Baroque Music Period and Key Composers

The Baroque Era in Music (1600–1750)

The Baroque era is characterized by its extravagant and sometimes bizarre qualities in music, as noted by historians. It was a period of significant innovation and development in musical forms and styles.

Key Characteristics and Forms

• Opera: The most important new genre of the Baroque era. Unlike Greek drama which features spoken dialogue, opera is entirely sung. The emergence of homophony, with its clear melody and accompaniment, was crucial to the development of opera.
• Bar Form: A musical structure consisting of an opening phrase (A) moving to a contrasting phrase (B), often followed by a return to or variation of the opening phrase (AAB).
• Overture: An instrumental piece played at the beginning of an opera or other large work, intended to engage the audience. A common Baroque overture structure is fast-slow-fast or short-LONG-LONG.
• Program Music: Instrumental music that is associated with a story, event, or idea, often suggested by the title or accompanying notes.
• Basso Continuo: A continuous bass line played by a keyboard instrument (like harpsichord or organ) and a melodic bass instrument (like cello or bassoon). It provides the harmonic foundation.
• Trio Sonata: A common chamber music genre in the Baroque era, typically written for three melodic lines: two higher voices (often violins) and one bass line, supported by basso continuo. This means four players are usually involved (two violins, cello, and keyboard).
• Concerto: An instrumental work that features a soloist or small group of soloists contrasted against a larger ensemble (the orchestra).
• Ritornello Structure: A form often used in the first movement of Baroque concertos. It features a recurring instrumental passage (the ritornello) played by the full orchestra, alternating with sections for the soloist(s).

Notable Composers and Works

Claudio Monteverdi: Orpheus

Monteverdi's Orpheus (L'Orfeo) is one of the earliest and most important operas. The story explores themes of love, loss, and learning to live without a loved one. Monteverdi masterfully uses word painting, where the music reflects the meaning of the text.

• The word "partida" (departure) is set polyphonically, perhaps reflecting the fragmentation of grief.
• The opera begins homophonically, featuring a single voice with accompaniment.
• Recitative: A style of vocal delivery that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech, used in opera to move the plot forward. It is often non-metrical and focuses on one syllable per note.

Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas

Dido and Aeneas is considered the first great opera written in English. It tells the story of Queen Dido of Carthage and the Trojan hero Aeneas. The opera famously uses an ostinato, a repeating musical pattern, particularly in Dido's Lament, to convey her persistent sadness.

• The overture is purely instrumental, setting the mood.
• The opera features a mix of musical forms: overture, scenes, choruses, songs, and recitatives.
• A common structure within movements can be AABB.
• Much of the opera is homophonic.

Mbuti Pygmies: "Marriage Celebration Song"

This example from the Mbuti people of the Congo Basin demonstrates musical practices outside the European tradition, yet shares some characteristics found in Baroque music, such as the use of ostinato. It is characterized by call and response singing and heterophony, where multiple voices simultaneously elaborate on the same melody.

• Features ostinato, similar to Purcell's use.
• Uses call and response between singers.
• Texture is heterophonic.
• Structure can be analyzed as ABBB.

Barbara Strozzi: "Revenge" (Che si può fare)

Barbara Strozzi was one of the few women in the Baroque era to compose and publish her own music. "Revenge" is a chamber work, likely a cantata or aria, featuring a solo singer accompanied by two violins and basso continuo (cello and keyboard). This instrumentation is characteristic of a trio sonata texture supporting a vocal line.

• Instrumentation: Solo voice, two violins, and basso continuo (cello and keyboard).
• Genre: Chamber music (likely a cantata or aria).
• Texture: Primarily homophonic, with the voice prominent over the instrumental accompaniment.
• Uses word painting to express the text's emotion.
• Structure: ABABA form.

Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Winter)

Vivaldi, a prolific composer and teacher at an orphanage in Venice, is best known for his concertos. The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos, each depicting a season. The movement for Winter vividly portrays a cold environment through musical means.

• Genre: Violin Concerto.
• Uses program music to describe the season.
• Structure: Employs the ritornello principle, alternating sections for the full orchestra (tutti) with virtuosic passages for the solo violin.