BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC

WHERE DOES THE LABEL ‘CHAMBER MUSIC’ COME FROM?

Originally the music would be performed in a chamber or small room

This is instead f a large building, concert hall or cathedral

Chamber music is instrumental music written for a small group of players

The groups are labelled according to the number of performers. E.g. Duet, trio.

NOTES

Chamber music can be an intimate musical conversation

Its an opportunity for performers to work together with precision.

There is no conductor

When rehearsing the ensemble will usually sit in a circle or semi-circle. This allows all players to be able to see each other.

TEXTURE

In chamber music each player has their own individual part not Doubled by any other player.

This means that in a quartet there will be 4 independent melody lines

BAROQUE

Contrapuntal

Each line of music is independent from the others.

Sometimes each line will have a separate melody.

At other times each line will have the same/similar melody, but will be heard slightly apart from each other. This is called…

Imitation

KEY TERMS

Counterpoint

Contrapuntal

Imitation

Homophony

Doubled

CLASSICAL

A characteristic of Classical music is Melody with accompaniment.

One part has a clear melody and the others provide an accompaniment.

This can be made up from, broken chords, or block chords rather than independent melodies.

Question and answer

DYNAMICS

Volume contrasts in Baroque music tend to be sudden rather than gradual.

Loud phrases are often immediately followed by quiet ones.

A reason for this is due to the harpsichord.

The use of the piano mean crescendos and diminuendos could be incorporated.

ORNAMENTS

Characteristic of baroque music.

Not all ornaments are written out on the score.

Ornaments are less used in the classical era.