Reading: The Eighteenth Century / The Late Baroque Period

Question 1

Historians talk about the Baroque as the…

Answer 1

Age of Absolutism.

Question 2

What is the dualism present in Baroque music?

Answer 2

Pomp and extravagance vs. system and calculation.

Question 3

Scales were ___ in the Baroque.

Answer 3

Tempered.

Question 4

___ was the ideal in Baroque rhythm.

Answer 4

Regularity.

Question 5

Three main institutions where composers practiced their craft:

Answer 5

1. The church.
2. The court.
3. The opera house.

Question 6

What is the defining characteristic of the style of music in the late Baroque?

Answer 6

Its thorough, methodological quality.

Question 7

What is the most characteristic instrument used in the late Baroque to “mark time?”

Answer 7

The harpsichord.

Question 8

True or false? Shorter pieces in the Baroque contained great contrast in rhythm, dynamics, melody, texture, and tone colour.

Answer 8

False.

Question 9

Harmonic Rhythm

Answer 9

The tendency of a Baroque piece to change chords at a set interval.

Question 10

Is there great dynamic variation in Baroque music?

Answer 10

No.

Question 11

Tone colour in the Baroque was ___.

Answer 11

Contradictory.

Question 12

What was the basic Baroque orchestra?

Answer 12

Just strings.

Question 13

What was added to the basic Baroque orchestra for special occasions?

Answer 13

Brass and percussion.

Question 14

Baroque melody tends towards ___.

Answer 14

Complexity.

Question 15

True or false? Baroque music often uses sequences.

Answer 15

True.

Question 16

Ornamentation

Answer 16

Addition to fast notes and vocal effects (such as trills) to a melody, making it more florid and expressive. Ornamentation is typically improvised in the music of all cultures, and in Western music is often written out.

Question 17

What is the standard texture of Baroque music?

Answer 17

Polyphonic (contrapuntal).

Question 18

Ritornello

Answer 18

Homophonic orchestral sections.

Question 19

What is the high point of imitative polyphonic art in the Baroque era?

Answer 19

The prelude paired with the fugue.

Question 20

Instruments that play the chords in a continuo:

Answer 20

Harpsichord, organ, or lute.

Question 21

Polarized

Answer 21

The polarity between the voices. Strong bass and clear soprano range.

Question 22

What are the two factors that contributed to Baroque musical form?

Answer 22

1. Social.

2. Intellectual.

Question 23

Social factor that contributed to Baroque musical form:

Answer 23

Patronage system, where the court and the church demanded a large amount of music and expected it to be produced in a hurry.

Question 24

Intellectual factor that contributed to Baroque musical form:

Answer 24

Composers had an ambition to map the whole range of a piece of music and fill it in systematically in an orderly, logical, and quasi-scientific way.