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Kemlock 1 Jacob Kemlock Professor Snyder Humanities 101 2 April 2015 Baroque Music The history of music is extremely broad and includes numerous periods such as Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern. Each musical period contributed to the music which is produced and performed today. The Baroque musical period gave performers the freedom in improvising the greater part of the expression as he or she goes along, and even quite a substantial part of the notes. The music created during the baroque era as well as the performances are still to this day contributing the expansion as well as the development of music and performances worldwide. The baroque musical period is a style of Western art music composed approximately from 1600 to 1750. This era followed the renaissance, and was followed in turn by the Classical era. The word Baroque is derived from the Portuguese barraco, or “oddly shaped pearl.” A notable development of the baroque period is the development of counterpoint. Counterpoint describes two or more independent lines of music played simultaneously, in other words "note against note.” This was also a period in which harmonic complexity grew alongside emphasis on contrast (Baroque Music 2014). A major philosophical belief current in the baroque musical period comes from the Renaissance interests in ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. The belief of the Greeks and Romans was that music had a powerful tool of communication and could arouse any emotion in its listeners. Because of the revival of these ideas, composers and musicians became Kemlock 2 increasingly aware of music’s true power and potential. As a result of the ideas of theses composer’s beliefs, it cultivated them to think their compositions could have a similar effect if they emulated ancient music. As a French humanist scholar Artus Thomas described a performance in the late sixteenth century I have ofttimes heard it said of Sieur Claudin Le Jeune (who has, without wishing to slight anyone, far surpassed the musicians of ages past in his understanding of these matters) that he had sung an air (which he had composed in parts)…and that when this air was rehearsed at a private concert it caused a gentleman there to put hand to arms and begin swearing out loud, so that it seemed impossible to prevent him from attacking someone: whereupon Claudin began singing another air…which rendered the gentleman as calm as before. This has been confirmed to me since by several who were there. Such is the power and force of melody, rhythm and harmony over the mind. (quoted in Baroque Music 2014) During the baroque musical period, new interests in music started to rise around different sounds and tones in music. Along with the emphasis on a single melody and bass line came the practice of basso continuo, method of musical notation in which the melody and bass line are written out and the harmonic filler indicated in a type of shorthand. Because basso continuo, or thorough bass, remained standard practice until the end of the baroque period, the era is sometimes known as the “age of the thorough bass.” Each generation of music is defined by different genres, styles, and performances. Although forms from earlier eras continued, such as the motet or particular dances, an interest in music as a form of rhetoric sparked the development of new genres, particularly in the area of Kemlock 3 vocal music. Many of the forms associated with the baroque era come directly out of this new dramatic impulse, particularly opera, the oratorio, and the cantata. In the later years of the sixteenth century, there was a group of musicians conducted experiments in Florence, Italy, with a new method of composing dramatic vocal music, reproducing their ideas on that of ancient Greek theater. The intention of the new found ideas of the musicians was to better connect and be more undeviating with the audience, as the complex polyphony of the Renaissance could often be incomprehensible during performances, and obscure the text being sung. Instead, musicians set a single melodic line against a basic chordal accompaniment, and with this notion of homophony, a new era of music began (Music History 102). The Florentine Camerata called this new form of the opera. The first performances of opera were private affairs, composed for mostly Italian courts. Then, in 1637, the first opera house was opened in Venice, Italy. Opera became a commercial industry. This genre gave musicians throughout history the opportunity to try out new ideas and new techniques of composition (Music History 102). The first surviving opera was Jacob Peri’s Dafne, which was based on libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini and performed in Florence in 1598; the earliest opera still performed today is Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607). The first opera’s subjects derive from Greek myth, reflecting the genre’s close alliance with attempts to recreate the drama and music from of ancient cultures. These performances were solely performed in aristocratic circles for invited guests (Baroque Music 2014). The oratorio is defined as the extended musical drama with text based on religious subject matter, intended for performance without scenery, costume or action. The word oratorio Kemlock 4 originally meant prayer hall, a building located adjacent to a church that was designed as a place for religious experiences distinct from the liturgy. The oratorio as a distinct musical genre emerged amidst the excellent acoustics of these spaces in the early 1600s, although there are late sixteenth century precedents of the oratorio in the motet and madrigal repertoire. The oratorio grew popular in other countries such as Germany. In Protestant Germany, composed music at that time for the Lutheran church gradually merged with elements of oratorio. A few of the famous composers associated with oratorio are Giocomo Carissimi, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Antonio Vivaldi. Famous composers outside of Italy include the works of George Frideric Handel, who popularized the genre in London. Works that are still being played and performed today include Messiah, Israel in Egypt and Judas Maccabeus. In addition to opera and oratorio, another genre of music during the baroque period was cantata. Cantata was an extended piece consisting of a succession of recitatives and set pieces such as arias, duets, and choruses. Cantata originated in early 17th century Italy, beginning as a secular work composed for solo voices and basso continuo. Performances at this time were mostly meant for private social gatherings, as were most early performances of opera and oratorio. Many of the first works performed were published, proposing the musicians were professional and armatures equally. By the middle of the century cantatas were being published less frequently, suggesting performances were being progressively more done by professionals. Cantatas began incorporating the da capo aria and often had orchestral accompaniments by the end of the 17th century. There were many major Italian composers of the cantata genre. They include Lugi Rossi, Antonio Cesti, and Alessandro Stradella. Then in the first half of the 18th century, composers included Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel, Benedetto Marcello, and Johann Adolf Hasse. Kemlock 5 During the last fifteen to twenty years, after being ignored for decades, baroque music has become increasingly popular. Scholars, musicians, composers, and performers have spent innumerable hours trying to understand now music might may sounded like to audiences in the 17th and 18th century. Although musicians and composers alike will never be able to recreate a performance precisely, the work of these musicians has brought to light countless differences between baroque and modern ensembles. Many of the well known personalities from the first part of the baroque era resided in Italy, including Monteverdi, Corelli, and Vivaldi. By the mid 18th century, focus shifted to German composers. The majority of the forms identified with baroque music originated in Italy, including the cantata, oratorio, concerto, sonata, oratorio, and opera. Although a vital role in the development of the period was played by Italy, new concepts of what it meant to be a nation increased the imperative of a national style. The differences between nations music resided in the way the music was composed, but also in the convention of performance; particularly was the contrast between Italy and France. Even though certain countries may seem to claim a larger piece of our experience of baroque music today, every nation had a role. As musicians and composers traveled all of Europe and heard each other’s music, the new conventions they encountered made subtle impressions on them. In modern day, it is typical to attend performances or concerts. During the baroque era, a public gathering or concert was very rare. The majority of famous baroque performances were performed in churches for a service, or as a part of a private concert or celebration in a wealthy patron. During the baroque period, public performances and concerts became more common particularly in the arts of opera and oratorio, and our modern concert began to coalesce in many European cities. The advent of the public concert made the growing middle class an important Kemlock 6 source of income for musicians. By the end of the baroque, this social subset had become a musical patron almost as powerful as the church or court. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the baroque idea of music was under attack. During this time, music had an incredible power to express even the most difficult concepts, but only in the most “natural form.” As Johann Adolph Schiebe said of J.S. Bach in 1737: This great man would be the admiration of whole nations if he made more amenity, if he did not take away the natural element in his pieces by giving them a turgid and confused style, and if he did not darken their beauty by an excess of art. Since he judges according to his own fingers, his pieces are extremely difficult to play; for he demands that singers and instrumentalists should be able to do with their throats and instruments whatever he can play on the clavier, but this is impossible… Turgidity has led [him] from the natural to the artificial, and from the lofty to the somber; and…one admires the onerous labor and uncommon effort—which, however, are vainly employed, since they conflict with Nature. (quoted by Baroque Music 2014) Schiebes insistence on clarity and easer of performance hints at a major change in musical athletics. Throughout his diatribe, the final arbiter of taste is not Plato or Aristotle, but ultimately the listeners and performers themselves. There was a new emphasis on direct melodic expression and clear musical architecture points the way to the classical period, the age of Mozart and Haydn. In modern day, music from the baroque era can be heard all over despite ending 250 years ago. Some of the most admirable and well known composers of that time can be heard in concert hall as they are performed regularly. Many of the genres performed today such as the opera, oratorio and cantata are genres from the baroque musical period. The likes of Ralph Kemlock 7 Vaughn Williams, Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten perform the works of the baroque era to pay their respects. The free movement between solo and jazz group is sometimes compared to jazz group. The spirit of the baroque, an unwavering belief in the power of music to touch people’s lives, changed music history forever. In conclusion, the music created during the baroque era as well as the performances are still to this day contributing the expansion as well as the development of music and performances worldwide. The baroque music period helped shape all of the music from the eighteen hundreds to now. Although now every part of music created during that period may have survived until now, pieces of the music composed by the best musicians of that time are still being incorporated into music being constructed now. Kemlock 8 Work Cited “About the Baroque Period” Music Baroque 2014-15. n.d. Web. 30 March 2015. Baroque Music.com. Web. 30 March 2015 Buelow, George. A History of Baroque Music. 2004. Print. Doningtown, Robert. Baroque Music, Style and Performance: A Handbook. 1982. Print. “Music History 102: a Guide to Western Composers and their music” Robert Sherrane. n.d. Web. 30 March, 2015.