Transcript Baroque Period (1600

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Jamestown founded (1607)
King James Bible (1611)
Galileo confirms that earth revolves around the sun (1610)
Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
Louis XIV reigns in France (1643-1715)
Newton, Principia Mathematica (1687)
Witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts (1692)
Louis XV reigns in France (1715-1774)
Frederick the Great reigns in Prussia (1740-1786)
• The word baroque has meant bizarre, flamboyant, and
elaborately ornamented. However, most historians use it to
indicate a period in the arts.
• The best characterization of the baroque style is that it fills
space-canvas, stone, or sound- with action or movement.
• Example: Judith slaying Holofernes
• Artists used their materials to expand color, depth, and contrasts
of light and dark. They wanted create very structured worlds.
• The aristocracy loved this style because it was over the top and
showed the power and wealth.
• For example, the Palace of Versailles.
• The aristocracy was very rich and powerful, while most of the
population did well to survive.
• European rulers surrounded themselves with luxury.
• For these rulers, a way to express their greatness was to build
amazing palaces and have magnificent entertainment for their
court. Some examples are balls, banquets, ballets, operas, and
plays.
• The entertainment was extremely extravagant.
• The baroque period is known as the “age of absolutism” because
many rulers exercised absolute power over their subjects.
• The church also shaped the baroque style. By this time the
Reformation had swept across Europe and there Protestant and
Catholic Nations.
• Protestant Nations:
Catholic Nations:
England
France
Holland
Spain
Denmark
Italy
Sweden
Austrian Empire
Parts of Germany
• Unity of Mood- If a piece starts happy it will end
happy.
• Rhythm- The rhythm is introduced at the beginning will be
heard through out.
• Melody- The melody that is heard in the beginning will be
heard again and again.
• Dynamics-the increase or decrease of volume in music.
Terraced Dynamics- the alternation between loud and soft.
The first keyboard instrument to make gradual dynamic
changes was the clavichord.
• Texture- Music in the baroque period was mostly
polyphonic (many different voices going at the same
time). The most important voices were the very top
and bottom.
• Chords and the Basso Continuo (figured Bass)- Chords and
the bass part became more important in the baroque
period. This lead to an accompaniment called Basso
Continuo or Figured Bass- made up of a bass part
together with numbers (figures) which specify the
chords to be played above it.
• Form- the organization of Music. How it can be divided into
sections.
• Concerto Grosso- a form in which a small group of instruments
are featured with a large group (tutti).
• Ritornello- form based on alternation between solo sections
and tutti sections.
• Typical Concerto Grosso movement:
The Fugue
• A fugue is a polyphonic composition based on one main theme.
• The subject is the one main theme that is passed around to all
the voices.
• The counter subject is a line that accompanies the subject in
another voice.
• Between presentations of the subject, there are often
transitional sections called episodes.
The Fugue
• Inversion is when the subject is turned upside down.
• A fugue usually convey a single mood and a sense of continuous
flow.
• Typically, there is short piece preceding a fugue called a
prelude.
Baroque Period
• Cantata- the principal means of musical expression in the
Lutheran service.
• Chorale- a hymn tune usually set a German religious text.
• Oratorio- a large scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists,
and orchestra; it is usually set to a narrative text.
Opera in the Baroque Period
• Opera started in Italy through a group called the Camerata.
This group was made up of nobles, poets, and composers who
began to meet in Florence around 1575.
• They wanted to create a new vocal style modeled after ancient
Greek tragedy.
• The Baroque period marked the rise of great singers. The most
famous singers were the castrati, which were male singers who
had been castrated before puberty.
Opera in the Baroque Period
• Da Capo- from the beginning. Literally means the head.
• Da Capo Aria – An Aria that is in ABA form.
• One of the main attractions to opera is the aria ,
which is a song for solo voice with orchestral
accompaniment.
• Opera composers often lead into arias with
recitative, which is a vocal line that imitates the
rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech.
The Baroque Orchestra
• By modern standards, the Baroque orchestra was considered
small, consisting of from ten to thirty or forty players.
• The nucleus was the basso continuo (harpsichord plus cello,
double bass, or bassoon) and upper strings (first and second
violins and violas).
• Use of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments were
variable.
• A movement is a piece that sounds fairly complete and
independent, but is part of a larger composition.
String Family
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Composers
• Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685,– 28 July 1750) was
a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and
violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra,
and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he did
not introduce new forms, he enriched the prevailing German
style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control
of harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of
rhythms, forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy
and France.
Antonio Vivaldi
Composers
• Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741),
nicknamed ("The Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an
Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in
Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque
composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread
over Europe. Vivaldi is known mainly for composing instrumental
concertos, especially for the violin, as well as sacred choral
works and over 40 operas. His best known work is a series of
violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
George Frideric Handel
Composers
• George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel;
pronounced ) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a
German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas,
oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in
1685, in a family indifferent to music. He received critical
musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in
London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British subject in
1727.1 By then he was strongly influenced by the great
composers of the Italian Baroque and the middle-German
polyphonic choral tradition.
Baroque Architecture
Baroque Architecture
Baroque Architecture
Baroque Art
Baroque Art