Music History Test

Baroque Period Time Period

1600–1750

Baroque Music Style

Highly ornamented, dramatic, and expressive

Baroque Dynamics

Terraced dynamics with sudden changes in volume

Doctrine of Affections

One main emotion or mood per movement

Baroque Melody

Continuous and ornate melodic lines

Early Baroque Texture

Homophonic texture

Late Baroque Texture

Polyphonic texture, especially in Bach’s music

Basso Continuo

Continuous bass line with figured chords

Ground Bass (Basso Ostinato)

Repeating bass pattern

Pedal Point

Sustained bass note under changing harmonies

Baroque Orchestra

Built mainly around string instruments

Baroque Keyboard Instruments

Organ and harpsichord

Importance of Instrumental Music

Instrumental music becomes as important as vocal music

Johann Sebastian Bach

Major Baroque composer known for complex polyphony

George Frideric Handel

Baroque composer famous for operas and oratorios

Antonio Vivaldi

Baroque composer known for concertos like The Four Seasons

Claudio Monteverdi

Early Baroque composer important to opera development

Arcangelo Corelli

Baroque composer important to instrumental music

Opera

Drama sung with acting, costumes, and scenery

Aria

Emotional solo song in an opera

Recitative

Speechlike singing used for storytelling

Ensemble

Opera section with multiple singers

Libretto

Text of an opera

Castrati

Male singers with high range and powerful projection

Oratorio

Large-scale vocal work with orchestra based on biblical stories

Oratorio Staging

Not staged and performed without costumes or acting

Handel Oratorios

Often performed during Lent

Cantata

Multi-movement sacred vocal work

Cantata Components

Includes chorales, arias, recitatives, and chorus

Chorale

Harmonized congregational hymn

Chorale Style

Simple melody for worship

Suite

Collection of dance-inspired movements in the same key

Typical Baroque Dances

Allemande, sarabande, courante, gigue

Dance Not in Baroque Suite

Waltz

Sonata

Instrumental composition with several movements

Concerto Grosso

Alternation between small solo group and full ensemble

Concertino

Small solo group in a concerto grosso

Tutti

Full ensemble in a concerto grosso

Concerto Grosso Form

Fast–slow–fast movement structure

Ritornello Form

Recurring theme played by the ensemble

Fugue

Polyphonic composition based on a single theme

Fugue Subject

Main theme of the fugue

Fugue Answer

Subject repeated in another voice at a different pitch

Countersubject

Secondary melody accompanying the subject

Episodes

Sections that develop fragments of the subject

Inversion

Subject played upside down

Augmentation

Subject with longer note values

Diminution

Subject with shorter note values

Prelude and Fugue

Often paired together in Baroque music

Johann Sebastian Bach

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (1st movement); Baroque concerto grosso featuring harpsichord, flute, and violin with ritornello form.

Antonio Vivaldi

Spring Concerto (1st movement) from The Four Seasons; Baroque programmatic concerto depicting nature scenes with solo violin.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Little Fugue in G minor; Baroque organ fugue demonstrating polyphonic texture and contrapuntal writing.

Henry Purcell

Dido’s Lament from the opera Dido and Aeneas; expressive Baroque aria using a repeating ground bass.

Alessandro Moreschi

Ave Maria; historic recording by a castrato singer, representing high male Baroque vocal tradition.

George Frideric Handel

Messiah, “Ev’ry valley shall be exalted”; Baroque oratorio aria performed by Mark Padmore with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra.