Instruments on the Rise
Before 1450 what was the purpose of instrumental music?
It was functional, used to accompany dancing, meals, entrances, battles. Seldom for its own sake to be listened to/performed. Valued much less than vocal music.
What is an opera?
union of poetry, drama, music, stagecraft in performance
What city was the center of opera?
Venice
What does Baroque mean? Why is this name attributed to the period?
The Baroque (1600-1750)
-abnormal, bizarre, exaggerated, bad taste from the Portuguese baroco = misshapen pearl
-dissonant, unmelodious, capricious, extravagant changes (key and meter), to surprise by the boldness of its sounds.
Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, one of the only successful English composers to produce an opera, Lament figure ground bass aria
Why did instrumental music gain in popularity after about 1450?
Lutherans permit instruments in service/church = competition between churches for parishioners.
Increased wealth and rise of the middle class.
Composer concept on the rise, looking for new genres to express themselves in.
What are three predecessors to opera?
Sacred music dramas
Miracle and Mystery Plays
Greek Dramas
Liturgical Dramas
Pastoral drama - play in verse with music and songs interspersed; idyllic love in rural settings; nostalgia for classical antiquity mythology; first staged was Angelo Poliziano’s Favola d’Orfeo (1471) in Florence
-Madrigals as mini-dramas; madrigal comedy or madrigal cycle
-Intermedio=a musical interlude on a pastoral allegorical mythological subject performed between acts of a play (usually 5 acts, 6 intermedi); b/c renaissance theaters didn’t have curtains; lacked overarching plot and the new style of dramatic singing
Ex. La Pellegrina at the 1589 wedding in Florence of Grand Duke Ferdinand de’ Medici and Chrstine of Lorraine by Emilio da’ Cavalieri (1550-1602), Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621), Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), Giulio Caccini (1550-1618)on the power of ancient Greek music; Emilio de’ Cavalierei “Dalle più alte sfere”
In Rome who was allowed to sing? What were the biggest stars called?
Men, castrato (i)
What is the concertato medium (A.K.A the concertato style)?
Concertato Medium (aka Concertato Style)
-contrasting forces are brought together in a harmonious agreement (It. “Concertare” to reach an agreement)
>much broader meaning in the 17th century
-diverse timbres together is characteristic of the Baroque
What are three genres that did not derive from singing/dancing?
Variations, Prelude, Fantasia, Toccata, Ricercare, Canzona, Sonata
What was the first opera, when was it written, and who composed it?
Dafne, 1598, Jacopo Peri with librettist Ottavio Rinuccini
What city constructed the first opera house? Who performed in the operas and why was this city ideal for experimentation with and in opera?
Teatro San Cassiano, 1637
Cosmopolitan City with emerging banking and merchant class from centuries of trade
Carnival culture
Port City culture
Women could perform! Mix of prime donne and primi uomini.
What important developments did the Italians invent during the Baroque period?
Basso Continuo, Monody, Recitative, Opera, Unprepared Dissonance, Focus on solo voice/instrument, idiomatic composition/playing
What is an intabulation?
It is an arrangement of a vocal or ensemble piece originally for lute but also extended to keyboard and other plucked instruments
What are the differences between aria and recitative?
In France opera didn’t gain popularity until the latter half of the 17th century. What musico-dramatic genre was most favored And how did it reinforce the French state?
The Court Ballet (Ballet de cour): substantial musico-dramatic work, staged with
costumes and scenery, which featured court members and professional dancers.
Arts as a mechanism of control and power (Absolute Monarchy) = PROPAGANDA
-Louis XIV, “The Sun King” = Apollo, God of Music, Learning, Science, Arts
-Royal Academies of Sculpture/Painting (1648), Dance (1661), Literature (1663),
Sciences (1669), Opera (1669) Architecture (1671)
What are 5 general characteristics of Baroque music?
Treble-Bass Polarity, Basso Continuo, Concertato Medium, Mean-Tone Temperament, Chromaticism, Harmonically driven counterpoint, Regular and flexible rhythm, idiomatic styles, centrality of performance, desire for new, improvisation/ornamentation, expansion of modes from 8>12 towards tonality conceived of by Rameau in 1722
Giovanni Gabrieli (1532-85)
Polychoral motets = Works for two or more choirs
cori spezzati = broken (divided) choirs
2, 3, 4, 5 choruss with different combination of high and low voices with instruments of diverse timbres antiphonally and joining in massive climaxes
Two organ lofts, two sides of altar, on the main floor= sometimes split in different parts of the church
Which opera is considered to be the first true operatic masterpiece? When was it written, who wrote it, what is so special about the composers style and approach to opera?
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
L’Orfeo (1607)
-commissioned by Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua
-modeled on L’Euridice but with libretto by Alessandro Striggio in 5 acts (like plays of the time) each centered on a song of the lead Orfeo and ending with a vocal ensemble that sums up the act like the chorus of a Greek tragedy; objectively is more varied in style and genre than earlier operas and has greater contrast in the music and drama
-used his mastery as a madrigalist to use expressive text-setting to intensify the drama of the text/plot, leading to a larger and diverse group of instruments (recorders, cornetts, trumpets, trombones, strings, double harp, continuo-including a regal for underworld scenes) = instrumental timbres as sonic expressions of emotion and narrative
-stophic variation - wrote out each strophe varying the melody and the duration of the harmonies to reflect the accentuation and meaning of the text
-blurred the lines between recitative and aria
-added duets, dances, ensemble madrigals and balletos.
-“ahi caso acerbo!” = motive
-concitato genere (stile concitato) - excited style rapid reiteration on a single note, quick syllables or tremolo
How did King Louis IV “The Sun King,” organize music at his court?
Hierarchically organized; 150-200 musicians in 3 groups:
Royal Chapel
Chamber
Great Stable
String Orchestras: preferred viols but created the 1st large violin fam ensembles
Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi - 5 part texture, 6 soprano, 12 alto/tenor, 6 bass
Petits Violons - 18 stings for personal use of Louis 14
1670s orchestra takes over for the term of such ensembles
What are ”The Affections?” How do they apply to music?
emotions (sadness, joy, anger, love, fear, excitement, wonder) thought of as relatively stable states of the soul caused by various levels of humours in the body
-Descartes maintained that once these spirits were set in motion by external stimuli through the sense, the conveyed their motions ot the soul and brought about specific emotions (The Passions of the Soul 1645-6 also earlier as in Hildegard’s Causae et Curae c. 11th century)
-All the arts saught to move the affections
pyschologial portraits in arias
musical gestures in motives (melodic and rhythmic), harmonic motion, bass lines, meter, figuration
Handel, Saul, “The time at length is come…where is the son of Jesse?”
Scene complex