Baroque Era

Important Questions

 Know the years of the Baroque era

 Know characteristics of the predominant melody & texture of Baroque music:

 What are terraced dynamics?

 What is the basso continuo?

 What two kinds of instruments make up the basso continuo?

 What is a harpsichord?

 Instrumentation of a typical baroque orchestra:

 What is an opera?

 What is the name for the text of an opera?

 What is an aria?

 What is recitative?

 What is an overture?

 What is a ground bass (or basso ostinato)?

 Who composed the 1st great operatic work Orfeo? (He is considered the “last great

madrigalist, first great opera composer.”)

 Who was the composer of the 1st great English opera, Dido and Aeneas?

 What is a movement?

 What is a concerto grosso?

 What is the concertino in a concerto grosso?

 How many movements does a concerto grosso contain?

 Ritornello form can be described as ________.

 What is a Cadenza?

 Which late Baroque composer was most known for his skills as a keyboardist? (He had a

large family.)

 Vivaldi’s _____________ is a collection of 4 programmatic concertos, each one about a

season.

 Antonio Vivaldi was a virtuoso _________ and known as “_____________.”

 What is a fugue?

o subject

o countersubject

o fugal exposition

o episodes

o fugal devices –

o augmentation

o diminution

o retrograde

o inversion

o stretto

o stretto

 What is J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier?

 What is a suite?

 A ___________ is Lutheran congregational hymn tune with a German text.

 What is a Cantata and where was it performed?

 An ___________ is an un-staged opera with a biblically-based text.

 Which German composer was considered England’s most important composer? He

wrote Messia


My notes: Check if it’s right

Year: 1600-1750

General Characteristics

  • Complex, ornamented melody

  • Major-minor tonality

  • Homophonic & polyphonic

  • Terraced dynamics - abrupt changes in volume

  • Basso continuo (continuous bass) - 1 instrument plays chords and 1 instrument sustains notes

Baroque Orchestra - string instruments + harpsichord (violins, violas, cellos, double bass)

Opera - drama set to music

Opera text - libretto

Solo Songs (numbers)

  1. Recitative: speech-like singing

  • Secco: accompanied by basso continue

  • Accompanied: accompanied by orchestra

  1. Aria: lyrical; expresses emotion

Other Opera Elements

  • Overture: instrumental music that begins opera

  • Chorus: “extras;” commentators; often polyphonic

  • Castrato; highest paid singer/Italian opera tradition

Claudio Moteverdi

  • 1567-1643

  • Italian, early baroque composer

  • “Last great madrigalist, 1st great opera composer”

  • Wrote first great operatic work-Orfeo

Listening Orfeo

  • Orfeo recitative - homophonic texture

  • Chorus “comments” polyphonically

Henry Purcell

  • English composer (1659-1695)

  • Organist at Westminster Abbey

  • Dido and Aeneas - 1st great English Opera

Ground bass (Basso Ostinato)

  • Repeated rhythmic/melodic pattern in bass

Movements

  • Self-contained section of a larger composition

Concerto Grosso

  • For small group of soloists (concertino) and orchestra

  • 3 movements

  1. Fast

  2. Slow

  3. Fast

Ritornello Form

  • 1st & 3rd concerto movements

  • Orchestra alternates w/ soloists

J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.5

  • 1st movement

  • Ritornello form

  • Concertino: flute, violin harpsichord

  • Orchestra: strings + continuo

  • Harpsichordist plays cadenza - improvised solo passage

Johaun Sebastian Bach

  • German, late baroque composer

  • Virtuoso organist - most eminent keyboardist of his day

  • Large family

  • Rules of harmony derived from his music

Solo Concerto

  • Soloist + orchestra

  • 3 movements: fast, slow, fast

Concerto in E, Spring, Op. 8, No.1

  • Vivaldi

  • Programmatic - music depicts story

  • (The Four Seasons: collective work containing 4 concertos)

Antonio Vivaldi

  • Late Baroque Italian composer

  • Virtuoso violinist

  • “The red priest”

Fugue - polyphonic composition based on one main theme

Subject

  • Main theme

  • Presented initially in imitation

Countersubject

  • Secondary theme played against the subject

Fugal Exposition

  • Beginning

  • Each voice states subject successively

  • Subject-Answer-Subject-Answer

Episodes

  • Passages of music that do not contain a full statement of the subject

Subject Entries

  • Statement of subject outside exposition

Fugal Devices

Augmentation - subject presented in longer time values

Diminution - subject presented in shorter time values

Retrograde - subject stated backwards

Inversion - subject moves by same intervals but opposite direction

Stretto - overlapping subject entries

The Well Tempered Clavier

  • Bach

  • 2 volumes

  • 48 Preludes (introductory piece) & fugues

Suite - collection of dances

Lutheran Church Music

  • Chorale: Lutheran congregational hymn

  • Cantata: multi-movement work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra

Oratorio

  • Unstaged opera

  • Biblical story

  • Chorus, soloists, orchestra

Handel’s Messiah, “Rejoice greatly”

  • Soprano aria

  • Da capo aria ABA’

  • Syllabic, neumatic, melismatic

  • Major & minor

Hallelujah Chorus

  • Imitative Polyphony

  • Homorhythm

  • Major scale

  • Syllabic

George Frideric Handel

  • German

  • England’s most important composer

  • Composed for every genre (suites, operas, oratories, keyboard music, etc.)