General Music Information
Dynamics/Volume
Pianissimo (
pp) very soft
p
Piano ( ) soft
Mezzo piano (mp) moderately soft
Mezzo forte (mf) moderately loud
f
Forte ( ) loud
ff
Fortissimo ( ) very loud
• Crescendo (cresc.) = gradually get louder <
• Decrescendo (decresc.) gradually get softer
• Diminuendo (dim.) gradually get softer
Musical symbols
• ♭ = lowers the pitch of a note (flat)
• ♮ = cancels a sharp or flat (natural)
• ♯ = raises the pitch of a note (sharp)
>
Tempo (fast or slow)
• Very slow:
• Slow:
• Moderate
• Fast
Largo (broad)
Grave (grave, solemn)
Lento
Adagio (leisurely)
Andante (walking pace)
Moderato
Allegretto
Allegro
• Very fast:
Vivace (vivacious)
Presto (very quick)
Prestissimo
(as fast as possible)
• Modifications
– Molto = very
– Meno = less
– Poco = a little
– Ma non troppo = not too much
Periods of Music History
1600-1750: Baroque
1750-1825: Classical
1820-1900: Romantic
1900 to present: Modern
***Remember that style periods will overlap;
the new will exist side by side with the old.
Baroque Music
1600-1750
• The Baroque Period saw a gradual
development of a significant body of
instrumental music.
– Makers of great string instruments: the
Stradivari family.
– Improvements in the construction of wind and
brass instruments.
– By the end of the era, instrumental music
surpassed vocal music.
– Emphasis on secular music (secular = nonreligious)
Keyboard Music
• Written for the harpsichord and the organ.
• Titles describe the style and the character of
the piece.
– Toccata implies a piece full of scale
passages, rapid runs and trills, and massive
chords.
– Fantasia is characterized by displays of
virtuosity.
***Virtuosity is playing technique.
---Prelude introduces another piece of music or
a group of musical pieces.
• The Fugue is one of the greatest intellectual
musical structures of the Baroque era.
– Polyphonic development of a melodic phrase. This
melodic phrase is called the SUBJECT.
– It is composed for a certain number of voice parts.
Two-voice fugue, three-voice fugue.
– The development of each voice part will vary from
one musical piece to another one.
– The initial section of just about every fugue follows
a plan that is more or less standard. This beginning
section is called the EXPOSITION.
General types of Baroque
Instrumental Music.
• The major stylistic feature of much baroque
instrumental music is an unbroken interweaving
of melody and harmony which creates a steady
flow of music from beginning to end.
• The 3 major types of compositions written
during the baroque period are the SUITE,
SONATA, and CONCERTO.
• SUITE: a series of movements based on a
particular dance rhythm and style that is usually
played on the harpsichord.
– Examples include:
– Allemande (Germany)
– Courante (France)
– Sarabande(Spain)
– Gigue/Jig(England/Ireland)
– Gavotte (France)
– Minuet (France)
---The dance movements were not intended to
accompany actual dancing.
---The composer was trying to capture the
rhythm and character or flavor of the dances.
• Sonata-A multi-movement work the number of
which varied greatly from piece to piece.
• There were two types of sonatas written during
the Baroque era.
– Sonata da chiesa: church sonata
---4 movements
--- slow-fast-slow-fast
• Sonata da camera: chamber sonata
written in the form of a dance suite.
– This type of sonata would eventually develop
into the Solo sonata which would be widely
used in the late baroque period.
• Solo Sonata:1 solo instrument with continuo.
• The solo instrument is usually the violin.
• Continuo: a continuous line of bass or harmony
that is usually played by a bass, cello,or
harpsichord.
***The Classical Sonata would develop from
characteristics of both types of sonatas.
• Concerto-a musical composition for 1 or more
solo performers & a larger group of players.
***It works on the contrast between a large and
small body of sound.
– It usually has 3 movements
– 2 types: Concerto grosso and Solo concerto.
*Concerto Grosso:multi-movement work.
-Small group of solo instruments called the
CONCERTINO contrasted with the full ensemble
called the RIPIENO.
• Standardized into the following form:
– 3 movements:Allegro-Adaigo-Allegro.
– There was a return to the main melody with
other melodies in between other melodies or
fragments of melodies. This return is called
RITORNELLO. Means “return”
• Solo concerto: basically the same as the
concerto grosso with the difference of a
solo instrument contrasting with a full
instrumental ensemble.
– Concertino=solo instrument
– Ripieno=full ensemble
***Antonio Vivaldi wrote many solo concerto
that influenced both Bach and Handel.
***Arcangelo Corelli established the basic
outlines of the concerto grosso.
-Music from the baroque era reflects
the principles that were popular during the
Enlightment,so the music tends to be
rather cold and intellectual.
The Patronage System
• Artisans (musicians and artists) could only
make a living by being employed by a
wealthy aristocrat or some member of the
nobility.
• The wealthy aristocrats and members of
the nobility were the only people who had
money in that time period: the middle class
was still very small and didn’t have enough
money to spend on art or music.
• The public couldn’t afford to pay for
performances and what they could pay
wasn't enough for artisans to live on.
• So, the artisans relied on the support of
the wealthy. These wealthy people were
called PATRONS.
• There were certain positive and negative
aspect of this system, but it did allow
musicians the artistic and financial
freedom to compose.
• Negative Aspects:
– Musicians had to have permission to travel.
– All music composed under the employ of a
patron became the property of the patron.
– The artisan was dependent on the patron for
support (no matter how famous he became)
– The musician /composer couldn't leave for
another position unless it was under bad
circumstances and then another position
wasn’t always open to the
musician/composer.
– The musician /composer could be “loaned
out” to other people; it looked good for the
patron to have a “celebrity" in his employ.
• Positive Aspects:
– Financial security for the composer and his
family.
– Lived better than other servants in the employ
of the patron.
– Composers children were afforded
opportunities that other servants children
were not.
– Artistic freedom to compose only has to
please to patron, his family and guests.)
– Could travel to study with other composers.
• The patronage system reached its height
in the Classical period but lost its influence
after the American and French
Revolutions and the Bonaparte domination
of Europe(“Empire Period”).
• By the middle 1800’s the patronage
system was totally dismantled.
– The wealthy middle class had replaced the
aristocrats and nobility as the audience for
music and opera.
– Composers and musicians could make a
living off of their works in the mid-1800’s.
Johann
Sebastian
Bach
(1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach
German
• He was the most distinguished member of a
musical family that went back four generations.
• His father taught him to play string instruments
and another relative taught him how to play the
organ.
• He was orphaned when he was ten and lived
with an older brother who continued his musical
education on the organ, harpsichord).
• He also was a soprano in a boys choir and was
very good in school
• He was offered a scholarship to a secondary
school which was a great privilege in that time
period.
• Bach, like other musicians of the period, was
part of the patronage system
• He relied on appointed posts for his income and
to further his musical career.
• Bach was first employed as a church organist
and wrote mainly religious music (organ and
choral pieces)
• After being caught between feuding faction
within the Lutheran church, Bach took a job as
a concertmaster for the duke of Weimar
• While in Weimar, he composed mainly secular
music.
• Weimar constituted his first major creative
period (9 years)
– During this period his talent as a composer grew
through out Germany.
• He expected to be named a Kapellmeister
(chapelmaster), but he was passed over in
favor of another person.
• He left Weimar for a small town (Anhalt-Cothen)
where he concentrated on secular music
• He went “on tour" to perform for the public and
aristocrats of Germany
• He wrote most of his orchestral music during
this period, including his Brandenburg
Concertos (6)
• They were dedicated to the Margrave of
Brandenburg; Brandenburg is the area around
Berlin, Germany (northern Germany.)
• His first wife died during this period(1720—
Maria Barbara Bach)
• He remarried and had a large family.
– Anna Magdalena(2nd wife)
– 10 children—4 from Maria and 6 from Anna
– Anna actually gave birth to 13 children.
• Bach held other posts throughout Germany as
music director for churches
• His final post was in the city of Leipzig(17231750)
• He raised the children and supervised their
musical education.
• Three of his sons were well known musicians
– Wilhelm Friedemann
– Carl Philipp Emanuel
– Johann Christian
• He went blind in his old age, but still managed
to compose music with the help of his family
members.
• His last composition was written just a few days
before his death(“Before Thy Throne, My God, I
Stand”)
• The baroque period ends with the death of
J.S.Bach
• A bitter feud broke out between the children of
the first marriage & their step-mother, Anna
Magdalena.
• They took most of the Bach’s compositions &
assets, leaving her & their half-brothers &
sisters almost penniless.
• Anna Magdalena put together a “notebook” of
Bach’s compositions in her possession & sold it
with the help of her friends.
• She was able to provide for her children with
the “Anna Magdalena’s Notebook.”
George
Frederic
Handel
(16851759)
George Frederic Handel
German/English
• From a prominent family connected with
the duke of Saxony.
• Trained in a variety of musical instruments
as a child organ, Harpsichord, Violin,
Oboe
• His father wanted him to be university
educated, but he left to study music in
Hamburg.
• His first opera was a huge success Almira
• He left for Italy where he studied opera writing
for 3 years
• Returned to Germany; took a job as the musical
director to the electoral court of Hanover
(Germany)
• Left Germany to study in England where he
became the musical director to Queen Anne;
• When she died, his former employer, the
Elector, George Ludwig became the King of
England—George I
• Italian opera soon became passe (out of
fashion) with the English so Handel turned to
writing oratorio.
• His most famous was Messiah (1742)was
premiered in Dublin where it was not very
successful.
• At the London premiere, Messiah was called
brilliant.
• It so moved the King that it helped Handel keep
his job as court composer
Messiah
• Oratorio: religious opera
• Operas & other theatrical performances were
banned during Lent, so composers wrote
religious operas so people could have
entertainment.
• The libretto is based on Biblical prophecy,
mostly from the Old Testament.
– Libretto: text of an opera or musical
• The events in the life of Christ are represented
symbolically rather realistically.
• The oratorio is in three parts comprising 53
movements
– Movement: an independent section of a larger
composition.
• Part I: prophecy of the coming Messiah & his
birth.
• Part II: sacrifice of Christ & salvation of
humanity
• Part III: certainty of eternal life
• The most known of all the movements is the
“Hallelujah” chorus; King George II was so
moved that he stood during its performance, a
precedent that most audiences follow still.
• Handel also wrote Water Music for the king’s
barge parties down the River Thames.
– Written in the form of the Suite
– Dance movements (gavotte, allemande, etc.)
• He also wrote Royal Fireworks Music which
was to celebrate the Peace of Westphalia
• Zadok the Priest is one of 4 coronation anthems
written by Handel to be used in King George I’s
coronation as king of England.
• It is still used today during the anointing of the
king or queen.
Antonio
Vivaldi
(1678-1741)
Antonio Vivaldi
Italy
• Vivaldi was an ordained priest.
• He spent much of his time writing religious
music especially for the Violin.
• He is best known for the development of the 3
movement Concerto pattern: Allegro-AdagioAllegro)
• Influenced all the composers of his generation
(especially Bach)
• He wrote 450 Concertos—200 for violin
• Concerto: A type of baroque music. The main
principle is the contrast between a large group
of sound & a small group of sound.
• His most famous concerti are The Four
Seasons.
• He died in relative poverty and obscurity in
Vienna Austria.
• His music was rediscovered in the mid-19th
century.
The Four Seasons
(Le Quattro Stagnione)
• Solo Concerto—Violin is the solo instrument
• Example of Program Music which began in
Baroque Era.
– Program Music: music that tries to depict feelings,
sounds, or images.
– This Concerto follows the Fast-Slow-Fast outline
– Different from other concertos because each
movement is preceded by a sonnet that describes
that particular season.
Study Guide
• Identify the significance of each (3 pts)
– Concerto
– Stradivari
– George I of England
– Wilhelm Friedmann, CPE Bach, Johann Christian.
– Program Music
– Kappelmeister
– Allegro-Adagio-Allegro
– “Water Music,” “Music for Fireworks” “Messiah”
– Continuo
– “Before Thy Throne…”
Review Questions
1. Study the biographical information; there will
be characteristics from each composer’s life in
matching form.
What is the libretto of an opera?
2. Which composer established the basic outline
of the concerto?
3. Which composer was the master of the fugue?
4. What type of composition introduced another
piece or a group of pieces.
5. What types of music were written during the
Baroque period?
6. What 2 keyboard instruments were popular in
the Baroque Period?
7. What is a sonata da chiesa?
8. What is the function of the ripieno?
9. What is the beginning section of the fugue
called?
10.What type of music was NOT written during
the Baroque period?
11. How was ritornello form used in the concerto
grosso?
2 Discussion Questions:
• Explain the patronage system (10 points)
• Pick a type of instrumental music popular in the
baroque period and explain it. (10 points)
• Patron: A wealthy person that supports or
employs artists or musicians. This system
helped the artisans create works.
• Concerto: type of baroque music; contrast
between a small group of sound & a large
group of sound; Vivladi created the pattern; 3
movements, F-S-F