1 / 92

The Baroque Era

The Baroque Era. 1600-1750. The Baroque Era and the Arts. The Baroque period is considered to fall between 1600 and 1750. The period comes to a close with the death of J. S. Bach in 1750.

DoraAna
Download Presentation

The Baroque Era

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The Baroque Era 1600-1750

  2. The Baroque Era and the Arts • The Baroque period is considered to fall between 1600 and 1750. • The period comes to a close with the death of J. S. Bach in 1750. • “Baroque” comes from a Portuguese word which means pearl or jewel. This directly relates to the style of music in this period which is filled with decoration and ornamentation.

  3. The Baroque Era and the Arts POLITICS and GOVERNMENT • Politically, the Baroque era was an age of absolute monarchy. • All art and culture in this period served the ruler of the state. • The new middle class created a culture of its own . Their music was centered in the home, and church.

  4. The Baroque Era and the Arts SCIENCE • The Baroque era was and age of reason. • The ideas of Kepler, Galileo, and Copernicus in physics and astronomy. • Mathematics and Philosophy were being explored. • An English physician named William Harvey explained the circulation of blood. • Isaac Newton unlocked the secret of Gravity.

  5. The Baroque Era and the Arts RELIGION • The Baroque was also an intensely devout period in history. • We now have 2 main groups in the Christian religion, Protestants and Catholics. • Protestants were centered in England, Scandinavia, Holland, and North Germany. • Catholics centered in Italy, Spain, France, and Austria.

  6. The Baroque Era and the Arts RELIGION – CONT. • There were two powerful Catholic dynasties of the time, the French Bourbons and the Austrian-Spanish Hapsburgs. • These two Catholic groups fought one another just as much as they did their protestant foes. • Religion was also important in the American Colonies. These were settled largely by Protestant refugees who immigrated from northern Europe.

  7. The Baroque Era and the Arts ART • Art, just like in the Renaissance changed with the times. • Baroque society was very dramatic and its art reflected that. • Some famous names: Titian, Tentoretto, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt.

  8. The Baroque Era and the Arts

  9. The Baroque Era and the Arts WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON DURING THIS TIME… • Galileo invents the telescope • First European settlement in America (Jamestown) • John Milton (Paradise Lost) • King James version of the Bible • The Mayflower, and the settlement of Plymouth Rock • Puritan Revolution in England • Reign of Louis XIV and XV in France • Peter the Great in Russia • Newton’s Theory of Gravitation

  10. Currents in Baroque Music • MONODY • Monody is a solo song with instrumental accompaniment. • Developed by the CAMERATA • Focused on emotional power of the text

  11. Currents in Baroque Music • The CAMERATA • Developed in Florence, Italy • Resurrection of ancient Greek and Roman musical drama. • VincenzoGalilei • Camerata’s Philosophy: Music must heighten the emotional power of the text. • Led to the development of OPERA

  12. Currents in Baroque Music • STILE REPRESENTATIVO • A melody line that moves freely over the foundation of simple chords. Ex. Mary Had a Little Lamb

  13. Currents in Baroque Music • FIGURED BASS • Numbers above or below the bass-line indicating the chord to play. • The performer filled in the necessary harmonies.

  14. Currents in Baroque Music • BASSO-CONTINUO • Baroque type of accompaniment, often used in Operas and Oratorios • Consisted of 2 instrumentalists • Bass line was played by Cello or Fagotti • The other was played by a chordal instrument, • Either Harpsichord or Organ

  15. Currents in Baroque Music

  16. Currents in Baroque Music • IMPROVISATION • “Thinking with the fingers” • Making up the musical accompaniment to fit under the vocalist’s melody. • Improvisation was used often times with basso-continuo and a figured bass line. Singers and players added their own embellishments to the music that was written

  17. Currents in Baroque Music • MAJOR-MINOR TONALITY • The establishment of major-minor tonality is one of the most significant changes in music history. • The development of the tonic, or key note • Modulation - moving from one key to another. (key change) • Instrumental music of the Baroque required being able to play in any key

  18. Currents in Baroque Music • EQUAL TEMPERMENT • Tempering the intervals within an octave to equalize the distance between adjacent tones. • Became possible for musicians to play in every major and minor key without experiencing unpleasant sounds.

  19. Currents in Baroque Music • THE WELL TEMPORED CLAVIER • Clavier - any keyboard instrument • 2 volume collection by J. S. Bach containing 24 preludes and fugues in every possible key.

  20. Currents in Baroque Music

  21. Currents in Baroque Music • DYNAMICS AND CONTRAST • Two basic dynamics were developed -Piano and Forte • Few dynamic markings were actually incorporated into the music • Dynamic contrast was left up to the performer until the end of the Baroque era.

  22. Currents in Baroque Music • THE VIRTUOSO MUSICIAN • Rise in the standards of playing and singing music in the Baroque. • Instrument makers in Germany and Italy improved instrument quality considerably • Composers began to write works that developed a more demanding and challenging playing technique.

  23. Currents in Baroque Music • THE VIRTUOSO MUSICIAN CONT. • The rise of opera saw a rise in the vocal technique of castrato. • Male singers were castrated during boy-hood in order to preserve their boy soprano register for the rest of their life. • The result was an incredibly agile voice with a very large range.

  24. Currents in Baroque Music • THE VIRTUOSO MUSICIAN CONT. • The audience of the Baroque associated the castrati voice with heroic male roles. • Today these roles are sung in a lower register by a tenor or baritone voice. • They may also be sung by a counter-tenor, falsettist, or a woman in costume.

  25. Currents in Baroque Music • Women in Baroque Music • Barbra Strozzi and Francesca Caccini • Opera houses allowed for women to compete seriously with men as professional musicians.

  26. Currents in Baroque Music

  27. Currents in Baroque Music • INTERNATIONALISM • The Baroque era saw free interchange among national cultures. • A vivid interest in “new worlds” arose in the baroque because of the age of exploration. • This gave way to composers writing in styles of exotic lands - EXOTICISM. Music was written in the style of Persia, India, and Turkey

  28. VOCAL MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE 1600-1750

  29. Vocal Music of the Baroque • An Opera is a large-scale drama that is sung. • Vocal and Instrumental Music • Soloists, Ensembles, Chorus, Orchestra, and sometimes Ballet. • Acting, Scenery, Costumes, Props, etc.

  30. Vocal music of the Baroque • There are 6 main components to Opera: Recitative Aria Chorus Ensemble Overture Libretto

  31. Vocal Music of the Baroque • Recitative is a musical declamation or speech that is used to advance the plot and action in an opera. • Developed by the Florentine Camerata to imitate the natural inflections of speech. • Recitative rarely presents a purely musical line, as there is no real melody present. • “Talky” representation of the same note.

  32. Vocal Music of the Baroque • Listening Example No. 1 Title: Thus saith the lord of hosts from The Messiah Composer: G. F. Handel Genre: Recitative Period: Baroque (1741)

  33. Vocal Music of the Baroque • An Aria is a solo song that usually appears after a recitative in an opera. • Aria – Italian for Air. • Often highly emotional, and because of its tunefulness the aria is what people remember the most in an opera. • The most common type of aria is the da capo aria. It’s a ternary, or A-B-A form.

  34. Vocal Music of the Baroque • Listening Example No. 2 Title: He shall feed his flock from The Messiah Composer: G. F. Handel Genre: Aria Period: Baroque (1741)

  35. Vocal Music of the Baroque • A Chorus, often proceeds an aria in an opera. • The chorus is a song sung by a large ensemble of singer (a chorus). • The chorus may be accompanied by the orchestra or sung a cappella.

  36. Vocal music of the baroque • Listening Example No. 3 Title: Halleluiah from The Messiah Composer: G. F. Handel Genre: Chorus Period: Baroque (1741)

  37. Vocal music of the baroque • An opera may contain Ensembles. • These includes duets, trios, quartets, etc. • The chorus may be used to back up these voices also.

  38. Vocal music of the baroque • The orchestra performs an instrumental number at the beginning of an opera called an Overture. • The overture can introduce melodies or themes from the opera, that will be heard later on. • Each act of the opera usually opens with an orchestral introduction. • Between scenes you may also hear interludes or sinfonias, as they were called in the Baroque Opera.

  39. Vocal music of the baroque • Listening Example No. 4 Title: Overture from Dido and Aeneas Composer: Henry Purcell Genre: Opera Overture Period: Baroque (1689)

  40. Vocal music of the baroque • The opera composer works with Librettist, who writes the text of the work. • The Libretto, is the text, or script, of the opera. • The composer will often work with the librettist tot create dramatic insight, characters, and the plot to justify the use of music.

  41. TAKE A BREAK

  42. Vocal music of the baroque Early Opera in Italy • Early opera in Italy was influenced mostly by the Florentine Camerata. • Operas were first performed in courts, for royal weddings, and similar ceremonial occasions. • The first great composer of Opera was Claudio Monteverdi. His first opera was called Orfeo and written in 1607. Orfeo was such a huge success he wrote his second in 1608 called Arianna. Both were first performed at royal weddings.

  43. Vocal music of the baroque • During Monteverdi’s time the first opera houses opened in Venice. • Opera was slowly moving out of the palace and becoming a new, popular form of entertainment. Vienna Opera House

  44. Vocal music of the baroque Opera in France • The Italian Opera was rejected in France. • French composers set out to fashion their own style drawn from court ballet and classical tragedy. • The result was the tragedie lyrique which combined dance scenes and tales of courtly love. • The most significant French opera composer is Jean-Baptiste Lully.

  45. Vocal music of the baroque Opera in England • Early opera in England was forbidden during the period of the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell. Puritans regarded the theatre as an invention of the devil. • It wasn’t until after this period that opera was able to flourish in England with Henry Purcell and Dido and Aeneas.

  46. Vocal music of the baroque • Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) • Singer, Organist, and Composer • Key in the development of major-minor tonality. • His first and only opera is regarded as the most important in the Baroque era. • Dido and Aeneas – 1689

  47. Vocal music of the baroque Dido and Aeneas • Based on the adventures of the hero Aeneas after the fall of Troy. • Uses the popular Basso-Continuo accompaniment in many of the recitatives and arias. • First performed at Mr. Josias Priest’s Boarding School at Chelsey.

  48. Vocal music of the baroque • Listening Example No. 5 Title: Dido’s Lament from Dido and Aeneas Composer: Henry Purcell Genre: Opera Recitative and Aria Period: Baroque (1689)

  49. Vocal music of the baroque • The Italian Cantata is a work for one or more vocalists with instrumental accompaniment. • Chorus was later added to the genre. • Based on one of three poetic types… Lyric Dramatic Narrative

  50. Vocal music of the baroque • Lyric Cantata– expresses personal emotion and allows the music to dominate the story. • Dramatic Cantata – written for a performance in a play(comedy or tragedy) • Narrative Cantata – tells a story and follows characters through a plot.

More Related