History and Appreciation of Music - EXAM 2 (Ryan Ross)

Baroque

Word that comes from the Portuguese term barroco, which means “misshapen pearl”. 

Something tortuous, excessive, or disproportionate.

What is the word "baroque" used to describe?

Passionate, expressive, grand, ornate, affecting.

How could you describe Baroque music?

"Confused" harmony, too many dissonances, "harsh" and "unnatural" melody, etc.

In 1768, how did the French Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau describe Baroque Music of the past era?

Early Baroque and Late Baroque

What two periods is the Baroque Era split into?

1600-1700

When was the Early Baroque Period?

1700-1750

When was the Late Baroque Period?

Early Baroque Period

Period of Baroque to which new trends, experiments; music at its freest and most fluid; few strict forms; sharp contrasts; AFFECT.

Late Baroque Period

Period of Baroque to which consolidation of earlier trends into more regular forms and conventions; expansion of scale; beginning of the standard repertoire.

Monarchs: powerful rulers/nobles who wanted to project wealth, power, and influence (Divine Right of Kings).

The Early Baroque Period was the age of what?

King Louis XIV

Who was known as the "Sun King" in the Early Baroque Period?

Tonality: soprano-bass hierarchy, homophony, vertical rather than horizontal textures, and beginnings of modern harmony.

Early Baroque Period was the beginning of what?

The late 1500's in Florence, Italy.

When and where was opera invented?

Florentine Camerata

A group of Italian musicians, poets, intellectuals who met to discuss the arts - wanted to revive Ancient Greek Dramas. They devised all-sung drama.

Jacopo Peri in 1598

Who composed the first opera?

Dafne

What was the name of the first opera?

Euridice (1600) also by Peri.

What was the name of the first surviving opera?

Monody

Early opera used which early Baroque style?

Monody

A type of music written for solo voice and basso continuo; scored for singer/soloist and a bass line (figured).

Basso Continuo

An instrument or group of instruments that "realize" a figured bass line.

Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo ("Orpheus") - the myth of Orpheus and the power of music to persuade and affect emotions.

What was the first "great" opera?

1607

When was L'Orfeo created?

For his employer, Prince Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua.

Why did Claudio Monteverdi create L'Orfeo?

Ritonello

A recurring instrumental passage.

Prima prattica and Seconda prattica

Claudio Monteverdi bridged which two musical practices?

Prima prattica

Polyphonic music that followed strict rules as set forth by the music theorist Gioseffo Zarlino (1517 - 1590) - "Renaissance" style.

Seconda prattica

New style in which music serves the text, no matter which rules are broken; early "Baroque" style.

Cruda Amarilli

Madrigal in 5th Book (1605) - theorist Giovanni Artusi criticized this piece for breaking Zarlino's rules of counterpoint. (Monteverdi's response of wanting to bring out text and not concerned with strict rules)

No, examples of opera in English and by English composers are rare in the Baroque Period.

Does opera have strong roots in England?

An English Baroque composer.

Who was Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)?

1689 by Henry Purcell

When was the opera Dido and Aeneas created and by whom?

A short opera composed for a girls' school in Chelsea.

Why did Purcell write Dido and Aeneas?

Based upon a portion of Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid - the story of Trojan warrior Aeneas, who, upon returning from the Trojan Wars, fell in love with Carthaginian princess Dido; he left her to go and found what would become the nation of Rome.

What is the opera Dido and Aeneas about?

Opera Seria ("serious opera")

Later Baroque Italian opera that consists mainly of recitative and aria.

"Da capo" arias

Opera seria was usually what?

Aria

operatic solo; a song sung by one person in an opera or oratorio.

Ariosos

Italian for "airy" or "like an air/song," it represents a "sung" style of recitation.

Da capo arias

Type of aria where you have 2 sections (A and B) and then a repeat of A.

Da capo

"At the head" - which means that singers/musicians repeat the first part only when they are finished getting through B; often B presents a contrasting effect.....or some other kind of foil.

Recitative

Vocal line that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech.

Tragedie en musique or tragédie lyrique

What was the French's own tradition of Baroque opera called?

Borrowed from Italian conventions while adding native elements (dances, interludes, French overture). Flattered the king (Louis XIV). He himself danced in these operas.

How and why was French Baroque opera created?

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Who was the main practitioner of French opera in the 17th century?

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Who wrote the tragedie en musique Armide?

French overture (instrumental section) to open, homophonic first section, then a quicker polyphonic 2nd section.

Describe Armide:

Courante, Sarabande, Minuet, Pavane, and Allemande

What were the 5 French Baroque Dance Musics?

Courante

Dance music - quicker "running" dance in triple meter.

Sarabande

Dance music - slower dance in triple meter, with second beat accented.

Minuet

Dance music - medium-tempo dance in triple meter; this was perhaps the most wide-ranging dance.

Pavane

Dance music - slower, solemn dance in duple meter.

Allemande

Dance music - a moderate to fast "German" dance in duple meter.

A boom in demand for both instruments and music written for them, particularly in (but not limited to) Italy.

The Late Baroque Period featured what?

Trio Sonata

a work usually in four movements (sections) for two high-range instruments and basso continuo; usually follows a slow-fast-slow-fast scheme.

Refers to the number of lines, NOT the number of performers.

What does "TRIO" refer to?

Concerto

A composition usually in 3 movements that pits a large group of instruments against a solo instrument or a smaller group of instruments.

Solar concerto and concerto grosso

What are the two types of concerto?

Solar Concerto

Orchestra vs. solo instrumentalist.

Concerto Grosso

Large ensemble (ripieno) vs. small ensemble (concertino).

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

Who was a major composer of concerto?

Vivaldi worked at a girls' orphanage in Venice, Italy, and later Vienna, Austria.

He composed hundreds of concerti, many for his young female students (who had varying musical skill levels).

Where did Antonio Vivaldi work?

The Four Seasons (a group of four violin concerti that he meant to depict aspects of the seasons), around 1723. 

What was Antonio Vivaldi's most famous work?

6 Brandenburg Concerti (composed ca. 1720, revised later)

No. 5 in D Major mixes conventions of both the concerto grosso and the solo concerto. 

What piece is considered to be the pinnacle of the Baroque concerto repertoire?

Johann Sebastian Bach's (1685 - 1750)

Who composed 6 Brandenburg Concerti?

He wrote a large set of 30 variations called The Goldberg Variations, which present a series of canons at different intervals and assign a different style or manner to each variation. 

What else did J.S. Bach write that was huge?

Keyboard music - this includes many dance suites, of which his French Suites, English Suites, and Partitas (German Suites) are the most prominent.

What kind of instrumental music did J.S. Bach write in the Baroque Era?

Johan Gottieb Goldberg who needed music to play for Count Hermann Carl von Keysarling's (1697 - 1764) insomnia.

Who did J.S. Bach write the Goldberg Variations for?

(1685 - 1757) Son of Italian opera seria composer Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 - 1725).

Started out in Italy and then had positions in the royal courts of Portugal and Spain. Renowned as a highly skilled harpsichord player. 

Who was Domenico Scarlatti?

555 keyboard sonatas, most of which are one movement and anticipate classical period musical structures.

What is Domenico Scarlatti known for today?

Johann Sebastian Bach

Who is one of the most universally admired composers of the entire western classical tradition?

Canata and Fugue

What were two of J.S. Bach's signature genres?

Canata

A multi movement work (usually 4-7 sections/movements long for voices and instruments featuring chorus , aria, recitative, and a chorale tune (hymn tune) that runs through it; can be sacred or secular, but Bach's are USUALLY sacred and in German (he composed some 250-odd sacred cantatas).

Fugue

Highly organized polyphonic work featuring a theme (or subject) that occurs in all the musical lines in turn until all the lines are sounding at once.

Born in Halle, Germany and studied music early on against his father’s wishes.

Worked in Hamburg, Germany; composed first opera (Aimira) at the age of 19- huge success.

Then he worked in Italy for three years as a composer of Italian operas and cantatas. He eventually composed for King George I of England, who used to be the elector of Hanover, Handel's previous employer.

Wrote his famous collection of dances- Water music (1717) for George 1

Composed music for his son’s (George II’s) coronation in 1727.

Who was George Frideric Handel?

Oratorio

An unstaged dramatic sacred work featuring solo singers (including narrator), choir, and orchestra; usually based on a Biblical story. It was invented in Italy but became much larger by Handel.

Messiah (1741); most famous work in the oratorio genre. Concerns the prophecy, birth, and passion of Jesus Christ.

What was Handel's most famous work?

1750 - 1820

When was the Classical Period?

Both to the idea of lasting worth/appeal, and more pointedly to formal order based upon aspects of ancient Greek art/architecture.

What does the term "classical" refer to?

The Enlightenment

A political movement that favored the “human over the divine, reason over religion, and clarity over complexity” (Yudkin, Understanding Music, pg. 109). Changes in music reflected Enlightenment ideals in the Classical Period.

Minuet & Trio form, Rondo form, Theme & Variations form, and Sonata-Allegro form

What are the major classical period forms?

Theme & Variations Form

Where one melody is subjected to different alterations and embellishments; can appear in place of any movement's form except M&T.

Rondo Form

Any form where the first theme (A) keeps returning and is interspersed with other themes. Ex. ABACAD, ABACABA, etc.

Minuet & Trio Form

ABA form in which a medium - tempo dance is followed by a contrasting section (sometimes in a different meter or key), which is followed again by the initial dance, M&T is often the third of four movements in longer works.

Sonata-Allegro Form (Sonata Form)

The most important single-movement form that emerged in the early Classical Period.

Exposition, development, and recapitulation

What are the three main sections of the sonata form?

Exposition

Consists of two or more themes and moves from I to V (tonic to dominant) in terms of harmony/key, or i to iii minor (tonic to mediant); expositions are usually played through twice.

Development

A harmonically unstable section that develops themes and ideas from the exposition.

Recapitulation

Brings back the material of the exposition more or less intact and in order but with everything presented in the home key of I or i.

Sonata

A work for solo instrument or 2 instruments usually in 3-4 movements, with at least one movement usually in sonata form (sonata-allegro form).

String Quartet

A work for 2 violins, viola, and cello, usually in 4 movements.

1. Sonata form

2. Slow ABA or Theme and Variations

3. Minuet and Trio

4. Rondo (usually)

What are the 4 movements of a string quartet?

Symphony

A work for orchestra in four movements that follows more or less the same formal pattern as a string quartet; developed from opera overtures and concerti; performed privately and at public concerts.

Classical Concerto

Usually a solo concerto in 3 movements, where the first movement is in "double exposition" sonata-allegro form (2 expositions, the first of which is played by the orchestra and stays in the home key, and the second of which is played by the soloist and orchestra and moves key-wise as a normal exposition); finales are often rhondos.

Still learning (1)

You've started learning these terms. Keep it up!