Baroque Era 1600-1750

Transition from Renaissance to Baroque musical style began in the late 16th century

Baroque notion of conflict - contrast

• Concertato style - soloists/small group of players vs full ensemble

Soprano bass polarity

Stile antico and Stile moderno; prima prattica and seconda prattica

• Two styles coexisted; old style most frequently found in sacred music'; new style evident in secular music

Text

Polyphony - a solo voice accompanied

Instrumental Forms - overtures and interludes

Important Forms

• Anthem -More elaborate; utilizing recitatives, intrameal accompaniments with continuo independent instrumental sections and interludes’ elaborate solo passages

  • Made famous by Bach

• Chorale Cantata - sacred work for soloists chorus and orchestra

• Magnificat - setting of the canticle of the Virgin Mary; Gospel of Luke

  • Monteverdi, Purcell

• Mass -Began to incorporate the concert style and include instrumental accompaniments

  • Bel canto style

• Motet - written in concertato style; exploiting the colors of contrasting choral and instrumental forces

• Oratorio - setting of a sacred or heroic text for chorus, soloist, and orchestra

  • is never staged

  • created because people could not see operas during Lent

• Passion - musical setting of the events at the end of Chirst’s life, from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion

• Te Deum - Musical setting of the text “Te deum laudamus”

  • We praise thee, God

• Vespers - Evening worship in the Roman Catholic rite

  • Includes a series of psalms, hymns and magnificat

• Madrigal - continued to be popular and came to embody the new style

• Cantata - extended piece of accompanied secular or sacred music with recitatives and arias

Giovanni Gabrieli (1555 - 1612)

1575 - went to munich to work and study with di Lasso

1587 - appointed organist at St. Mark’s Basilica

1600 - German students

• Their final exam was the composition of a book of madrigals

Music

• Works written for specific political/religious occasions

• Colla parte: When a composer writes so that the parts can be pulled apart and played by instruments

O Magnum Mysterium - Motet

• One choir and one section for brass and soloist

Jubilate Deo

• SSAATTBB

• Short phrases because of the phrasal structure

Concerti (1597)

• Contains 5 motets, 5 madrigals; 67 compositions

Style

• Concertato principle - desire for contrast of color; unity of disparate elements

• Direct emotional appeal

• Discontinuity

• Clearly delineated sections

• Shorter, more distinct phrase lengths

• Rhythmic contrast

• Importance of text

Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643)

• Born in Cremona (Italy)

• Was at the court of Mantua as a string player in 1590

• 1599 went to Antwerp and brussels and hungry

• named Maestro do cappella of Gonzaga court in Mantua in 1601

Book 8 (1638)

• Madrigals of war

  • Altri canti d’Amor

1610 Vespers - Vespero della Beata Vergine

• Written while he was in Mantua; dedicated to Pope Paul V

• Vespers- Evening prayers, taken from the Hours of the Divine Office - a set of daily prauers of the Catholic Church

• Monumental work - fusion of both old and new style

• Forces

  • Large choir - divides into 10 vocal parts and split into separate choirs

  • 7 soloists

  • Modern orchestra

Deus in Adjutoium meum intende - Vespers (Vesticle)

• Super syllabic

• One chord the repeates

Dixit Dominus - Vespers (Psalm)

• Falso Bordone: Chanting on one note

• Cantus firmus in the Bass and the Bell Canto in the soprano & tenor

Nigra Sum - Vespers (Motet)

• Solo tenor

Heinrich Schutz (1585 - 1672)

• Was a law students then went to study with Gabrielo - influenced by his studies in Italy

• Completed 5 voice book of madrigals for a final

• Worked in the Elector Soony in Dresden

Style

• influenced by both Gabrieli and Monteverdi - polychoral and concertato style

• Netherlandish composers - dense texture; contrapuntal; imitative

• Intense dissonances and harmonic tension

• READ SLIDES

1619 - Psalmen Davidsa

• collection of double choir or polyphonic works

• 8-20 voices

• Influence of Gabrieli

Danket gem Herren - Motet

• Solo Tenor and choir behind, and instrumental backing

• High voices with imitation then the orchestra

Kleine Geistliche Konzerte I

• Collection of songs

• Written for reduced forces of the electoral chapel

• Written for almost every conceivable vocal combination

Choral Music - French Baroque

King Louis XIV

• Music in France was influenced by and centered at the royal court

• Resurgence of culture

• Italian influence

  • Henry IV

  • Louis XIII

  • Henry IV’s Italian wife Marie di Medici

  • Louis XIV’s mother - Guilio Mazarini was music minister

• 1654 - Coronation of Louis XIV - Has a very long reign

  • Determined much of the styles and genres of music in France

  • Preference for attending messe basse solennelle (low mass) - motets instead of masses

Vocal Genres

Grand motet

• Large scale work for soloists, chorus, strings and basso continuo

• SSATB soli, SATBB chorus

• Latin sacred or semi sacred texts

• Multi sacred sectional structure

• Long

Petit motet

• Small scale work for soloists and basso continuo

• No use of chorus

Not a ton of variety nor many pieces of these two genres

The monarchs were open to free religion so protestant music was prominent as well

Marc-Antonie Charpentier

• Studied with Carissimi in Rome

• - absorbed the polychoral and concertatto styles

• Brought those to France

Worked for the Duchesse de Guise

• Litanies de la Vierge - Petite motet

Composer and Maitre de musqieu at the principal Jesiot church in Paris - St. Louis, among the most brilliant in French musical life

Messe de Minuit por Noel - Mass

• Written for church of St. Louis

• Based on French Noels

Italian Oratorio

St. Filippo Neri

• Established the practice of gathering the laymen in an oratory each afternoon for informal religious discussions and prayers

• Laude - religious songs in Italian

• Oratorio - the term used to denote a building or room ret aside of prayer but also the Prayer service or spiritual exercise held in such a building

• Oratorians- society pf priests

Oratorio

Early oratorio

• Historia, dialogo oratoio motetto

• Sacred but non liturgical text

• typically a biblical subject

• Use of recitative, arioso aria ensemble and chorus

• Use of a narrator

• Not staged, individual singers portray the characters

Oratorio volgare (Italina)

Oratorio Latino (Latin)

Giacomo Carissimi

• Born in Rome

• maestro di cappella at Assisi

• Employed at S. Marcello, Oratorio del SS Crocifisso

Influence

• father of the Latin oratorio

• The musical Musical oratorio

• Influential teacher

Jepth

• Composed 1649

• 25 minutes

• Opening scene - sung by various soloists

• Plorate filii Israel - Final lament of the Israelites

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani

• Italian

• Most prominent and prolific nun composer of the 17th century

• St. Radegondo monastery

• Ave Regina Caelorum - Motet

Isabella Leonarda

• Born in Novara, Italy

• Ursuline convent

• Output - primarily sacred genres, motets,

Gregorio Allegri

Born and educated in Rome

• Spent most of his career as a singer in the Papal Chapel

Miserere mei, Deus - Motet

• 9 voices

• Choir 1 SSATB, Choir 2: SSAB

• Falsobordune

• There are only three copies of this pieces

• The legend is that Mozart sat in the audience and transcribed it aurally

• It is sung only during Holy Week

• There is a section with falso bourdune and a killer high C

Antonio Vivaldi

• Composer and exceptional violin virtuoso

• Ordained priest

• Appointed maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pieta

• Moved to Mantua as Maestro di Cappella at the court of the governor

• Milan, Rome for opera and oratorio productions

• Returns to Venice

Mass Movements

• Gloria - composed for the Pieata (SSAA)

• Kyrie in D minor

• Credo in E minor

• Magnificat in G minor

  • Originally composed 1713 for women’s voices

• Lots of busy string writing & changing of keys because of his skill on the violin

English Baroque

• George the first was the most musically minded monarch

Purcell

• Organist at Westminster Abbey & Chappel Royal

Verse Anthems

• Behold no praise the Lord

• Rejoice in the Lord

• My beloved Spake

Full Anthem

• Hear my Prayer o Lord

Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary

• Man that is born of a woman

• In the midst of life we are in death

• Thou knowest Lord, the secrets of our hearts

Odes - celebrating special occasions int he life of the royal family

• Sound the Trumpet

J.S Bach (1685-1750)

Cantatas

• Over 200

• Concerto

Librettist

• Erdmann Meumesiter

• Christain Friedrich

• Salamo Fracnk

Sources of text

• Scripture

• Chorale

• Newly written poetry, sometimes called madrigalesque potery

Christ lag in Todesbanen

Passions

• St. John

• St. Matthew

• Polyphonic turba chorus - choir acts as the angry crowd commenting on the drama

• Jesus is the bass

• Evangelist is the tenor

• About the death of Jesus

Motets

• Occasional works

• Texts are primarily from scripture

• Singet dem herrn

B Minor Mass

• Iconic work that encapsulates the Baroque era

• Sanctus - used for Christmas

• “Cantata Mass” - Each part of the text is set as a distinct and separate movement

• His works are about symbolism and his faith

• Returning back to the foundation of faith by creating this work

Credo

• Is a mirror cycle with the central 3 movements contained in a double frame arch form

• The credo is the I believe statements

• Form

  • Motet style

  • Patrm festive chorus

  • soloists

  • he was boen

  • died

  • rose again

  • solo

  • motet style

  • chorus

Handel

Wrote the messiah, only cared about money