Music of the Baroque 1600 1750

1
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Vocal Music and the invention of Opera

2
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Most important new genre - Opera!
• A drama that is sung
• Florentine Camerata (c. 1600)
• Melody - Monody
• Harmony - Basso Continuo
• Stile rappresentativo - continuous melody
• Earliest Opera
• Jacopo Peris Eurydice

3
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Opera
• Recitative - sung/spoken
• Aria - song
• Libretto the text
• Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• "Dido's Lament"
• from Dido and Aeneas (1689)
• Ground Bass

4
Music of the BaroqueHenry Purcell
(1659-1695) "Dido's Lament" Listening

• Melody - conjunct
• Rhythm - triple meter
• Harmony - minor
• Texture - homophonic
• Form - Binary (Ground Bass)
• Expression - soft and slow
• Instrumentation - Soprano and Orchestra w/BC

5
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Secular Cantata
• multi-sectioned composition for one or more solo
  voices and instruments
• based on Italian poetry
• Barbara Strozzi (1619 - 1677)
• Begli occhi ( 1654)

6
Music of the Baroque Strozzi Begli occhi
Listening

• Melody - Generally conjunct
• Rhythm - Changes meter with each section
• Harmony - Shifts from major to minor and back
• Texture - imitative polyphony
• Form - Through composed
• Expression - Shifting dynamics and tempo with
  mood
• Instrumentation - 2 singers and BC

7
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Sacred Cantata
• multi-movement composition for solo voices,
  chorus and orchestra
• based on a Lutheran Chorale
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Cantata 80 A Mighty Fortress is Our God
  (movts I VIII)

8
Music of the BaroqueBachCantata 80 Listening

• Melody - Generally conjunct
• Rhythm - Duple meter, Driving rhythm
• Harmony - Major
• Texture - Imitative polyphony
• Form - Fugue
• Expression - Loud and fast
• Instrumentation - Chorus and Orchestra

9
Music of the Baroque 1600 - 1750

• Oratorio
• multimovement dramatic work for solo voices,
  chorus and orchestra
• like an opera without costumes, sets, or stage
• George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
• Messiah (1742)

10
Music of the BaroqueHandel Messiah 18.
Rejoice GreatlyListening

• Melody - Disjunct
• Rhythm - Duple meter
• Harmony - Major
• Texture - Homophonic
• Form - Ternary (Da Capo Aria)
• Expression - Loud and fast
• Instrumentation - Soprano and Orchestra

11
Music of the BaroqueHandel Messiah 44.
HallelujahListening

• Melody - Disjunct
• Rhythm - Duple meter
• Harmony - Major
• Texture - Homophonic/Polyphonic
• Form - Through Composed
• Expression - Loud and fast
• Instrumentation - Chorus and Orchestra

12
Assignment

• Read Chapters 25 26.