baroque vocal music. opera recitative aria orchestra chorus subjects / plots elaborate spectacles...
TRANSCRIPT
BaroqueVocal Music
Opera• Recitative • Aria• Orchestra• Chorus• Subjects / Plots• Elaborate spectacles• Public demand• Castrati• Increased expressivism, hence chromaticism• Monteverdi
Oratorio• Recitative, aria, and orchestra• Increased role of chorus• Plots, subjects• Highly “Italian”• Handel & the evolution of oratorio• Mature Baroque oratorio –Bach most
famous besides Handel• Word painting
George Frideric Handel
• 1685 – 1759• Born in Germany, trained in Italy, mature
works produced in England• “King George I”• Royal Academy of Music• Italian opera• The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay• Turned to oratorio
Examples from “Messiah”
• There Were Shepherds…. – recititive; both types• People’s response = Glory to God = chorus• Every Valley – tenor aria• “exalted” – example of both sequence and melisma• “mountain and hill made low”• “crooked straight”• “rough places plain”• Much use of sequence
Passion• Much like an oratorio• Specifically deals with the last week
Christ was on earth• Very long• Very dramatic• Not necessarily a “church piece” – more
of a performance piece with a sacred topic• Bach, Schutz
Cantata• Highly Lutheran church form
• Championed by Bach
• “mini-oratorio”
• New important addition = Chorale
• Part of a longer Sunday service
• Huge legacy left behind
• Not many composed in other periods
Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1685-1750• Excelled in every form except opera• While alive, noted as church musician and
organist• Fugue = zenith• Mendelssohn’s role in Bach’s posthumous
reputation• Leipzig years