Baroque Flashcards
Thirty years war
The Thrity years War:
1618-1648
Mostly on Germanic lands
Involved: France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and the H.R.E
Begun: Catholic/ Protestant conflicts
Sustained: Territory (Hapsburg vs Bourbon
Effect: Famine/ disease/ Broken economy.
this is very devastating on Germany.
Schutz: lived the most productive years of his life in this war. All of his works are for church. So when you get a doman nobis pachem he really really means it.
English civil war
England:
Parliament works with Monarchy
Struggle: English Civil War (1642-1649) until Charles I dies
Oliver Cromwell (10 years)
Cromwell des; monarchy again. He wants to destroy anything related to monarchy. So monasteries are gone (as well as all there wealth)
“Glorious revolution” (1688-9) replaces pro-catholic James II with his daughter, Mary, and husband William of Orange.
Public support of the arts
in places where absolutism doesn’t work (England and city states like Venice and Hamburg)
Art now written for the public, paid for by the public.
public theatres are built. Koffee hauses
The oratorio (is a building at first) it is a place where priest and monks go to pray outside of church.
Scientific revolution
Mid 16th-18th centry Astronomers lead (Tycho Brahe 1546-1601; Johannes Kepler 1571-1630) Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) confirms the idea (originally copernicus) that the earth is not the centre of the universe astronomers are the important scientist at this time because they are making maps to the colonies form the stars Francis Bacon (1561-1626): the Scientific Method Rene Descartes (1590-1650): philosopher G.W. Leibniz (1646-1716): Mathematician I. Newton (1642-1727): physicist.
Affect
Predominant emotions n of a text or musical work
Engraving
A term for printing
Vincenzo Galilei
Father of Galileo
Was in the florentine Camerata
He studied with Zarlino
Wrote “a dialog on ancient and modern music” it was very influential. He a glued for the solo voice accompanied by lute.
Thinning out a thick texture
c.a 1520-1591), composer and lutenist: music should be a single melody line with an accompaniment. He tried to do this, but really it wasn’t. He kept on writhing it should be this way! so it wasn’t bc he wanted it to be.
Florentine Camerata
Th Florentine Camerata
take all that emotion and make it less complex so you can actually understant the text.
Poets and composers (and nobility) get together at count Giovanni de Bardi’s house in florence (1573-15870
they discuss what greek music, what it might have sounded like, and its impact on its listeners.
the birth place of opera. which is odd because they did not intend to do that at all.
Intermedi
Intermedi for de’Medici wedding
Ferdinando de Medici marries christine de Lorraine (princess of France) (1589)
Main entertainment: a play, the pilgrim woman (la pellegrina)
between the acts, the florentine camerata provides musical entertainment: INTERMEDI
write a bunch of loosely connected musical plays.
Intermedi:
Topic: he power of music in ancient Greek mythology
form: each intermedio was 4 or 5 mvmts long
Style: mix of instrumental interludes, old style (ie, renaissance polyphony) and new style (i.e, early Baroque)
they’re just experimenting.
There was 6 of them but most important:
Il Canto D’Arione (the song of Arion). not on listening list (Was last year) but just kinda know this.
the 5th intermedio for the de’Medici wedding in florence
composed by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) who also sang the role of arion
Arion, who is about to be thrown into the sea, sings so sweetly that apollo sends dolphinns to rescue him.
Jacopo peri
(1561-1633)
Member of florentine Camerata
Wrote Arion and played his role
Homophony
Type of texture in which a principal melodic line is accompanied by a clearly subordinate voice/ voices
Seconda Practtica
Second Practtica
A prominent melody line + accompanyment
the first practive is renaissance polyphony
first and second here are chronologixal ideas not priorities)
Seconda Prattica: Dominant melody line where text determines rhythm and pacing, develops in the 1580s and 90s
do not use this word to refer to things like show tunes and pop music. It is only applied to music from now to the end of the Baroque
Prima Prattica
Renaissance polyphony
Basso continuo
continuous bass
bass line that never ceases to accompany the melody, helps to outline chords. it is the base that does not stop. It has a new function, it is not just the lowest line in the lump of polyphony, it is your like ground work. you need it to be there. the bottom bread of the sandwich
New idea when compared to 1st practtica
Figured bass
the basso continuo is usually notated as a single line of music (bass line)
above this, there will sometimes be numbers
read these like you’re in theory class
keep in mind that these numbers came first (1600) and the concept of functional triads and their inversions came later . Rameau 1722)
figured bass is a written phenomenon it is something that defines how the basso continuo does what it does. so the basso continuo is the line, the bass player his help, the figured bass is what that player is reading. Looks like a completed theory assignment
Opera
A drama sung entirely from begenning to end
Composed of singing vs speaking
music focussed on text tells a story
Opera: reincarnating ancient greek dramas
each singer plays a role through text
first thought of as the best way or recreating greek entertainment
Peri Euridice (1600)
Monody
Music has two poles north pole: melody south pole: Basso continuo think of it as a sandwhich Melody can be rhythemically free
Sprezzatura
this freedom in money= sprezzatura: because this of you’re self as the singer and you want to be dramatic, but you don’t have a huge amount of forces so, so you do your thing and they have to follow.
Sprezzatura might be obscure the text……uh oh (if you go to much) the idea that you don’t need a tactuse. anti groove. Just pull push all the time.
Age of absolutism
Age of Absolutism:
louis XVI (reigned 1543-1715)
the age of absolutism in France/ continental Europe
Absolutism: royalty claims complete dominance over the state
The divine right of kings: God approves of the kinship of the ruler
Versailles is a testament to his power.
Great for arts, architecture, they need to impress.
impressing with how powerful and wealthy they are, how much they can command.
Modal vs tonal
A shift from modal to Tonal Writing At the end of the Renaissance, and through much of the 17th century, composers and theorists alike were still writing thinking in terms of the traditional Lydian, Dorian, and so on. By 1700, these constructs had largely given way to a single type diatonic scale, with half steps between scale degrees 3-4 and 7-8 (in the major mode) or 2-3 and 7-8 (in the melodic” minor mode). “Mode” was now reserved to distinguish between the major and minor forms of this one scale, which could be transported to any desired key
Intervalic vs chordal harmony
Intervalic Harmony is when they though of harmony as a by product of counterpoint, aka the relationship of the voices in a work.
Chordal is our modern day system, although we still use counterpoint
Virtuoso
A by product of seconda practica
Soloist display talents
Ex: sfogava con le Stelle
Buxtehudes Praeludium for organ
Italian French and German styles
Italian: predominant melody, sharp rhythmic shape, strong sense of meter.
Serious and weighty
French: springy, bright, dance like, slightly swung.
German: mix between the two but with better counterpoint
Madrigal
Definition: “any throught-composed setting f freely structured verse”
very general but its showing up everywhere so you can be overly specific.
Varied style
a capella ployphonic style
or solo voices with basso continuo
Concertato madrigal
Concertato Madrical: any # of voices with any # of instruments
a happy medium between monodic style and polyphonic style
required basso continuo part.
a new form where instrumentalist and vocalist are working together to tell a story
there is a limit on what is defined though, you are setting poetry in a intimate setting basically
Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643)
Italian
9 books of madrigals; the progression in style mirrors the age in which he lived
books 1-4: polyphonic writing (prima practtica)
book 5: introduces basso continuo
book 6: full basso continuo technique
books 7-9: concerto madrigals
those books are important. also know he composed madrigals at the turn of the century.
Artusi-Monterverdi Contraversy
Giovanni Maria Artusi (ca. 1540-1613):
not a fan of monterverdi’s new style
Pamphlet: “the imperfections of modern music”
focusses on cruda amarilli (5th madrigal book)
the problem: dissonances and accidentals are not treated in the traditional (zarlino) way.
he gradually got very angry as Monteverdi progressed into the new stye
he does not like that instead of resolving suspensions Monteverdi repeats the suspension instead of resolving it. and also, he does not like that he will write a line where he will introduce a flat but not resolve it downwards. if you go one note above law you had better correct it by going back up
when he throws in a sharp he will go down instead of up.
Monteverdi replies:
“there is a different way” of dealing with dissonance. he was not really upset by the criticism.
Ground bass
what is is?
short phrase in the bass repeated over and over again
Shares no thematic material with the upper voices but provides the frame work for them.
example: monterverdi’s Zefrio torna e di soavi accent
Use of ground bass reflects the emotional content of the text.
the ground bass has a narrative function, its the groove. which the soloist who are telling their story about their love, everything stops while they profess their love. its telling you something about the drama of the piece.
Arietta
A small Aria or song
Ex: tradimento by Barbara strozzi
Ritornello
Italian for brief return
A short passage which reoccurs frequently throughout the piece to provide a unifying factor.
Air de cour
form: solo voice plus accompaniment (may or may not include B.C)
Courty airs
french equivalent of the madrigal.
solo voice + accompaniment not several voices like the italian could be. more defined.
Why? because words. the emphasis is on the words. the text. the easiest way to do this is that one prominate voice. the french way of doing the greek way. there is a thing called linguistic accent, really strong in french. Ancient poetic. Trying to set french in an ancient greek poetic way with their rhetoric
Emphasis: text
Background: french attemps to bring poetry clsoer to that of antiquity through accentuation/ metre
Academie de poesie et de musique )jean Antine de Baif, 1570)
Madrigal comedies
Late 16th century
Predecessor of opera in a way
Consists of a cycle of madrigals connected by a dramatic theme
Recitative
A speech like style of singing used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas.
Follows inflections in the text, resulting in rhythmic flexibility
Advanced plot or story line because it gets through a lot of text quickly.
Two types:
Secco:
Italian for dry recitative
Supported only by the continuo
Accompaniato:
Supported by instrumental ensemble or orchestra
Allows for greater connection to text.
Dafne
Music by giacopi peri, text by ottavio rinuccini.mprosuced during carnival season of 1598, at the palace if Jocope Corsi and also at the Medici court, both in Florence. The music is almost entirely lost
Rappresentazione di anima e di corpo
(Emilio de Cavalieri: 1600, rome. representation of the soul and body. Inside out movie in the 16th century.
Euridice
Euridice (peri) 1600, florence.
comes right after daffne. she is the daughter of appolo. wife of orpheous.
Euridice (Giulio Caccini) 1601/1602, Florence. father of Francassca.
all of these early operas have themes from greek antiquity and are conected in some way. sooooo they should be emotional and powerful like the greeks could do with their music. Buuutttt there was to much recit. recit does not make people cry. it basically makes it boring.
Orfeus and Euridice Myth:
From ovid’s metamorphoses (book X, XI)
Orfeus: musician, poet, singer. and HUMAN. Known as a bit of a player. so in the real thing the woman he plays kills him. he has interactins with the Greek Gods, and influences them, so in a way he is God like.
Euridice: daughter of Apollo
They had a wedding. Orfeus is marrying into a demi god family.
she is so happy that she goes into the forest to dance then a centure (half horse thing) chases her and tries to have his way with her, and she runs away from his, and then she, being careless, runs into a pile of snacks. So:
Orfeus goes to the underworld to retrieve euridive when she dies. His music is so good he can pass through the shadowy realms of the underworld.
so they are saying music is really powerfull.
so all is going well but he cannot look back at her until they are both out of the underworld
orfeus gets excited a bit too early……
this is the happy version the darker original is that Orfeus is being made fun of by the gods because they think he’s not man enough to commit suicide to be with her.
Orfeo
Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607)
librettist: Alessandro Striggio (son of composer)
Balance between recitative and aria
40 instruments (so sparse? but this many. but they are not al playing at the same time, he wanted these for the tone pallet)
Instruments used to create appropriate feeling for scenes/ emotions.
they bring us what is basically the first opera
a mix of reicit and aria. it satisfies both.
Deus ex machina
in orfeo the opera there is a good example of this
also shows up in drama
popular method of escaping plor problems at the ends of operas
a god (from ancient myth) descends from the ceiling riding some sort of device (machine)
the god decrees how life will be henceforth,
machines and special effects are big in early opera another way to show how rich you are as the owner of the theatre.
people spend a lot of money on these.
that machine owns the show. but strategically hidden by clouds.
barbarini family. funded a lot of these. also funded berninni
Vespro della Beata Vergine (“Vespers for the Blessed Virgin)
Monterverdies 1610 Vespers (vespers dela Beata Vergine)
important because of variations in musical styles so why 1610 vespers? to locate it because in this are many different style prima vs second practtica its everything to every one. Kinda like his resume. There is everything going on it in, every thing he can do. Shows all the competing styles. No evidence it was actually preformed in his lifetime. Could have been an audition piece.
the 1610 vespers
14 vespers
modled after a vespers service
introductory material (i.e versicle, responces)
5psalms paired with 5 motets (aka antophones, anthem in eng a piece of poetery set to music) so in this case hes got psalms but theyre paired with motets instead of motetes not anthems.
hymn
magnificant. always end vespers services. He give us 2 even.
the psalms are set, but its the motets that go crazy.
90 min
a variety of different settings (solo, duet, basso continuo or several instruments)
Mixes prima practtica and seconda Prattica.
cantus firmus bass lines, referal to chant, reachign back into history to look at the history of music in the church.
Heinrich Schütz
1581-1672)
born in Germany
educated in italy (venice) for 3 years
took the job he had for his whole like in 1617 as kapellmeister at the dresden court (saxony)
composer of mostly sacred vocal works
so not into travel and increasing his fame.
therefore when we look at his output we look at what was required of him for his job- sacred music.
a conservative guy.
Prima and seconda Prattica in Scutz
scutz advocated that young composers learn the prima prattica (i.e., polyphonicc counterpoint) for a throughout educated
his workd mix both styles, but he leans towards the seconda prattica with his word painting and his reliance on basso continuo and sparse textures
Works of schutz to know:
Geistliche Chormusik 1648
singet dem herrn (listening list) is the first piece in this collection of motets
cantiones sacrae 1625
4 voice motets with the addition of a basso continuo
Symphoniae sacrae, three volumes (1629,1647 and 1650)
sacred song (solos, ducats, trios) with extensive instrumental accompaniment.
Cantiones sacrae (1625)
A collection of 41 sacred motets
Symphoniae sacrae
1629,1647,1650
Works for various combinations of voices and instruments published in three volumes over a period of 21 years
Geistliche Chormusik
Schutz
A set of 29 motets in the Prima Prattica
Ballet de cour
Arose in early 1680s
Combined song, dance, instrumental music.
Heavily allegorical. Their heroes were thinly veiled as the monarch
Tragédie en musique / Tragédie lyrique
A new opera genera in France created by Lully and the poet Quinault
Set tails from myths to songs
Ballet de cour
Arose in early 1680s
Combined song, dance, instrumental music.
Heavily allegorical. Their heroes were thinly veiled as the monarch
Tragédie en musique / Tragédie lyrique
A new opera genera in France created by Lully and the poet Quinault
Set tails from myths to songs
Philippe Quinault
1635-1688
Lully’s poet
Armide
Armide:
about a heroic night that falls in love with an evil witch. And she was going to kill him, but she can not be she loves him.
this is probably a allegory about Louis’s new wife.
so this opera is not really published.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Tried to become proficient in opera but people were still to stuck on Lully
Jean-Philippe Rameau
1683-1764
theorist, opera, keyboard player
Traite de l’harmonie redite a ses principes naturals (treatise on harmony) its kinda philisophical.
also singer and violinist
operas became emblematic of French style in the war of the buffoons.
his father wanted him to be a lawyer even though his father was an organist. so apparently the younger reameau used to disrupt his classes to get kicked out of law.
his operas became the quintessential French style.
Opera seria
1680-1770s: most important type of opera everywhere but France
Seria distingishes it form Buffa
Subject: mythologies about kings/ rules. Hero might have to choose between hero and duty.
Music: Inspires heroic emotions
Audience: Noble/ royal
High point: 1720’s-1750’sAfter this point people just start to make fun of it.
Da Capo Aria
Textbook example handles L’empio sleale indegno from Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Form: ABA where the singer ornaments the return of A
The
Most common song type in Baroque opera and oratorio
Exit Convention
once a world famous singer has preformed these arias the convention is that he or she leaves the stage. The opera libretti are writing with this in mind. they are trying to put the arias right before it makes sense for that character to run off the stage. the singer would sometiems be brought back on stage for them to bow and stuff. so put it where ab reak inthe narrative wont mess it up
another reason: compeating divas.
if the 1st person has gone and then youre next you dont want to last person to steal your thunder.
Castro
Castrati:
comes with the rise of the performance superstar
they sarifice to become superstars
Male singers who are castrated before puberty
we do not really know what these guys sounded like
by all accounts they were spellbinding because they combined the rise of a really well trained boy soprano so longs of a grown man with the range of a woman.
extreamly popular
Functional equivalent to pop stars
Paid extreamly well
mixed awe and laughter. they were getting exponential amounts more money.
