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Period: 1550 to
De'Cavalieri
Emilio de'Cavalieri composed the first surviving play set entirely to music. He was one of the founders of opera, and first to publish a figured bass. -
Period: 1557 to
Viadana
Lodovico Grossi Viadana wrote the earliest known example of liturgical monody. He was also the first to compose and publish a continuo part for a collection of sacred vocal concerti. -
Period: 1564 to
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was a English playwright and poet, he has been an important force in the field of music from his day to ours. -
Period: 1567 to
Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi trained in the Renaissance style, also adept at composing “modern” music. Monteverdi used dissonances in his music (madrigals) for text expression. -
Period: to
Caccini
Francesca Caccini is the first woman to compose operas. She also sang lead roles in several early operas. She is a Soprano and the daughter of Giulio Caccini. -
First Opera: Dafne
Dafne was composed by Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri -
First Extant Opera: Euridice
Euridice was composed by Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri. -
Forms
Concertos: ritornello form, small group verses a larger group
Baroque Sonatas: Usually used binary forms -
Dynamics
Dynamics markings of piano and forte came into general use in the 1600s in Italian music. Echo and trill were also commonly used. Also, terraced dynamics became popular. -
Instruments
Many improvements were made to stringed instruments and to organs. In fact, the Baroque became the golden age of the organ, and technical improvements to the harpsichord would eventually give way to the invention of the piano in the 18th century. The oboe emerged in the early 17th century as a successor to the shawm. The bassoon emerged too and was used as a basso continuo instrument. -
Rhythm
Rhythms were performed more freely in recitative. There was a special expressive quality that was desired in the music. Instrumental music continued some of its association with dance and theater. A large repertoire off keyboard music emerged with rhythms more modern and complex. Rhythmic motives became common and were associated with emotions. -
Harmony
There was a shift from modality to tonality. Tonality was dominated by the diatonic scale and the 24 major scales and minor scales. The composers of the Baroque began to think of harmony in regards to chordal progressions. -
Texture
Homophony was the new texture that changed the nature of music around 1600. But, polyphony continued to flourished, especially the organized, skillful use of counterpoint and its devices. -
Form
Many forms of vocal music continued to be determined by the poetic form of the text. Operatic subgenres (arias and recitatives) were often through-composed. Some strophic forms were used when the stanzas of text allowed it. Binary forms were still popular in instrumental music and variations became a novelty. -
Timbre
Contracts were cultivated. Large groups were contrasted against smaller groups, soft against loud, and high instruments against low. Eventually, dialogue-style writing between voices and strings, or strings and winds became popular. -
Genres
Aria: An aria often exists within a larger genre such as opera, oratorio or cantata. It was a solo work for a singer and orchestral ensemble of any size.
Cantata: A vocal work for a soloist and basso continuo.
Recitative: does not use repetition: Text is sung one time, closer to the idea of speaking.
Arioso: falls in between arias and recitatives
Passacaglia: Baroque form that draws upon the principle of the ground bass
Chaconne: A harmonic progression is repeated instead of an actual melody -
The Invention of the Opera Genre
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Melody
The melody in homophony became the most expressive device in music. Recitative was the central emotional component of early opera. Interestingly, recitative is not very melodic in nature, but rather it is a style of text setting that were in Italian. The pitch range was usually confined, and repetition of words were not favored. Virtuosity became important to musical performance. Improvisation played an important role cornering the ornamentation of melodic lines. -
Period: to
Early Baroque
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The Establishment of Jamestown
In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
Period: to
Strozzi
Barbara Strozzi studied under Francesco Cavalli at the Accademia degli Unisoni. Strozzi published eight sets of songs, and each set was dedicated to a different wealthy patron. She used various poets as writers for her songs, and did not write opera but her songs and cantatas are very dramatic. -
The First Public Opera Theater
The first public opera theater opened in Venice in 1637. (Teatro de San Cassiano) -
Period: to
Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude is a German organist and composer, and was most important organ composer before J.S. Bach. -
The Coronation of Poppea
Monteverdi composed when he was 75, and the genre was about 40 years old. The early operas based on mythology, and The Coronation of Poppea premiered in Venice. He created layers of meaning for his contemporary audience. -
Period: to
Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. He is one of the most important composers for the violin, especially in the instrument’s early years. He did Catholic sacred music, violin sonatas, and ensemble music. -
Period: to
Blow
John Blow was a English composer of odes as well as an organist, and a teacher of Purcell. -
Sonata Types
Sonata da camera: A sonata for the chamber or room, and was usually a group of stylized dance.
Sonata da chiesa: Was a church sonata, that was more serious in tone, more contrapuntal in texture and had four movements arranged S F S F.
Trio Sonata: Had two treble lines and basso continuo, and most Baroque composers wrote all types of sonatas. -
Rhythm
Rhythm became a central element in instrumental music. The basso continuo gave music a rhythmic drive, especially in faster pieces. Dotted rhythms, such as French overture was quite common. Melodies were created around the sixteenth-note rhythm for vitality. Dance rhythms were also important in Mid-Baroque Music. -
Harmony
The tonal system of 24 major and minor keys continued to develop. -
Texture
Both homophony and polyphony were commonly used, often alternating in one movement or piece. -
Dynamics
The notation of crescendoing and decrescendoing was understood, but not marked very often. Terraced dynamics were still preferred. -
Timbre
As the tuning system began to change to accommodate the diatonic system of keys, so did the timbre of instruments. Ensembles were still small, and the music would of been more quiet event than we might think. -
Instruments
Stringed instruments dominated instrumental music. In fact, strings dominated the accompaniment parts in vocal music. In late 17th century, there were ensembles of strings that were merely complimented with pairs of winds (flutes, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and horns.) The basso continuo group was the foundation of musical production. Harpsichords, clavichords, and organs were the primarily keyboard instruments. -
Melody
The recitative melodies gave way to more lyrical bel canto arias and solo songs. Melodies became more clearly organized with the use of compositional techniques, such as repetition, sequence, and contrast. The phrases were still dictated by the text, but virtuosic aspect began to create melodic lines that were more instrumentally conceived. -
the Solo Italian Cantata (Mid-Baroque)
Cantata's were usually secular, in Italian, and composed for 1 or 2 singers with basso continuo and possibly a small string ensemble. The texts were often about love, sometimes pretty suggestive, and were meant as entertainment. -
Form
Fugues developed out of an obsession with imitation, rhetoric, and organization. Da Capo arias developed from an obsession of the human voice as an expression of emotion and an increasing desire to witness virtuosic feats. The notion of a return became the predominating factor to the formal organization of music. Ritornellos were used in concertos and in arias as the main musical idea that returned throughout a piece. -
Period: to
Middle Baroque
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Period: to
Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli made clear distinctions between the different types of sonatas, and he was the master of the Trio Sonata. -
Period: to
Purcell
Henry Purcell was a singer, organist, composer of instrumental and vocal music. He worked in the court of Charles II (reigned 1660-85) when stage plays were again allowed. Purcell assimilated the musical styles of Europe, and wrote incidental music for plays. -
Period: to
Fux
Johann Joseph Fux was a Australian composer and theorist. He used Palestrina's style as a teaching tool, and his music does not regularly reflect the older contrapuntal style. -
Period: to
A. Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti is the father of composer Domenico Scarlatti. He was a teacher in Naples, and many of his students helped create the new classical style. His death marks a better indicator of the end of the Baroque than does Bach’s in 1750. -
Period: to
Guerre
Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre was called “the wonder of our century.” -
Biber: Sonata No. 1
The opening Praeludium is for violin and basso continuo, and the violin part uses a virtuosic style similar to that of solo vocal singing. The melodic line in the piece allows the soloist to freely express emotions. -
Period: to
Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi was a music director at the Pieta, an orphanage for girls in Venice. He composed many operas, much sacred music, and many instrumental works. He was considered the greatest master of the Baroque concerto -
Period: to
Telemann
Georg Philip Telemann was extraordinarily prolific, and composed more than 125 orchestral suites. He also helped establish the French-style orchestral suite in Germany. -
Period: to
Mouret
Jean-Joseph Mouret is one representative composer from this French court: served the son of King Louis XIV. He also composed operas, suites, and “grand divertissements, and some of his works have been used for TV commercials and in other media. -
Period: to
D. Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti was a Keyboard virtuoso, and served Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He had a progressive style; aware of his modern flare. He also wrote over 500 sonatas for harpsichord, operas, cantatas, and keyboard exercises. -
Period: to
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most skilled musicians in the Baroque. Bach wrote a ton of music in all genres except opera! -
Period: to
Handel
Handel was extraordinarily talented and intelligent, he worked in Italy early in his career, and absorbed the Italian style writing over 40 operas and many Italian cantatas. -
Period: to
Gay
John Gay is an English playwright and poet who innovated a new genre, the Ballad Opera. -
The Invention of the Clarinet
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Period: to
Tartini
Giuseppe Tartini is a Galant Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and theorist. Tartini was very important as a violin teacher and as an assimilator of the galant and empfindsam style. -
Period: to
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials started with two girls having unexplainable fits. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft the Devil's magic and 20 were executed. -
Period: to
Vinci
Leonardo Vinci is an Italian Galant composer, and leader of the new style of Italian opera. -
Genres
Some of the Genres were: Opera, Cantatas, Oratorio, however, Arias was not attached to a larger genre, and all of it was influenced by the idea of recitative and aria found in the new Baroque operas. -
Rhythm
The basso continuo rhythmically and metrically drove the music. Treatises from the time suggest a more free presentation in solo pieces. It was the era of the sixteenth note and the notation of music was standardized for these rhythms that were formulaic and regular. -
Texture
Polyphony began to represent the serious or "learned" church style, while Homophony was the language for the modern style. -
Form
The da capo aria form was the most popular vocal form; ritornello form was the most popular orchestral or ensemble form. Fugues still ruled contrapuntal music. Binary forms were common in dance movements and sonatas. -
Melody
Melodies were governed by fort spinning and sequences. Therefore, melodies were often long with a sense of continuous development moving toward a cadence or stopping point. Melodic phrases, consequently, were not always clearly defined. Virtuosity was important, as was the improvisation of ornaments and embellishments, especially on repeated sections of music. -
Harmony
The modern diatonic system of 24 major and minor keys was finally firmly established. Chromaticism was used for expression, modulations, and musical interest. The harmonic rhythm was rapid, with chords changing several times in every measures. Basic triads and inversions were common with some seventh chords. -
Dynamics
Hairpins were used in Paris and London and in Italian Music. In the 1740s in Mannheim, Johann Stamitz made the orchestral crescendo a sensation, creating a new demand for dynamics in instrumental music. -
Timbre
The notion of an orchestra began to take shape as Giovanni Battista Sammartini invented the symphony in Milan in 1730s. The new genre is a Classic genre, but having its roots in Baroque era. A new orchestral virtuosity emerged in Mannheim with Johann Stamitz's orchestra of phenomenal musicians. -
The Invention of the Piano
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Instruments
Continued experimentations with the construction of the keyboard leads to the emergence of pianoforte prototypes. Stringed instruments still comprised the primary sections in all ensemble. Virtuosos on the violin, flute, and oboe began to make successful careers as well. Bassoons were not limited to the basso continuo part. Recorders were still prominent and a marking of flauto in a Baroque manuscript indicated a recorder. Traverse flutes were used as well. -
Period: to
Late Baroque
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Handel’s Water Music
Performed for a royal party on the Thames River in London on July 17, 1717. There was 22 movements, supposedly, the harpsichord (basso continuo) was not used at this first performance because it did not fit on the barge so it was left behind! -
Le Quattro Stagioni
Stagioni was a cycle of four violin concertos, and there was word painting in the instrumental music. Each concerto is accompanied by a poem that we believe Vivaldi wrote. -
Suite De Symphonies
Suite De Symphonies was written for trumpets, violins, oboes, timpani, basses, bassoons, and organ and today the work is often performed as a trumpet solo with organ. -
The English Oratorio
Oratorios were presented during Lent when operas were forbidden, thus doing away with the competition. There was no lavish scenery, and the public was pleased by the new genre. -
Period: to
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn was credited as the primary mover within the new classic style concerning instrumental music but he did not invent the style. -
The Invention of the Symphony Genre
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Messiah
The genre was English Oratorio, and there was 52 separate numbers. Handel composed the work in 3 weeks, but “self-borrowed” old arias and cantata numbers to create new choruses and pieces. -
The Invention of the Oboe