
• Vocal line is more melodic, rhythm more consistent,
and accompaniment is much more involved.
• Uses: The singer thinks over feelings at their leisure,
instead of reacting moment by moment. Like when
someone is about to die…
• Handel – Aria from Alcina
• Listen for the intricacy of the vocal line and
accompaniment.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sm4NTugPAc
Claudio Monteverdi
• Italian Baroque composer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Orfeo
• Innovative and imaginative. Mainly composed vocal works –
madrigals, operas, and sacred pieces.
• Born in Cremona, Northern Italy
http://www.vacationstogo.com/images/ports/maps/979.gif
• By the age of 23, had already composed two collections each of
sacred music and madrigals.
• Became music director at St. Mark’s basilica in Venice in 1613.
http://www.shedexpedition.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/04/inside-of-St-Mark%E2%80%99sBasilica.jpg
• Through his career, wrote 250 madrigals in 9 collections.
• Transformed the genre from witty and polyphonic pieces of the
renaissance, to powerful language and emotionally charged
dissonance. Helped to create the dramatic Baroque style.
Claudio Monteverdi
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Hor Che'l Ciel e la Terra: Madrigal
Listen to the light accompaniment. Through Composed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPhWDKT2gSk
L’orfeo: Opera
What type of accompaniment to you expect to hear from a
Baroque composer?
• Synopsis: Orfeo and Euridice get married. Euridice gets a
fatal snakebite; dies. Orfeo travels to the underworld and
attempts to bring her back to earth. Hades agrees on the
condition that Orfeo will not look back to see if Euridice is
following. Of course he does and she is sent back to the
Underworld.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mD16EVxNOM
Oratorio vs. Opera
• A sacred drama that combines a narrative, dialogue, and
commentary.
• Often performed in the Lenten season. When is this season in
liturgy?
• Like operas, oratorios contain recitatives, arias, duets, and
instrumental preludes.
• Differences:
• 1. Subject matter was religious.
• 2. Seldom staged.
• 3. Action was described, rather than mimed.
• 4. Often had a narrator.
• 5. Chorus could take many different roles, such as participating in
dramatic dialogue and meditating on narrative events.
Carissimi’s Jephte
• Synopsis: Jephte, leader of the Israelites, vows that if
the lord gives him victory over the Ammonites in the
upcoming battle, he will sacrifice the first thing he sees
on his return home.
• When he arrives home, he first sees his daughter.
Oops.
• She sings songs of rejoicing, until the have a dialogue in
recitative, and finds out about her fate.
• She accepts it and goes up to the mountain and sings a
lament.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSz_dtZrv58
Johann Sebastian Bach
• Trained as a Violinist and Organist, but organ
music first attracted his attention as a
composer.
• Once traveled 225 miles on foot to hear the
famous 70 year-old Buxtehude play.
• Became a church organist, and composed for
them, excelling in chorale settings.
Bach: Toccata and Fugues
• Toccata and Fugues: A prelude and a fugue.
• Most of Bach’s compositions in this style were
composed for Organ.
• Technically difficult and virtuosic.
• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnuq9PX
bywA
Bach: Chorale Settings
• Wrote over 200 Chorales for Organ.
• Compiled a manuscript collection called
Orgelbuchlein (Little Organ Book), containing 45
short chorale “preludes”.
• The purpose of these was to introduce the
chorale to the congregation before they sang.
• Durch Adams Fall (Through Adam’s Fall) – Bach
• Top line carries chorale tune. Bottom parts depict
the…fall.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Ck0ij_I84
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
• Two cycles (books) of 24 preludes, each.
• Clavier – Keyboard
• One pair in each of the 12 major and minor keys.
Arranged in rising chromatic order from C to B.
• Arranged to demonstrate the possibilities of playing in
all 12 keys.
• Pedagogical aim as well. Each prelude gives the player
a different type of performance convention, as well as
various compositional techniques.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFohjyRtKwU
Bach: Suites
• German tradition contains four dance
movements: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande,
and Gigue.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk5vlboq
H4I
Bach: Concertos
• Most well known orchestral works are the 6
Brandenberg concertos.
• Concerto – Main idea comes from a solo
instrument, backed by an accompaniment.
• Dedicated to Christian Ludwig in 1721,
Margrave (military commander of
Brandenberg).
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1M2H
aEbI4
George Frederic Handel
• Gained immense popularity by being a composer
for the people. Not just for a royal court.
• It is the public the gives popularity, not the court.
• Music for the Royal Fireworks – Given a public
rehearsal in 1749. 12,000 people in attendance.
Stopped London traffic.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqJ8mED1
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Handel: Royal Academy of Music
• Academy made up of 60 wealthy gentleman.
Main goal was to produce Italian operas.
• Handel was the music director.
• His job was to travel all over Europe and recruit
singers.
• Some of Handel’s most famous operas were
composed for the Royal Academy.
• Subjects were usually of various time periods –
For example, Roman Heroes, or tales of magic
and adventure about the crusades.
Handel: Oratorios
• Use of chorus: Much more prominence than
before. Wrote in a style that was much more
simple than Bach.
• Alternated fugal subjects with blocks of
harmony and set held notes against quicker
rhythms.
• Orchestra often doubled chorus parts. Made it
much more enjoyable to sing. Is this why they
still stand the test of time?
Handel’s Messiah
• Premiered in Dublin, Ireland. Would be come Handel’s
most famous work.
• Tells the Christian idea of redemption using texts
drawn from the bible. Begins with the Old Testament
prophecies and ends with his resurrection.
• Appropriate during the time of Lent. Also performed
during Advent.
• Includes a mixture of compositional writing, from
recitatives, to arias, to choral fugues.
• For Unto Us A Child is Born – Listen for Fugues leading
into homophony.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc
Listening
• Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
• Describe what you hear. One half page
• Instrumentation, dynamics, shape of phrases,
tone color, expression, etc…
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyyFrg4
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