lecture notes

MUSIC HISTORY & LIT I: CHAPTER 13

Moving from Renaissance to Baroque

Europe in the 17th Century Science: ■ Scientific revolution:

– Johannes Kepler: showed planets moved around the sun – Galileo: developed the telescope to look to space – Sir Francis Bacon: developed observational science – Descartes: developed deductive science – Sir Isaac Newton: law of gravitation

■ Advancements in math, calculus, science, physics, and engineering

Europe in the 17th Century Politics: ■ New political ideas emerged – democracy vs all-powerful sovereign state

■ In France: Henri IV granted freedom to Protestants while declaring Catholicism the state religion

■ Protestant England/Catholic Spain ended years of war

■ Calvinist Netherlands gained independence from Spain and became a republic

■ Thirty Years' War (1618-48) – reduced Germany to 50% population in some areas

■ English Civil War (1642-49) - king vs Parliament, ended the monarchy for about 10 years

■ Spain, France, and England were constantly vying for power – sometimes including Italy and the Low Countries in their disputes

Europe in the 17th Century Expansions: ■ British, French, and Dutch established colonies in North America,

Caribbean, Africa, and Asia

■ Sugar and tobacco were imported and considered luxuries as they were grown on plantations in the Americas – Crops required extensive labor and started the slave trade

■ As Europeans moved into these new lands, they brought their mix of traditions with them

Europe in the 17th Century Capitalism: ■ Britain, Netherlands, Northern Italy prospered from capitalism

■ Individuals invested their own money into businesses designed to return profit

■ Stock companies developed – Stock companies were formed to finance opera houses

■ Capitalism created more expendable income for individuals, who would spend money, and then boost the economy

■ For music, capitalism saw the creation of public concerts, increased demand from upper/middle classes for published music, instruments, music lessons

Europe in the 17th Century Patronage: ■ Musicians still benefited from patronage – court, church, city

■ Wealthy/powerful families still competed for the best musicians

■ Musicians were still best off in Italy

■ In France, the King controlled the arts as a symbol of power and wealth

■ Along with noble patronage, cities began opening "academies" that sponsored musical activities open to the public

The Baroque Period 1600-1750 ■ Referred to as a period of time, not as a style

■ Baroque – translates to bizarre, exaggerated, or in bad taste – A period of constantly changing tastes and values – Took on a positive meaning in the 19th century when historians

came to recognize the qualities of extravagance, decoration, and focus on drama and expression

The Dramatic Baroque

■ The Baroque period saw a rise in art that focussed on the dramatic

■ Literature: William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes

■ Art: movement and story

■ Music: the affections

■ Architecture: more ornate

Renaissance vs Baroque

The Affections ■ Emotions: sadness, joy, anger, fear, excitement, wonder, love

■ It was the goal in all art forms to stimulate the affections.

■ In music: – It was widely believed that stimulated the affections was healthy – Composers did not try to express their personal feelings, but wrote

for a succession of moods ■ Moods/emotions were expressed through melody, rhythm, harmony, bass

lines, and meter

– Opera: led to the development of characters having their own emotions and songs (arias)

The Second Practice

■ Break the "rules" on purpose to better portray affections. – Counterpoint, harmony, dissonance

■ Example: Monteverdi's Cruda Amarilli

■ Resulted in prima practica and seconda practica – A distinction between the 2 schools of style thought

Baroque Music Traits ■ Polyphonic with an emphasis on treble and bass lines

■ Basso continuo – Composer wrote out the melodies but left it up to the performers

to fill in the appropriate chords – Continuo instruments – Figured bass – Realization

Baroque Music Traits

■ Concertato – group of unlike instruments

■ Tuning – mix between mean-tone and equal temperaments – Performers would compromise on pitch

■ Polyphony – now an emphasis on the bass line instead of all parts equal

■ Rhythm – free or metered, saw the development of measures

■ Vocal and instrumental music started to be seen as equals

Baroque Music Performance

■ The focus fell from the composition/composer, to the performer/performance

■ The responsibility of appropriate portrayal fell on the performer – Expected to add to the performance in some way (gestures, improv,

etc.)

■ Ornamentation – performers were expected to add trills, turns, appogiaturas, and mordents to create affections.

Performance Practice

■ Discuss in groups some ideas you may have to take into consideration when performing Baroque music: – Tuning – Ornamentation – Instrumentation – Dynamics – Rhythms

■ Also picture yourself as a sculptor, painter, or writer. How do your Baroque performance practice ideas bleed over into other areas of art?