Baroque Music: A Comprehensive Guide to its History, Characteristics, and Composers
Baroque Music
Introduction
The word ‘baroque’ describes a musical style borrowed from the architectural style popular between 1600 and 1750. During this period, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. It also established opera as a musical genre. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use today.
Characteristics
1. Basso Continuo and Figured Bass
Basso continuo provides the harmonic structure of the music. The continuo group must include at least one instrument capable of playing chords – harmonic instruments – (harpsichord, organ, lute…) and any number of instruments which play their melodies in the bass register such as cello, double bass or viola da gamba.
Figured bass consists of a bass-line with notes on a musical staff plus added numbers and accidentals (sharps # and flats b) under the staff to indicate what chords must be played. The composer only wrote the principal notes and numbers below them, and the player should know what chords to play just by reading the numbers.
2. Contrast and Movement
Contrast (between instrumental and vocal groups, different timbres, tempos, etc.) is one of the most important characteristics of baroque music. The concertato style involves contrast between opposing groups of voices and groups of instruments. In the concerto grosso there is contrast between large and small groups of similar composition.
3. Affections
Composers tried to express the affections. Affections were not their own emotions but were the states of the soul, such as rage, heroism, sorrow, or joy. Meter and rhythm were united to the feeling the composer wished to evoke.
Vocal Music
Secular Vocal Music: Opera
Opera was invented in the late Renaissance for the Florentine Camerata, the musicians who worked for the Count Bardi in Florence. Their ideals were based on their perception of ancient Greek musical drama, in which the declamation of the text was of utmost importance. The first important opera was The Orfeo of Monteverdi (1607).
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.
Religious Vocal Music
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. The oratorio and the opera were formally very similar (including the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias). However, opera is a musical theatre composition, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece.
A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. George Friedrich Handel was the most important oratorio composer of the baroque period.
Passion
A passion is an oratorio about the suffering of Jesus leading up to the Crucifixion.
Cantata
A cantata (literally ‘sung’, derived from the Italian word ‘cantare’) is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment and often containing more than one movement. It doesn’t tell a story and can be religious as well as secular. The most important cantata and passion composer was J.S. Bach.
Instrumental Music
Concerto
The concerto grosso is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between one or a small group of soloists (called the concertino) and full orchestra (called the ripieno). The first major composer to use the term concerto grosso was Arcangelo Corelli.
In a concerto a solo there’s just one soloist. Normally, the concerto alternated between fast and slow movements (FAST – SLOW – FAST).
Suite
In the Baroque era the suite was defined by its pieces, and consisted of dances usually preceded by a prelude or overture. The suite was also known as suite de dances. The main dances were:
- Allemande – Literally translates from French as the word ‘German’. It is a stately German dance with a meter of 4/4.
- Courante or Corrente – A Courante is a lively French dance in 3/4 time, while the Corrente is an Italian dance in quick 3/4.
- Sarabande – A Sarabande is a slow, stately Spanish dance in 3/4 time.
- Gigue or giga – The Gigue or ‘Jig’ originated in England, and is a fast dance, normally with a meter of 6/8. The Italian giga is rarer than the gigue, and is faster, with running passages over a harmonic basis.
Baroque Composers
The most important composers from the baroque period are:
- Claudio Monteverdi
- Johan Pachelbel
- Arcangelo Corelli
- Henry Purcell
- Francois Couperin
- Antonio Vivaldi
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- George Friederic Handel
Glossary
- Viola da gamba: type of string instrument that is played with a bow, resting on the player’s lap.
- Notation: a system of figures or symbols used in a specialized field to represent numbers, quantities, tones, or values.
- Secular: non-religious
- Prelude: is a short piece of music for a musical instrument. It is called a prelude because it is supposed to be played before something else.
- Overture: An instrumental composition intended especially as an introduction to an extended work, such as an opera or oratorio.