The Baroque Era is generally considered to run from 1600 to 1750. It is a movement that began in Italy, spanning the rise of opera in the seventeenth century to high art of J. S. Bach and G. F. Händel in the eighteenth. Much of the art, architecture, and music was characteristically grand, extravagant and highly ornate.
The economic impetus for this impressive work was the increased wealth of the era due to trade, colonialism, and the African slave trade. The political impetus was increasing power of European monarchies and the Churches. Impressive buildings, art, and spectacles were ways to exert influence and political control.
Absolute Monarchy and the Divine Right of Kings
Monarchies in Europe became more powerful and centralized, giving rise the political philosophy of the Divine Right of Kings, where a rule is said to derive their power directly from God, and cannot be questioned. A notable example was King Louis XIV of France (5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), "known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history." (Wikipedia).
Louis built the Palace of Versailles to impress, intimidate, and control the nobles who had rebelled early in his reign.
Lavish musical spectacles were an integral part of Louis's reign.
Elements of Baroque Music
In all the Baroque arts there was an intense interest in human passions. Composers used strong contrasts of loud and soft (Terraced dynamics), complex melodies, and new rhythmic patterns. They set music to texts with powerful, dramatic emotion, offering much opportunity for word painting. The Italian Baroque composer Claudio Monteverdi noted that the older renaissance style with its multi-line polyphonic tended to obscure the texts. He and others of his era changed to the focus to be on a single melody line, with other parts subordinated to it. Three elements of Baroque music that are significant are:
1) Tonality, as opposed to modality, which was used in medieval and Renaissance music -- melody and harmonies are based around a tonal center, and progress in a predictable way
2) A new performance convention known as the basso continuo, in which the melody is accompanied by an active continuous bass line, forming a tonal sandwich around less active harmonies
3) New approaches to melody, rhythm, and dynamics
Tonality
Tonality is based around three-not chords known as triads. A chords and melodies are based around a tonal center of gravity, which defines a key, either major or minor. Specific scale steps and the chords base upon then form the backbone of the music. You can shift the tonal center--change key--and have the same sort tonal relations starting on any pitch.
Basso Continuo
The basso continuo was created to accompany a melody, and implied certain chords by numbers, sharps, and flats being written above the music to be filled in on the spot by the accompanying instrumentalist. This would have to be an instrument capable of playing chords, such as a keyboard like the harpsichord or organ, or the large baroque lute (much harder to do). The bass line would be played on a bass instrument like the cello or viola da gamba.
Melody, Rhythm, and Dynamics
Baroque music employed long, elaborate melodies with a great deal of ornamentation. Composers would establish a basic pulse, often with a repeating rhythm. There was a strong sense of regular recurring beats or meters. Dynamics (volume) of music were now being specified for the first time with directions like piano (p; soft) and forte (f; loud). Given dynamics would be held for long sections of a piece.
Claudio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, musician, choir director and priest. He worked for twenty years for the Duke of Mantua, before going on to be music director of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. He began as a composer of madrigals, before switching to the more modern style (seconda pratica) with basso continuo. His opera, Orfeo (1607) is the
oldest commonly performed work of its type. It is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus, a semi-divine singer goes to the underworld to get back his wife Eurydice who was bitten by a snake and died.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUep3sqe35o&t=1670s
The basic elements of opera are first combined in works like "Orfeo". This includes the use of members of the violin family in a larger orchestra.
The basics types of pieces in an opera are:
Instrumental introduction, or overture
Songs with continuo accompaniment--arias
Polyphonic choruses
Instrumental dances
Recitative--This is a new development, in which slow moving harmonies accompany musical "talking" which has less rhythmic motion and meter than either arias or choruses.
In addition, the opera productions had lavish sets, costumes, dancers, etc, offering a continuous and varied entertainment experience.
This was so popular that it was taken up by churches into the worship format as a cantata, or in theaters during penitential times like Lent and Advent in a form known as oratorio. The following chart shows what components were used in which genres.
| OPERA | CANTATA | ORATORIO | |
| OVERTURE | X | X | X |
| ARIAS | X | X | X |
| CHORUSES | X | X | X |
| RECITATIVE | X | X | X |
| INSTRUMENTAL DANCES OR DANCE SONGS | X | ||
| ACTING | X | ||
| DANCERS | X | ||
| COSTUMES | X | ||
| SETS AND PROPS | X |
Henry Purcell (c. 10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695)
Purcell was the greatest English-born composer of the Baroque period. His opera Dido and Aeneas (1689) was one of the first operas in the English language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_8DzTkZiYo
Barbara Strozzi (also called Barbara Valle; baptised 6 August 1619 – 11 November 1677) was an Italian singer and composer of the Baroque Period. During her lifetime, Strozzi published eight volumes of her own music, having more music in print than any other composer of the era. This was made possible without any support from the Church or consistent patronage of the nobility.
Strozzi's life and career has been overshadowed by the claims of her being a courtesan, which cannot be completely confirmed as at the time female music making was often times assumed to be an intellectual asset of a courtesan. (Wikipedia).
Strozzi was said to be "the most prolific composer – man or woman – of printed secular vocal music in Venice in the middle of the [17th] century." Her output is also unique in that it only contains secular vocal music, with the exception of one volume of sacred songs. She was renowned for her poetic ability as well as her compositional talent. Her lyrics were often poetic.and well-articulated. (Wikipedia). Her song, Vendetta (Revenge) deals with the battle between the sexes, sometimes playful; sometimes serious.
According to a blog https://madelynegodley.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/la-vendetta/
"Barbara Strozzi’s work La Vendetta comes from her second book of compositions, published in 1651. This work is a solo aria for soprano accompanied by two violins and continuo. ...The form of the piece is a da capo aria, with the opening lines of text being repeated three times:
Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cantata (Opera in Church)
“Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (Wake up, the voice calls us)
Base on the New Testament parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1–13). Jewish custom was for people to meet the bridegroom at the gates of the town or city at dawn. To get there by dawn, you needed an oil lamp to light the way. A group of wise maidens prepared ahead of time, and were able to meet the bridegroom (symbolizing Jesus). A group of foolish maidens, didn’t prepare ahead of time, and missed the event.
| Choral Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne, wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem. Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde, sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde, wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen? Wohlauf, der Bräut’gam kömmt, steht auf, die Lampen nehmt, Alleluia! Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit, ihr müsset ihm entgegen gehn. (" Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," verse 1) |
1. Chorus |
Throughout the cantata, the congregation would likely be singing along with the chorale verses at the various point in the performance, blurring the line between performers and listeners--part of the more democratic design of Lutheran worship. The final chorus is much more homophonic, allowing the congregation an harmonious integration of the musical/worship experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60a2QCLt6s
Gloria sei dir gesungen
May gloria be sung to you
Mit Menschen- und englischen Zungen,
with the tongues of men and angels,
Mit Harfen und mit Zimbeln schon.
with harps and with cymbals.
Von zwölf Perlen sind die Pforten,
The gates are made of twelve pearls,
An deiner Stadt sind wir Konsorten
in your city we are companions
Der Engel hoch um deinen Thron.
of the angels on high around your throne.
Kein Aug hat je gespürt,
No eye has ever perceived,
Kein Ohr hat je gehört
no ear has ever heard
Solche Freude.
such joy.
Des sind wir froh,
Therefore we are joyful,
Io, io!
hurray, hurray!
Ewig in dulci jubilo.
for ever in sweet rejoicing.
Georg Friederich Händel (1685 - 1759)
Händel was a German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition. (Wikipedia).
His most famous work is the 1742 oratorio "Messiah." Here are a few of the notable parts.
Aria for soprano--"Rejoice Greatly, Ye Daughters of Zion"
Note the alternation between the orchestral ritornello and the vocal solo. Note also the main sections: Fast-Slow-Fast, with the same thematic material being used (with variation) in the fast sections. This ends up being a large-scale ternary form (ABA) with variation in the A sections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHQpeGzio4k
audio only for those with only smartphones: https://bbhosted.cuny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-45804468-dt-content-rid-371987796_1/xid-371987796_1
Aria for Bass--"And the Trumpet Shall Sound"
Like previous aria, there is an alternation between fast and slow sections, as well as using the ritornello principle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rQYv8EsGSQ
Recitative and Aria for Tenor--"He That Dwelleth in Heaven"/"Thou Shalt Break Them"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-aVnjF-TAM&list=PLJk9VXX7_rcmfpn7ZEFpfuJbKPYyqfJ8z&index=32&t=0s
Not the use of word-painting in phrases like "Dash them in pieces"
Chorus--"And He Shall Purify"
This chorus is famous for using fugue-like imitation mixed with more homophonic parts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac02mnZJmiQ
Hallelujah Chorus
Performed by The English Concert & Choir Directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock
Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, Hallelujah! The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah! King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and he shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah! (Revelation 19:6; 11:15; 19:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usfiAsWR4qU&list=PLJk9VXX7_rcmfpn7ZEFpfuJbKPYyqfJ8z&index=26&t=0s
Fugue—instrumental, polyphonic, using imitation.
Exposition:
Introduction of the fugue subject, each part follows entering polyphonically
Episode: introduces some other sort of material
Subject entry: Like a refrain
Episode
Subject
Episode
Subject
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbxFi3-UO4&t=58s
The Concerto
Genre for orchestra and either a single solo instrument or a group of solo instruments--concerto grosso (big concerto).
Alternation of the full orchestra (ritornello) with the soloist(s).
Three movements: Fast-Slow-Fast
Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741
L’Ospetale da pietà—Girls’ orphanage and school connected to a church.
Very well trained orchestra.
Concerto-orchestral genre in three movements: fast-slow-fast
With solo instrument alternating in importance with the full orchestra, in what is known as the ritornello principle.
With a group of soloist, it is known a concerto grosso.
“The Four Season” – a group of four concerti with program notes that the music illustrated.
“Spring” 1st Movement
Allegro
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKthRw4KjEg
J. S. Bach “Brandenburg Concerto” no. 2
Concerto grosso for orchestra and four soloist: violin, oboe, alto recorder, and clarino trumpet.
At the time Bach was working for the duke Cöthen. Bach wanted to get a job with the Duke of Brandenberg, so he wrote these 6 concerti dedicated to him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HSRIDtwsfM