baroque - music history

When was the baroque era?

1600-1750 - the day Bach died, the Baroque period ended because he was so influential.

What does Baroque mean?

Baroque means “ornate”, “extravagant”, “highly decorative”.

What features can we use to distinguish between Renaissance and Baroque?

The Renaissance seems quaint and austere compared to Baroque, which is highly detailed and dramatized.

Who are the two largest contributions of Baroque music?

J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel - both born in 1685, very different in their approach to music.

Name 5 Baroque composers

Jacopo Peri, Monteverdi, Giulio Caccini, Henry Purcell, Corelli, Handel, Bach

Where did opera come from? What was its inspiration?

The theatrical nature of the new Baroque era created music that added a dimension of drama to tell more human stories that unfold over time - leading to the invention of opera. It grew out of the experiments by the Camerata. They were inspired by communicating text through music to create a drama onstage. The most significant vocal genre to emerge out of the Baroque period. Many other smaller vocal genres began to develop in these countries out of the tradition of monody.

Florentine Camerata

A Florentine society of poets and musicians that sought to receive Greek tragedy. The men who formed the Camerata believed that the Greeks had originally recited or chanted their plays to music, and in setting out to recreate these conditions, the Camerata used music to heighten the poetic qualities of dialogue. Instead of just singing melodies, they are going to act out the melodies - fusion of drama and singing. Galilei wanted to figure out how to communicate dramatic text through music.

Monody

Vocal soloist supported by instrumental accompaniment. This style was developed as a means to effectively communicate dramatic text through one highly expressive singer. Drama could be more emotionally conveyed through music. This new vocal style was inspired by actual, enacted, enunciated speech rather than from the formal arrangements of verse. Monody was a huge success in Italy. France and Italy were unique in how they shaped monody to their nationalistic tastes, France was more conservative.

Recitative

A certain enunciation to the melody which is trying to imitate natural speech inflections, to enhance and bring emotion into the story.

Claudio Monteverdi

The man who made opera. Composers wanted to match Monteverdi’s approach.

Which countries were the first to develop opera?

France and Italy

Solo music/ensemble music

What is an aria? What is dramatic about it? How does the music serve the drama?

An aria is a highly virtuosic, reflective monologue in which the singer addresses the audience, pausing the story to convey emotion. It is dramatic because this performer is singing directly to the audience, giving them a telepathic link and letting them feel what they feel and think what they think. The music serves the drama by ending important scenes with an aria to convey emotion.

Concerto

They want to show off these new instruments with virtuosic performances. They have one person showcasing their expertise on one instrument. strictly instrumental.

What is a harpsichord? What instruments class does it belong to?

A product of baroque. String instrument

Write a descriptive paragraph of J.S. Bach.

Why did Italy and France have such different approaches to music?

French artists generally did not have the same creative freedom afforded to other European artists. French artists often needed to seek the favor of the aristocracy before their work could be considered true art. This means that music had to be adapted to suit the tastes of the royal court and its patrons. What followed was a distinctly “French” form of opera that was suited to France’s already rich history of spoken theater.

Italian composers were much more free in their compositional endeavors. Since Italians were not composing to exalt the divine-right of a monarch, they were much more interested in developing monody to the service of religious and humanistic causes.