Music History Ch. 13

High Baroque: North German School

main three of North German School

* Dietrich Buxtehude
* Johann Sebastian Bach
* George Frideric Handel

Buxtehude intro.

* organ, choral works, apendmusic
* Danish but spent most of his career in Lubeck at the Luteran Mariankirche (church of the Virgin Mary)
* appointed cantor (musical director) in 1668 by Franz Tunder
* most prestigious position in Europe

Franz Tunder

* appointed Buxtehude for cantor
* very well-established organist
* started a concert series of organ recitals on Sunday afternoons
* widely-known series
* designed his own contract for time off, flexibility, etc.
* could audition/choose his successor
* successor had to marry one of his daughters (Bach and Handel both turned the job down because of this)

Abendmusic

* Buxtehude
* evening music: concerts of choral and organ
* VERY popular

Buxtehude organ music

* each work included either a prelude or toccata paired with a fugue
* toccatas typically virtuoso
* chorale preludes
* fugue: 3 or 5 interwoven voices

chorale prelude

short organ work based on a Lutheran chorale melody

* chorale should be heard completely though at least once

Buxtehude’s “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”/”A Mighty Fortress is Our God”

chorale prelude

Bach vs. Buxtehude Chorale Melody

* Bach: more complex, melody moves around lines
* Buxtehude: melody typically in pedal

Bach background

* older brother Christoph took him in after both parents passed, helped to raise him musically: taught him harpsichord, organ, composition and sent him to college


* won scholarship to St. Michael’s School in Luneberg and graduated in three years

Buxtehude’s main impact

* had a new approach to organ: made it a solo virtuoso instrument, no longer accompaniment only

Werke Verseichnis

* WV
* catalogue of works
* BuxWV is Buxtehude, BWV is Bach

“Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne”

* Buxtehude
* Chaconne: set of variations over a harmonic or chordal pattern
* Fugue: based on one theme/subject developed through imitation

Bach’s Career

* After graduating from St. Michael’s, became apprentice organist at Arnstadt
* Neue Kirche (director of choir) 1703-1707
* In 1709, took a month’s leave to study under Buxtehude in Lubeck (stayed for three months)
* congregation did not like new style he developed while away (thicker polyphony and melody, organ as its own instrument), so he decided to look for another job
* Mulhausen 1707-1708
* so short because he didn’t like how they were Pietist Lutheran (more emotional and less formal, lower class) instead of Orthodox Lutheran (exactly how Martin Luther did it, formal, higher class)
* Worked in Liepzig for remainder of life for his 20 kids to be educated well (actually only 10 lived to adulthood)

“christmas oratorio”

* Bach

“St. Matthew Passion”

* Bach
* used a rarely used scale in it

“Goldberg Variations”

Bach

“Little Fugue in G Minor”

Bach

“Mass in B Minor”

Bach

Weimar

* court of the duke: first of three major workplaces of Bach
* here he was court organist and concertmaster (conductor) of orchestra
* typically organ works, organ/harpsichord transcriptions of other works, primarily Italian (Vivaldi)

Kothen

* Reformed Calvinist Church: second of three major workplaces of Bach
* kapellmeister for Prince Leopold
* primarily court orchestra: instrumental ensemble works
* wrote:
* 4 orchestral suites: large collections of dance movements
* concertos for solo instruments
* concerto grosso (group of soloists and orchestra)
* string and woodwind solo sonatas
* 3-4 movement composition in the style of selected instruments
* keyboard and bass continuo

“Brandenburg Concertos”

* Bach
* written for Court of Margrave in Brandenburg
* Bach sent letter of application as well as collection of these 6 concerti grossi as a gift
* varying concertino (soloist group) in each
* never heard back from them…
* “Brandenburg Concerto in D Major”
* harpsichord became a soloist at one point!

Liepzig

* third of three major workplaces of Bach
* he was kantor here: music director for the city
* worked for Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) and 3 others
* main responsibility to was to write a cantata each Sunday and Feast Day

cantata

* multi-movement work for choir and orchestra based on a (Lutheran) chorale melody
* melody generally in top voice
* number of chorale voices= number of movements


* movement one always complex, polyphonic for full chorus and orchestra
* melody must be heard one time through, clearly
* last verse will be 4-vocie setting of chorale
* congregation singing melody (top voice)
* choir sings SATB

Lutheran chorale

* Bach
* stropic (every verse having same melody)
* performed on Sunday and Feast Day (Liturgical calendar)
* melody generally in top voice

Bach’s “Ein Feste Burg”

* originally by Luther
* rewritten by Bach with “smoothed out” rhythmic pattern for congregation
* cantata

mean-tempered tuning

* based on modal system
* difficult to tune to
* in tune with itself in fifths

even-tempered tuning

* equidistant half steps
* very tunable:)

“Well-Tempered Clavier”

* Bach
* wrote volume one in Kothen, and volume two in Liepzig
* 24 preludes and fugues in each (one of each Major and minor scale)
* for harpsichord

“Te Deum”

* Handel
* usually performed after war victories in praise of God
* ex. “Utrecht Te Deum”
* written in Latin unlike most of his works (English)

“Messiah”

* Handel oratorio
* premiered in Dublin, Ireland
* later performed in London for foundling hospital


* Handel’s most well-known work
* in da capo form: ABA

A. Scarlatti

Neapolitan opera composer

Neapolitan opera

* Handel
* full use of Italian castrati and virtuosic singing
* silly stories with elaborate arias

Alcina

* Handel
* Neapolitan opera
* written in Hanover

Elector of Hanover

* major employer of Handel
* later George I of England
* employed Handel as violinist in court orchestra, composer, and Kapellmeister (director)

Royal Academy of Music

* London
* opera company with its own opera house and singers, except for castrati soloists (from Italy)
* Handel stayed here instead of going back to Hanover, was given part of the profit made

Rinaldo

* Handel opera
* written for the Royal Academy of Music

ballad operas

* written by English composers and in English
* comedies
* ballads and popular songs
* everyday characters (commoners, servants, etc.)
* no arias
* light and entertaining music, well-liked

Haymarket Opera

* Handel became employed here after the Royal Academy of Music went bankrupt
* Neapolitan operas
* written in Italian
* Italian soloists
* comic: opera buffa
* English people enjoyed it even though they did not understand the language
* success until ballad operas rose again

“Beggar’s Opera”

* composer: Gay
* librettist: Pepusch
* about low-class family of theives
* VERY successful and took Haymarket out of business

“Haman and Mordecai”

* oratorio by Handel
* story from Bible premiered in pub

oratorios

* Handel
* 9/10 based on sacred subjects (typically from Bible) but not intended for church use
* multi-movement work with solos, chorus, and orchestra
* in English, new primary form of London entertainment
* non-staged: story told through songs, no sets/costumes/roles
* like Neapolitan opera, used recitatives, arias, choruses
* greater use of chorus than N. opera, but arias were essentially identical

“Judas Maccabaeus”

* “Handel’s oratorio prototype”


* story of Israelite leader

Bach vs. Handel choral music

* Bach: instrumental in nature, very complex and full, little time for breathing
* Handel: very singable, time incorporated for breath

orchestral suite

* collection of stylized dances for orchestra
* Preludio befrore the first “real” movement
* written by Bach and Handel

Water Music

* Handel orchestral suites: 3 suites of dances for barge event for king


1. in F: oboe/bassoon features
2. in D: trumpets, horn features (first English compositon to use French horn)
3. in G: flute features

Royal Fireworks

* Handel orchestral suite for king’s barge event
* commemorating military victory