Chapter 7The Early Baroque Period

The Rise of Instrumental Music

Key Terms

Dance

Stylized dances

Suites

Movements

Virtuosity

Fugue

Variations

Registrations

Toccata

Canzona

Balletto

Corrente

Passacaglia

Chromaticism

The Rise of Instrumental Music

Vocal music was Renaissance ideal— instrumental music lagged behind

Though it didn’t catch up with opera, instrumental music became much more important in Baroque era

Many new instrumental genres created

Three sources of inspiration for instrumental composers•Dance, virtuosity, & vocal music

Dance

Dance had always been popularBallet was an integral part of new genres such as opera, especially in FranceDances from popular operas were compiled in dance suites for orchestraComposers also wrote dances (often stylized) & suites for lute, harpsichord, & chamber ensemblesThe rhythms of favorite dances came to permeate all genres, even church music

Virtuosity

Virtuoso instrumentalists always existedDue to low status of instrumental music: •They improvised their music (played by ear)•Their music was rarely written down

In late Renaissance and early Baroque, composers began to write it downWritten works did not capture complexity of virtuoso improvisationPerformers came to use written music as a guide for (often ornate) improvisation

Vocal Music

Baroque vocal music abandoned vocal ensemble music in favor of solo singers

Imitative polyphony of older motets & madrigals moved to instrumental medium

Imitative instrumental genres were written mostly for keyboard (organ & harpsichord)

Often associated with church music

Fugue is the most famous genre to emerge from these practices

Vocal Music (2)

Vocal music also provided a large body of well-known tunes, sacred and secular

Instrumental performers would often improvise on these tunes

Instrumental composers began to write sets of variations on these tunes

Girolamo Frescobaldi(1583-1643)

Leading organ virtuoso of early Baroque

Worked in Florence & Rome (at St. Peter’s)

Famous performer, composer, & teacher

Known for expressiveness & extravagance of his improvising & his compositions

His favored genres included:•Toccatas, canzonas, stylized dances & suites,

and sets of variations on vocal melodies

St Peter’s in Rome

Some Instrumental Works

Toccatas—•Free-form pieces that capture the spirit of

improvised performances

Canzonas—•Rigorously organized works emphasizing

imitative texture–ancestor of the fugue

Stylized dances—•Short binary form works, often in suites

Sets of variations•Based on vocal melodies or harmonic patterns

Frescobaldi, Suite (1a)

Canzona—•An imitative keyboard work modeled after

Renaissance chanson.•First section uses a single motive imitatively

Frescobaldi, Suite (1b)

Canzona (cont.)—The second, contrasting section introduces a new motive for imitation

Sections tend to end with strong cadences

Frescobaldi, Suite (2)

Balletto and Corrente—•Pairing slower and faster dances was a

common practice (cf. pavane & galliard)•Both dances use binary form, homophonic

texture, same key, & very similar bass lines• In other respects the dances differ–good

examples of “inner” vs. “outer” form•Balletto uses duple meter, slow tempo•Corrente uses triple meter, faster tempo

Frescobaldi, Suite (3a)

Passacaglia—•A set of variations on a brief series of chords

(and their accompanying bass line)•Originated in Spain as an improvised bridge

between verses of a song•Frescobaldi may have been the first to turn it

into a variation form•Similar to ground bass works, but the bass line

is repeated less strictly

Frescobaldi, Suite (3b)

Frescobaldi’s Passacaglia•Based on a four-measure harmonic pattern that

ends (inconclusively) on the dominant•At times he inverts or omits the ground bass•Eighteen variations over this simple pattern•Frescobaldi creates endless variety through

changing rhythms and chromaticism• In a surprise move, the last five variations are

more sober, switching to minor mode