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IB Music SL
Art Music Unit 6
Baroque Era
19. The Baroque Spirit
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The Baroque Era (1600–1750)
 Came to a close with the death of JS Bach
 “baroque” derived from the Portuguese word barocco meaning
an irregular shaped pearl.
Turbulent change in politics, science, arts
 The conquest of the new world
 Middle class acquired wealth and power
 Empires clashed for world control
 contradictions that defined the era
 Poverty and luxury
 Idealism and oppression
 Out of these contradictions evolved the pomp and splendor of
Baroque art
 Elaborate decoration and grandeur
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A foreshadowing of the
transition from Renaissance
to Baroque was evident in
the work of Michelangelo
(1475-1564) with turbulent
figures, twisted bodies in
struggle and drama – color
and movement were also
apparent in other artists
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The Baroque was an era of absolute monarchy and
modeled on the court at Versailles of Louis XIV in
France
He stated, “I am the State”, which summed up a way of
life in which all art and culture served the ruler.
Courts maintained elaborate musical establishments,
including opera troupes, chapel choirs and orchestras.
Baroque opera was the favorite diversion of the
aristocracy.
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Middle classes created a culture of their own
Music-making took place in the home, church and the
university
The university group was known as the Collegium
musicum which still functions on some campuses today
The comic opera, and the prose novel came into being
Painting turned to intimate scenes of Bourgeois life.
The Dutch School reached its high point with
Rembrandt and Bermeer
Judith Leyster
A bourgeois, or middle class, music
scene
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With merchants and financiers the culture of the city
came to rival that of the palace.
They embraced beauty, brocade and velvet, marble and
jewels.
This aspect of Baroque life is expressed in the painting
of Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
His nudes established the 17th century ideal of feminine
beauty
Rubens The Garden of Love
Age of Discovery
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Kepler, Galeleo, Copernicus in physics and
astronomy
Descartes in Mathematics
Spinoza in philosophy
William Harvey in medicine and the circulation
of the blood
Sir Isaac Newton theory of gravity
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Was also an intensely devout period.
Religion a rallying cry on the bloodiest battlefields in history.
Protestants in England, Germany, Scandinavia, and Holland
Catholics in Spain, France, Italy, and Austria – French Bourbons
and Spanish Hapsburgs
In the new world – the colonies were founded on religious
principles as Protestants
New Spain in Catholicism
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John Milton (1608-1674) wrote Paradise Lost a
poetic epic of Protestantism
The Counter-reformation of the Catholics were
found in the canvases of El Greco (1541-1614)
These paintings were the creations of a
visionary mind that distorted the real in its
search for a reality beyond
20. Main Currents in Baroque Music
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The transition to the Baroque brought about a shift from several
independent lines (polyphony) to one in which a melody stood
out (homophony).
Monody: originated in vocal music around the year 1600 and was a
new style featuring solo song with instrumental accompaniment
Monody first used by the Florentine Camerata – a group of
writers, artists and musicians in Florence, Italy – whose aim was
to resurrect the music-dramatic art of the ancient Greeks.
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Vincenzo Galilei
Giulio Caccini
Jacopo Peri
Monody focused on text and its emotional power
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Le nuove musiche the new music they named “the expressive style”
They felt this style could be used in an entire drama thus Leading to the
invention of opera
New Harmonic Structures
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Figured bass: shorthand notation for harmony
 Chords created through improvisation
Basso continuo: bass part, performed by 2 instruments
 Chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ or lute)
 and bass instrument (cello or bassoon)
Establishment of the major-minor tonality system was the outcome of this
simpler style and less complex harmonies and was the most significant change in
all of music history.
 Equal temperament: a new tuning system that mathematically equalized the
distance between adjacent tones
 Made it possible to play in every major and minor key without experiencing
unpleasant sounds
 It increased the harmonic possibilities available to the composer
 J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (2 vols.) each contains 24 preludes and
fugues, one in every possible key
Baroque Musical Style
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Early Baroque (monody) rhythm was freer
Late Baroque rhythm is more regular
and vigorous
Used dissonant chords more freely for
emotional intensity
Emotions expressed with subtle
dynamic changes “Nuance”
The Doctrine of the Affections
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Union of text and music
“Text painting” the
music vividly mirrored
the words
One mood or affection
per movement
or piece
The Rise of the Virtuoso
Musician
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Technical improvements in instrument making
Composers challenging the performers
Out of these developments came challenging
harpsichord sonatas by
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Domenico Scarlatti
And virtuosic violin works of
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Antonio Vivaldi
Rise of virtuosity
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There was an imergence of
Instrumental virtuosity
In Vocal music the development
of a phenomenal technique
known as Castrato
Countertenor or falsettist
Improvisation played a
significant role in Baroque music
as in jazz and pop music today.
Women in Baroque Music
More professional women were
singers
and instrumentalists
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Francesca Caccini – first woman
to compose an opera
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Barbara Strozzi – sacred and
secular vocal music
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Faustina Bordoni
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Francesca Cuzzoni
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Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la
Guerre – harpsichord music and
cantatas
Internationalism
The Baroque was a culturally international period
in which national styles existed.
Free interchange among national cultures
 Jean-Baptiste Lully an Italian that created the
French lyric tragedy
 G. F. Handel – A German who wrote Italian
operas for English audiences
The Teatro Argentina in Rome
Exoticism
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Looking to the Near East, the Americas, and
elsewhere for ideas
Operatic scenes were of far off lands of Persia,
India, Turkey, The Near East, Peru, and the
Americas
In Rameau’s opera ballet “Les Indes galantes”,
each act is set in a different corner of the world.