Reading: The Eighteenth Century / The Late Baroque Period Flashcards
Historians talk about the Baroque as the…
Age of Absolutism.
What is the dualism present in Baroque music?
Pomp and extravagance vs. system and calculation.
Scales were ___ in the Baroque.
Tempered.
___ was the ideal in Baroque rhythm.
Regularity.
Three main institutions where composers practiced their craft:
- The church.
- The court.
- The opera house.
What is the defining characteristic of the style of music in the late Baroque?
Its thorough, methodological quality.
What is the most characteristic instrument used in the late Baroque to “mark time?”
The harpsichord.
True or false? Shorter pieces in the Baroque contained great contrast in rhythm, dynamics, melody, texture, and tone colour.
False.
Harmonic Rhythm
The tendency of a Baroque piece to change chords at a set interval.
Is there great dynamic variation in Baroque music?
No.
Tone colour in the Baroque was ___.
Contradictory.
What was the basic Baroque orchestra?
Just strings.
What was added to the basic Baroque orchestra for special occasions?
Brass and percussion.
Baroque melody tends towards ___.
Complexity.
True or false? Baroque music often uses sequences.
True.
Ornamentation
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.
What is the standard texture of Baroque music?
Polyphonic (contrapuntal).
Ritornello
Homophonic orchestral sections.
What is the high point of imitative polyphonic art in the Baroque era?
The prelude paired with the fugue.
Instruments that play the chords in a continuo:
Harpsichord, organ, or lute.
Polarized
The polarity between the voices. Strong bass and clear soprano range.
What are the two factors that contributed to Baroque musical form?
- Social.
2. Intellectual.
Social factor that contributed to Baroque musical form:
Patronage system, where the court and the church demanded a large amount of music and expected it to be produced in a hurry.
Intellectual factor that contributed to Baroque musical form:
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.
