Music writing 2

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Chapter 10

Baroque Instrumental Music

The Rise of
Instrumental Music

  • Required new understanding between composers and audiences
  • When to end a piece?
  • How to make instrumental works coherent?
  • How to sustain interest and drama?

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Concerto and
Concerto Grosso

  • The most important orchestral genres of the Baroque era
  • Underlying idea is contrast

-Virtuosity vs. stability

  • Concerto: Soloist against orchestra
  • Concerto Grosso: Group of soloists against orchestra

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Movements

  • Movement = Self-contained section of a larger work
  • Typical concerto has three
  • I: Bright, extroverted, fast
  • II: Slower, quieter, more emotional
  • III: Similar to I, often faster

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Ritornello Form

  • Based on contrast of musical ideas
  • Orchestral material (ritornello)
  • Solo material
  • Returns many times to a stable element
  • In whole or in part
  • In various keys
  • Usually full theme in tonic key to end piece

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Standard Ritornello Form

RIT = Complete ritornello statement

[RIT] = Partial ritornello statement

Solo 1, 2, 3, etc. = Solo episodes

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Titles of Instrumental Works

  • Opus – Latin for “work”
  • Sometimes given evocative titles: “Harmonic Whims” or “Extravagance”
  • Number (No.) – the piece within the opus
  • Ex- Concerto in G, La stravaganza, Op. 4, No. 12

Vivaldi, Violin Concerto in G

  • Opus 4 = Fourth published set of concertos
  • La stravaganza = Descriptive title of set
  • No. 12 = Concerto’s number within the set
  • Standard three-movement format
  • I and III fast and brilliant, in ritornello form
  • II slower and gentler, in ground bass form

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Insert CD 1 of 6-CD set. Double-click buttons on slides to play; click button again to stop playback.

Violin Concerto in G, I

  • Ritornello theme (for orchestra)
  • Three short sections (a, b, c)
  • Alternates between first and second violins

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Concerto Grosso

  • Concerto for a group of solo instruments and orchestra
  • Otherwise similar to concerto
  • Three movements: fast, slow, fast
  • Fast movements usually ritornello form
  • Emphasis on contrast (contest) between soloists and orchestra

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Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Violin Concerto in E, Spring

  • Most famous movement
  • Simple but catchy ritornellos
  • Phrases repeat: a (loud) a (soft) b (loud) b (soft)
  • Next-to-last ritornello introduces new melodies; all others based on b phrase
  • Complicated solo sections—sound more like concerto grosso at times

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J. S. Bach (1685–1750)

  • From family of musicians
  • First a church organist, later a court composer
  • 1723—Cantor and Director musices, Leipzig (St. Thomas Lutheran Church)
  • Prolific, wrote in almost every genre

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Brandenburg Concerto No. 5

  • Solo group = Flute, violin, harpsichord
  • Some soloists do double duty
  • Violin leads orchestra in ritornellos
  • Harpsichord provides continuo chords
  • Standard three-movement format

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Insert CD 2 of 6-CD set. Double-click buttons on slides to play; click button again to stop playback.

Brandenburg Concerto
No. 5, Mvt. I

  • Ritornello theme
  • Homophonic feel
  • Complete theme only at beginning and end
  • Three subsections (a, b, c)

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Brandenburg Concerto
No. 5, Mvt. I

  • Solo episodes
  • Solo group with continuo
  • Imitative polyphony
  • Cadenza = Improvised solo passage
  • Typically near end of concerto’s first movement

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Fugue

  • Most characteristic form of Baroque music
  • Systematized imitative polyphony
  • Built on a single principal theme (subject)
  • Subject “chased” from one voice to another

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Fugal Exposition

  • The subject = The principal theme
  • All voices take turns presenting the subject in full
  • Each voice continues with new material as next one states subject

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Episodes and Subject Entries

  • Subject reenters at intervals
  • in any voice
  • in different keys
  • Episodes contrast with subject entries
  • final subject entry in tonic key

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Bach, Fugue 1 in C Major

  • No episodes, no countersubject
  • 24 entries of the subject
  • Stretto- faster overlapping entrance of subject in several voices, sometimes simultaneously.

The Dance Suite

  • a grouping of miscellaneous dances
  • all in same key
  • last dance always fast
  • usually stylized dances
  • written for listening, not dancing
  • allow greater musical sophistication
  • written for various performing forces
  • orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo harpsichord or lute (all instrumental)

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French Baroque Dance Forms

  • Minuet- simple, triple meter, moderate tempo
  • Sarabande- intricate, triple meter, accent on second beat
  • Gigue- compound meter (3/8,6/8), maybe derived from Irish jig

Handel,
Minuet from Royal Fireworks Music

  • Minuet- simple, triple meter, moderate tempo
  • Not meant to be danced
  • Used the Festive Baroque Orch.
  • Notice the timpani and snare drum

Bach, Gigue from Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor

  • part of a set of six suites for solo cello
  • bowing on two adjacent strings
  • form

|: a :| |: b :|

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Key Terms

  • Concerto
  • Concerto grosso
  • Movement
  • Ritornello
  • Ritornello form

Key Terms

  • Fugue
  • Subject
  • Episodes
  • Stretto
  • Minuet
  • Gigue