THE BAROQUE ERA

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THE BAROQUE ERA

• 1600-1750

Journal Entry 8 Given what you know about the
Renaissance, what new innovations and styles you
do THINK are coming up in the Baroque era? How
will music progress from here?
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Composer Research Paper Assignments

• Emma Brown Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Kieryn Beyerl Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Phil Kosydor Franz Schubert
• Aaron Brunnworth Antonio Vivaldi
• Taimoor Aziz Henry Purcell
• Alec Camp Richard Wagner
• Sami Greytak Leonard Bernstein
• Nate Novak John Williams
• Ryan Kaminsky Aaron Copland
• Anna Stamer Igor Stravinsky

• Chris Pearson Johann Sebastian Bach
• Nick Caban Louis Armstrong
• Bilal Aziz Ludwig van Beethoven
• Claire Chandler Frederic Chopin
• Andrew Drake Scott Joplin
• Blake Noud Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Jacob Burns Claude Debussy
• Kalyn Moore Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Dominique Flyte Felix Mendelssohn
• Julian Harvey Carl Orff

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THE BAROQUE WORLD

• History
• 1607 Jamestown founded
• 1643-1715 Louis XIV reigns in France
• 1692 Salem Witch Trials, Salem, MA
• 1715-1774 Louis XV reigns in France
• Literature
• 1600 Hamlet (Shakespeare)
• 1605 Don Quixote (Cervantes)
• 1611 King James Bible
• 1667 Paradise Lost (Milton)
• 1719 Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)
• 1726 Gullivers Travels (Swift)

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• Science
• 1610 Galileo confirms that Earth revolves
  around the sun
• 1687 Newtons Principia Mathematica
• New approach to science based on mathematics
  experiment
• Discovered mathematical laws governing bodies in
  motion
• New inventions, improvements of medicine, mining,
  navigation, industry

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• Art
• Effort to completely fill space
• Emphasis on motion and drama
• Potential of color, depth, contrasts of light and
  dark
• Artists wanted to create totally structured worlds

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• Judith Slaying
• Holofernes (1612)
• Artemisia Gentileshi

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• 1623 Bernini
• David Slaying
• Goliath

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• 1653 Rembrandt
• Aristotle with a
• Bust of Homer

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• Age of Absolutism
• Aristocracy very rich, powerful, lived in luxury
• (Rest of population barely survived)
• Splendid palaces, magnificent balls, events
• Absolute power Duke of Weimar and Bach

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THE BAROQUE WORLD, cont

• Religious institutions also shaped style
• Churches used the emotional and theatrical style
  of the day to make worship more
  attractive/appealing
• Competing views Europe divided into Catholic and
  Protestant
• Catholic France, Spain, Italy, Austrian Empire
• Protestant England, Netherlands, Denmark,
  Sweden, Germany

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BAROQUE STYLE

• Baroque barroco irregularly shaped pearl,
  term of criticism
• Highly decorated, elaborately ornamented
• Emphasis on motion and drama

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MAJOR COMPOSERS

• Two giants George Frederic Handel and Johann
  Sebastian Bach
• Bachs death 1750
• Other important composers Monteverdi, Purcell,
  Corelli, Vivaldi

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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC

• Divided into 3 phases
• Early 1600-1640
• Middle 1640-1680
• Late 1680-1750

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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont

• Music composed for texts conveying extreme
  emotion, text ruled music
• Stress on drama and text led to opera drama
  sung to orchestra accompaniment
• Melodies imitated the rhythms/inflections of
  speech

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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont
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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont

• Early Baroque Homophonic over polyphonic texture
• Words were clearer with one melody over chordal
  accompaniment
• Dissonance and contrasts of sounds were used to
  depict extreme emotions
• Contrasts of sound examples
• one solo singer against an entire chorus
• Singers against instruments

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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont

• Middle Baroque
• New style spread from Italy all over
• Church modes officially gave way to major and
  minor scales
• Instrumental music important
• Violin family most popular

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GENERAL BAROQUE MUSIC, cont

• Late Baroque
• Most music heard today is from late Baroque
• Dominant to tonic chords
• Instrumental as important as vocal
• Polyphonic texture returns

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BAROQUE MUSIC (SHMRFT)

• Sound
• Unity of Mood
• Usually expresses one basic mood throughout (but
  not in vocal music)
• Emotional states represented joy, grief,
  agitation, called affections
• Specific rhythm/melodic patterns became
  associated with specific moods

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Harmony
• Chords increasingly important
• Chords gave prominence to the bass, which is the
  foundation of a chord
• Basso continuo accompaniment made up of a bass
  part usually played by two instruments
• a keyboard plus a low melodic instrument like
  cello or bassoon

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• Harmony, cont
• Basso continuo played in left hand, while right
  hand creates chords based on numbers written in
  the music, called figured bass
• Example pg. 129

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Filling in chords according to figured bass is
  called realization
• Figured bass only specifies basic chords
• Performer has great freedom
• Also saved time for busy Baroque composers
• Also saved paper, which was very expensive

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Figured bass is the shorthand system that leads
  to song lead sheets and jazz improvisation of
  today

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Rhythm
• Patterns repeat throughout piece
• Created forward momentum
• Forward motion rarely interrupted
• Beat emphasized more than Renaissance

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Melody
• Repeated throughout piece, melodies heard again
  and again throughout
• Character of the melody remains constant
• Continuous expanding, unfolding, and unwinding of
  melody
• Sequences used
• Ornamentation
• Hard to sing and remember

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LISTENING FOR ORNMENTATION

• Sonata da chiesa, Op. 5, No. 1
• Arcangelo Corelli
• Also listen for harpsichord

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Dynamics
• Volume level stays constant for long time
• Terraced dynamics sudden shifts in dynamics
• Organ, harpsichord, clavichord narrow dynamic
  changes
• Organ and harpsichord incapable of gradual
  dynamic changes
• Clavichord very small piano-like instrument
• Capable of gradual dynamic changes, but only
  within small range (ppp-mp)

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LISTENING FOR TERRACED DYNAMICS

• Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah
• George Frederic Handel
• Listen for trumpet and timpani

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(SHMRFT) cont

• Texture
• Early Baroque homophonic
• Late Baroque usually polyphonic
• Soprano and Bass most important
• Imitation
• Some vocal pieces may switch texture for change
  of mood

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SHMRFT, cont

• Texture, cont
• Music depicts specific meanings (word painting)
• heaven high, hell low, grief
  descending chromatic scale
• Words emphasized by writing many rapid notes for
  a single syllable of text - mellismas
• Technique also demonstrated singers virtuosity

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LISTENING TO MELLISMAS

• Evry Valley Shall Be Exalted from Messiah
• George Frederic Handel

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THE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

• 10-40 players
• Based on instruments of violin family
• Main parts
• Basso continuo harpsichord cello or bass
  bassoon
• Upper strings 1st and 2nd violins violas

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• Use of woodwind, brass, percussion varied
• Other instruments could be added recorder,
  flute, oboe, trumpet, horns, trombone, timpani
• Trumpet timpani joined in for festive music

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LISTENING FOR FESTIVE TRUMPET

• Gloria from Gloria in D Major
• Antonio Vivaldi

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• Different than modern orchestra
• 4 groups of instruments
• Trumpet was different, no valves
• Difficult to play, associated with royalty
• Trumpeters were the top of the orchestra ladder
• Treated like military officers

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BAROQUE FORMS

• movement a piece that sounds fairly complete
  and independent but is part of a larger
  composition
• each movement
• has its own themes
• comes to a definite end
• is separated from the next movement by a brief
  pause

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• 3-Part ABA
• 2-Part AB
• Through-composed
• Always contrast between bodies of sound
• Examples
• alteration between small and large groups of
  instruments
• Voices and instruments

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VOCABULARY

• Galileo
• Newton
• Baroque
• Ornamentation
• Opera
• Affections
• Basso continuo
• Figured Bass
• Realization
• Terraced dynamics
• Sequences
• Clavichord
• Orchestra

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GROUP PRESENTATIONS

• Isaac Newton Baroque Dance Famous Baroque Operas
• Alec Camp Dominique Flyte Chris Pearson
• Aaron Brunnworth Claire Chandler Nate Novak
• Taimoor Aziz Emma Brown Ryan Kaminsky
• Nick Caban Julian Harvey Blake Noud
• Galileo Baroque Royal Courts
• Bilal Aziz Phil Kosydor
• Jacob Burns Kalyn Moore
• Kieryn Beyerl Andrew Drake
• Anna Stamer Sami Greytak