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Period: 1550 to
Emilio de'Cavalieri
Roman; first play set to music (1600); helped found opera; first to publish a figured bass -
Period: 1564 to
William Shakespeare
English playwright and poet; influenced music -
Period: 1567 to
Claudio Monteverdi
Most important composer in early Baroque; helped invent seconda prattica -
Period: 1570 to
Florentine Camerata
Group of intellectuals that met to discuss the arts. Members included the inventors of opera: Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), Jacopo Peri (1561-1633); Girolamo Mei (1519-1594); Vincenzo Galilei (1520-1591) -
Period: to
Giulio Strozzi
Italian librettist and poet works set to music; father of Barbara Strozzi (adopted) -
Period: to
Girolamo Frescobaldi
First modern and most influential keyboard virtuoso and composer of early Baroque -
Period: to
Heinrich Schutz
Most important German composer; composed first German opera which was lost -
Period: to
Francesca Caccini
Daughter of Giulio Caccini; first composer to have an Italian opera performed outside of Italy -
First extant opera, Euridice
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Period: to
Early Baroque
Melody: expressive device; recitative - text that emphasizes natural rhythms and accents of speech; improvisation - important and helped with ornamentation
Harmony: modality to tonality, chord progressions
Rhythm: more complex but played more freely; some rhythms were associated with affects (emotions)
Texture: homophony was new, but polyphony continued to flourish
Dynamics: terraced dynamics, sudden loud and soft, piano and forte written as well as echo and trill -
Period: to
Early Baroque
Timbre/orchestration: contrast was popular; large vs small group and loud vs soft
Instruments: organ and harpsichord improved, more popular string instruments were improved; early 1600s - shawn to oboe; bassoon invented; harpsichords, clavichords, organs -
Period: to
Francesco Cavalli
Italian, most important in Venice after Monteverdi -
Period: to
Giacomo Carissimi
Roman; leading composer of Roman cantatas and oratorios -
Jamestown
First permanent English settlement established in America by the London Company in southeast Virginia -
Galileo
Sees Jupiter's moons through his telescope -
Period: to
Thirty Years' War
17th century religious conflict fought primarily in central Europe -
Period: to
Barbara Strozzi
Italian singer and cantata composer; daughter of Giulio Strozzi -
Period: to
Giovanni Andrea Bontempi
Italian composer and author; wrote the first history of music; historia musica (1695) -
Period: to
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Establisher of French opera and ballet; dancer and violinist -
First public opera house opened in Venice
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Period: to
Dieterich Buxtehude
German organist and composer; most important until J.S. Bach -
Period: to
Johann Christoph Bach
German composer and organist; most important Bach until Johann Sebastian -
Period: to
Marc-Antione Charpentier
Composer of French opera; prolific; student of Carissimi -
Period: to
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
Austrian composer and violinist; credited with techniques such as double stops; high (6th and 7th) positions and scordatura -
Period: to
Middle Baroque
Melody: lyrical arias and solo songs replaced recitative "melodies"; melodies organized with repetition; sequence and contrast; virtuosic
Harmony: tonal system with 24 major and minor keys continued developing
Texture: homophony and polyphony both used, often alternated -
Period: to
Middle Baroque
Form: fugues came from obsession with imitation and organization; da capo arias came from idea of human voice used to express emotions; recapitulation - return, important to organization; ritornellos (theme) used and returned throughout
Rhythm: basso continuo gave music a drive; double dotted rhythms were popular as well as 16th notes; dance rhythms were important
Dynamics: terraced still preferred but idea of (de)crescendos were understood -
Period: to
Middle Baroque
Timbre/orchestration: ensembles smaller and quieter; tuning system changing; different timbre than today
Instruments: strings dominated music but the basso continuo group (keyboard instruments) were the foundation of music -
Period: to
Arcangelo Corelli
Most important Italian composer of sonatas and concertos; also the most influential violinist of the Baroque -
Period: to
Johann Pachelbel
German composer and organist; leading composer of his time -
Period: to
Henry Purcell
Most important English composer in the 17th century -
Period: to
Alessandro Scarlatti
Important Italian composer; death ends the Baroque -
Period: to
Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre
"The marvel of our century"; highly educated; harpsichordist -
Period: to
Francois Couperin
One of the most important French composers; keyboardist -
First public German opera house opens in Hamburg
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Period: to
Antonio Vivaldi
Foundation of late Baroque instrumental music; pioneer of orchestral music -
Period: to
Georg Philipp Telemann
Most prolific and popular German composer during the Baroque -
Period: to
Johann Sebastian Bach
Master of counterpoint; an icon; wrote no operas; very revered -
Period: to
Georg Friedrich Handel
German musician but lived in England; inventor of English oratorio -
Period: to
Domenico Scarlatti
Son of Alessandro; keyboard composer and virtuoso; served in Spanish and Portuguese courts; progressive style -
Period: to
Johann Joachim Quantz
German composer, flutist, and flute teacher to Fredrick the Great in Berlin -
Period: to
Late Baroque
Melody: long with sense of development; fortspinning towards a goal; not always clear phrases
Harmony: by the 1720s, modern system was established; chromaticism used for emotional expression and interest; harmonic rhythm quick; basic triads, inversions, and some seventh chords were common
Texture: polyphony seen as serious church style; homophony was modern
Dynamics: early 1700s hairpins marked; popularized by Johann Stamitz in the 1740s -
Period: to
Late Baroque
Form: most popular vocal form was the da capo aria; most popular orchestral form was the ritornello form; fugues ruled contrapuntal music; binary forms common in sonatas and dance movements
Timbre/orchestration: 1730s, Sammartini invented the symphony in Milan; originally performed with basso continuo
Instruments: early pianos, strings still dominate; virtuosos on violin, flute, and oboe; bassoons more versatile; fluato - recorder; traverse flutes also used