THE BAROQUE PERIOD

It is was the age of absolutism, age of grandeur, age of science and technology

Politics

• Louis 14th, active patron of the arts.

Cultural interception, Identity

• Influence of the Ancient Greek mythodology on Florentine camarada.
• Crossover between Italy and France (Lully)
• Handel(:

Methodology

• ABA, da capo aria
• trio sonata
• ritornello
• sinfonia, concerto
• polyphony (fugue)
• dramatic effects(striking melodies, clearer textures)

Notion of Sound

• tuning, keys
• solo .vs. tutti
• castrato
• invention of violins

Technology

• basso continuo (the harpsichord and figured bass)
• spectacular performances
• invention of violins

Xiangning(:

SONATA FORM

SONATA FORM 

• Introduction 
• Exposition
• Development 
• Recapitulation 
• Coda 

INTRODUCTION - optional 

EXPOSITION - Theme 1 -- Transition Theme -- Theme 2 -- Closing Theme

DEVELOPMENT - any or all themes are developed here and it will retransit back to the recap. 

RECAPITULATION - 1st theme -- 2nd theme -- closing theme 

CODA - Optional 

what about DOUBLE EXPOSITION ?? 

Example : Mozart Piano concerto in A major K488 ( written in 1786 ) 

EXPOSITION 1 : Theme 1 -- Theme 2 -- Closing Theme (played by the orchestra) 

EXPOSITION 2 : Theme 1 -- Theme 2 -- Closing Theme -- New Theme (played by soloist) 

DEVELOPMENT : New theme 

RECAPITULATION : Theme 1-- Theme 2-- Closing Theme-- New Theme-- Theme 1-- Cadenza

CODA : Closing Theme 

Jianing(: 

I am Johann Sebastian Bach

ALL ABOUT ME (JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH) 

• I was born in Eisenach, in 1685 and I died in 1750 
• I worked in Weimar, Cöthen and Leipzig 
• In Weimar, I was employed to work in the court for the Duke of Weimar for a brief period in 1703. I was a court musician there. (http://www.bachinbaltimore.org/bachweimar.html) 
• I stayed in Cöthen  from 1717-1723. My prime responsibility was to conduct the court orchestra, in which the prince himself participated. The people in Cöthen inspired me to write special music for them. (http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Bach-Johann-Sebastian.html)
• I stayed in Leipzig from 1723-1750. My responsibility there was primarily the education of several hundred boys in the St Thomas School. I was also responsible for the music in the town's four churches. I was asked to direct music at two of the churches there.(http://www2.nau.edu/tas3/leipzig.html)
• I wrote 300 cantatas but only one was published when I was alive ): 
• I have 20 children of which 9 became composers like me. 
• I have a famous line, it reads : " Playing the organ is very simple. Just put the right finger on the right note at the right time" 
• I am an improviser and cadenzas during my period were usually improved. I liked writing out cadenzas because I was going for a job audition and I wrote it out to show the panelists how exactly I will play it. 
• I wrote chorale preludes, Chorale cantata, Brandenburg concertos and many more.
• The Baroque period ended when I died. 

Jianing(: 

A New Genre

** M&T = Minuet and Trio 
NEW GENRE 

• Divertimento(serenade) : music for chamber ensemble (5 movements: Fast - M&T - Slow - M&T - Fast)
• String Quartet : Chamber music for 2 violins, viola and cello 
• Symphony: A large work for orchestra, developed out of Italian Sinfonia 

In a symphony, there are usually 4 movements.

MOVEMENT            FORM                           TEMPO                            CHARACTER

First                           Sonata Form              Moderately Fast           complex, substantial 

Second                     No Fixed Form           Slow                               lyrical, song-like,                  

                                                                                                                 

Third                          M & T                          Moderate                           3/4 time

Fourth                       Sonata/Rondo/           Fast                                light, tuneful, brilliant 

                                  Sonata Rondo 

Jianing(: 

Age of Enlightenment !!

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

• Texture - Homophonic, Alberti Bass 
• Harmony/Melody - balanced, tuneful, simple and clear lines 
• Rhythm - varied countermelody (link to Harmony/Melody) 
• Timbre - Basso Continuo, Social (rise of amateurs) 
• Form/Structure - Ternary ABA, Binary AB, Sonata Form, Rondo Form (ABACA/ABACABA) , Theme & Variation, Minuet & Trio, Concerto(double exposition) was manipulated in 19th century 
• Dynamics - Terrace Dynamics

**Extra Information : Before 1750, there were 16-20 players in the orchestra. From 1750-1800, there were 30-40 players in the orchestra( the flute and clarinet and timpani and trumpet were added) 

Jianing(: 

Kinds of Sonata and their features.

There are two kinds of Sonatas based on where music was performed and the two kinds of sonatas are the sonata da chiesa and the sonata da camera. The Sonata Da Chiesa is music which is performed in church while the Sonata Da Camera is music which is performed in the court. We also learnt about Corelli and the Trio Sonata. The Trio Sonata has three lines, staves. However, it is being played by four instruments and not three because the last line is played by two instruments. Also, the base and accompaniment(Organ) is called the Basso Continuo. On the score, there are numbers indicated and the numbers is actually the interval of the notes for the organ to play.

Jianing :D

Ritornello Form

Many Baroque concertos are structured in a form known as ritornello form. Ritornello form was prevalent in early opera before being adopted in instrumental music. It is a recurring passage in Baroque music for orchestras or chorus. The first and final movement of a solo concerto or aria may be in "ritornello form", in which the ritornello is the opening theme, always played by tuitti, which returns in whole or in part and in different keys throughout the movement, in which particulars the form differs from the rondo.

In this form, stable instrumental interludes, known as ritornellos (literally, "the little thing that returns"), alternated with verses of singing over a continuo accompaniment. The verse and chorus structure of modern popular music derives from this form.

Ritornello form was favoured by Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann and Handel in chamber works, vocal pieces and, most prominently, in the solo concerto in a 'tuitti-solo-tuitti-solo-tuitti' pattern in which the ritornello, the tuitti section, functions as a refrain or chorus while the solo sections may expand upon the short melodic lines of the tuitti. At the end of the movement the entire ritornello returns in the home key. J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos offer excellent examples. In opera seria, the ritornello functioned as the main structural support for the da capo aria, in which it was successively repeated.

The final section of a fourteenth century madrigal had previously been called the ritornello and a similar technique had been employed by Giovanni Gabrieli in his 16th century motets. The instrumental interludes in early Baroque operas were also termed ritornelli.

Ritornello construction faded with the advent of the new sonata form but renewed interest in the 20th century.

Hong Xuan