Forms and Fashions in the Baroque Era
by Sue Talley
The Baroque Era saw the narrowing of musical
forms into shapes which would affect Western classical music for several
centuries. To the present, the sonata, the fugue, the concerto and other forms
are used by composers whose style is very different from that of their
predecessors.
- The term “sonata” first designated a piece for
two instruments and thoroughbass. Later, it was assigned to solo selections.
The word simply means “sounded” and could have been used as a catch-all term
for instrumental music early in its development. The sonatas made famous by
Domenico Scarlatti are not to be confused with the sonatas of the classical
period, with their so-called “sonata-allegro” form.
- Variations over a “ground bass,” or basso
ostinato (obstinate bass, so called because it repeated itself over and
over again). These variations could take the form of a Chaconne or
Passacaglia. The terms mean slightly different things but came to be used
interchangeably.
The Chaconne or Passacaglia was well developed by
the time of Handel. Nevertheless, the terms were still used interchangeably.
- Dance suites: There were many dance suites, and
the order of the pieces in them grew and changed, not only according to
national styles, but according to the taste of the composer. The
Partita, so beautifully utilized by J.S. Bach, was a set of pieces
based upon dance music. Here is a list of songs from Bach’s Partitas, 4-6
(there are many more):
--Prelude (in the form of a
Sinfonia, or invention), Ouverture, or Praeambulum. The 6th
Partita starts with a lengthy Toccata
--Allemande (this, of course,
means ‘German dance’.
--Courante (or “Corrente”), which
means “running”
--Aria (optional)
--Sarabande (a slow, heavily
ornamented movement)
--Menuet (or Minuet), a dignified
dance in ¾ time which became quite the rage. It continued as a movement for
sonatas into the future.
--Gigue (this form was removed
from the middle of the Baroque suite at an earlier time, to give the suite a
dashing ending).
In addition to the Partita, there
were the “French Suites” and “English Suites” of Bach. Certain
forms, such as the bourée, were typical of French suites. The
Pastourelle was a much-admired form of entertainment; the French court would
sometimes betake itself to its own wooded gardens to play at being “nymphs and
shepherds.” I suppose the incredibly wealthy and sheltered court idealized the
lives of shepherds and farmers—even though they could not imagine the misery
such people often had to endure.
- Opera: Opera, which simply means “work,”
developed in Italy in Venice and Napoli, but its sister forms developed
throughout the entire European continent. For instance, in Germany,
singspiel (sing-speak) developed. Its affect upon the world of music at
that time was negligible, according to one critic, who said he would rather
endure any punishment than to hear a German opera singer. Although England
was forbidden opera by Cromwell, the English were allowed to set music to
plays (go figure). Claudio Monteverdi developed Italian opera, setting aside
a lot of the boring recitative of the earlier operas in favor of a clearer-cut
arias, recitatives, and folk songs. Believe it or not, at one time it was the
fashion to interweave a comic opera with a serious one—in fact, that practice
continued to the 18th century. First called Intermezzi, no
doubt because the public felt the need for “comic relief” from the tragedies,
it paved the way for opera buffa, or comic opera. As you
remember, the deux ex máchina became a very important part of a
production, and Venetian opera was, for awhile, dominated (as many movies are
today) by “special effects.” “Gods from a machine” would come down from the
on the stage—among other things. Alessandro Scarlatti, writing for the
Neapolitan stage, dominated Italian opera for a time. One remarkable
librettist, Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) wrote for the music of Scarlatti,
Handel, and Mozart! The recitative (especially the dry, parlato style
of recitative, called recitativo secco) gave way to the aria to
such an extent that one critic referred to the Neapolitan opera as “a bundle
of arias.” Opera singers became popular and well-paid, sometimes demanding
many times the fee of the composer. In the words of Curt Sachs (Our
Musical Heritage, 202), “With the undramatic stress on well-wrought,
lyrical, and heavily-ornamented melodies, the interest inevitably shifted to
the sensuous beauty and acrobatic virtuosity of the voice—the bel canto—and
to the singers themselves, castrati and divas who, incredibly arrogant,
imposed their will and whim on conductors, stage directors, and even the
composers.” The era of the performer was coming of age. It was to grow to
ridiculous proportions. One has to remember that what we consider “classical
music” now was what was then entertainment, and its stars were comparable in
popularity and interest (relatively speaking) to stars of today.
- Chorale, Cantata, and Oratorio: These forms
became increasingly popular in the Church, both Catholic and Protestant. The
Cantata was something like a very short oratorio. It was usually based upon
Chorale tunes, interspersed with Bible verses. The Oratorio was much longer
and was a religious drama. But other forms must not be overlooked as well.
The Te Deum, for example, was a poem of praise which was
composed by the early fathers of the Church (possibly Jerome and Augustine) in
praise of Christ, and it was used in times of victory and exaltation. The
relatively new Anglican Church came up with anthems and
service music. Several composers used the service of the “passion,” or
the suffering and death of Christ. These services could include not only he
Scriptural text but personal reflections. The Passion According to St.
Matthew, by J.S. Bach, is a good example.
- The Mass: Of course, even though the Mass was no
longer the only form of service after the Reformation, it continued to be a
primary vehicle for composition. Great composers continued to write Masses
for both the Lutheran and the Catholic Churches, the former in the vernacular
(and with slight modifications to the original) and the latter in Latin. If
you haven’t heard Bach’s B-minor Mass, especially the Sanctus, you have not
heard what a glorious medium of praise the Mass can be.
- The ballet in France: The French were, as they
are now, in love with their language, and French opera was a little different
from the opera of other nationalities because the French love to savor the
sound of words. Besides the sound of words, however, the French loved the
dance, particularly ballet. It must have been interesting to see King Louis
IV dance in the ballets, which he did from the time he was 13 years of age,
declaring that it was good for the people when the monarch danced, and good
advertising, too, because it showed that France was doing well enough to enjoy
the “finer things in life.” In fact, Louis, the “Sun King,” was much renowned
for his support of the arts (he also founded the Royal Academy of Music). It
was 75 years after the first opera in Italy that opera finally showed up in
France. But every French opera had to feature a ballet, and even today, every
opera company has a corps de ballet, because it became the fashion in
other countries as well as France (notably Italy) to have a ballet within the
opera. The transplanted Italian, Jean-Baptiste Lully (formerly Giovanni
Battistta Lulli), wrote ballets for 20 years before he launched into opera.
Lully’s operas remained on the docket of the Royal Academy of Music for 100
years, and then were replaced, for a time, by the operas of Gluck.
- From Italy came two forms which were extremely important
and which would have a lasting influence upon Western music: the sonata
da cámera and the sonata da chiesa (chamber and church
sonatas) and the Concerto. The sonatas were important because their
movements prefigured the later sonatas—they were titled by their tempi—and the
Concerto was the precursor of the modern “contest” between the individual and
the orchestra, which is so impressive, particularly when a brilliant soloist
holds forth against the might of a symphony orchestra. (The energy to play a
50-page concerto on a nine foot piano has been likened, not without reason, to
that expended in playing a football game.) With forms such as the Concerto
(which can mean a contest or being in sync with someone), it is no wonder that
the quieter instruments were replaced by more robust models. The first
concerti were in the form of the concerto grosso, wherein a number of
instruments “argued” with the main body of the orchestra. The earliest
composers of the concerto grosso were Stradelli (1645-1681), Torelli
(1650-1708) and Corelli (1653-1713). Albinoni (1674-1745) and Torelli
composed the earliest solo concerti. J.S. Bach and Handel broke the ground in
composing for the keyboard instruments (Sachs, 211).
- The fugue: When one thinks of Baroque music, one
thinks of counterpoint—playing line against line to make a rich overlapping
tapestry of sound. The fugue might be said to be a large extension of the
round, or canon: one voice is heard, then another stating the same theme, and
then another, until four or five voices have come in successively, each
playing the theme, one after the other. The fugue was a common device for
variations in the Baroque period. It was a time when an organist or
harpsichordist might sit down with a theme and “show off” by making many
variations on that theme, perhaps ending with a majestic fugue which was
spontaneously composed. J. S. Bach, of course, was the best-known and
probably the greatest master of the fugue. When his boys were young, he wrote
the “Two-Part Inventions” and Sinfonia (three-part inventions) for them, so
that they might master the idea of the fugue. His greatest work was The
Art of the Fugue—in fact, he died writing the last piece. In the Fugue, a
short them will be echoed by another voice in the same key; when all voices
have entered, a short portion called the “episode” will take the player to
another related key. Then, the fugue will be repeated in that key. The
voices in the fugue may come in exactly as they are or may be repeated
backwards. The “art of the fugue” is a study in itself. The great 19th
century masters continued the Variation and Fugue tradition, respecting the
craftsmanship they learned from their 17th and 18th-century
forerunners.