music of early baroque & invention of opera Flashcards
italian musicians
devised new idioms: bass continue, monody, recitative
new genre: opera,
greater focus on solo instruments or voice
Character of Baroque Music
> express and represent a wide range of feelings,
> tool of expression was dissonance,
> either free or very metric
Monteverdi 1567-1643
> Italian madrigals
> Free use of dissonance and chromaticism,
> motives are recitative rather than melodic
> He says that expressing emotions are better than following the rules in music
NAWM 71 cruel amarilli
> A lovers complaint based on a different poem,
> Written for 5 voices,
> Dramatizes the harsh sounds and meanings of the opening word cruel
> Introduces and solves dissonances incorrectly
the arutsi-monteverty conterovesy
Artusi criticized monteverdi for grating dissonances and contrapuntal liberties in his madrigals
Rhythm and Texture in Baroque music
> Either free or very metric unlike the flow of renaissance,
> Composers used flexible and speech like rhythms for vocal recitative and solo instruments,
> Texture is homophonic, firm bass and florid treble held together by harmonies,
> System of notation is through bass
Guilio caccini 1551-1618
> In demand as a teacher of the new style of solo singing,
> Wrote the first collection of solo songs with bass continuo
> Songs divided in two types: madrigal and air,
> Rejected counterpoint all together,
describe air and madrigal
Air:
strophic txt, several stanzas to one melody
Madrigal:
through-composed like the polyphonic madrigals,
NAWM 72 Ill see my sun
each line of poetry as a separate phrase ending in a cadence,
not comping any parts except treble and bass so that the text is more in focus,
the concerto medium
- Voices with instruments, assigning different roles to each.
- Contrasting forces are brought together in a harmonious ensemble.
Cantus Mollis and Durus and Tonal
Mollis: key signature of one flat and used chords of the flatter regions of spectrum, subdued and pleasant.
Durus: no sharps or flats, harmonies explored the sharper regions of the sharper and more intense emotions.
Tonal; music operating in the system of major and minor keys, 1722 it was introduced by treatise on harmony.
Early signs of opera
> Emerged in the effort to recreate ancient greek ideas of drama
> Drama sung to continuous music,
sung with costumes and scenery
> Another source for early opera was the pastoral drama: a play in verse with music,
Girolamo mei
> The prime mover behind the idea that the entire greek tragedy was performed in songs,
> Florentine scholar who edited several dramas,
> Research on greek music and its role in the theater,
> Created a club in which scholars, musicians, artists and scientists would gather
Vincento galilei (father of Galileo)
> Lute player, composer, singer,
> Used Mei’s idea to criticize the theory and practice of vocal counterpoint
> Proposed a revial of the greek ideal of the union of music and poetry through monody
> Equated ancient and modern music, in favor of ancient style
jacopo corsi
> Him and his group, set out to recreate ancient genre in modern form
> Experimented with rinuccinis pastoral poem DAFNE, performed privately for guests
> FIRST opera, staged drama set entirely to music, new kind of singing designed specifically for theater,
