Italy & France in the Late 17th

Balance of power emerging among key centralized states

France, Britain, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Prussia (a region of Germany)

Population growth and expansion, increase in trade and travel

rise in education, growth of middle class.

Rise of educated middle class = increased demand for music

greater musical output from composers and more rapid changes in musical styles

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

leading composer of opera in Naples and Rome

Da capo aria

most common aria form at this time, essentially comprising an ABA form with the repetition of the A music, allowing the singer room for ornaments and embellishment

Instrumental chamber music 1

Late 17th and early 18th c. was age of great violin makers in
northern Italy, including Antonio Stradivarius

Instrumental chamber music 2

Small sections within sonatas were eventually separated into different
movements to make sonatas multi-movement works

sonata da camera (chamber sonata)

that featured stylized dance movements;

sonata da chiesa (church sonata)

contained abstract movements and could be used in church services.

trio sonata

Most common instrumentation was two treble instruments (typically
violins) with basso continuo, had three parts

Arcangelo Corelli

The trio and solo sonatas of Corelli mark the high point of Italian
chamber music in the late 17th c.

Typical features of Corelli Sonatas 1

- lyricism over virtuosity.
- a walking bass

Walking bass

continuous, steady motion in the bass line

Features 2

- four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast (church trio sonatas),
prelude followed by two or three dances (chamber sonatas).

- Music is tonal and mostly diatonic

Concerto

a new type of orchestral composition that emerged in the 1680s and 90s that would come to dominate instrumental musical output (term
comes from the concertato medium, uniting contrasting forces into a
harmonious whole).

ripieno concerto

(a concerto with no soloist)

concerto grosso

(a group of soloists accompanied by an orchestra)

solo concerto

(one solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra

tutti

For all

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750)

introduced the standard three-movement form of fast-slow-fast

Ritornello form

alternating solo and tutti sections

Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709

introduced ritornello form

Antonio vivaldi (1678-1741)

• Best-known Italian composer of the early 18th c., born and worked in
Venice.
• Virtuoso violinist, composer, teacher, and priest (known as the “red
priest” for his red hair)

Pio Ospedale della Pietà

orphanage that provided musical training for girls.

Vivaldi 2

Vivaldi Concerto 1

Vivaldi’s position at the Pietà allowed Vivaldi to experiment with the
concerto form.

Vivaldi 2

Most concertos for solo violin and orchestra, but he also wrote solo
concertos for other instruments and concertos for multiple soloists and
orchestra (some concertos given a program or accompanying sonnet like his Four Seasons concertos for solo violin and orchestra)

Vivaldi 3

Most of his concertos in the three-movement fast-slow-fast scheme
introduced by Albinoni

ritornello form

would appear at the beginning, middle, and end of a fast movement, with solo episodes in between

François Couperin (1668-1733)

known for his blending of Italian and French styles

Couperin 2

His harpsichord ordres, or suites, are French in style and contain
stylized dances in binary form

L’art de toucher le clavecin by Couperin

(The Art of Playing the Harpsichord) is one of the most important treatises on French Baroque performance practice.

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

• Organist, music theorist, and composer.
• Writings on music helped to establish principles of music theory still in use today

Traité de l’harmonie (Treatise on Harmony, 1722)

one of the most influential treatises on music theory ever written.

Fundamental bass

in a sequence of chords, the line produced by the root of each chord

Tonic

root note

Dominant

fifth above tonic

subdominant

Fifth, below the tonic

Modulation

When a piece changes keys

Rameau’s principal works

Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) initially established his fame as composers

• Les Indes galantes (The Gallant Indies, 1735)

• Castor et Pollux (1737) is deemed his masterpiece by many

Rameau’s operas controversial for not adhering closely enough to the
model set forth by Lully

but Rameau’s works similar to Lully’s in his treatment of airs/arias, recitatives, and dance (choruses prominent, vs. Italian opera)

Rameau’s music differs from Lully’s in

being more governed by rules of tonality that he outlined, with triadic melodies and expressive dissonances that move the music forward