Baroque Music Era: Characteristics, Forms, and Composers

The Baroque Era (1600-1750)

The Baroque cultural movement developed between 1600 and 1750. The Baroque era cultivated a taste for adornment, dissonance, and motion.

Vocal Innovations and Monteverdi's Influence

Thanks to the composer Monteverdi, texts were set with accompanying instrumental parts, leading the development of new musical forms. This era reinforced the hierarchy of voices, where the top or acute voice played the principal melody. High-pitched voices tended to be sung by boys and castrati, men who retained the high vocal tessitura of a boy's voice.

Baroque Vocal Genres

Opera

Opera is a scenic genre that sets a text or libretto of a secular character.

• Overture: An orchestral piece that introduces the performance.
• Recitative: A style of song, declaimed, allowing the development of the action.
• Arias and Duets: Melodic compositions for voice, accompanied by instrumental parts.
• Chorus: A polyphonic part performed by a group of singers.
• Ballet: An instrumental piece to be danced by a group of dancers.

Oratorio and Passion

Oratorio and Passion are religious compositions with a narrative structure based on texts (e.g., the birth of Christ). They are written for soloists, chorus, and instrumental accompaniment, including recitatives, arias, duets, choruses, and instrumental pieces.

Cantata

The cantata, by its content, can be secular or religious.

Key Composers and Orchestral Characteristics

Prominent Composers

Well-orchestrated ensembles were characteristic of composers like Bach, Handel, Lully, and Purcell. In this period, vocal and instrumental genres held equal importance.

Baroque Instrumentation

The Baroque orchestra was arranged by families, with a prominence of the string section. Key instruments included the harpsichord, lute, violin, flute, oboe, and organ.

Musical Dynamics and Texture

Contrast was a key element, seen in dynamics (forte and piano), tempo (fast and slow), and sound levels, where a group of instruments would alternate with a solo instrument.

Basso Continuo

The Basso Continuo was the grave harmonic foundation, continuously supporting the melody without interruption.

Baroque Instrumental Forms

The Concerto

Concertos typically featured three movements that differed in tempo. There were two main types: the solo concerto, written for a single soloist and orchestra, and the concerto grosso, written for a small group of soloists (e.g., violin) and orchestra (tutti).

The Fugue

The Fugue is a continuous musical form, often interpreted by keyboard instruments.