1. Lesson 12: Baroque Music Its Vocal and Instrumental Forms
Jose Emmanuel ManingasJose Karlo Asturias
2. Lesson Outline Baroque Music 1. Vocal Forms Opera Cantata
Oratorio 2. Instrumental Forms Concerto Grosso Suite
3. What is Baroque Music? Baroque Music is the music of Europe
from about 1600 to about 1750. Critics applied the term baroque to
the period long after it ended, as a negative epithet. From the
perspective of the classical style, which followed the baroque and
was characterized by symmetry and balance, many critics found the
music of the preceding period over-exuberant and somewhat
grotesque.
4. What is Baroque Music?Not until well into the 19th century
was the baroque age viewed as something other than a period of
artistic decadence following the Renaissance. (The term baroque,
which may derive from a Spanish or Portuguese word for an
irregularly shaped pearl, was also applied to art and architecture
of this time period.
5. Vocal Forms of Baroque Period The vocal forms of the Baroque
period were based on the monadic style. The songs were accompanied
by bass instruments such as the viola da gamba and the harpsichord
(early keyboard instrument). The accompaniment is called basso
continuo or figured bass that consists of a written bass line with
numerals below the notes. The Baroque vocal forms are the opera,
the cantata and the oratorio.
6. Common Baroque Instruments Viola da gambaHarpischord
7. Baroque Vocal form: Opera Opera is an art form where
musicians (singers and instrumentalists) perform a dramatic
composition putting the libretto (text) and the musical score
together accompanied by the orchestra or smaller ensemble. Elements
of the spoken theater like acting, costumes and scenery are
incorporated in an opera. One example of an opera work is
Monteverdis greatest opera, Orfeo.
8. Baroque Vocal form: Opera (Orfeo)
9. Baroque Vocal form: Cantata An Italian word cantata, which
means sung, is a vocal composition accompanied by an instrument. It
is a vocal music for soloist or choir whose instruments are based
on a narrative poem of secular or religious, lyrical or dramatic in
nature. Awake, A Voice is Calling Us is JS Bachs best known
cantata.
10. Baroque Vocal form: Cantata (Awake, A Voice is Calling
Us)
11. Baroque Vocal form: Oratorio Oratorio is a composition with
narration usually based on biblical subjects though not intended
for religious services. It is a large composition for chorus, vocal
soloists and orchestra. The Messiah is the well-known oratorio of
Handel where Hallelujah Chorus was taken. It is meditative rather
than dramatic.
12. Baroque Vocal form: Oratorio (Messiah)
13. Instrumental Forms of Baroque Period The status of
instrumental music came to equal that of vocal music in the 17th
century, in part because technical improvements had given musical
instruments more resonance and truer tone, and in part because
people had become more aware of the potential of different
instruments to create a certain mood or effect. Thus, in the 17th
century composers started to write music with specific
instrumentationthat is, with designated parts assigned to
particular instruments.
14. Instrumental Forms of Baroque Period Also, instrumental
music was written in increasingly idiomatic styles, with composers
taking the capabilities of each instrument into consideration and
exploiting them to good advantage. With the concern for specific
instrumentation in composition came a greater standardization of
ensembles. Small orchestras began to take shape; they were used to
accompany singers in operas and for purely instrumental works.
15. Baroque Instrumental form: Concerto GrossoConcerto Grosso
is the most important form oforchestral music in the Baroque
period. The orchestra consists mainly of strings with fewer solo
instruments called the concertino which plays in opposition to the
whole orchestra called tutti. The tutti is mainly composed of
stringed instruments with a harpsichord as part of the basso
continuo.
16. Baroque Instrumental form: Concerto GrossoThe concerto
grosso consists of three movements: 1) fast the opening movement is
vigorous and determined, clearly showing the contrast between the
soloist and the tutti; 2) slow the second movement is quieter than
the first, often lyrical and intimate; and 3) fast the last
movement has contrast in tempo and character. An example of a
famous concerto grosso is the Brandenburg Concerto in D major
written by JS Bach.
17. Baroque Instrumental form: Concerto Grosso (Brandenburg
Concerto in D major
18. Baroque Instrumental form: SuiteSuite refers to a group of
works held together by story, mood or idea in the late 19th
century. It is an instrumental music with different movements in
the same key based on dance music to be performed at a single
sitting. Other terms for Baroque group of dances include Partita,
Overture and Sonata da Camera. Water Music by Handel and Badinerie
from Suite No. 2 in B minor by JS Bach, are examples of suite.
19. Baroque Instrumental form: Suite (Suite No. 2 in B
minor)