Unit Summary
Baroque Music
The usual beginning date of the Baroque period is 1600. This date is significant because opera was developed by the Florentine Camerata about that time. The ending date of 1750 is chosen because it is the year of the death of J. S. Bach. The next period (commonly called Classical) was already well underway by then. The Baroque period begins with a reaction to the highly-developed Renaissance polyphony of composers like Palestrina (in church) and Gesualdo (secular vocal music). After the establishment of common practice tonality, the Baroque period concludes with a redevelopment of a new type of contrapuntal technique. The term "Baroque" means grotesque or distorted. Persons who appreciated the relative simplicity and regularity of 18th century Neo-Classical art applied the term retroactively to the period.
Major Developments
- The gradual development of functional, hierarchical tonality.
- The significant increase in the amount and sophistication of instrumental music, apart from the dance and vocal accompaniment. Suites, sonatas, and concertos become the most important types.
- Increased standardization of instruments in Western Europe.
- Preference for a more dramatic emotional form of expression.
- The development of opera.
- The development of the oratorio and cantata as sacred forms of musical expression.
Baroque instruments to know by sight and sound
- Wind instruments
- recorders
- flutes
- oboes
- horns
- Bowed Strings
- Keyboard instruments
- Plucked Strings
- lute (declining importance)
Some important composers
- Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Bridged the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and made important contributions in each style.
- Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) An important composer of sonatas and concertos who established these forms as standard types.
- Henry Purcell (1659-1695) One of England's greatest composers. During his brief life he composed important works for the stage and for instrumental ensembles.
- Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) A successor of Corelli in Italy, who developed further the idea of instrumental virtuosity and idiomatic writing for each instrument.
- J. S. Bach (1685-1750) One of the supreme geniuses in music. He composed important works for the harpsichord, instrumental ensembles of many types, and developed the Protestant cantata to a high degree of sophistication. His contrapuntal technique is unsurpassed, and equaled only perhaps by Josquin.
- G. F. Handel (1685-1759) A German composer, but international in his style and influence. After a long career as a composer of Italian opera in London, he developed the English oratorio. He also composed important works for instruments.
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