MUSIC 2

The Baroque Era

1600 -1750. Period between Renaissance and Classical Era. The term was used to describe the extravagent and bizarre qualities of the music

Affect

single emotional expression

Doctrine of affections

1 feeling per movement
represented passions through music

Homophony

one voice clearly more important than others. Allowed possibility of
- soloist portraying single dramatic character
- opera
- the concerto
- elaborate embellishments
***makes it easier to understand the text and restores balance between text and music

Operas

first performed in private theatres in the courts of the nobility and royalty.
- A drama sung from beginning to end
- Thoughts and emotions by singing

Oratorios

operas without costumes and staging, usually on a sacred topic

created for performance in church or in an opera house during Lent

Castrati

Beginning of importance of virtuoso performers. They were singers/instrumentalists of high technical and musical skill. Men who were castrated as boys so their voices would not change

Claudio Monteverdi

Wrote "Orpheus" (Act II)
1567 - 1643
Career straddled Renaissance and Baroque Eras - mastered both old and new textures
Two distinct phases in his career: Mantua and Venice

Mantua

Phase of Monteverdi's career
Serving the Gonzagas and writing music to order

Venice

Phase of Monteverdi's career
The Maestro di Cappella at St. Mark's - very prestigious position

Basso Continuo

Chords played by lute, harpsichord, etc.
Base line played by cello, bassoon, etc. (instruments that can sustain a sound

Baroque compositions/movements

Recitatives, arias, choruses, duets, trios, sextets, etc

Recitative

a style of singing that lies somewhere between lyrical song and speech. Also the operatic number that is sung in this style
- moves the action along
- speaking style of singing
- not very elaborate musically
- simple accompaniment

Aria

Italian for air or melody: any lyrical movement
- character(s) pause(s) to reflect
- musically elaborate, often virtuoisc
- accompaniment does not overshadow the singer

Chorus

polyphonic texture comment on the action, reflect emotions, etc

Orpheus (story)

His beloved, Euridice, gets bitten by snake and dies, goes to the underworld. He sings to persuade the gaurdians of the underworld let Euridice live again. they agree as long as he doesn't look back while leaving the underworld, he does and loses her forever. Euridice becomes a constellation

"Orpheus" (Act II)

Written by Claudio Monteverdi
- Most frequently performed early opera, lively music for dancers

Henry Purcell

Wrote "Dido and Aeneas" Act I
1659 - 1695
- Born into musical family
- wrote many semi operas
- Despite success little is known about his life

Dido and Aeneas

One of the first known operas written in English.
- First performed at girls school in Chelsea in 1685
- Not performed again until after composer's death

semi operas

plays interpolated with songs and music

overture (Dido and Aeneas)

gets the audience ready
- purely instrumental
- uses common musical themes from the opera
- A French _________

French Overture

slow intro in dotted rhythms (long-short)
- Followed by imitative fast section

Mbuti Pygmies

Perform Marriage Celebration Song
- From northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) formerly known as Zaire
- Nomads
- Life is a communal affair

Marriage Celebration Song

Performed by Mbuti Pygmies
- an ostinato
- call and response
- heterophony
- hocket
Melody: rhythmic fragments overlap
Form: ABBB - melodic unit, repeats over and over to create ostinato

Ostinato

short pattern of notes repeated over and over
- Common in Baroque music
- Also occurs in music passed down orally

Hocket

rhythmically interlocking voices one fills space left by another's rests to make complete melody
- a form of polyphony where two or more voices rhymically interlock

Barbara Strozzi

Wrote "Revenge"
1619-1677
- Overcame many obstacles
- Unmarried, had 4 children
- Came from musical and cultured family
- Adopted by Guilio Strozzi, but may have been biological daughter
- Published 8 volumes of music (~ 125 works)

female musicians

Very few professional opportunities
Some were Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini and Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre

Revenge

written by Barbara Strozzi
"la vendetta" in Italian
- Poetic text expressesa jilted lover's thirst for revenge: energetic and extroverted music
Timbre: singer, 2 violins, basso continuo (cello and lute)

Chamber Music

Meant to be performed in a small room at a private gathering of friends

J.S. Bach

Wrote "Fugue in G Minor", "Brandenberg Concerto no. 2 in F Major", "Cantata 140"
- 1685 - 1750
- Born into a family of many musicians
- Changed jobs frequently
- 2 marriages and 20 children, 10 survived to adulthood

Fugue

common in Baroque era
A polyphonic work based on a theme (known as a subject)
A contrapuntal work that begins with an unaccompanied subject that is subsequently presented in various keys and textures

Exposition

based on a conventional pattern

Fugal exposition

the opening section of a fugue in which each voice states the same subject. It is (usually) comprised of alternating subjects and answers in all the fugue's voices. It usually ends with a (contrapunctal) cadence.

Subject

the unaccompanied melody that begins a fugue

Fugue in G Minor

Written by JS Bach
- Fugue is composed for organ

Antonio Vivaldi

Wrote "the Four Seasons Winter"
1678-1741
- Called the Red Priest
- Director of music at Venice's Ospendelle della Pieta, a large orphanage for girls
- virtuoso violints
Died a poor man due to extravagent lifestyle

Concerto

an instrumental work for a soloist (or group of soloists) and larger ensemble

Ritornello

"little return"
a series of sections alternating between the solosits and
the orchestra

Ritornello Principle

alternation of solo and ritornello

Program Music

an instrumental work that is in some way associated with an external story, event, or idea

George Frideric Handel

Wrote Water Music "Hornpipe" and "Messiah"
1685-1759
- Born in Germany
- Son of barber-surgeon - wanted him to be a lawyer
- Absorbed Italian style
- Wrote 40 operas in 30 years

Suite

a series of dance movements

Water Music

Written by Handel
Written for a riverboat party for King George I
Contains: Suite in F Major, Suite in D Major, Suite in G Major

continous imitation

motives wander from vocal line to vocal line

Humanism

intellectual and cultural movement
human interests and values
science, philosophy, literature, painting, sculpture, and music

Catholics vs Protestants

Rift in 1517
Church divided into two branches
faith of monarch determined faith of realm

Protestant Reformation

Martin Luthor

Martin Luthor

theologian and composer
German monk who nailed a list of complaints against the Catholic Church on the door of a church in Wittenberg (1517)
wrote "A mighty fortress is our God"

Renaissance Music

words and music together in unity
polyphony
full, rich sound with intricate texture and rhythm
strong attention to text being sung, even when polyphonic melodies were complex

Josquin des Prez

1450-1521
-Much of his life is shrouded in mystery
-Greatest composer of early Renaissance
-International celebrity at his time
-Hired by Duke of Ferrara to be a composer at his court
-Several Josquins

The Cricket

Written by Josquin
Polyphonic
Homorhythmic
Counterpoint
Music written to a humorous poem - enhances the spirit of the poetry
Lots of word painting
Ternary form

Homorhythmic

Voices move together rhythmically, throughout much of the piece

Counterpoint

Each voice melodic not melody + accompaniment

Ternary form

Described as ABA = contrast (B is contrast to A in both text and music) and return (to A)

Thomas Weelkes

1575-1623
English composer, lived during the age of Shakespeare
Fascinated with Italian poetry and music
Weelkes began imitating Italian madrigals
Organist at Chichester Cathedral, but was fired due t blasphemy and drunkenness
Wrote 5 books of madrigals

Since Robin Hood

written by Weelkes
A song about an actual event that took place in 1599
Polyphonic
Declamatory rhythm
Melody in the top voice was well known, the lower 2 melodies are distinctive

Madrigal

most important type of secular song
musical setting of a text in a single strophe

Declamatory

Voice move together mostly in the same rhythm

iambic

short-LONG or weak-STRONG

trochaic

LONG-short or STRONG-weak

anapestic

short-short-LONG or weak-weak-STRONG

William Byrd

1542-1623
Was a Catholic in an Anglican age
Suffered harassment because of his faith
Had a monopoly on the printing of music
"gentlemen of the Chapel Royal" from 1572 onward
wrote lots of music for the Anglican church`

Sing Joyfully

written by Byrd
A sacred work to be sung in church
text is based on first 4 verses of Psalm 81
An anthem
Choral, acapella
Form: Sectional with cadences sometimes elided
Texture: polyphony in 6 voices

Anthem

English equivalent of a Catholic motet, sacred choral work

Choral music

more than one singer to a part

Acapella

sung without any musical accompaniment

Elided cadence

New line of text / music begins before previous line / music comes to a complete stop

Sectional

Each new section of the text has a new musical idea

My Lord Help me to Pray

By the Rhyming Singers of the Bahamas (19th century)
Polyphonic
Sung by sponge fishermen passing time on their boats
A type of the rhyme singing
Texture: 3 parts
Call and Response
Intonations

syncretism

combining different forms of belief and practice

Tielron Susato

1510-1570
Music publisher as well as composer
Lived in Antwerp (now in Belgium)
A calligrapher
Promoted local composers by publishing their works
Many of the songs contain Flemish (Dutch) texts
wrote "Moorish Dance"

Moorish Dance

Extremely popular dance tune
Music for Dancing - popular during Renaissance Period

Scriptorium

copy shop withing a cathedral

copying was done by hand

Hildegard von Bingen

1098 - 1179
Most prolific composer before 1500
Born in what is now Western Germany to a noble family
Became a Benedictine nun at 16
Had visions and revelations
Writer on theology, medicine, etc

Play of Virtues

By Hildergard von Bingen
A morality play
Plot centres around disputes between Satan and 16 virtues
Each virtue = 1 female singer, chorus of all virtues: monophonic
Satan speaks his lines

Morality Play

a dramatized allegory of Good vs. Evil struggling over the fate of a single soul

Plainchant Alleluia Caro Mea

Alleluia from the Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi (body of Christ)
Monophonic
Responsorial Chant
Melismas vs Syllabic
Form: AABAA

Eagle Dance

San Ildefonso Indians of New Mexico
Heard at powows
Part of a rain ceremony
Monophonic melody
Form: ABA with brief free intro
Melody: Terraced steps

Vocables

meaningless sung syllables

Terraced Melody

Downward contour

Francesco Landini

1325 -1397
Blinded by smallpox as a child. Skilled organist. Designed and built musical instruments, leader of the Italian Ars Nova, famous poet
Most prolific and famous Italian composer of the 14th century - 150 secular songs

Courtly love

Knight declares himself servant of his lady love
Heroic deeds done in her honour
Love for her ennobles him, especially if she rejects him

Behold Spring

Francesco Landini
Polyphonic
Syllabic setting projects text clearly
Triple Metre
Form: prophetic stanzas are turned into three verses

The Squarcialupi Codex

Manuscript, hand written
Largely secular
Came into the hands of Antonio _______________ (hence the name)

Gullaume de Machaut

1300 - 1377
Medieval French poet and composer
spent much of his life in the service of monarchs
Machaut Manuscripts with over 2100 leaves

Myth of Pygmalion

According to ancient legend, a mythic artist, Pygmalion, creates a statue so beautiful that he falls in love with it

I can all too well compare my lady

Gullaume de Machaut
Secular, story of courtly love
This lady is already alive, but remains like a statue to the nobleman who prays to her
3 independent voices
Form: AAB

Alfonso el Sabio

Known as the Wise, earned through his artistic/intellectual endeavours
Born in Spain
Ruled from 1252 - 1284 at Castille
His appreciation of different cultured facilitated the mixing of artists

He who gladly serves

Likely not written by Alfonso el Sabio
From Songs to the Virgin Mary no. 249
This version is instrumental

Shawm

Players blow through double reeds, vibrations are magnified by a long wooden tube
Has a raucous, rough sound

Textures

(middle ages) Monophony and Polyphony

Melodies

(middle ages) Flowing, largely conjunct, divided into sections by cadences based on scales of the medieval modes

Rhythm

(middle ages) Free (as in plainchant) or metrically structured

Harmony

(middle ages) a byproduct of counterpoint

Form

(middle ages) based on repetition, variation, and contrast

Text Setting

(middle ages) Syllabic for clarity melismatic for emphasis

Bach's Periods

Weimer (1708-1717),
Cothen (1717 - 1723),
Leipzig (1723-1750)