History of Baroque Era of Music

• introduction
• composers
• see also:
  • History of Music
  • History of Medieval Era of Music
  • History of Renaissance Era of Music
  • History of the Classical Period of Music
  • History of the Romantic Era of Music

Introduction:

• baroque is the French term applied to ornate architecture of Germany & Austria during 17th & 18thC & borrowed to describe comparable music developments from ~1600 to the deaths of Bach & Handel in 1750 & 1759 respectively.
• it was a period in which harmonic complexity grew alongside emphasis on contrast:
  • in opera, interest was transferred from recital to aria
  • in church music, the contrasts of solo voices, choir & orchestra were developed to a high degree
  • most baroque music uses basso continuo
• in 18thC, the term was used to pejoratively denote "coarse" or "old-fashioned in taste"
• new instruments:
  • glockenspiel - 1st used 1739 by Handel in Saul where he called it a carillon
  • baroque trumpet
  • baroque oboe
  • musette - type of French bagpipe, popular in court circles in 17th & 18thC
  • orchestra:
    • haphazard in 17thC often consisting of viols, flutes, oboes, cornetts, trombone, drums & harpsichord
    • by 18thC, violins had ousted viols, baroque trumpet & oboe displaced cornetts, and accompanied by harpsichord or organ
  • baroque organ:
    • 18thC type, more brilliant in tone & flexible than its 19thC counterpart
• new music styles:
  • sonata
  • the suite - eg. partita
  • concerto grosso
  • cantata da camera (secular)
  • cantata da chiesa (sacred)
  • the art of counterpoint, developed gradually from 9thC, reaches its peak by beginning of 17thC:
    • strictest form of contrapuntal imitation is a canon
    • contrapuntal voices successively entering in imitation is called a fugue
  • toccata - a short prelude to display a musician's 'touch' through rapidity & delicacy
  • gavotte:
    • old French dance in common time beginning on 3rd beat of bar
    • originated in Pays de Gap where inhabitants were known as gavots
    • popularised at court of Louis XIV in 17thC & became an optional movement of baroque suite
  • march used in art music by Couperin & Lully, although had been used by Byrd earlier

Composers:

• Lully, Jean-Baptiste (1632-87):
  • Italian-born French composer to Louis XIV, died when stabbed foot with his staff whilst conducting, led to gangrene
  • introduced professional female dancers into ballet
  • made French opera a popular art
  • music compositions:
    • operas
    • comedy ballets
    • choral: Miserere, Te Deum, motets
• Corelli, Arcangelo (1653-1713):
  • Italian violinist, composer
  • musical compositions:
    • mainly sonatas da camera & concerti grossi
• Pachelbel, Johann (1653-1706):
  • German organist & composer
  •  
• Albinoni, Tomaso (1671-1751):
  • Italian composer of 81 operas, 99 sonatas, 59 concertos, & 9 sinfonias
  • his popular Adagio in Gmin owes very little to himself as it was constructed from a manuscript fragment in 20thC by Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto who owns the copyright!
• Vivaldi, Antonio (1678-1741):
  • Italian violinist, composer
  • musical compositions:
    • operas:
      • Griselda (1735)
    • sonatas, sacred music
• Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750):
  • German composer & organist, orphaned at age 10, then lived with elder brother
  • musical compositions:
    • orchestral:
      • Brandenburg Concertos
    • chamber music:
      • sonatas, fugues
    • keyboard:
      • Fantasias, Fugues, Suites, Partitas
    • organ:
      • preludes, toccata & fugues
    • chorale preludes
    • cantatas
    • oratorios
• Handel, George Frideric (1685-1759):
  • German composer & organist, son of a barber-surgeon, moved to London
  • music compositions:
    • operas:
    • orchestrals:
      • Water Music (1717)
      • Music for Royal Fireworks (1749)
    • dramatic oratorios:
      • Messiah (1741)
      • Judas Maccabaeus (1746)
    • cantatas & chamber duets
    • church music:
      • Gloria Patri (1707)
      • Zadok the Priest (1727)
    • instrumental & chamber music:
      • Harmonious Blacksmith (1720)

THE BAROQUE

• The term baroque was first coined in the mid 18th century (around 1750) by the traveler Charles de Brosses who complained that the a building in Rome had too many filigree ornaments more suitable for a tableware than a building of architectural importance
• The word itself comes from the portuguese barocco, meaning a deformed pearl
• The term later assumed a negative conotation, meaning abnormal, bizarre, exaggerated, grotesque, bad taste, or what Germans might call kitsch (bad or cheap imitation of artworks) or even schund, tresh, garbage
• 1920s: the term was brought back by musicologists who applied it to mean a period of some century and a half in history of European music, spanning the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries or roughly between 1600-1750
• Like in the Renaissance, Italy was the main region of musical influence, although France developed its own style, as well as Germany

Patronage

• European courts, such as that of Louis XIV of France (r. 1643-1715)
• City-states, such as Venice and many German cities
• Church
• Academies, a new type of private urban associations which promoted arts, music, 'high culture and learning', sciences, something like elitist salons based on other than aristocratic merits or membership
• Public concerts, a new way of promoting music
• the first public concert open to all by purchasing a ticket was held in England in 1672

Literature, Arts, Sciences

• The Baroque era was the time partially simultaneous to the 18th century Enlightenment, during which sciences, arts, and literature saw a great production of works, new scientific inventions and discoveries, and a great plead of outstanding personalities
• England: Milton, F. Bacon, Newton
• Spain: Cervantes, Velásquez, Murillo
• France: Corneille, Racine, Molière, Descartes
• The Netherlands: Rubens, Rembrandt, Kepler
• Italy: Bernini, Borromini, Galileo
• Germany: Leibniz

New Practices and Experimentation in Music

• 1605: Monteverdi distinquishes between:
1. Prima pratica, the 'first practice', which was also known as Stile antico, the 'old style'
2. Seconda pratica, the 'second practice', also known as Stile moderno, the 'modern style'
• Division of music into:
1. Church music
2. Chamber music
3. Thater music

Theory of Affects

• Expression and representation of a wide range of feeling or affacts became a prominant feature of the baroque music

The Basso Continuo

• Lit. in It., the 'continual bass', in English known as Thorough Bass or Figured Bass
• this was one of the typical textures of a great part of the Baroque music, and a new emphasis on the firm, i.e. fixed and emphasized bass, and the florid treble
• composers would provide the bass and treble (cantus or soprano) lines, and the rest, i.e. the intermediary voices, would be filled in by performers in a way of improvisation
• a new system of notation was invented for basso continuo:
• the main melody in the treble was usually a solo singing, while the bass part was played as an accompaniment on a continuo instrument, such as harpsichord, organ or lute
• composer would then put the numbers or figures below the bass line -- hence the name, figured bass
• these figures stood for the tones improvised as chordal fillers on top of the bass line which was 'thoroughly' written out, and which usually represented the root tones of the chords played
• performers would then fill in the remaining tones of chords, making harmonies to accompany the main melody in the treble
• this 'filling' of chords was known as ripieno, which in Italian means 'stuffing'
 
• Music Example  -- Madrigal (NRAWM CD3:35-36)
• Perfidissimo volto, "[O] Most Perfidious Face," by Giulio Caccini

Dissonance and Chromaticism

• Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa's or Claudio Monteverdi's madrigals
• Girolamo Frescobaldi's (1583-1643) and Johann Jakob Froberger's (1616-1667) toccatas

Tonality: Major-Minor

• The basso continuo was a natural musical phenomenon in the process towards developing tonal harmony
• The process begun as early as the 15th century continued through the Renaissance and culminated in the Baroque period
• See Rameau and his Traité de l'harmonie, and J.S. Bach and his Das wohltemperierte Clavier (below)
• Tonality and basso continuo were probbly the most crucial musical concepts and practices that changed the texture and general charactersitics of European music from its contrapuntal, polyphonic and linear-melodic texture to homophonic and chordal-harmonic texture (see Equal Temperament, below)

Early Opera

• Opera is a musical-theatrical form
• As such, opera may be understood as musical drama with narratives, actions and affections expressed in musical monologues, dialogues and choral sections, usually with instrumental/ensemble accompaniment or with independent instrumental/ensemble sections, including scenes and costumes
• Although the musical developments in the Renaissance, especially the madrigal, as well as the typically Renaissance ideas about humanism and the 'revival' of ancient Greek classical culture, have prepared the road for the creation of opera as a new musical theatrical form, it is commonly understood that the beginnings of opera belong to the Baroque, a period which ushered its later development in Europe

Influences

1. Ancient Greek Tragedy

• Ancient Greek tragedies of such authors as Sophocles and Euripides were widely read and discussed in learned circles and academies in Italy
• Concerning music, these discussions were mostly on whether ancient Greek tragedies had the whole text sung during their performance or whether only the chorus parts were sung
• It is possible that the whole texts in ancient Greek tragedies were either sung throughout or maybe intoned with heightened pitches and emphatic intonation, which was not just a plain declamation or reading of text
• In many Orthodox churches throughout the world, the Orthodox Liturgy, for example, is still performed exclusively musically, with all its text being sung, either by the priest or the choir (chorus), without a single liturgical text, hymn, or prayer being just read
• Epic songs from the Balkans are also exclusively sung, although they, like ancient Greek tragedies or Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, are long narratives.  If asked to just read these epic songs, the peasants from the Balkans usually make errors and change the text.  Only in their musical performances do these text become fully and clearly uttered
• It is obvious that the renaissance ideas about the ancient Greek tragedy have influenced the way the renaissance plays were performed

2. Medieval Music Dramas and Plays

• However, it was not only the ancient Greek tragedies that influenced the development of opera
• The medieval period had also known various types of musical plays, and other dramatical-theatrical forms, either religious or secular
• Sacred Music Drama Ordo virtutum, by the German nun Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) (see Palisca's NAWM, 1996: 33-35, and NRAWM CD 1:17 [CD1:7])
• The 11th-12th century monophonic conductus
• The troubadours and trouvères pastourelle
• Adam de la Halle's (c. 1237 - c. 1287) musical play Jeu de Robin et de Marion
• The 13th century polyphonic conductus
• The 15th century English conductus

3. The Madrigal Comedy

• Many leading Italian madrigalists from the second half of the 16th century composed music that included dramatic scenes and even dialogues (see for example Monteverdi's madrigal Cruda Amarilli), full of contrasting moods, with short solos or duets
• When such madrigals included comic and humorous situations, plots, and characters, a new genre developed, the madrigal comedy
• Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605) was the well-known composer of madrigal comedies, the most famous of which is his L'Amfiparnaso, 'The Slopes of Parnassus', 1597

4. Intermedio

• The Renaissance theatrical plays had musical sections interpolated in them, called intermedi or intermezzi (pl. of intermedio and intermezzo)
• 1589: one of the early intermedios was performed in Florence for the wedding of a member of the powerful Florentine Medici family, Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici of Tuscany, and Catherine of Lorraine
• The Roman nobleman Emilio de' Cavalieri (c. 1550-1602) produced this intermedio
• The Florentine Count Giovanni Bardi (1534-1612) was the director
• Many leading Italian madrigalists from the second half of the 16th century composed music for intermedios

Camerata Fiorentina -- The Florentine Camerata

• The learned circles in Italy in the second half of the 16th century organized their own informal academies and gathering circles, in which they discussed questions on literature, science, and the arts, including music
• One such circle, later to be known as the camerata, was established in Florence
• This camerata was held in the Florentine home of the Count Bardi, and one of its members, Giulio Caccini, named it the Camerata di Bardi, the 'Camerata of Bardi'
• Later writers referred to it as the Camerta Fiorentina, the 'Florentine Camerata'
• This Camerta Fiorentina included several musicians who discussed whether ancient Greek tragedies had the whole text sung during their performance or whether only the chorus parts were sung (see above)
• 1. Girolamo Mei (1519-1594) argued that the text of Greek tragedy was sung and he put this forward in his treatise:
• De modis musicis, 'On the Modes of Music', 1570s
• Among other members of the Camerata Fiorentina were:
• 2. Giovanni Bardi (1534-1612), composer of intermedios (see above)
• 3. Vincenzo Galilei (d. 1591), the father of the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei
• Influenced by Mei's doctrine on the role of music in Greek tragedy, V. Galilei wrote a treatise:
• Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna, 'Dialogue On Old and Modern Music', 1581, in which he attacked the theory and practice of vocal counterpoint in the Italian madrigal which, he argued, blurred the meaning of its text and its smooth understanding
•  
  • 4. Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), singer, composer, and Bardi's protégé

  The First Operas in Florence

  1. Dafne

  • 1597: The first known opera, Dafne, whose fragments only survived, was produced in Florence
  • Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), wrote the music
  • Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621), wrote its libretto (text) basing on his poem Dafne
  • In agreement with Mei's doctrine (see above), Peri and Rinuccini were convinced that the text in Greek tragedy was sung throughout

  2. Euridice

  • 1600:  The second known and the first complete opera to survive is L'Euridice, also produced in Florence for the occasion of the wedding of Henry IV of France and Maria de' Medici
  • The music for Euridice was separately written by two composers:
  1. Jacopo Peri, who wrote the music for Dafne
  2. Giulio Caccini (see above)
  • The libretto was written again by Ottavio Rinuccini, basing on his another poem called L'Euridice
  • Emilio de' Cavalieri, who wrote intermedios, also experimented with wiriting music for opera, and he claimed that he was the first opera writer ever
  
   
  • Music Example  -- Opera (NRAWM CD3:37-41)
  • L'Euridice, "Euridice," by Jacopo Peri

  Operetic Singing: Aria, Bel canto, and Recitative

  • New styles of solo singing in opera:
  1. Aria
  • this style is used to bring forward the melody and lyrical qualities, usually in an embellished style, which later became known as bel canto, 'beautiful singing'
  2. Strophic Aria
  • Used in Peri's Euridice
  3. Recitative, also known as stile recitativo, 'recitative style'
  • this style of singing is used for speech, dialogue and more dramatic conversation between the main actresses/actors
  • It has repeated tones, and is performed in free rhythm and in tempo rubato

  Monody

  • Operetic style of solo singing, i.e. arias and recitatives, as well as the solo madrigals, and virtually all other solo singing is generically known as monody
  • Gr. monos, 'one', and aidein, 'to sing'
  • Monodic style was very much suitable for theatrical purposes, such as carrying the dialogue

Claudio Monteverdi: Mantua

L'Orfeo

• 1607: produced in Mantua
• Alessandro Striggio (c. 1573-1630) wrote the librettist based on his five-act drama
• This opera features:
• orchestral ritornellos, played between singing and sometimes making almost self-standing short musical pieces
• solo arias
• duets
• dances
• madrigal-type choruses
• Music Example  -- Opera (NRAWM CD3:42-56 [CD2:13-21])
• L'Orfeo, "Orfeus," by Claudio Monteverdi

Venetian Opera

• Abundance of theaters and stage productions
• Public performances
• Rich merchants as sponsors
• Claudio Monteverdi (see above)

Monteverdi: Venice

L'incoronazione di Poppea

• 1642: Produced in Venice
• Giovanni Francesco Busenello (1598-1659), libretto
• Features:
• More lyrical monody
• Speech-like recitative
• Lyrical arias
• Depiction in music of passions, such as a love scene between Nero and Poppea, two main protagonists
• Music Example  -- Opera (NRAWM CD4:1-5)
• L'incoronazione di Poppea, "The Coronation of Poppea," by Claudio Monteverdi

Vocal Chamber Music

• The Baroque period saw a new emphasis on the development of chamber music
• Monody and the basso continuo contributed to this development
• Strophic song and strophic aria became popular

Romanesca and Basso ostinato

• Typical strophic poetic form was romanesca, which consisted of eight eleven-syllable lines, with the eighth rhyming with the seventh line, a feature known as ottave rime, 'octave rhyme'
• Romanesca also consisted of a treble melody which was repeated like a melodic formula
• If the bass part was also given as a formula, then it would be referred to as the ground bass or basso ostinato, 'repeated bass'

The Concertato and the Madrigals

• The Italian adverb concertato, comes form the verb concertare, 'to reach agreement'
• English consort, from the verb to concert
• The concept of the concertato consists in the idea of writing individual solo parts or several instrumental parts against the main body of ensemble, so that the general impression is an instrumental 'agreement' or 'competition'
• The noun concerto, is also dervide from the concertare, meaning several instruments playing in ensemble creating one texture and sound
• Instrumental concerto in the Baroque era was a musical piece in which a variety of instruments, sometime including one or more solo instruments, or several ensemble sections, compete with each other and orchestra
• Later in the Baroque and Classical periods, the word concerto would come to mean a musical form in which a solo instrument is playing the main musical part accompanied by the whole ensemble, i.e. orchestra

The Concertato Madrigal and Stile concitato: Monteverdi

• A type of the early Baroque madrigal in which the instrumental parts are treated equally as the vocal parts
• Thus the concept of concerto implies instruments
• Good example of this new trend in 'instrumentalisation' of madrigal are later Monteverdi's madrigals collected in the Seventh and Eighth Books
• In their concertato style, Monteverdi's Seventh and Eighth Books of Madrigals differ from his first Five Books
• The features of Monteverdi's later madrigals are:
• basso continuo
• basso ostinato
• instrumental solos, duets, trios
• the renaissance form of these madrigals started to disintergrate, evolving into a more free type of song

Madrigali guerreri et amorosi, 'Madrigals of War and Love'

• The title of Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals, examplifying this new style of madrigals
• Another style of expressive madrigals, also used in the Eighth Book, is the so-called stile concitato, the 'excited style'
• The famous Monteverdi's madrigal in stile concitato is:
• Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, 'The Combat of Tancred and Clorinda'
• The purpose and the main concept behind stile concitato was to express certain extramusical feelings in music and paint and depict with music

 
• Music Example  -- Romanesca (NRAWM CD4:8-11)
• Ohimè dov'è il mio ben, "Alas, Where is My Love," from the Seventh Book of Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi

• Purely instrumental musical forms in the first half of the 17th century can be classified according to their compositional treatment and techniques:

1. Fugal forms, i.e. pieces which used continuous imitative counterpoint:
• Ricercare
• In the early 17th century, usually a brief and simpler composition for the keyboards -- organ or clavier -- with one theme developed in imitation
• its simplicity separates it from the more complex fantasia
• Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): Fiori musicali ("Musical Flowers," 1635), a collection of organ pieces for use in churches
• Fantasia (see below)
• Fancy (England)
• pieces for Consort, i.e. ensemble, music for viols
• John Jenkins (1592-1678)
• Matthew Locke (1621-1677)
• Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• Capriccio
• Fuga
• Verset
2. Canzona-type forms, using discontinuous imitative counterpoint:
• Canzona
• ensemble and keyboard canzonas
• Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
• Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667), a student of G. Frescobaldi
• Sonata
• a composition resembling canzona
• Solo canzona: one or two melodic instruments, usually violins, and a basso continuo
• Ensemble canzona: with or without a continuo
• by the end of the 17th c. the term sonata stood for both the canzona and the sonata
• Sonata da chiesa
• Trio Sonata
 
3. Variation-type forms, i.e. pieces using a theme and its variations:
• Partita
• Passacaglia
• Chaconne or Ciaconna
• Chorale partita
• Chorale prelude
4. Dance forms, using stylized dance rhythms, i.e. either a loose series of dances or a string of connected dances put in a single piece:
• Suite
• several movements, based on dances, or distinct moods, or dance rhythms, put together:
1. Allemande ("German" dance)
2. Courante (French dance)
3. Sarabande (Spanish dance)
4. Gigue ((English-Irish dance)
• Keyboard Suite:
• French suites for the clavecin (harpsichord) and the lute:
• Ennemond Gaultier (1575-1651)
 
• Music Example  -- Suite for the lute and clavecin (NRAWM I, CD4:31-32)
• Gigue La poste by Ennemond Gaultier
• a) Lute
• b) Arrangement for the clavecin (harpsichord) by Jean-Henri d'Anglebert

 
• German suites, partitas, for the clavier:
• Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667)
• style brisé, "brisk, crisp style"
 
• Music Example  -- Tombeau (NRAWM I, CD4:33-34)
• Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impérial Ferdinand le troisième et se joue lentement avec discretion ("Lamentation on the very sorrowful death of His Imperial Majesty Ferdinand the Third to be played slowly and with discretion") by Johann Jakob Froberger

• Ensemble Suite
5. Improvisatory forms for solo keyboard instruments:
• Toccata
• Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
 
• Music Example  -- Toccata (NRAWM I, CD4:35 [CD2:24]))
• Toccata No. 3 by Girolamo Frescobaldi
• Fantasia
• more complex than the ricercare
• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621), the Amsterdam organist
• Sweelinck's pupils:
• Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), Halle
• Heinrich Scheidemann (ca. 1596-1663)
• Prelude

Opera in Italy: Venice and Naples

I. Venetian Opera

• Venice (northern Italy) was the principle center of the Italian Opera in the second half of the 17th c.
• Greater emphasis on the singer -- operetic divas, virtuosity, and the aria, than on drama and spectacle

Venetian Arias

• Strophic aria
• Refrains
• Dance type arias (in rhythms of suite movements)
• quasi-ostinato or the running bass accompaniment, i.e. with a basso ostinato type of accompaniment
• continuo aria, accompanied by the harpsichord or bass, i.e. basso continuo

II. Neapolitan Opera

• The late 17th century in Naples (Southern Italy)
• Emphasis on the beauty of music and the more stylized musical language
• Recitative: renewed attention on the recitative

Italian Recitative

• Recitativo semplice, "simple recitative," and recitativo secco, "dry recitative," accompanied by the basso continuo
• Recitativo accompagnato, the "accompanied recitative," and recitativo stromentato, "stirring recitative," accompanied by the orchestra
• Recitativo arioso or simply arioso, the "aria like recitative," in between the free recitative and the rhythmically strict aria

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

• Operas:
• Mitridate (Venice, 1707)
• Tigrane (Naples, 1715)
• Griselda (Rome, 1721)

Da capo aria

• Da capo, It. "from the head" -- a two section melody (AB) in which the singer, at the end of the B section, returns to the beginning of the A section and repeats it, so that the final musical form is ABA

 
• Music Example  -- Da capo aria (NRAWM I, CD4:36-38 [CD2:24])
• Da capo aria, "Mi riverdi," "You see me again," Act II, Scene 1, from the opera La Griselda by Alessandro Scarlatti

Opera in France

• 1670s: French opera was started under the patronage of Louis XIV
• It became known as tragédie lyrique, 'lyric tragedy'
• French emphasis on poetry and drama, on moderation and bon goût, 'good taste', in contrast to Italian melodramatics and emotional excesses
• Two traditions influenced French opera:
1. French court ballet
2. French tragedy represented by writers such as Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) and Jean Racine (1639-1699)

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

• The first composer of French operas who combined elements of drama, music and ballet, and thus established a new musical genre in France
• Born in Italy but moved to Paris at an early age
• 1653: becomes a member of Louis XIV's Vingt-quatre violons du roy, 'Twenty-four violins of the king', the court string ensemble
• 1672: a royal previlege gave Lully's Académie royale de musique, the Royal Academy of Music, a monopoly in the sung drama, i.e. opera

Divertissement

• long interludes in Lully's operas:
• pompous and gracious music
• showing the splendor of the French royal court
• ideals of courtly love
• chivalry
• spectacular choruses
• ballet scenes with lively dances
• instrumental portions, divertissements, became separate pieces arranged as orchestral suites (see above )
• Lully's librettist was Jean-Philppe Quinault

French Recitative

1. récitatif simple, the 'simple recitative', with a shift between duple and triple meters
2. récitatif mesuré, the 'measured recitative', also sometimes marked as Air, 'aria', i.e. more songlike and uniform style of singing

 
• Music Example  -- French Opera Monologue (NRAWM I, CD4:42-44)
• Monologue "Enfin il est en ma puissance," "Finally he is my power," Act II, Scene 5, from the opera Armide (1686) by Jean-Baptiste Lully, libretto by Jean-Philippe Quinault

The French Ouverture

1. Homophonic part, slow and majestic, with dotted rhythms
2. Fugal-Imitative part, in fast tempo

 
• Music Example  -- French Opera Ouverture (NRAWM I, CD4:39-41)
• Ouverture from the opera Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully

The Masque and Opera in England

• In 17th century England, the masque was a musical-theatrical genre, similar to French court ballets, intended for entertainment of aristocratic circles
• English opera began in the second half of the 17th c., during the Commonwealth (1649-1660) (see below)
• Stage plays were prohibitd during this period, only to be allowed again after the Restoration by King Charles II (r. 1660-1685)  (see below)
• However, music plays, which could be called concerts, were not banned, so that music dramas, i.e. operas, continued throughout the Commonwealth and Restoration

 
• In English history, Restoration refers to the period after the fall (1660) of the republican Commonwealth and Protectorate, when the monarchy was restored in the person of Charles II. Early in 1660 the Convention Parliament invited Charles to return from exile on condition that he grant an amnesty to his former enemies (excepting those responsible for the execution of his father, Charles I) and guarantee religious toleration. Having met these conditions in the Declaration of Breda, Charles landed in England on May 25, 1660. The promise of religious toleration was broken when the royalist Cavalier Parliament adopted the Clarendon Code (1661-65) imposing severe restrictions on dissenters from the Church of England. (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1998)

 
• The reopening of London theaters by Charles II in 1660 began the 40-year period of Restoration drama, noted for such theatrical innovations as movable scenery, opera, the introduction of actresses--and especially its satiric comedy and bombastic and violent tragedy. The era's drama had close ties to the court, an association reflected in the licentiousness and linguistic vitality of the so-called comedy of wit, or comedy of manners.
• Although criticized for its libertinism and narrow social focus, at its best Restoration comedy intelligently explores the social and sexual gamesmanship of fashionable society, whether as comic spectacle, as in the plays of Aphra Behn, Sir George Etherege, and George Farquhar; as questionings of personal and social morality, exemplified by the work of William Congreve and Thomas Otway; or as evidence of man's moral self-betrayal by hypocrisy and lust--an aspect of the drama of William Wycherley. Restoration tragedy, however, is generally undistinguished. John Dryden championed the heroic, or rhymed, couplet as a tragic form early in his career but later abandoned it.  (Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1998)

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

• organist of Westminster Abbey, London
• incidental music for some 49 plays
• airs for semi-operas and/or masques

 
• Music Example  -- Air (NRAWM I, CD5:5)
• Air, "Hark! the ech'ing air a triumph sings," for the masque / semi-opera The Fairy Queen (1692) by Henry Purcell

 
• opera Dido and Aeneas
• libretto by Nahum Tate on the story from Vergil's Aeneid
• four main roles
• basso ostinato arias (see above)

 
• Music Example  -- English Opera (NRAWM I, CD5:1-4 [CD2:25-27])
• Act III, Scene 2, from the opera Dido and Aeneas (1689) by Henry Purcell, libretto by Nahum Tate
• a) Dido's Aria /Lament, "Thy Hand, Belinda / When I am laid in earth"
• short three act opera with the French overture, dances and homohonic choruses with dance rhythms
• orchestra consists of strings and continuo
 
• Music Example  -- English Opera (NRAWM I, CD5:1-4 [CD2:25-27])
• Act III, Scene 2, from the opera Dido and Aeneas (1689) by Henry Purcell, libretto by Nahum Tate
• b) Chorus, "With drooping wings"

Singspiel and Opera in Germany

• 1678-1738: Opera in Hamburg, the first public opera house outside Venice, Italy
• Opera in Hamburg was the first German opera, influenced by Italian and French operas
• German opera developed from the typically German tradition of the Singspiel, lit. 'sing-play', which consisted of songs and spoken dialogues
• spoken dialogues eventually assumed the form of recitatives
• Richard Keiser (1674-1739) composed many works for the Hamburg Opera, combining Italian and German operatic elements

Vocal Chamber Music

The Cantata in Italy

• The early 17th c.: The cantata grew out of the monodic strophic variations with many short, contrasting sections
• The second half of the 17th c.: The cantata developed into a new musical form with alternating recitatives and arias for solo voice and basso continuo
• unlike opera, the cantata was not performed on stage, and its performance did not invovle costumes and stage sceneray, but did have dramatic elements of an opera
• beyond his operatic output, Alessandro Scarlatti (see above), composed cantatas as well, more than 600 of them

The Serenata in Italy

• A melodramatic form midway between cantata and opera

Catholic Church Music

• Strict contraputal style continued in the Baroque music of the Catholic Church
• Used both the old style à la Palestrina, and the new Baroque style of the basso continuo, concertato medium with multiple choirs, and solo singing

 

Italy

• Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna
• The Masses consisted of choral and solo parts, as well as duets, which alternated in a concertato fashion, i.e. with a concertino or tutti against a ripieno (see below), or even with trumpets and strings
• Composers:
• Maurizio Cazzati (ca. 1620-1677)
• Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1637-1695)
• Giacomo Antonio Petri (1661-1756)

South Germany

• Johann Josef Fux (1660-1741), composer of church music
• Codified the somewhat modernized Palestrina type of counterpoint in a treatise, Gradus ad Parnassum, "Steps to Parnassus," 1725
• this treatise will remain the classical textbook for teaching counterpoint in the next two centuries
• it exemplified the stile moderno, the 'new style', of the church music, as opposed to Palestrina's stile antico, the 'old style'

Austria: Vienna

• Antonio Caldara (ca. 1670-1736)

Oratorio

• performed in churches, but also in the palaces of princes and cardinals, in academies, and other secular places
• substitute for operas during the Lent, the forty day period of fasting and penitence preceding Easter, observed by Christians as a remembrance of Jesus' fasting in the wilderness
• usually consisted of two parts, which in churches were divided by a sermon, and in private secular setting by an intermission with refreshments
• biblical or non-biblical themes, with a verse libretto, like in opera

Lutheran Church Music

• 1650-1750: the 'golden age' of Lutheran church music

1. Chorale

• Continuation of the Lutheran chorale, from the 16th century Reformation
• a century later, in the Baroque, the congragational chorale singing became accompanied by organ (see below)
• Johann Crüger (1598-1662), Berlin, composer of Lutheran chorales

2. Sacred concerto

• included concerted choruses (concertato style), solo arias, chorales

3. Concerted Church Music

• variation form in chorale-based concertato compositions
• although German was the predominant language, some of this music had Latin texts
• Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707), Lübeck
• variations on chorale with instrumental prelude, sinfonia
• Abendmusiken
• lit. 'night musics' (Gr. Abend, night), i.e. public concerts following the afternoon church services in Lübeck during the Advent (Lat. 'coming', i.e. the 'coming of Christ'), a season in the Christian church calendar encompassing the four Sundays before Christmas
• quasi-dramatic events including oratorios with recitatives and strophic arias, chorales, organ and orchestral music
• Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), Nuremberg

4. The Lutheran Church Cantata

• Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756), Hamburg
• introduced this new form of music with religious texts set poetically (in verses)
• in arioso or aria styles
• a precursor of J.S. Bach's cantatas
• Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722), Leipzig
• Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712), Halle
• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), Leipzig, Eisenach, Frankfurt, Hamburg

5. The Passion

• a type of historia, 'story', which were typically German medieval plainchant settings based on some biblical narrative, usually the Gospel interpretations of jesus' suffering
• in the 15th century, these plaichant settings became polyphonically treated, and became know as the dramatic or scenic Passion
• in the 17th century, the concertato style influenced the creation of a new style of the Passion, the oratorio Passion, based on the form of the Baroque oratorio
• this type of the Passion was precursor of J.S. Bach's Passions

The Late Baroque Instrumental Music

• Development of new instruments which influenced the creation of new musical forms and genres
1. the keyboard instruments: the modern church organ and harpsichord
2. the stringed instruments: the violin family
• Four types of of instrumental music:
1. Organ Music
2. Clavichord and Harpsichord Music
3. Ensemble Music
4. Large Ensemble -- Orchestral -- Music

I. Organ Music

• The 18th century Baroque organ builders:
• Arp Schnitger (1648-1718)
• Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753)
• Variety of registrations (registers)
• principal or flue pipes
• mixtures
• reeds
• Werks (sing. Werk, pl. Werke)-- division of pipes of a single organ
• each Werk having its own set of pipes with its own character and function, giving impression of several organs instead of a single instrument
1. Brunstwerk, in front of the player
2. Hauptwerk, immediately above the player, or the great organ
3. Oberwerk, the upper chest above the great organ
4. Pedal organ
5. Rückpositiv, chair organ, behind the player, only in the largest German organs

Composers

• Georg Böhm (1661-1733), Lüneburg
• Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707), Lübeck
• Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712), Halle
• Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722), Leipzig
• Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703), Eisenach
•  
  • Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), Nuremberg

  The Toccata / Präludium

  • also sometimes known as Präludium, such in Buxtehude (see below), or Praeludium, Prelude, Preambulum
  • succession of fugal and non-fugal sections
  • improvisation
  • virtuosity, display of performer's skills
  • figuration
  • Fugal sections:
  • Imitative counterpoint
  • Rhapsodic approach
  • Precursor of the later baroque fuge
  • Several fugues following each other after after an interlude or a solid cadence
  • Variations of a fugal theme/subject
  • Music Example  -- Praeludium (Toccata) (NRAWM I, CD5:6-10)
  • E-Dur Präludium, Praeludium in E Major, Bux WV 141, for organ by Dietrich Buxtehude
  • four fugal sections

  The Fuga (Fugue)

  • Both an independent piece and a section of the Prelude
  • By the late 17th century, the fugue has replaced the early 17th century ricercare (see above)
  • Dux:
  • the melodic theme of the fugue is known as the subject or dux (Lat. 'leader')
  • it is stated in the tonic of the key
  • Comes:
  • the answer to the dux is known as the comes (Lat. 'companion')
  • it is stated in the dominant
  • Exposition:
  • the first statement of the dux and comes in all voices, either two, three or four, depending on the piece
  • Episodes:
  • sections or passages which separate further fugal expositions
  • in these sections the full statement of the subject does not appear, although variations on its melody or motivic work based on the subject may be
  • modulations to various keys may occur in the episodes, with return to the tonic of the main key at their ends
  • the return to the tonic is emphasized by pedal point known as the stretto, or fuga stretta, with quick statements of the subject
  • pedal point may be also stated as augmentation, in which the note values of the subject melody are doubled
  • Beyond their church use, preludes and fugues were also useful pieces for training students in composition and performance, and to this end the baroque composers wrote collections of keyboard preludes and fugues
  • J.K.F. Fischer (ca. 1665-1746): Ariadne musica (1715), a collection of keyboard preludes and fugues in 19 different major and minor keys

Equal Temperament

• The process of development of tonal harmony, based on major and minor keys, started in the 15th century with the basso continuo and culminated in the Baroque period
• The keyboard collections of preludes and fugues (see above) contributed to this development of tonality and equal temperament
• Contrary to the Renaissance division between the perfect and imperfect intervals, based on nonequal division of the octave, equal temperament divides the octave into 12 eqaul half-steps or semitones, resulting in intervals that are not mathematically 'true' but instead 'sound good'
• This new temperament of musical intervals became the basis for the new concept of tonality that will be the main feature of Western music until the early 20th century

1. Traité de l'harmonie

• 1722: The French composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), formulated the idea and theory of tonal music and published it in his Traité de l'harmonie, 'Treatise on Harmony'

2. Das wohltemperierte Clavier

• 1722-1740: The German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), a contemporary of Rameau, composed, in the same year Rameau's treatise appeared, the first part from the set of 24 preludes and 24 fugues for clavier (piano), and entitled it as Das wohltemperierte Clavier, 'The Well-Tempered Clavier'
• Each of the two parts from the Well-Tempered Piano consists of 12 preludes followed by 12 fugues chromatically set in 12 different major and minor keys, starting with C-major Prelude and Fugue

The Organ Chorale

• Unlike the purely instrumental toccata, prelude and fugue, the chorale was initially a vocal Lutheran church musical form
• Organ: In the 17th century, the organ accompaniment of the chorale slowly evolved into a separate instrumental form
• 1. Chorale variations
• or chorale partita or chorale prelude: the melody of chorale was a theme/subject with a set of variations, sometimes on a cantus firmus in long note values
• Composers:
• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
• Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
• Dietrich Buxtehude  (ca. 1637-1707)

• Music Example  -- Chorale Praeludium (NRAWM I, CD5:11-13)
• Chorale Prelude: Danket dem Herrn, denn er ist sehr freundlich, "Thank the Lord, for He is very kind," Bux WV 181, for organ by Dietrich Buxtehude
• the chorale as a cantus firmus with variations

 
• 2. Chorale Fantasia
• the chorale melody is fragmented, with virtuoso display and ornamentation
• 3. Chorale Prelude
  • a chorale-based short organ piece

II. Keyboard Music: Clavichord and Harpsichord

• Two important genres:
1. theme and variations
2. suite
• Suite composers in France:
• Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729)
• François Couperin (1668-1733)

François Couperin (1668-1733)

• Composed Vingt-sept ordres, twenty-seven ordres, i.e. sets of suite-like pieces for the clavecin (harpsichord)
• 1716: wrote a musical treatise L'art de toucher le clavecin, "The Art of Playing the Clavecin"
• The treatise contains detailed instructions for fingering and playing the agréments, a special type of ornaments for the clavecin worked out by Couperin (see Grout and Palisca 1996:370-371)

 
• Music Example  -- Ordre (NRAWM I, CD5:14-19 [CD2:28-30])
• Vingt-cinquième ordre, "The Twenty-fifth Ordre," from the collection Vingt-sept ordres, "Twenty-seven ordres," for clavecin (harpsichord) by François Couperin
• La visionaire, "The Dreamer"
• La misterieuse, "The Mysterious One [woman]"
• La monflambert, "The Monflambert" (gigue)
• La muse victorieuse, "The Victorious Muse"
• Les ombres errantes, "The Roving Shadows"

III. Ensemble Music

• The late 17th and early 18th centuries: the violin makers of Cremona, Italy:
• Nicolò Amati (1596-1684)
• Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737)
• Giuseppe Bartolomeo Guarneri (1698-1744)

The Ensemble Sonata

• the early sonata evolved from the canzona (see above)
• the term sonata was interchangeable with the sinfonia, and in the early 17th century both terms meant instrumental prelude or interlude in vocal pieces
• The late 17th and early 18th century sonata is a form which consists of:
• several movements
• the movements are in contrasting tempos
• performed by two or four solo instruments and the basso continuo
• The main types of the baroque sonata:
• 1. Sonata da chiesa, "the church sonata"
• a mixture of movements, both of dance and other character, intended for use in churches
• 2. Sonata da camera, "the chamber sonata"
• a suite of stylized dance movements
• also variously known as trattenimento, divertimento, concertino, concerto, ballo, balletto
• 3. Trio sonata, "sonata for a trio" of instruments
• Both types of the sonatas, da chiesa and da camera, were played on two treble instruments, usually violins, and bass, i.e. the basso continuo
• the treble voices could be either vocal or instrumental, or both
• the basso continuo part was played on the harpsichord or organ, which provided harmonic fillings, while the main continuo line was usually doubled by the cello
• this totaled to four musicians playing the trio sonata: two treble players and two bass players
• 4. Solo sonata
• violin, flute, or viola da gamba with continuo
• gained popularity after 1700
• see also the early 17th century sonata, above
• Sonata composers in Italy:
• Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690), the teacher of Antonio Vivaldi (see below)
• Giovanni Battista Vitali (ca. 1644-1692)
• Tommaso Antonio Vitali (ca. 1665-1747)
• Maurizio Cazzati (ca. 1620-1677)

 
• Music Example  -- Trio sonata (NRAWM I, CD5:20-21)
• La raspona, trio sonata for two violins and basso continuo (harpsichord and viola da gamba) by Giovanni Legrenzi
• Allegro - "Adaggio"

Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

• Corelli's compositions are grouped in six opuses containing trio and solo sonatas, both of da chiesa and da camera types, as well as concerto grossos (It. concerto grosso, pl. concerti grossi, see below)
• Corelli wrote exclusively instrumental music, especially for the violin
• In his compositions, Corelli used sequences as one of the main tools in creating his musical texture and organization of tonality
• Later, Vivaldi and J.S. Bach will continue in developing tonality on principles established by Corelli
• Corelli's sonatas da chiesa have four movements:
• slow -- contrapuntal texture
• fast -- fugue
• slow --resembling operatic arias
• fast -- dance-like
• All movement in trio sonatas are in one key, although some of Corelli's later sonatas have their slow movements in the relative key

• Music Example  -- Trio sonata (NRAWM I, CD5:22-26 [CD2:31-33])
• Trio Sonata, Op. 3, No. 2 for two violins and basso continuo (viola da gamba and organ) by Archangelo Corelli
• Grave - Allegro - Adagio - Allegro

Improvisation in the Baroque era

• Reading Assignment
• Ornaments
• Cadenzas

IV. Large Ensemble / Orchestral  Music

1. orchestral suite
2. concerto

The Orchestral Suite

• Georg Muffat (1653-1740)
• J.K.F. Fischer (ca. 1665-1746)

The Concerto

• Orchestral concerto -- variouslu known as
• concerto sinfonia, concerto ripieno (lit. the "full concert"), concerto a quattro (lit. the "concert in four" [movements])
• concerto grosso, lit. the "large concert"
• this type of concerto or orchestral music designated the whole orchestra, known as the ripieno or tutti ("all")
• concertino, lit. the "small concerto,"
• within the concerto grosso there was a separate small ensemble of one or several solo instruments, usually strings: two violins and basso continuo
• the concertino played against the ripieno, creating new musical tensions, contrasts, and affects
• solo concerto, for a solo instrument, usually violin

• Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713), Venice
• Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), Bologna (see below)
• Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750), Venice
• Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762), the student of Corelli
• Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764), the student of Corelli
•  
  • Evaristo Felice dall'Abaco (1675-1742)

  Sinfonia

  • when played in churches, concertos, sometimes under the name of the sinfonia, had the function of 'overtures' to the Mass or as orchestral interludes during the Offertory, such as in:
  • J.S. Bach's Sinfonia to the second part of Christmas Oratorio and the Sinfonia pastorale in G.F. Händel's Messiah
  • Corelli's concerto grossos are a good illustration of the soli/tutti contrasts

  Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)

  • Concerto grossos -- a new type of concerto that departs from Corelli
  • Three movements:
  1. Fast  - ritornello (see below)
  2. Slow
  3. Fast  - ritornello
  • This tripartite structure of concerto grosso was adopted by later composers, such as Vivaldi

  Ritornello

  • derived from vocal music, where it meant the refrain
  • similar to the rondeau, with the exception that all ritornellos, except the first and last, are in different keys

The Late Baroque -- The Early Eighteenth Century

I. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

• One of the leading violinists at St. Mark's in Venice
• Student of Giovanni Legrenzi (see above)
• il prete rosso, 'the red-head priest'
• 1703-1740: employed at a pious music conservatory, Pio Ospedale della Pietà, Venice
• Extensive musical output:
• 49 operas
• 500 concertos and sinfonias
• 90 solo and trio sonatas
• many cantatas, motets, oratorios

Vivaldi's Concertos

• ca. 1712: first published collection of 12 concertos, entitled L'estro armonico, "The Harmonic Fancy," Opus 3, Amsterdam
• About two thirds of Vivaldi's concertos are for a solo instrument and orchestra
• the solo is mostly for violin, but also for cello, flute, bassoon
• Concertos for two violins -- Duo concertos
• Vivaldi's orchestra at the Pietà (see above) probably consisted of 20-25 strings with harpsichord or organ for the continuo
• often this orchestra also included the winds -- flutes, oboes, bassons, horns -- both as solos and as part of ensemble
• Movements:
1. Allegro
2. Slow Movement (e.g. Largo, Adagio, etc.)
3. Allegro
• Abandonment of the fugal treatment of voices in favour of a more homophonic texture, with emphasis on the outer two voices, treble and bass
• Ritornellos
• Dramatic tensions between the soli and tutti -- the soloist becomes the main personality in Vivaldi's concertos
• Purely instrumental treatment of the operatic style of ritornello aria in which the singer -- in this case the soloist -- exchanges dramatic moments with the orchestra
• Chromaticism

• Music Example  -- Concerto grosso (NRAWM I, CD5:27-34 [CD2:34-40])
• Concerto grosso in G Minor, Op. 3, No. 2, RV 578 by Antonio Vivaldi
• Adagio e spiccato (First Movement) - Allegro (Second Movement)
•  
  • Concertino: two violins and a cello (continuo)
  • Music Example  -- The Violin Concerto (NRAWM I, CD5:35)
  • Concerto for Violin, Op. 9, No. 2, RV 345 by Antonio Vivaldi
  • Largo (Second Movement)

  Vivaldi's 'Classicism' and Program Music

  • Vivaldi has introduced a new style in European music, which may be understood as a precursor of the later Classicism of Haydn and Mozart
  • In his sinfonias, Vivaldi has also founded the main principles of classical symphony, especially in its homophonic structure
  • His concertos have also influenced the Classical concerto
  • In his music, Vivaldi attempted to imitate nature and thus musically depict non- or extramusical phenomena, especially in his concertos Four Seasons
  • This programatic attitude will be carried to an extreme in the 19th century

II. Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Rameau's Music Theory

• The French composer and music theorist, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), formulated the idea and theory of tonal music and published it as:
• Traité de l'harmonie, 'Treatise on Harmony', 1722
• Treatmeant of the chord as the primal element in music
• Understanding of the major triad as the natural phenomenon (not constructed by humans, but given by nature)
• Expension of triads into seventh chords, ninth chords, and eleventh chords
• Setting of the principle of the unity of chords regardless of their inversions (all inversions of a chord are recognizeable as the same chord)
• Establishment of functional harmony: tonic-dominant-subdominant chords

Rameau's Operas

• In his operatic output, Rameau is considered the successor of Lully
• However, during his time, he was attacked as a destroyer of Lully's tradition of the tragédie lyrique and the bon goût (see above)
• Many operas of Ramueau have ballets and belong to the Lullyist tradition of the opera-ballet, including:
• the French type of recitatives
• the French arias
• divertissement
• Rameau's operatic style is homophonic and rational, fully based on his music theory
• His harmonic language includes sevenths, ninths, diminished fifths, augmented fourths

 
• Music Example  -- French Opera / tragédie lyrique (NRAWM I, CD5:36 [CD2:41])
• Recitative-Aria "Ah, faut-il," "Ah, must I," Act IV, Scene 1, from the opera Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) by Jean-Philippe Rameau, libretto by Abbé S.J. de Pellegrin

III. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

• J.S. Bach's creative life as composer is usually chronologically divided according to the places in which he lived and worked:
1. 1703-1707: Arnstadt, organist
2. 1707-1708: Mülhausen, organist
3. 1708-1717: Weimar, court organist and konzertmeister, concertmaster, in the chapel of the duke of Weimar
4. 1717-1723: Cöthen, music director at the court of a prince
5. 1723-1750: Leipzig, cantor in the St. Thomas church and its school
• Composed virtually all existing genres and musical forms of the period, with the exception of opera
• Bach's output may be broadly divided into his instrumental and vocal-instrumental music

Bach's Instrumental Music

1. Music for organ
• Toccatas
• Fantasias
• Chorale Preludes
• Preludes and Fugue
• Trio Sonatas for organ solo
• based on the Italian trio sonata
• three movements: fast-slow-fast
• contrapuntal texture
2. Music for the Clavier: harpsichord and clavichord
• Toccatas
• Preludes and Fugues
• The Clavier Suites
• The French Suites (six)
• standard four movements suites: allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue
• The English Suites (six)
• Partitas (six)
• standard movements plus an opening prelude and additional movements
• Variations: Goldberg Variations
• Bach's keyboard pieces, both for organ and clavier, are collected in several collections:
• Clavier-Übung, the "Keyboard Practice"
• Orgelbüchlein, the "Little Organ Book"
• Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (see above)
3. Music for Solo Violin and Cello
4. Ensemble Sonatas
5. Concertos
• Brandenburg Concertos (six)
6. Orchestral Suites
7. Other Music
• Die Kunst der Fuge, "The Art of Fugue"
• Musikalisches Opfer, "Musical Offering"

 
• Music Example  -- Prelude and Fugue (NRAWM I, CD5:37-38 [CD2:42-43])
• Praeludium et Fuga in A Minor for organ, BWV 543,by Johann Sebastian Bach

 
• Music Example  -- Chorale Prelude (NRAWM I, CD5:39)
• Durch Adams Fall, "Through Adam's fall," BWV 637, chorale prelude for organ, by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach's Vocal-Instrumental Music

1. Cantatas
• more than 200 cantatas remained preserved
• interpolation of secular operatic arias and recitatives, both of the secco and accompagnato types, in otherwise religious cantatas
• in this sense, Bach's cantatas function as substitutes for operas, a genre Bach did not attempt to compose

The Church Cantatas
• performed during the Lutheran Liturgy in the Church of St. Thomas, following the reading of the Gospel, and textually usually reflecting its theme(s) of the day
• 1723-1729: Bach composed four complete annual cycles of cantatas

Chorale Cantatas
• based on the Lutheran chorale texts and melodies
• Christ lag in Todesbanden, "Christ lay in the bonds of death," BWV 4
• Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, "Wake up, calls us the voice," BWV 140

Secular Cantatas
 
• Music Example  -- Chorale Cantata (NRAWM I, CD6:1-12 [CD2:44-48])
• Cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, "Wake up, calls us the voice," BWV 140, by Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1. Chorus
• 2. Tenor Recitative
• 3. Aria Duet: Bass and Soprano
• 4. Chorale
• 5. Bass Recitative
• 6. Aria Duet: Bass and Soprano
• 7. Chorale (Chorus)
 
• Music Example  -- Chorale Cantata (Kerman, Listen, CD2:11-13)
• Cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden, "Christ lay in the bonds of death,"   by Johann Sebastian Bach
 
2. Passions
• St. John Passion
• St. Matthew Passion
3. Mass in B Minor
 
• Music Example  -- Mass (NRAWM I, CD6:13-19)
• Symbolum Nicenum, the "Nicene Symbol [of Faith]," (Credo) from the Mass in B Minor, BWV 232, by Johann Sebastian Bach
• a) Et in Spiritum sanctum Dominum, "And in the Holy Spirit of the Lord"
• b) Confiteor, "I acknowledge [one baptism]"
• c) Et expecto resurrectionem, "And I expect the resurrection [after death]"

• After his death, Bach and his music were forgotten
• A renewed interest in Bach's music was energetically propelled in the early 19th century and it continued to the present
• In the second half of the 18th century, Bach's music was understood as old fashioned and contrary to the "spirit" of the Enlightenment, which needed new aesthetics and new taste
• It was the music of Handel, rather than Bach, that fully matched these requirements

IV. Georg Friedrich Händel / George Frideric Handel, 1685-1759)

• Born in Halle, Germany, Händel traveled to and lived for several years in Iitaly as a young man, then returned to Germany only to leave for England for good
• 1712: Händel arrives to London for the second time
• In London, Händel will spend more than 45 years of his life, there he was to die and finally be burried in Westminster Abbey
• Hence the two versions of his name: his original German name, Georg Friedrich Händel, and its anglicized version, George Frideric Handel
• 1726: Händel becomes naturalized citizen of Britain

Händel's Italian Operas

• 1718-1719: the Royal Academy of Music was established in London by some sixty wealthy men, with the intention of presenting operas to the London public
• Händel became engaged in this enterprise and composed some of his best operas in the Italian style for the Academy:
• Radamisto, 1720
• Ottone, 1723
• Giulio Cesare, 1724
• Rodelinda, 1725
• Admeto, 1727
• Serse [Xerxes] 1738 (famous "Largo" in instrumental transcription of an aria from this opera)
• Deidamia, 1741
• Musical features:
• Recitativo Secco, accompanied by harpsichord
• Recitativo obligato, accompanied by the orchestra
• Da capo aria, modeled on those of Alessandro Scarlatti
• Dramatic elements and depiction of feelings and affections in music
• Coloratura type of singing

 
• Music Example  -- Opera (NRAWM I, CD6:20-25 [CD2:49-54])
• Chorus Dall'ondoso periglio, "From the perilous sea," Act III, Scene 4, from the opera Giulio Cesare, "Julius Cesar" (1724), by Georg Friedrich Händel
 
• Music Example  -- Opera (Kerman, Listen, CD2:8)
• Recitativo secco and da capo aria Tirannia, "Tyranny," from the opera Rodelinda (1725), by Georg Friedrich Händel

Händel's English Oratorios

• 1728: the success of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay (1685-1732)
• the English public lost interest in Italian opera
• The Royal Academy of Music underwent financial hardships
• This situation affected Händel's operatic output and forced him to turn to English oratorio, i.e. oratorio with English text, as his new genre
• English oratorio differs from its Italian counterpart, see oratorio above
• Händel composed 26 English oratorios, many on biblical themes, others with mythological ones, or even allegorical
• Saul, 1739
• Messiah, 1741
• Israel in Egypt,
• Joshua
• Hercules, 1744
• Judas Maccabaeus, 1746
• Jephtha, 1751
• The Triumph of Time and Truth, 1757
• Musical features:
• Beyond two Italian operatic elements, recitatives and arias, Händel incorporated the non-Italian / non-operatic but nevertheless theatrical elements, such as the:
• English Masque
• English chorale anthem
• French classical drama
• German historia
• Huge choruses
• Drama
• Popmpous rhythms alla Lully
• Grandiose effects
• Dissonances
• Some contrapuntal texture within the dominant homophonic structure
• Oratorios were not intended for use in churches but rather as a kind of theatrical performances and/or concert pieces

• Music Example  -- English Oratorio (NRAWM I, CD6:26-29)
• Chorus How dark, O Lord, are Thy decrees!, Act II, from the oratorio Jephtha (1752) by Georg Friedrich Händel
 
• Music Example  -- English Oratorio (Kerman, Listen, CD2:9)
• Recitative There were sheperds, and Chorus Glory to God, from the oratorio Messiah (1742) by Georg Friedrich Händel