Baroque Period
1600 - 1750
Part 2
Baroque means:
very fancy,
elaborate,
over decorated,
or ornamented.
Musical Life
• Music during the Baroque era was performed in:
Courts of the Nobility / Royalty
Churches
Opera Houses
• Churches and the Nobility controlled music during
this time.
One way for a musician to earn a living was to be
employed by Royalty. The nobleman, duke, or
king paid musicians to provide music exclusively
for events in his court. This is called the
patronage system.
A Court composer was employed
by Royalty full time to:
• Compose music for
entertainment in the
court
• Coordinate and
conduct musical
events held in the
court
• Give music lessons to
members of the royal
family
Court musicians were treated the same as other
servants. They entered the palace through
the back door and ate in the kitchen.
Another way for a musician to make a living
during the Baroque Period was to be employed by
the Church.
If you are a musician (composer or performer)
being paid a steady income by a king or the
church, what could be so bad about that?
Church musicians were very busy.
They were hired full time to:
• Compose (and copy)
music for each Sunday
service
• Compose (and copy)
music for special days of
the church calendar
• Rehearse and direct choirs
for each service
• Play the organ
• Rehearse and conduct
church orchestras
• Educate the boys in the
choir school
New! Opera Houses
The only place the general
public could go to hear
music, if they can afford it,
was the Opera House.
Opera in the Baroque Period
was all about:
• Elaborate sets
• Fancy costumes
• Virtuoso performers
(very highly skilled
singers &
instrumentalists)
Music of the
Baroque Period
What did it sound like?
Timbre (tam-ber): tone color;
the unique sound each voice and instrument makes
• Before the Baroque Period,
vocal music was most important
• During the Baroque Period,
instrumental music became as
important as vocal music
• Orchestras were small with
mostly string instruments and a
few woodwinds
More and more music was
written for these instruments:
• Flute
• Oboe
• Bassoon
• Trombone
• Trumpets and French horns
without valves
• Timpani - the only
percussion instrument used
in serious music
Why do you think no
music was written
during this time for
saxophone, drum set,
or electric guitar?
Popular keyboard instruments
of this time were the
clavichord (top photo) and the
harpsichord (bottom photo).
There were also great pipe
organs built in churches.
The harpsichord has a unique
sound. When a key is pressed
it causes a quill to pluck the
corresponding string. No
matter how hard or lightly the
key is pressed, the sound is
always the same.
What do you see on each
instrument that reminds you of
the architecture, clothing, or art
of the Baroque?
Listen to excerpts from each piece.
In your notes, write the instruments or voices
performing - the timbre.
• Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach
• Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by J.S. Bach
• “Autumn” from The Four Seasons by A. Vivaldi
• “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah by G.F. Handel
Melody: a series of pitches written one after the
other that is sung or played on an instrument
• During the Baroque period, the melody
written by composers was just a guide
for the performer
• Performers were expected to add their
own ornaments to the melody
• When performers were free to add their own
ornaments to a melody, they were able to show
off their talent.
• This is much like improvising in jazz music of
today.
• If you were the composer of a melody you
really liked, how would you feel about having
a performer you may or may not know
embellish your work?
Harmony: the result when two or more notes are
played or sung at the same time
• Monophonic music is a single melody. It can be performed by one
or many people.
- “Mono” means one.
- “Phonic” means something to do with sound.
• Homophonic music has a melody
and harmony parts that move together.
• Most hymns are homophonic.
- “Homo” means alike.
- “Phonic” means something to do
with sound.
Polyphonic music has two or
more melodies that weave
together to create harmony.
• “Poly” means more than one.
• A lot of music composed during
the Baroque period is
polyphonic.
• The fugue is a sophisticated
kind of polyphony. It is
composed from a single melody
layered on top of itself. In the
example to the right, there are 4
layers of the same melody.
(The melody doesn’t always
have to start on the same note.)