Music History

Baroque Period is 1600-1750

Opera and Oratorio.  

Both:  Large choral/orchestral works organized in dramatic fashion:  Containing Overture, arias, duets, trios, quartets, etc. Chorus, dance movements, recitatives.

Differences:  1) Source material:  Opera = secular  Oratorio = sacred    

2)    Presentation:  Opera = fully staged dramatic presentation with costumes, set design, blocking, lighting, properties, etc.

                                                     Oratorio = performed in concert style.

Handel is credited with creating and promoting the popularity of Oratorios.

Programmaticism is the overt expression of a story, feeling, or idea through musical setting. 

Music Terminology:  

            Word Painting is the description of text through musical expressionistic.

            Tone Color distinguishes the difference in various sounds (bright, dark, shrill, warm, etc.).

            Dissonance is harmony which is harsh or suspenseful creating discomfort.

            A Cycle is a set of pieces of the same genre linked by a similar musical idea or subject.

            A Motif is a short musical idea from which a theme can be drawn.

            Diva is an Opera Star.

            Ground Bass is a repetitive descending bass line used to portray sadness or create tension. This technique is used by Purcell in his opera Dido and Aeneas.

            Terraced Dynamics is loud and soft in levels.  A Baroque idiom dictated by use of basso continuo.

            Basso Continuo (continuous bass) is a Baroque convention.  It consists of two players: one to carry        the bass line- usually cello, and one to fill in the chordal harmonies – usually harpsichord.  Basso    Continuo is the foundation of the Baroque orchestra.

            Gigue, Alemande, Courante, Air, Sarabande are all examples of dances which inspire movements      of a suite.

Music of the Baroque Period is instrumentally conceived.  It is difficult technically and serious music was largely performed by professionally trained musicians. 

The Baroque Fugue is polyphonic in texture.

Fugues were composed by all the Baroque composers we studied. 

Fugues continue to be popular and are composed today.

The theme of a Fugue is called the Subject.

The subject in a Fugue can be altered by manipulating various musical elements.  Some of these ways of alteration include:  Retrograde (Subject appears in reverse), Inversion (Intervals are inverted), Diminution (note lengths are reduced), Augmentation ( note  lengths are increased).  And these can be combined.

The Baroque Suite is multi-movement orchestral work in which each movement is inspired by a dance style. The work is united by key.

The Classical Period is 1750-1820

The texture of the Classical Period generally homophonic.  The music is balanced and symmetrical.  Any dissonance that occurs is resolved into consonance.  So it is comfortable to listen to. There is contrast, variety, and repetition in this music. The late 18^th Century is also a time of war and political upheaval. So folk tunes and more naturalistic themes appear in the music and character portrayals in dramas.  Examples are the operas The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute by Mozart.

A Concerto is a solo piece in 3 movements for any instrument with orchestral accompaniment.

A Sonata is a solo piece in 3 movements for any instrument with piano accompaniment.  Unless piano, itself is the solo instrument.    

The Baroque Concerto Grosso is a piece for more than one soloist with orchestra accompaniment.

A Symphony is an orchestral work in 4 movements.

A String Quartet is a work for string quartet in 4 movements.

In each case the 4 movements are traditionally composed in the following formal structures:

Movement One:  Sonata Design  (ABA)

A)   Exposition:  Theme One (Dynamic/home key)

                     Modulatory Bridge to related key

                     Theme Two (Lyrical/in new key)

                     Closing Section (New key)

                     Exposition repeats

B)    Development:  Musical material presented in Exposition is developed in various ways by manipulating                   the elements of music and harmonies

A')   Recapitulation:   Restatement of Exposition with subtle changes.  All in home key.

Possible CODA

Movement Two:  Theme and Variations  (A A1, A2, A3, etc)

Movement Three:  Minuet and Trio  (ABA)

Movement Four:  Rondo  (ABACA)

Opera is a large-scale theatrical work.  It was conceived of by the Florentine Camerata.

The earliest known opera which survives today is Orpheus and Euridice by Monteverdi dating from 1607.

Early opera used ancient Greek dramas as its subject material.  The Overture set the mood for the story.

Musical numbers include: arias, duets, trios, quartets, etc., choruses, dances, and recitatives.

Recitatives keep the narrative moving forward.  They can be composed in one of two styles:

1) Secco (dry) which follows more natural speech rhythmic patterns and is accompanied only by the basso continuo in the Baroque Period.  2) Accompanied which is metered and accompanied by the entire orchestra – including the basso continuo in the Baroque.

The basso continuo disappeared from the orchestra in the Classical Period as the orchestra grew in size and the piano displaced the harpsichord.  It remains only to underscore secco recitatives in opera.

The piano was created near the end of the Baroque Period by the instrument manufacturer Christofori.  Its hammer mechanism made it a much more powerful instrument than the harpsichord which plucked the strings.  The pianoforte, as it was originally called, also has much more range of dynamics, articulation, and tone color.

An instrument created during the Classical Period is the clarinet.

Important People:

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are important composers of the Classical Period.  All composed important works including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets and other chamber pieces, choral pieces, and opera.

Beethoven significantly altered the Orchestra and Symphony in ways which continued to be influential throughout the nineteenth century.  These include the following:

Orchestral instrumentation:  added contrabassoon, piccolo, singers, trombones

Orchestra is larger in general

Symphony is: generally more dynamic with large range of dynamics, stops in pulse, large tone color range;

 longer and more technically difficult; more dramatic and expressive; adds elements of programmaticism.

Internal movements can be in the structure of a Scherzo (ABA- character is driven-either humorous or diabolical, in triple meter).

UNIFICATION ELEMENTS:  Same Thematic material occurs throughout the entire work, adds musical bridge between movements