BAROQUE ERA

Johann Sebastian Bach

: J.S. Bach represents the culmination of Baroque style; synthesizer of international styles - Italian, French (suites), and German Lutheran tradition. Composer of Chorale Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf . . ." ), fugues, and concerti, and of all major Baroque forms, except Italian opera. "Sleepers Awake": a tenor "aria" based on chorale melody and text.

Jean Baptiste Lully

Early Baroque Italian-born French composer at court of Louis XIV; Director of Royal Orchestra; an autocrat who closely coordinated violin & string sections; stabbed his own damned foot.

Claudio Monteverdi

Early Baroque composer who wrote the music for the first operatic masterpiece, L' Orfeo. Monteverdi's opera was informed by his madrigal composition AND by Camerata theories. Monteverdi worked for Count Gonzaga at his Mantua court.

Henry Purcell

English, masque/opera "Dido & Aeneas"; "Dido's Lament" aria for singer and string orchestra. Basic musical structure and form is based on a descending ground/ostinato lament bass. Performed at girl's school in Chelsea.

George Handel

German-born English composer: master of Italian opera & originator of English Oratorio. [Oratorio: originated in Rome; sacred text and subjects; has plots & characters but no costumes or scenery, as per opera; does have aria, recitative, ensemble, orchestra, continuo - all operatic musical forms. A critical feature is a narrator, called a historicus.

Euridice

Orfeo's bride. La Musica: strophic aria prologue

Arcangelo Corelli

first major composer specializing in instrumental works (e.g., Baroque sonatas; inspiration to Vivaldi)

Dido

queen of Carthage sings a paired recitative & "lament" aria: basso ostinato despair & fated death.

Antonio Vivaldi

the red priest" wrote ca. 450 concerti (solo & grosso). His "laboratory" for composition was at a girl's school in Vienna; the Pieta orchestra. The Four Seasons, four concertos for solo violin and strings; La Primavera, Baroque programmatic work; each movement prefaced by sonnet.

Orfeo

world's greatest musician; see "Tu se morta," an expressive recitative, rich in word painting. Euridice: Orfeo's bride. La Musica: strophic aria prologue