Announcement
• New web page
• www.colorado.edu/music/courses/em
us1832004
Exam on February 25
• Will cover Medieval, Renaissance,
and Baroque period
• Will also cover some basic musical
terminology
• Listening examples (refer to GUIDES
not CD tracks): 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15,
16, 17, 18, 20, and 21
• Bring a #2 pencil
Lutheran Cantatas
• Liturgical music for Protestant
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(Lutheran) service
Bach wrote one every week during
his first few years in Leipzig.
Bach’s works consist of several
movements (5-8)
with arias, recitatives and choruses
some based on a single tune that
appears throughout the movements
Cantata: A Mighty
Fortress
• Choral tune “A Mighty Fortress” …
• Created in the time of the
Reformation, by Martin Luther
himself
• hymn tune- in German rather than
Latin
• originally sung monophonically- then
in homophonic settings
• permeates the entire cantata by Bach
Cantata: A Mighty
Fortress
• Last movement: Das wort, sie sollen
(#8)
• Straightforward, homophonic setting
of the tune.
• Bach harmonized the original tune in
4-parts
• His son Wilhelm added the timpani
and trumpets … for grandeur
Cantata: A Mighty
Fortress
• First movement: chorale fugue
• Fugue: a type of imitation (very
systematic and formal way of writing
music)
• Fugue theme (called subject) is based
on chorale tune
Cantata: A Mighty
Fortress
• Second movement
• Duet for soprano and bass
• Also derived from chorale tune
George Frederic Handel
• Born in Germany
• Spent most of life in England
• Known for writing opera in Italian
• Also known for ORATORIOS
Oratorio
• Definition: a work for chorus, vocal
soloists, and orchestra on a sacred
subject (usually Old Testament
stories)
• Many of Handel’s were in English
• Most famous: Messiah
• Written for a charity concert in Dublin,
Ireland
Handel’s Messiah
• written in 1742
• Not a typical oratorio because it
doesn’t tell a single story
• in three parts, each articulating a part
of Christian doctrine.
• Christmas- prophesy
• Easter- suffering and death,
Resurrection
• Redemption
Messiah: first excerpt
• (skip the overture-start your listening
at track 21)
• Chorus “glory to God”
• Preceded by recitative (first with basso
continuo, then with orchestra)
• Examples of text painting in chorus?
Messiah: second excerpt
• “Rejoice greatly”
• Aria for soprano
• Form ABA (with orchestra
introduction)
• Virtuoso singing
• Listen for which words are
emphasized
• (Emphasis on certain words is a way of
interpreting the text)
Messiah: third excerpt
• Famous “Hallelujah!”
• Listen for the differences between
homophonic texture and fugue
• Fugue is an older style used for
serious subjects, a musical symbol of
tradition (eg. ”he shall reign forever
and ever”)
Antonio Vivaldi
• Spent much of his life in Venice, Italy
• Taught at a high-class orphanage for
girls
• Girls were highly trained musically
• Wrote hundreds of CONCERTOS for
them
Concerto
• Definition: work for soloist (or a
group of soloists) and orchestra
• Most of Vivaldi’s were written for his
students to play
• Most of Vivaldi’s were for stringed
instruments, but he also wrote
concertos for unusual instruments
like piccolo and mandolin
Concerto
• Famous example: The Four Seasons
• Group of concertos for violin
• Intended to depict winter, spring,
summer, and fall
Vivaldi, ‘Spring”
• From The Four Seasons
• Form: alternating orchestra part
(called RITORNELLO) with soloist
part (called EPISODE)
• Solo episodes depict scenes from
spring: birds, brook, thunder