3.10 Baroque Instrumental Music

Concerto and Concerto Grosso

• @@Contrast@@ between orchestra and soloist(s)
• From the Latin concertare, “to contend”
• Caused @@large-scale@@ approach
• Portrayed several different @@affects@@ (emotions)

Movements

A @@movement@@ is “a self-contained section of music that is part of a larger work,” and a typical Baroque concerto has @@three@@, going from fast and bright, to slow and emotional, to faster.

Ritornello Form

• Focuses on @@contrast@@ between musical ideas
• @@Ritornello@@ is the name for the orchestral music that starts a movement off, and it returns (in part) many times in this form
• Tonic key, then other keys for the entire middle section, then tonic again
• Amount of RITs and solos @@varies@@, but the general pattern below is there

Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Mandolins and Orchestra (c. 1720?)

• Vivaldi, from Venice, wrote hundreds of concertos, with most having 1-2 violins as the solo instruments (but it varied!)
• The @@mandolin@@, related to the lute, had 4-6 pairs of strings plucked with fingers at the time
• First Mvt. (Allegro): 3 solos and 4 RITs with varied form
• Second Mvt. (Andante): no ritornello, features soloists only, triplets (division of main beat into threes), minor mode, no basso continuo, pizzicato
• Third Mvt. (Allegro): more ritornello

Vivaldi’s Greatest Hits

@@Four Seasons@@, depicting every season, is a set of 4 concertos for which Vivaldi is famed- an early example of program music, which tries to convey a story

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Biography

• Called the @@“red priest”@@ due to hair color
• Worked at the Ospedale orphanage for girls, but he was allowed leaves of absence to tour
• Virtuoso @@violinist@@
• Wrote over 500 @@concertos@@

Violin Concerto in E Major (Spring), Op. 8, No.1 (from The Four Seasons; before 1725), First Movement

• Most @@famous@@ Vivaldi piece
• Poetry associated w/ the piece describes “the singing birds and murmuring streams, a sudden thunderstorm silencing the birds, and their return after it clears”
• Form of ritornellos is a (loud), a (soft), b (loud), b (soft)
• @@Ritornello form@@
• Has elements of a concerto grosso, as multiple violins play

Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Orchestra (before 1721)

• Bach sent 6 concerto grossi to the @@margrave of Brandenburg@@
• Each was scored for different combinations of instruments @@(various tone colors)@@
• No. 5 has a three part ritornello
• First Mvt. (Allegro): Ritornello form, intricate rhythm, some imitative polyphony, some minor mode, rich harmonies, duple meter
• @@Cadenzas@@- improvised solo passages showing off the talent of virtuosos, found in many concertos, often at the end of the 1st Mvt.
• Second Mvt. (Affettuoso- “emotional”): minor mode, only solo instruments and cello, duple meter
• Third Mvt. (Allegro): full orchestra, imitative polyphony, compound triple meter

Fugue

• A @@fugue@@ is “a polyphonic composition for a fixed number of instrumental lines or voices”
• Built around a subject, a single principal theme
• Very big in Baroque music

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Biography

• Bach had music @@passed down@@ to him, and passed it on too
  • 20 children, each were very educated in music
• Started as a church organist, later worked for the Duke of Weimar, then at Cöthen, then at St. Thomas’s Church (Lutheran)
• Never really appreciated, regarded as @@old-fashioned@@
• Only traveled for organ construction contracts
• Blind later in life, composed by dictation
• Wrote for himself too

Fugal Exposition

• @@Exposition@@ is the start of the fugue- all voices present the subject in a standardized way
• Subject announced alone w/o accompaniment, using any voice- the rest take turns with the subject
• After exposition, @@subject enters at spaced out intervals@@
  • Subject entries are these appearances of the entire fugue subject after the opening exposition- they are sometimes
  • Episodes are passages of music separating the subject entries, providing contrast even though they have subject-derived motives
• Fugues alternate between subject entries and episodes

Fugal Devices

• @@Countersubject@@- second subject that fits in counterpoint w/the first
• @@Inversion@@- turning the melody of the subject upside down and inverting all intervals
• @@Stretto@@- shortening space between subject entries so they’re closer together

Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1722)

• The @@Well-Tempered Clavier@@ is an “encyclopedia” for fugues, with @@all techniques@@ included
  • 2 books, decades apart, each w/ a fugue in every key and mode
  • @@48 fugues@@ total, each preceded by an introductory prelude in the same key and mode
  • Vary greatly in tone and techniques
  • Named after keyboard instruments
• Prelude: Begins w/ long trill, slow quadruple-meter dance, 2 motives alternating in textural position
• Fugue: Brief subject paired w/ countersubject, spacious exposition, bouts of major mode

Glenn Gould (1932-1982)

• Canadian pianist
• @@Made Bach popular@@
• Imitated harpsichord on the piano
• Eccentric- w/ strict preferences and odd behaviors- definitely a character
• Popular broadcaster w/ big ideas- thought recordings would be bigger than concerts

Baroque Dances

The Dance Suite

• @@Minuet@@: simple dance in triple time at a moderate tempo
• @@Sarabande@@: slow and intricate dance in triple time with accents on the first and second beats of the measure
• @@Suite@@: collection of miscellaneous dances, all in the same key
• @@Gigue@@: dance in compound meter, typically ending a suite
• @@Stylized dances@@: just for listening, not for dancing

Baroque Dance Form

• Two sections, a and b, typically actually aabb
  • b is typically longer than a
  • often include same motives and cadences (sense of symmetry)
  • each end w/ strong cadences
  • aka @@binary form@@
• Shorter dances were often @@ABA@@
  • B was called the trio- quieter than A or in a different mode
• @@Minuet and Trio form@@

George Frideric Handel, Minuet from the Royal Fireworks Music (1749)

• Handel was a composer of @@opera and oratorio@@ mainly
• Celebrated the end of England’s War of the Austrian Succession
• @@Stylized dance@@
• Rehearsal at London’s Vauxhall Gardens was attended by 12K- the stage lit of fire and 2 died
• @@aabb@@

Bach, Gigue from Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor (c. 1720)

• Bach wrote @@3 sets of suites@@ for harpsichord w/ @@6 suites each@@
• 6 suites for cello solo are @@very popular@@ (my note here- and also very beautiful!!)
• Very @@stylized@@ dance music
• Uses chords in string instruments, providing a very @@wide range@@
• @@aabb@@

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