Baroque Era Outline

Baroque Era (1600-1750)

I. Musical characteristics:

• Moved closer to tonality- tonality is the relationship of chords to the tonic key, not yet to a different key, but a key like D Major or e minor, etc.
• Polarity- common technique where the composer pays more attention to the highest and lowest voices, compared to the Renaissance, with little bass; still carries over to today
• More harmony compared to the Renaissance
• Care to detail
• Basso continuo -different bass instrument(s) (like double bass) play the same note as they gather around a keyboard instrument
• Counterpoint- subject to polarity
• Terraced dynamics
• Virtuoso works
• Idiomatic compositions- the structure of the music was intended for the specific instrument, not as a mimicking of the voice
• Figured bass
• Ornamentation
• Great improvisers
• "Theory of Affections"- the given characteristics of individual keys (e.g.: D Major might be bright and happy.)
• Major-minor tonality
• Equal temperament- a system of tuning keyboard instruments where each semitone (half-step) is spanned equally apart, so that it would be possible for music to be composed in any key.
• Frescobaldi- made a treaty, saying that there were one hundred different types of articulation between absolute legato to absolute staccato;
• Ornaments consisted of about 250 in all

II. Popular Musical Instruments

• Oboes
• Variety of keyboard instruments
• Strings (viol family was first in the lead, but was then dominated by violin family which included violin and bass viol, also known as contrabass or double bass)
• Bassoon

III. Vocal Genres

A. Protestant vocal genres:

*Cantata- short 10-400 minute work; focused around a short, Biblical story or text; matched the liturgical calendar and was strong through the evangelical movement; Bach composed a different one for each Sunday.
*Oratorio- a non-staged, lengthy work; mostly sacred (e.g. Handel's Messiah), dramatic composition; chorus, orchestra, and soloists are the performers.
*Passion-similar to Oratorio; gospel story of Jesus' last days on earth make up the subject material; Latin word passio, which means "suffering," is the root of the word Passion. Dramatic re-enactments of the Passion have been performed by the church beginning at the Medieval Era. Passion- important to Germans who elevated death.

Psalms- psalms sung aloud...
Motet- shorter, often containing serious, religious matter, countless combinations of voices and musical instruments were employed as a means of exhibiting whatever religious text the composer was setting; Bach's motets were usually sung at funerals; example, "Jesu meine Freude"

Chorale-predecessor of hymns, crucial to the development of tonality, can change harmony on every single chord, Bach's chorales were written in Germany

B. Catholic vocal genres:

Mass- core ceremony in Roman Catholic Church, Latin Missa is its root, meaning "congregation"; incorporates chants; ca. 600 was the date of the establishment of the formal organization of the Mass; can be spoken "Low Mass," or sung, "High Mass."

Consisted of five main sections:

Kyrie- Genesis- Lord have mercy.

Gloria- Christ as baby

Credo- Church age (letters of Paul)

Sanctus- everlasting song, Revelation in Bible (angels singing), vision, Isaiah and John

Agnus Dei- revelation, lamb, go back to reality... what does that mean?, during communion as a remembrance

Vespers- service of worship held in the evening... any more information needed?

Psalms- psalms sung aloud...

Motet- defined above

C. Secular vocal genres:

Cantata- defined above
Madrigal- secular vocal piece written to express feelings or thoughts common to the people living in the Renaissance; composed towards beginning of Baroque era and in the Renaissance era; for most of the madrigal's history, its texture was polyphonic and consisted of normally three to six voices a cappella.

*Opera- secular, not sacred, work where instrumentalists and singers dramatically perform as the musical score and text (i.e. libretto) are put together
Oratorio- defined above

*A cantata, opera, oratorio, and passion shared the following characteristics: chorus, recitative, arias, and libretto.

IV. Instrumental Genres:

• Dance suite
• Standard Dances: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue
• Concerto: Solo concerto or concerto grosso; keyboard and violin were the most important solo instruments of the time; sometimes during a concerto, the piano will double the orchestra
• Solo keyboard genres: Chorale prelude, Chorale variations, Fantasia, Passacaglia, Prelude, Sonata, and Toccata

V. Keyboard Instruments

• Keyboards: clavichord, harpsichord (cembalo), and virginal
• Organs: portative, positive, and regal

VI. Development of the Pianoforte

• Christofori created the first pianoforte.
• More developments, the primary final one being Steinway and Sons

VII. Opera

• Florentine Camerata

VIII. Composers

• Christoph Gluck- opera reforms
• Johann Sebastian Bach- most famous for composing fugues and incorporating greatly the equal temperament system
• George Friederic Handel- most famous for his oratorios
• Claudio Montiverdi- most famous for his inventive madrigals and operas
• Henry Purcell- wrote opera Dido and Aeneas
• Domenico Scarlatti- most famous for his keyboard sonatas