Listen - Chapters 8-11 | MUSIC 27

The Late Baroque Period (1700-1750)

-Bach and Handel were the greatest composers of this period -most important contemporaries were Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi in Italy, Francois Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau in France, Domenico Scarlatti (son of Alessandro) in Spain, and Georg Philipp Telemann in Germany

Absolutism and the Age of Science

-Baroque is a term used by art historians and musicologists; historians would called 1600-1750 as the *Age of Absolutism* -time of belief in the divine right of kings; right of kings to rule was absolute because they were chosen by God -Louis XIV of France became most powerful monarch and one of the most ruthless -Students talk about this period as the *Age of Science* -telescope and microscope, Newton and Leibniz invented calcculus, Newton developed laws of mechanics and theory of gravity -mental climate stimulated by science affected Baroque music and art -DUALISM OF POMP AND EXTRAVAGANCE COMBINED WITH SYSTEM AND CALCULATION

Melody

-Baroque melody tends toward complexity -pushed melodies to limits of ornateness and luxuriance -frequent use of sequence

Art and Absolutism

-France flourished in arts under Louis XIV "the Sun King" -king's levée (getting-up-in-the-morning-routine) involved routines lasting two hours ("l'etat, c'est moi" = "the state is me") -art was to impress -Louis built the most enormous palace in history: Versailles -rooms were decorated by the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, a master of Baroque ceiling painting

Science and the Arts

-Galileo and Kepley -William Harvey discovered circulation of blood -Antoni van Leeuwenhoek first view microorganisms through a microscope -depiction of detail in art reflects the new interest in scientific observation; something scientific in the objectivity -human control over nature symbolized by Baroque formal gardens; strictly regulate nature according to geometrical plans

Music in Venice

-Venice = city of canals -Baroque music started in northern Italy (Venetian Republic) -Venetian composers would alternate two, three, or more whole choirs; homophony crowded out counterpoint (expand upon 16th century composers' dividing choirs into low and high groups, semichoirs alternate and answer or echo each other) -magnificence and extravagance became the new ideals, well suited to the pomp and ceremony for which Venice was famous

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

-also has the distinction of being the first great composer whose music was attacked for being too radical -published a book of sacred songs at 15 -first worked at Mantua in n Italy, wrote first opera *Orfeo*; known as the first masterpiece of opera -appointed choirmaster of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice (most prestigious musical position in Europe) -after Orfeo, none of his operas were printed--some completely lost -The Return of Ulysses -The Coronation of Poppea

Texture: Basso Continuo

-both homophonic and polyphonic textures are enriched by *basso continuo* -bass line is performed by bass voices or low instruments; but also played by an organ, harpsichord, or other chord instrument -"continuous bass" has the double effect of clarifying harmony and making the texture bind -nowadays called the *continuo* -continuo used to be the bass line of hte polyphony reinforced by chords, but later the continuo & its chords was mapped out first and the polyphony above adjusted to it; *Baroque polyphony has systematic harmonic underpinnings*

Rhythm

-brimming with energy; plays off distinctive rhythms against a steady beat -harmonic rhythm: a Baroque piece tends to change chords at every measure or at some other set interval

The Baroque Orchestra

-core of Baroque orchestra were instruments of the violin family -Louis XIV's orchestra called "The Twenty Four Violins of the King"--6 violins, 12 violas, 6 cellos, and 1 or 2 basses -keyboard instrument added as continuo

Functional Harmony

-could also be used as a way of organizing large-scale pieces of music -each chord now assumed a special role, or function, in relation to the tonic chord; newly predictable and purposeful way of one chord following another

aria

-extended piece for solo singer that has much more musical elaboration and coherence than a passage of recitative -vocal part more melodic, rhythm more consistent, meter clearer, accompaniment includes the entire orchestra -singer-actor mulls over feelings at some leisure, instead of reacting moment by moment as in recitative -emotion controlled and frozen into a tableau or picture -paradoxically, when the music gets more elaborate, the emotion stands still

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

-foremost organ virtuoso of the early 17th century -organist of St. Peter's in Rome -a century later Bach would study his music composed organ works in several distinct genres: -*Toccatas*: free-formed pieces meant to capture the spirit of Frescobaldi's own improvisation; "touched" in Italian, as in the touching of keys -*Canzonas*: more rigorously organized works emphasizing imitative texture--the ancestors of later fugues -stylized dances, formed of two phrases each, one or both of them repeated to yield the pattern aab or aabb; dances sometimes grouped together in small suites -sets of variations on melodic or harmonic patterns borrowed from contemporary vocal music

Musical Life in the Early Eighteenth Century

-great age for the crafts (violin making, furniture, silver, composing music, etc.) -Baroque composers thought of themselves as servants with masters to satisfy (artisans with jobs) -Baroque pieces not individualized in their expression -three main institutions where composers could make a living: 1. *The church*: taken for granted that organists or choirmasters would compose their own music, then play and conduct it; at large institutions, needed elaborate music for important occasions; church musicians had to train the choirboys 2. *The court*: under patronage of kings or members of the nobility, musician employed on same terms as a court painter, head chef, etc.; kept in better touch with musical developments than church musicians since required to travel with employers--diplomacy eased along by music composed for extended trips to major cities 3. *The opera house*: although many attached to courts, other opera houses were maintained by entrepreneurs in major cities; composers conducted own operas and sat at harpsichord; opera revivals required recomposition (sometimes by new composer) to satisfy new singers

Henry Purcell

-greatest English composer of the Baroque era -organist at Westminster Abbey and a member of the Chapel Royal -wrote the first English examples of a new Italian instrumental genre, the sonata -*Dido and Aeneas*

Ornamentation

-improvising melodic extras in the arias opera singers sang night after night in the theatre -enough improvisations were written down (as guides for lesser musicians) to give us some idea of the art of the greatest virtuosos

Extravagance and Control

-in some ways, the musical form was becoming more rigorously controlled and systematic around 1600s

From Renaissance to Baroque

-madrigal was the most "advanced" form in late Renaissance music -previously taboo dissonances and rhythmic contrasts were explored to illustrate emotional texts in a more and more exaggerated fashion -a reaction set in against the madrigal in Florence, attacked word painting -new style of solo singing was developed: *recitative*: aimed to join together features of music and speech, led to opera

Style Features of Late Baroque Music

-methodical quality; inspired repetition and variation -thoroughness (draw material out to the maximum and wring it dry) and homogeneity -little contrast in rhythm, dynamics, melody, texture, or tone color

ground bass

-music constructed from the bottom up -bass instruments play a single short melody many times, upper instruments/voices play/improvise different -e.g.: Dido's Lament -also called *basso ostinato* by Italian musicians, meaning "persistent" or "obstinate" bass -ostinato is also used to refer to any short musical gesture repeated over and over again, in the bass or anywhere else

The Rise of Instrumental Music

-music without words, music that doesn't depend on words -trace instrumental music to three sources: 1) Dance: opera linked to ballet; musicians in France (center of ballet at the time) put together sets of dances selected from operas or ballets (*dance suites*: groups of dances) -stylized dances is written in the form of dance music but intended for listening rather than dancing 2) Virtuosity: art of early virtuosos was improvised and scarcely written down; only in 16th and 17th centuries was some of their art incorporated systematically into written-out compositions 3) Vocal music: principal technique of vocal music, imitative polyphony (imitation) was transferred to the instrumental medium; *fugue* (characteristic polyphonic genre of the Baroque era): uses only one theme throughout (like a single extended point of imitation) -*variations*: sectional pieces in which each section repeats certain musical elements while others change around them

Dynamics

-no musician ever played music at an even level of dynamics -abrupt dynamic contrasts rather than gradual buildups -characteristic dualism between extravagance and order; methodological but also dramatic and bizarre

Art and Theatricality

-opera invented in Italy around 1600 -opera is Italy's great contribution to the 17th century golden age of the theatre -theatre has strong emotion; the emotionality in Baroque art has a theatrical quality

Tone Color

-original tone color not critical in Baroque music (certain instruments can perform in place of each other)

Rhythm and Meter of Baroque music

-rhythms more definite, regular, and insistent -a single rhythm or similar rhythm can be heard throughout a piece or major segment of a piece -new emphasis on meter

Science and Music

-scales were tuned, or tempered, so that all the 24 major and minor keys were available for composers -harmony was systematized so chords followed each other like there was a logical direction guiding it -regularity became the ideal in rhythm -basis for systematizing and maximizing how music can express and arouse emotions -Rene Descartes and other thinkers sought to apply the new rational methods to the analysis and classification of human emotions -specific motives, rhythms, keys, etc. to express certain emotions

The Music of Absolutism

-smaller groups of musicians would play *Tafelmusik* (table music): background music during lengthy banquets -special festive or celebratory orchestra featuring military instruments (trumpets and drums) were used to pay homage to kings and princes and glorified God (King of Kings) -main musical vehicle of Baroque absolutism was opera -Bibiena family was the foremost set designers (for opera) at the time -main difference with past opera and opera now was that the stories were indirect tributes to the glory and supposed virtue of those who paid for them -operas flattered princes and stressed their power and wealth

Texture

-standard texture of Baroque music is polyphonic (or contrapuntal)

recitative

-technique of declaiming words musically in a heightened, theatrical manner -descended from declamation -singing voice closely follows the free rhythm of highly emotional speech -used for plot action, dialogue, and other situations in the drama where it is important for the words to be brought out

time period of Baroque Era

1600-1750 -*baroque* capturing its excess and extravagance

When and where was opera invented?

Florence around 1600

Opera

drama presented in music, with the characters singing instead of speaking -most characteristic art form of the Baroque period -combined many different arts: music, drama, poetry, dancing, highly elaborate scene design, and spectacular special effects -began in Florence -started out as court entertainments put on to celebrate royal weddings and the like, but turned into the leading form of entertainment in the whole of Italy -first public opera theatre opened in 1637 -standard dualism of recitative and aria