Transcript Basso Continuo

The Baroque Era
1600-1750
• Dramatically different, within historical context
• Council of Trent:
– Art should speak to the illiterate rather than the
well-informed
• Central idea of Baroque Era
• Direct, passionate, obvious art
– Loses ‘functional’ aspects
– Emergence of:
• Instrumental music and secular vocal works
• Functional tonality
Baroque Forms
• ‘Form’ refers to structure
– Smaller sections within a piece
– Form often determines genre
• Concerto Grosso (genre)
– ‘Concertino’= Small group of soloists (2-4)
– ‘Tutti’= Accompanying orchestral ensemble
• Usually only strings and Basso Continuo
• Basso Continuo:
– The reinforcement of the bass line by a harpsichord and
sustaining bass instrument such as the cello
• Ritornello Form: “Little return”
– Based on alternations between the Tutti and the Concertino.
– The Tutti repeats a refrain between virtuosic solo sections
played by the Concertino
Fugue
• For a group of instruments, or keyboard
• All lines are based on a theme called the
“subject”
• Subsequent lines join in, as in a round, after
complete statement of the subject.
• Lines develop into episodes by way of several
compositional devices:
Stretto:
Another voice enters before the entire
statement of the subject is heard.
Pedal Point
Inversion
The direction of the notes is reversed
Retrograde
The passage is played backward
Augmentation
The passage is made twice as long, rhythmically
Diminution
The passage is made twice as short, rhythmically