1. 1. Lesson 12: Baroque Music Its Vocal and Instrumental Forms Jose Emmanuel ManingasJose Karlo Asturias
2. 2. Lesson Outline Baroque Music 1. Vocal Forms Opera Cantata Oratorio 2. Instrumental Forms Concerto Grosso Suite
3. 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. 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. 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. 6. Common Baroque Instruments Viola da gambaHarpischord
7. 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. 8. Baroque Vocal form: Opera (Orfeo)
9. 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. 10. Baroque Vocal form: Cantata (Awake, A Voice is Calling Us)
11. 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. 12. Baroque Vocal form: Oratorio (Messiah)
13. 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. 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. 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. 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. 17. Baroque Instrumental form: Concerto Grosso (Brandenburg Concerto in D major
18. 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. 19. Baroque Instrumental form: Suite (Suite No. 2 in B minor)
20. 20. Thank you for listening!