Lecture One

Part one: Introduction to the Baroque 

Outline

The Baroque era in music is conventionally dated between 1600 (the composition of the first surviving opera) and 1750 (the death of J.S. Bach). 

A. Baroque is the Portuguese word for “irregular pearl.” Slang usage for anything gross, bizarre or in bad taste.  Overly extravagant, detailed and fussy!   

B. It was originally used as a colloquial reference to art and music of “corrupt taste.” 

C. By 1920 it was used first for a period of music.  It is used today to denote the flamboyant, decorative, and often highly detailed art and music of the period between c. 1600 and 1750. 

D.   Although there is no single Baroque musical style, the notey, brilliant, and typically polyphonic music of J.S. Bach has come to epitomize the Baroque era. 

Please listen to the following and write down the adjectives that come to mind.

What we hear in Bach’s music should be heard in other parts of the Baroque as well!

Featured Music: 

J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto no. 2, 3rd Movement (1721) Orderly, controlled steadiness of beat ,rhythmically driving ,and dancelike, virtuostic, melodically complex, busy, joyful!  Very steady beat! 

Part II.  Baroque-era intellectual and social trends were reflected in Baroque music.

A. The Baroque era saw rational thought and logic as transcendent. 

B. It was an era of great scientific observation and codification

1.  Great scientists of the period included Galileo, Kepler, Leeuwenhoek, Harvey (Continuous blood circulation), and Newton. 

2.  The era was characterized by an effort to explain, order, and dominate the physical world through rational thought rather than appeal to supernatural explanations. 

C. The Baroque adoration of symmetry and control extended to nature itself. 

Part III.    Baroque music and art displayed the paradoxical duality of emotional extravagance held in check by systematic intellectual control. Landscape architecture.  Architecture, painting: Cherubs angels but balanced Symmetry Logic and Control

A.   Baroque extravagance contrasted sharply with Renaissance restraint. Musical Comparison:

B.  Compare the nature of the religiosity and the emotional impact.

Palestrina, Pope Marcellus Mass, Agnus Dei 1(1555): measured, emotionally controlled; a cappella; homogeneous sound; prayerful.

Bach, B Minor Mass, Sanctus/Hosanna (1745): ecstatic, unrestrained joy, instrumental; thick texture.  Instruments and voice variety of textures and and the FAITH of Bach. Exuberant good feeling. 

C.   A comparison of Baroque and Renaissance secular vocal music also illustrates this contrast between extravagance and restraint. Musical Comparison: 

Weelkes, As Vesta was from Latinos Hill Descending (1601): tone-painting provides expression; minimal emotional content. Cute and enjoyable but minimal emotional impact.  Do we feel her pain!? NO it is not about emotions but literary tone painting.   

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, “Dido’s Lament” (1689): words and music convey the singer’s emotions.   

IV. Baroque art was magnificent and extravagant. 

A. Baroque art was often a celebration of the Absolute Monarch who commissioned the artist. 

B. Louis XIV of France (reigned 1643—17 15) was the quintessential example of a ruler who celebrated himself and his reign with magnificent, awe-inspiring art.

1. The royal palace at Versailles provides an architectural example of Baroque extravagance and control.

2. The French Overture provides a musical example of this same duality. The typical French Overture had two parts.

a.   The first was characterized by sweeping scales, heavy accents, dotted rhythms, and a slow and majestic tempo.

b.  The second was characterized by imitative polyphony and a faster tempo.

c. Lully style used for 100 years overture welcoming King and before play.  

 Last Musical Example: 

Handel, Water Music, Overture (in the French style), 1717