Chapter 7
LATE BAROQUE MUSIC
BACH AND HANDEL
Craig Wright’s Listening to Music, 4/edition
Timeline
Late Baroque Aesthetic
• Refinement rather than innovation
– Old forms polished and perfected
– Culmination of Baroque style
• Drama through contrast
– Large blocks of sound placed in opposition
– Musical forms provide framework for contrast
Late Baroque Musical Style
• Melody
– Principle of continuing development
– Long, expansive, and irregular phrases
– Melodic sequence
• Rhythm
– The most distinctive and exciting element of Baroque music
– Strong, recognizable sense of meter
• Harmony
– Continuation of major and minor keys, basso continuo
– Constant rate of harmonic change a new feature
• Texture: Return of counterpoint
Late Baroque Orchestra
• Modern symphony orchestra emerges
– Rarely more than 25 players
– More instruments added for festive occasions
Late Baroque Orchestra
• Modern symphony orchestra emerges
• Strings form the core of the ensemble
– Violins replace viols
– Multiple string players on each part
Late Baroque Orchestra
• Modern symphony orchestra emerges
• Strings form the core of the ensemble
• Woodwinds
– Oboes or flutes
– Bassoon
Late Baroque Orchestra
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Modern symphony orchestra emerges
Strings form the core of the ensemble
Woodwinds
Brasses
– Trumpet or French horn
– Both instruments usually played by one
musician
Late Baroque Orchestra
•
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Modern symphony orchestra emerges
Strings form the core of the ensemble
Woodwinds
Brasses
Percussion
– Rarely used in Baroque music
– Parts were not written out
Late Baroque Orchestra
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Modern symphony orchestra emerges
Strings form the core of the ensemble
Woodwinds
Brasses
Percussion
Basso continuo still essential
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Career
• Weimar (1708-1717), organist
• Cöthen (1717-1723), court composer and conductor
• Leipzig (1723-1750), cantor
• Reputation
• During his lifetime known more as a great organist
than as a composer
• Brought the cantata to the highest point of
development
• The greatest composer of contrapuntal music in the
history of western music
Organ Fugue in G Minor (ca. 1710)
• Subject: the theme that serves as the fugue’s primary musical idea
•
• Exposition: opening section of fugue during which each voice in turn
presents the subject for the first time
• Episode: freer sections where the subject is not heard in its entirety
• Definition of fugue
– A composition for three or more parts, either vocal or instrumental
– Begins with each part presenting the subject one after the other
– Continues with alternating passages of episodes and further appearances
of the subject
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
– Completed in 1721
– Violin, flute, and harpsichord constitute the
concertino
• Harpsichord treated as a soloist and not relegated to
the basso continuo
• Considered the first concerto for a keyboard
instrument
– First movement in Ritornello form
• Nine ritornello sections
– Played by the tutti
– Theme consists of two parts, A and B
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (cont)
• Solo sections
– Concertino instruments play motives derived
from ritornello themes
• Ritornello theme, part A
• Solo Section 1

Last solo section concludes with a lengthy cadenza for the
harpsichord
Opera / Cantata
OPERA
CANTATA
Purpose
Secular entertainment
Part of a Church service
Performance location
Theater
Church
Performance style
Fully dramatized (staging,
costumes, etc.)
Concert style
(staging, costumes omitted)
Subject
Classical mythology
Ancient history
Gospel reading
Musical forms
Recitative
Da capo aria
Accompaniment
Orchestra
Recitative
Da capo aria
Chorus
Orchestra
Cantata: Awake, A Voice is Calling
• First performed on November 25, 1731, the last Sunday
before Advent
• Text elaborates the Gospel reading: St. Matthew 25: 1-13
• Wise and foolish virgins symbolize the contrast
between those who are prepared to receive the
coming Christ and those who are not
• The message: get your spiritual house in order
• Three movements for chorus based on the tune and
text of a traditional chorale
» Chorale: German hymn tune
» Awake, a Voice is Calling (Wachet auf)
Cantata: Awake, A Voice is Calling (cont.)
• First movement a chorale fantasy
– Sopranos sing chorale tune in long tones
– Altos, tenors, and basses sing contrapuntal lines
that reflect the meaning of the text
– Orchestral accompaniment
• Opening ritornello introduces three motive
• Orchestra plays an interlude between each phrase of
the chorale tune
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
• Career
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Hamburg (1703-1706)
Italy (1706-1710)
Hanover (1710)
London (1710-1759)
• Reputation
• Most famous composer in Europe and a national
institution in England
• Reputation continued to increase after his death
• Perhaps the finest composer for chorus who ever
lived
Water Music (1717)
• Composed for a public entertainment
• A dance suite
• A collection of instrumental dances
– Each movement has its own distinctive rhythm and character
– All movements in binary form (A and B)
– Intended as concert music, not to accompany dancing
• Horn Pipe
– Energetic dance derived from the country jig, a popular dance
among sailors
– Triple meter, with syncopations
• Minuet and Trio
– Minuet a moderate, triple meter dance
– Second minuet is shorter and called a trio
• Composition was an immediate success
OPERA / CANTATA / ORATORIO
OPERA
CANTATA
ORATORIO
Purpose
Secular entertainment
Part of a Church
service
Sacred entertainment
Performance
location
Performance
style
Subject
Theater
Church
Theater
Fully dramatized
(staging, costumes,
etc.)
Classical mythology
Ancient history
Concert style
(staging, costumes
omitted)
Gospel reading
Concert style
Musical forms
Recitative
Da capo aria
Accompaniment
Orchestra
Recitative
Da capo aria
Chorus
Orchestra
Recitative
Da capo aria
Chorus
Orchestra
Biblical subjects
Messiah
• Composed during the summer of 1741
• Premiered in Dublin, Ireland, April, 1742
– Choir of 23 voices and small orchestra
– Enthusiastic response
• Tells the story of Christ in a general way
– Divided into three parts
• Prophecy and Incarnation of the Messiah
• Triumph of the Gospel
• Victory over Death
– Mood of lyrical meditation and exaltation
• Nineteen choruses
“Hallelujah” Chorus
• Concludes Part II of the oratorio
• Text based on passages from The Revelation of St. John
– Hallelujah (Rev. 19:6)
– For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth (Rev. 19:6)
– The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and
of his Christ (Rev. 11:15)
– And he shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 11:15)
– King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16)
• Each phrase of the text given its own musical identity
• Tradition states the George II was so moved that he rose to
his feet in admiration