Baroque - ajsorchestras.org
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The Baroque Era
Music, art and architecture
1600-1750
What should I know
about the Baroque Era?
1600-1750
Music:
Counterpoint: Structure & Ornament
Bach, Vivaldi, Handel
Art:
Drama! Drama! Drama!
Lush and fanciful: Stuff the canvas
Bernini, Rubens, Velázquez
Architecture:
Symmetry
Swarming and swirling spaces
Trevi Fountain, Ottobeuren Basilica
The Age of Reason
New modes of thinking and scientific
discoveries arose in the 17th century
Two schools of thought:
Rationalist: all knowledge can be gained
through reason alone
Empiricist: all knowledge must be
gained through the senses, experience
ART in the Baroque
Emphasis on the drama of experience. Bernini
turned a Nun’s Spiritual Experience into a real
emotional climax.
Contemplate the St. Theresa below, painted in the
Renaissance Period, BEFORE the Baroque.
Bernini: The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
Velázquez
Painted portraits for
Spanish royalty
Importance of the
individual
Attention to detail
RUBENS
Baroque Architecture
Symmetry and structure are key
Baroque Architecture reads like an episode of
“Pimp My Cathedral”
EVERYTHING must be Decorated!
Trevi Fountain, Rome
Baroque Music
Expresses the Order of the universe
through highly structured musical
forms
Lively: Many forms were taken from
old dances like the Minuet, Gigue,
and Gavotte
Counterpoint: two independent
voices weaving together
Johann Joseph Fux, Baroque
composer and theorist states the aim
of perfectly Baroque music:
"A composition meets the demands of
good taste if it is well constructed,
avoids trivialities as well as willful
eccentricities, aims at the sublime,
but moves in a natural ordered way,
combining brilliant ideas with perfect
workmanship."
Baroque Instruments
Organ
Harpsichord
Strings!
Limited winds, brass, percussion
The Organ
The harpsichord
J.S. Bach
Over 1,100
works!!
BWV: his own
opus system
for numerating
his works
Not to be
confused with
“Sebastian Bach”
of Skid Row
… or the Terminator
J.S. Bach Facts
God, Music, Family
Most compositions were of a sacred
nature, as he worked for the church
Prolific father: 20 Children!!!
Organist by trade
1685-1750: these dates also mark the
height of the Baroque era
Never left Germany!
He didn’t get around
much…
This map reflects the
100 mile area in which
Bach traveled in his
lifetime.
The Red Priest - on account of his
red hair
Worked with orphan girls at the Ospedale
in Venice, Italy
Many compositions were exercises for
these young musicians
Over 400 violin concerti! Yeah!
Not your normal orphanage:
Many noblemen had illegitimate
children in Venice. Because of
their proximity to the city, they
could still take care of their
offspring by giving money to the
orphanage, thereby sponsoring
quite a fancy music program.
Follow-up Questions
1. How is music from the Baroque era
different than music written today?
2. Are any of the pieces we have
played in class from the Baroque
period?
3. How are the instruments you play
today different from those in the
Baroque era?