MUSIC EXAM 2

Baroque Era time

(1600 - 1750)

style features of the early baroque music

1) rhythm and meter 2) texture: basso continuo 3)functional harmony

The rise of instrumental music

1)dance 2)virtuosity 3)vocal music

Reactions against Renaissance madrigals

1. Came to believe that extreme polyphony obscured emotions 2. Word painting now considered artificial 3. Recitative introduced - soloists singing in an expressive manner, trained by actors - half singing/half speaking - opera emerged

Types of Opera

1. Comic associated with France 2. Tragic 3. Some include spoken dialogue (mostly comedies)

Court

1. Composers were servants 2. More aware of musical trends since they traveled with the nobles

Public Opera House

1. Composers wrote the operas 2. Conducted them from the harpsichord 3. Wrote to show off the singers

Origins of Opera

1. Italy - Florence 2. Florentine Camerata a. Poets b. Musicians (Galelei - Galileo's father) c. Nobles d. Scientists e. Philosophers

Scientific innovations

1. Laws of gravity discovered 2. Calculus 3. Telescope and microscope invented 4. Instruments were tuned more exactly than before a.Pieces were written to exploit this new tuning b. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier was a set of preludesand fugues in every key

makeup of opera

1. Libretto - the text of the opera written by librettist or dramatist 2. Music - written by composer 3. Condensed version of story

. Textures

1. Mainly polyphonic 2. Homophony used in specific places a. Ritornello orchestral section in concertos b. Bach chorales c. Within pieces that contain polyphony used elsewhere d. Used for specific effect 3. Strong bass in continuo with high clear soprano that carried melody

harmony

1. Major/minor key system emerged as dominant to replacethe mode system 2. Sense of tonality became very important 3. Functional harmony - chords following one another in a particular order

Dynamics

1. Not much gradual change 2. Terrace dynamics a. Abrupt changes in dynamics b. The same melody is often repeated a second time, once piano and the second time forte c. Dynamics are not usually notated in the score d. The concerto genre has dynamic contrast written in

church

1. Organists were also choirmasters 2. Had to play on organ, compose, train choirs and conduct

Rhythm

1. Regular rhythm was emphasized with harpsichord 2. Walking bass - a bass line that moves steadily in even beats, usually a series of eighths or quarters

parts of the opera

1. Star soloists who can sing and act simultaneously 2. Secondary soloists (comprimario roles) 3. A chorus 4. Sometimes dancers (usually French operas) 5. Extras who don't sing 6. Orchestra and conductor (in pit accompanying singers) 7. Stage director and technicians

. The Baroque Orchestra

1. Violin family was the core 2. Other instruments not necessary 3. Continuo was usually employed as well a. Usually harpsichord b. Organ in church 4. The "festive" Baroque orchestra was used for special occasions

Claudio Monteverdi

1567-1643 composer of early Baroque opera 1. Wrote only vocal music 2. Considered a radical 3. Highlighted passion, drama and emotion in music using extreme (for the time) dissonance and excessive pizzicato 4. Wrote 12 operas but only 3 are preserved 5. Wrote the first masterpiece of opera with Orfeo 6. Was instrumental in the opening of the first opera house in Venice in 1637 - opera becomes accessible to the public 7. Choir master of St Marks in Venice 8. Only other operas to survive are "The Return of Ulysses" and "The Coronation of Poppea" 9. Poppea - mistress of Nero schemes to get Nero's wife deposed and his advisor Seneca put to death - lot of scandalous love scenes

Girolamo Frescobaldi

1583-1643 organist at St. Peter's in Rome 1. Precusor to Bach 2. Composed toccatas - free-form pieces used to highlight Frescobaldi's improvisational skills 3. Composed canzonas - more organized form that emphasizes imitative texture - precursor to fugue 4. Composed stylized dances for organ 5. Composed variations on vocal music themes

The Late Baroque Period

1600-1750

Henry Purcell

1659-1695- English Organist at Westminster Abbey 2. Composed sacred, instrumental and theater music 3. One opera - Dido and Aeneas composed for a girls school a. Only lasts an hour b. No difficult parts so the girls can sing c. Greatest English opera before 20th century

4 reasons for rise of instrumental music

A. Dance 1. Dance music grew because of the inclusion of ballets in operas 2. Composers grouped dances from ballets and operas into suites stylized dances - not meant for dancing B. Virtuosity 1. Virtuoso instrumentalists inspired pieces to be written specifically for them 2. Improvisation was often not written out though C. The polyphonic vocal music of the Renaissance like the madrigal, was transferred to instrumental forms like the fugue

Emotions in Baroque Music

A. Scientific way of looking at emotion 1. Composers did not try to depict their own emotions 2. They tried to portray emotion objectively B. Doctrine of Affections 1. Emotions were scientifically categorized 2. Certain emotions were said to be elicited by certain types of music 3. Arias were restricted to depicting one emotion 4. It was believed that it took several minutes to fully express one emotion Rise of Instrumental Music - due to scientific era -- including development of instruments like Stradivarius' violins

Composition of the Opera

Composition 1. Acts - 1-5, subdivided into scenes like a play 2. Scenes contain various types of music a. Recitative b. Aria 3. Duets 4. Ensembles 5. Chorus - comments on action

The Messiah

Handel's most famous oratorio 3 parts redemption

movement

a self-contained section of music that is part of a larger work usually 3 first-fast second-slow third-fastest

. Wealth - rulers and noblemen surrounded themselves with luxury, art and music emulating Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV was known as the Sun King 2. He supported the arts lavishly as long as they symbolized the majesty and grandeur of his state 3. All the lesser nobles of France wanted to be like Louis 4. Other nations like the small areas in Germany also emulated Louis 5. Art was meant to impress 6. Thus opera became the musical form of the era since it was so impressive 7. Subject of operas were aristocrats who were shown in a flattering light

Melody

Melody 1. Complex and winding 2. Not tunes, not easy to remember or hum 3. Very decorative and hard to sing 4. Frequent use of sequence maintains that forward motion characteristic of Baroque melodies 5. Improvisation important - improvising melodic extras was called ornamentation i. Usually high and fast ii. Impressed audiences

walking bass

a bass line that moves steadily in even beats, usually a series of eighths or quarters

Firsts

a. Opera - Euridice by Jacopo Peri performed first in Florence in 1600 b. Masterpiece - Orfeo by Monteverdi in 1607

Original endeavor was to re-create Greek drama

a.Camerata believed Greek drama was sung in a style between speech and melody b. Camerata tried to re-create this style of singing called monody c.Topics were Greek myth d. Soon turned into recitative and aria

cadenza

an improvised or improvisatory solo passage within a larger piece

two most important composers in venice

andrea and giovanni gabrielis . Organists of St. Mark's Basilica 2. Exploited the acoustics of the building with multiple choirs 3. Homophony took over as most important texture 4. Some parts written for instruments or instrument choirs

continuo (figured bass)

bass part (lowest part in polyphonic music) that is always liked to a series of chords.

Spring from The Four Seasons

by A. Vivaldi, example of terrace dynamics

When I am Laid in Earth from Dido and Aeneas

by Henry Purcell, example of ground bass

Prelude and Fugue No. 1 from The Well-Tempered Clavier

by J.S. Bach, example of 18th century polyphony

fugue

characteristic polyphonic genre of the baroque era uses only one theme throughout and treats theme with great contrapuntal ingenuity and learning

The Musical Life of the Baroque

church court public opera house

basso continuo

continous bass double effect of clarifying the harmony and making the texture bind or jell bass line in Baroque music that is reinforced by instruments like organ, harpsichord and/or cello and bass voices with added chords in the top lines Also called figured bass because the bass line was written out and only numbers were written in for the chords that were to beimprovised 3. Emphasizes new importance of harmony/homophonic texture in this era

recitative

declaiming words musically in a heightened theatrical manner - used to move plot along or dialogue

countersubject

second subject that fits together in counterpoint with the first

opera

drama presented in music with the characters singing instead of speaking - most characteristic art of baroque period

Handel

england's most important composer of operas opera and oratorio

aria

extended piece for solo singer that has much more musical elaboration and coherence than a passage of recitative

aria

extended piece for solo singers much more musically elaborate with emotional acting

Brandenburg Concerto No 5

first movement by J.S. Bach, example of ritornello form

where did opera begin?

florence, italy

chaconne

france composition in variation form

toccatas

free formed pieces meant to capture the spirit of Frescobaldi's own improvisation

variations

sectional pieces in which each section repeats certain musical elements while others change around them.

courtante or gavotte

french, former fast and latter moderate

expostion

fugue begins with all the voices present the subject in an orderly, standardized way

allemande

german, moderately paced

concerto grosso

group of soloists

suites

groups of dances that inspired instrumental music

monody

i. Soloist with chordal accompaniment ii. Homophonic iii. Text is most important

age of absolutism

idea of the divine right of kings, their right to absolute power because they were ordained by God

passacaglia

italy composition in variation form

gigue

jig from england and ireland-fast

gapped chorale

melody delivered in spurts

ornamentation

most highly prized skill of the elite musicians of the era, opera singers, improvising melodic extras in the arias

giovanni gabrieli

motet- o magnum mysterium Made use of choir lofts of St Mark's with two choirs Two choirs with three voice parts and four instrumental parts including brass plus organ

ground bass/basso ostinato (Dido and Aeneas)

music constructed from the bottom up. bass instruments play a single short melody many times, generating the same set of repeated harmonies above it (played by the continuo chord instruments). over ground bass upper instruments play different melodies **form that developed from basso continuo in which the bass instrument played a single short figure many times and the upper voices perform or improvise various harmonies

program music

music that is based on a story, poem, idea or scene

recitative

new style of solo singing was developed that aimed to join together features of music and speech

oratorio

opera on a religious subject-old testament

aria in opera seria

opera seria- serious opera aba' form- da capo vehicle for virtuosity a' for ornamentation

ritornello

orchestral music that typically starts the movement contrast between two musical ideas

episodes

passages of music separating the later subject entries contrast to subject entries

church cantata

performed during lutheran services - musical sermon

basso ostinato

persistent bass

stylized dances

pieces written in the style or form of dance music for listening rather than dancing

secco recitative

recitative with continuo accompaniment

The Style Features of Late Baroque Music

rhythm dynamics the baroque orchestra melody textures

rhythm and meter of early baroque

rhythm more definite, regular, and insistent. new emphasis on meter strong rhythms and clear meter

canzonas

rigorously organized works emphasizing imitative texture--ancestor of later fugues

two types recitative

secco-only continuo accompaniment accompanied-with orchestra

ostinato

short musical gesture repeated over and over again, in the bass or anywhere else, especially one used as a building block for a piece of music

concerto

soloist

sarabande

spanish, slow and solemn

variation form

successive, uninterrupted repetition of one clearly define melodic unit, with changes that rouse the listener's interest without ever losing touch with the original unit or theme

fugue*

systemized imitative polyphony polyphonic compostion for a fixed number of instrumental lines or voices (3-4) built on a principal theme (subject)-appears again and again

recitative

technique of declaiming words musically in a heightened, theatrical manner

chorale

traditional congregational lutheran hymns in german

libretto

words of an opera

inversion

turn melody upside down

stylized dances

two phrases each, one or both of them repeated to yield the pattern a a b or a a b b ; sometimes group together in small suites

where was the center of music?

venice

functional harmony

way of organizing large-scale pieces of music