Baroque (1600 - 1750)

The dates associated with the Baroque Era range from about 1600 to 1750.

Music was designed on a grand scale, just like architecture & painting were at the time.

The Baroque Era brought the birth of Opera.

Th piece called “Orfeo” by Monteverdi marked the beginning of opera as it is known today.

The first major composer of ballet music was the Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Jean-Baptiste Lully later became known as the “the father of French Opera”.

An oratorio is work written for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. It had a religious subject and was presented without theatrical action.

The Baroque era brought an increased interest in instrumental music.

Keyboard instrument such as the clavichord, harpsichord, and organ were popular during the Baroque Era.

Memorable works for these instruments listed were written by Domenico Scarlatti, Francois Couperin, and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Stringed instruments also became more popular during the Baroque Era.

A concerto Grosso is music for small group of small instruments playing in alteration with the full orchestra.

Composers who wrote memorable works for stringed instruments were Arcangelo Corelli, Giuseppe Tartini, and Antonia Vivaldi.

The development of the Baroque era culminated in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederic Handel. Coincidently, the composers were both born in Germany in 1685 but never met each other.

Bach devoted his life to composing music for the church services. Bach composed music for the organ, the clavier, the harpsichord, and small groups of instruments.

A fugue is when voices or instrumental parts enter at different points, each imitating the first. After entering, each part varies and results in a very complex counterpoint.

A chorale - prelude is a contrapuntal composition based upon chorale or hymn tune, of the Lutheran church.

Cantatas are large works for a chorus of singers and accompanying instruments.

Handel finally moved and became subject of Britain. Using English text, Handel produced several oratorios. Handel’s best know work is the “Messiah:, which includes the famous Hallelujah chorus.