Lecture Five
Baroque Instrumental Forms Part One: Passacaglia
This lecture introduces the vital concept of instrumental musical form— preordained processes which organize musical materials into recognizable structures without the presence of (or need for) words. Until the Baroque era, almost all musical form was determined by the words being set to music. The advent of instrumental music during the Baroque indicated the parts of musical speech—melody, rhythm, harmony and form—had developed substantially enough in and of themselves to provide a satisfying, albeit “abstract,” musical experience. This lecture then focuses on Baroque-era musical forms based on the process of variation: passacaglia, ground bass and chaconne (or ciaconna). Such Baroque variations procedure is then demonstrated using works by Henry Purcell and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Outline Musical form or process refers to the large-scale organization of a movement of music.
A. Musical form refers to how many large sections of music there are within a single movement of music and how those sections are related to one another—as repetitions, variations, developments, or contrasts.
B. Since the High Middle Ages, most Western musical compositions have been structured within a pre-existing form or process—a way of handling musical material that is understood by both composer and audience. The musical forms of an era constitute a cultural “given” between composers and their audience.
Composing is HARD!! It is not only the need to write a melody but ability to write within a formula. Since 1350 most compositions have had a form.
For example a Baseball Game, police dramas, etc... Understood forms Expectation of Audience
C. Some musical compositions are improvisatory and lack a standard form—e.g. , fantasy/fantasia, toccata, rhapsody, prelude.
D. Clear and perceivable musical form is especially important to purely instrumental music, lacking as it does words to explain musical choice and progress.
E. Instrumental musical forms/processes began to develop during the Baroque era.
II. Fugue is the quintessential Baroque procedure.
A. It is a complex polyphonic process brought to its height by J.S. Bach
B. “Givens” (expectations) of a fugue include:
1. Exposition
2. Episodes
3. Restatements
III. Passacaglia (a.k.a. ground bass or chaconne) is another characteristic Baroque instrumental form.
A. Passacaglia is a strict Baroque-era form based on the process of variation.
B. The following are “givens” of a passacaglia.
1. The theme is a baseline and/or harmonic progression built on that baseline.
2. The baseline and/or harmonic progression will be repeated, more or less verbatim, over and over (cyclically).
3. Upper voices will change from variation to variation (cycle to cycle).
Featured Music: bass repeated 11 times
Are you supposed to hear the structure? NO the theme is structural not surface element. The voice is the important part.!
Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, “Dido’s Lament” (1689).
IV. Bach, Passacaglia in C Minor for Organ (c. 1715).
A. The theme is a baseline, eight measures long.
B. After its initial presentation, the baseline returns twenty times.
Featured Music: How does he do it! I got a recording with someone saying each variation and enhancing the Bass.
Bach, Passacaglia in C Minor for Organ
1. The ever-changing upper voices tend to draw our attention away from the main structural element: the repeated ground-bass theme.
2. Sections are “elided” through, and cadences are understated.
Baroque Instrumental Forms Part Two:
Ritornello Form and the Baroque Concerto
The discussion of Baroque era instrumental form now focuses on Ritornello form and the Baroque concerto. This lecture first differentiates between chamber and orchestral music, a distinction not truly recognized until the late seventeenth century. Next we discuss the degree to which the opera house was responsible for the development of the orchestra as well as such orchestral genres as overture, suite, and concerto. The three types of high Baroque concerti—orchestral concerto, solo concerto, and concerto grosso—are defined and discussed, as is the terminology surrounding these orchestral genres. Finally, the concerto grosso is examined in detail, with special attention paid to the Ritornello form first movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.
Outline
Instrumental music can be divided, at the most generic level, into “orchestral music” and “chamber music.”
A. In chamber music, no part is doubled; there is just one player per part.
B. In orchestral music, one or more parts are doubled.
C. “Chamber orchestras” consist of one player of each orchestral instrument—a sort of mini-orchestral sampling.
D. The distinction between orchestral and chamber music was first perceived during the late seventeenth century.
1. Initially, few works—except operas—were composed for a full orchestra.
2. The best and biggest standing orchestras of the late seventeenth century were those maintained by opera houses.
II. Most Baroque orchestral genres grew out of the opera house.
A. Opera was directly responsible for the development of:
1. Instrumental overtures in both the French and Italian styles.
2. Dance suites (French opera in particular).
B. Opera was indirectly responsible for the development of the concerto, which combines a soloist or soloists with an orchestra.
1. Concerto is the most important post-1700 genre of Baroque instrumental music.
2. It is the type of Baroque orchestral music most often heard in the concert hall today.
ill. There are three kinds of Baroque concerti.
A. The orchestral concerto/concerto-sinfonia emphasizes the first violin section of the orchestra.
B. The solo concerto features a single instrumental soloist plus orchestra. Solo concerti are homophonic in conception, and their great composers are Correlli, Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach.
C. The concerto grosso features two or more instrumental soloists plus orchestra. Concerti grossi are inherently polyphonic in conception.
1. The orchestra is called the tutti or ripieno.
2. The soloists are called the concertino.
Iv. The following are characteristic features of concerti grossi.
A. They feature a built-in contrast between the concertino and turti.
B. They are typically three movements in length.
1. The first movement is typically in ritornello form. Structure!
2. The second is typically a lyric adagio.
3. The third is typically fugal or fughatto.
C. Among the great composers of concerti/concerti grossi were:
1. Giuseppe Torelli (1658—1709)
2. Antonio Vivaldi (1678—174!)
3. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685—1750)
V. Johann Sebastian Bach was the greatest composer in virtually every Baroque musical genre.
A. Despite his special genius, his craft owed an important debt to previous composers whose work he studied and often copied out by hand.
B. Bach’s career was rather typical of a Lutheran/court composer or musician of the early eighteenth century.
C. In an effort to secure appointment as court composer for the margravate of Brandenburg, he sent the margrave as a “musical resume” six concerti, which have become known as the “Brandenburg Concerti.”
D. He was known in his lifetime primarily as an organist and harpsichordist. He was not considered among the great composers of his age, and he never landed the court jobs he really wanted.
VI. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, first movement (c. 1721).
A. This work is a concerto grosso.
B. The first movement is in ritornello (refrain) form, as is typical for a
Baroque concerto grosso.
1. The homophonic theme is heard as a refrain, alternating with—
2. Polyphonic episodes played by the concertino, consisting of violin, flute, and harpsichord.
Natural contrast between the soloists and Tutti. Polyphonic and very contrasting between concertino and orchestra.
C. The occasional (and usually partial) restatements of the theme provide a sort of architectural underpinning for the solos, which are the point of the movement.
Featured Music:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, first movement.
Homophonic/contra polyphonic