Short Written Assignment: Styles and Practices
Reading Assignment: The Baroque Period
The Baroque Period (1600-1750)
The Baroque Period in music roughly spans the years 1600 to 1750 and is all about affect
or affections (a musical language to depict the affections e.g. joy, grief, and agitation). The
name baroque was first applied to this era long after it was over by historians who wanted
to characterize the period between the Renaissance and the Classical Period. By using the
term “baroque,” historians were calling attention to the extravagant and even bizarre
qualities of the music. The word itself was probably derived from a Portuguese word
meaning “irregularly shaped pearl.” The standard texture of polyphony (referred to as the
stile antico style during the period) now made room for homophony (then known as stile
moderno), in which one voice or instrument was clearly more important than the others.
Putting one voice in the musical foreground meant that a solo singer could portray onstage
the thoughts and actions of a single dramatic character in an opera or oratorio or a soloist
could play accompanied by an orchestra in a concerto.
In the Baroque period, we see three distinct styles of music and two practices:
STYLES PRACTICES
Theater (Opera) Stile Antico (highly polyphonic)
Church Stile Moderno (homophonic w/solo voice)
Chamber
Theater
A whole new relationship between works and music began in Florence, Italy, around 1600.
A group of scholars and musicians calling themselves the camerata (Italian for “a society of
friends”) sought to recapture the spirit of Greek drama by writing melodies for the actors to
sing as they played dramatic roles. From this group, and other Florentine musicians, would
come the genera known as opera. Opera is drama in which all dialogue is sung. There are
two main types of singing contained in operas, recitative and aria. A recitative section is a
type of sung speech that usually contains dialogue, which is highly rhythmic and syllabic.
An aria is a fully developed melody for a vocal soloist, which is accompanied.
The first master of operatic composition was the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643).
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Monteverdi’s life spanned the change of style from the Renaissance into the Baroque.
Upon Gabrieli’s death in 1612, Monteverdi took over the post of music director at Saint
Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. His early madrigals are wonderful examples of music in the
Italian Renaissance (stile antico). His operas, however, represent the new style (stile
modern) of the baroque. Monteverdi’s last opera was The Coronation of Poppea. The
story is based very loosely on the Roman emperor Nero, who reigned from AD 54 to 68 and
is remembered throughout history for fiddling while Rome burned. He was a weak, vain
man who pursued many women. Poppea knew how to play to Nero’s passions, and by
careful scheming she was able to dispose of his wife so that Nero would marry her and
make her empress. Many characteristics of recitative and aria can be heard in Monteverdi’s
Coronation of Poppea. Let’s watch the finale to the opera!
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The Cantata
A cantata is a dramatic work for solo voices, sometimes a small chorus, and either basso
continuo or a small orchestra. The same type of vocal styles we heard in opera were used
in cantatas, including recitative to provide clearer dialogue, arioso, and aria. Baroque
cantatas were quite different from operas, however, in that they were short (usually not
more than twenty minutes long), and they were not performed with scenery, costuming, or
stage action. Like operas, they needed to be understood by their audiences and were
generally composed in the vernacular. Cantatas come in secular and sacred forms. The
secular cantata was a popular form of musical entertainment in Italy with works by Giacomo
Carissimi, Antonio Cesti, and Barbara Strozzi. Most performances would have happened at
social gatherings in the homes of wealthy aristocrats.
Like opera, the cantata went through considerable transformations from early to late
baroque, reaching its height in Germany in the works of Dietrich Buxtehude and J.S. Bach.
By Bach’s time, the sacred cantata was performed in churches and often included baroque
elements of recitative, aria, chorus, and instrumental ensemble. Cantatas generally
included several movements that featured a variety of solo singers, and they usually
concluded with a four-part setting of a chorale melody. Let’s listen and follow along in the
score to Bach’s Sleepers Awake, Cantata no. 140 written in 1731.
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Church
The arts served also to project the power of the church, and the same theatricality and
intense artistic expression designed to arouse earthly passions could awaken passion for
religious subjects as well. Churches spent large sums of money on lavish decoration that
would both convey the church’s authority and inspire religious fervor. Filling these brilliant
interiors was the sound of the Baroque organ, an instrument whose powerful resonance
and striking variety of timbres was unsurpassed in creating awe. The renowned organist
Johann Sebastian Bach, whose Toccata and Fugue in D minor is one of the most famous
organ compositions of all-time, made frequent trips to towns and cities around Germany to
test the craftsmanship of newly installed organs.
The fugue is one of the new types of works that Baroque composers began to write for the
organ. The word fugue comes from the Italian word fuga, meaning “flight.” The fugue, as is
true of most musical forms, did not appear fully developed. It evolved from less complex
types of keyboard music. The fugue and its predecessors have one thing in common; they
are contrapuntal, with lines of music often imitating one another.
One of the most important composers in the history of music, and certainly the preeminent
composer of the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) produced what
many regard as the finest pieces of music ever written.
Although well-respected during his lifetime, Bach was generally considered more of a loyal
and industrious church musician than a genius, a point of view that has since dramatically
changed. His work was not revolutionary in itself; rather, he brought such an elevated level
of mastery and sophistication to the prevailing musical trends of the time (use of
counterpoint, harmonic organization, variation of rhythms, forms, and textures, etc.) that the
entire period is said to have reached maturity with Bach. The type of music that Bach wrote
was mostly determined by the position he held. For instance, while at Cöthen, he wrote a
great deal of instrumental music, which was what the Prince wanted. It was there that he
wrote his six Brandenburg Concertos and the suites for solo cello. At Leipzig, his duties
required producing music for church services, and he wrote most of his over 200 cantatas
during his tenure there.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor is a fugue surrounded by a
toccata, which is a free-sounding virtuoso works, usually for keyboard. Both the fugue and
the toccata offer the organist plenty of chances to show off the tremendous tonal
possibilities of the instrument, as well as virtuoso skill as a performer. The third and
concluding section of this work is another toccata that Bach labels recitativo. The word
refers to the free and expressive style of singing. Let’s listen to Bach’s composition and see
if you can hear the three sections.
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Let's now watch a video on Bach from the BBC Great Composers series.
The Oratorio
An oratorio is a dramatic work for chorus, solo voices, and orchestra. Unlike opera, it does
not include scenery, costuming, or stage action. It is similar to the cantata in many ways
except that it is longer and is performed on a much larger scale (most take as long as two
hours or more to perform). The oratorio developed as part of the Roman Catholic Church’s
efforts for reform after the Protestant Reformation. In order to reach out to as many
community members as possible, the Congregation of the Oratory built buildings close to
churches that were used for talks, lectures, and musical performances in which religious
subjects could be taught outside of the services offered by the church. Because they were
intended to teach, many oratorios were based on Bible stories and had a singing narrator to
explain what was happening before and between the other musical selections.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1795) was born in Halle, Germany to a prosperous family.
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His father was a barber-surgeon who did not want his son to be a musician (a common
theme in music history). Eventually, his father relented, allowing Handel to study
composition with Friedrich Zachow, a well-respected teacher and composer. After enrolling
at the University of Halle, Handel determined that his destiny lay in opera. In 1706, he
moved to Italy where he composed his first major works. A visit to London in 1710 left him
enthralled, and he decided to settle there permanently.
Probably the most famous oratorio of all time is Handel's Messiah. It consists of 35 sections
(19 choruses, 16 arias, 17 recitatives, and 2 sections for orchestra alone). It is primarily a
contemplation of Christian beliefs in three parts: the prophecy and Christ’s birth, his
suffering and death, and the Resurrection and Redemption. Let’s listen to the final section
of the Messiah, the "Hallelujah Chorus"!
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Chamber
The Concerto
One of the most important musical forms to emerge during the Baroque period was the
multi-movement concerto; a work featuring an instrumental soloist accompanied by an
ensemble. Two main types of concerti were the solo concerto for solo instrument and
orchestra, and the concerto grosso, played by a small orchestra. Solo concertos were
usually virtuoso showpieces in which soloists were required to perform technically
demanding parts. As well, the solo instrument had to be of sufficient expressiveness and
power to hold its end of the conversation with the ensemble.
Antonio Vivaldi is undoubtedly one of the most significant Baroque instrumental
composers; certainly he was the most prolific of the 18th century in Italy. Sometimes called
the “red priest” because of the color of his hair and his ordination, he spent most of his
career as a music teacher and composer at the PioOspedale della Pietà, a school for
orphaned, abandoned, or illegitimate girls in Venice.
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Vivaldi wrote more than 500 concertos, including 39 for bassoon, 30 for flute, and several
for oboe, and no less than 39 operas, in addition to numerous choral works, cantatas, and
chamber works. In many of these works, he experimented with different sound
combinations between the ensemble and the soloist, establishing a trend for many
generations of composers after him. His masterpiece Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four
Seasons) remains his most imaginative and colorful work. In this concerto, Vivaldi tried to
capture the unique essence of each of the seasons. Let’s listen to the first movement,
“Spring,” which includes musical passages designed to imitate chirping birds.
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The compositional approach in which a composer tells a story, paints a picture, or sets a
mood through music is called program music. The opposite approach is usually referred
to as absolute music. After falling out of favor during the Classical era, program music
gained popularity once again in the Romantic period.
The Suite
A popular form among Baroque composers was the suite, a series of movements based
upon the rhythms and style of a particular dance. The suite could be written for a solo
instrument such as the harpsichord or violoncello or for a small instrumental ensemble.
Dances included the German Allemande, the French Courante, the Sarabande (originally
from Spain), and the English or Irish Gigue (Jig). Many suites also included the Gavotte: a
French folk dance characterized by the raising rather than the sliding of the feet. At times,
non-dance movements such as the Prelude were also employed. This series of movements
was designed to offer interesting contrasts in meter, tempo, and texture. The dance suite
became very popular in the late Baroque. Examples include Handel's two most popular
orchestral suites: Fireworks Music and Water Music. The Fireworks Music suite was first
performed at a large fireworks display, while the Water Music was written for a party held
on the Thames River. Legend has it that the party goers rode on one barge floating down
the Thames, while Handel and the musicians played on another barge immediately
following. Let’s listen to one of the most famous movements from these suites entitled “Alla
Hornpipe” from the Water Music suite.
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