The Baroque saw the formalization ofcommon-practicetonality, an approach to writing music in which a song or piece is written in a particularkey; this type ofharmony has continued to be used extensively in Western classical andpopular music. During the Baroque era, professional musicians were expected to be accomplishedimprovisers of both solo melodic lines andaccompaniment parts. Baroque concerts were typically accompanied by abasso continuo group (comprising chord-playing instrumentalists such asharpsichordists andlute players improvising chords from afigured bass part) while a group of bass instruments—viol,cello,double bass—played thebassline. A characteristic Baroque form was thedance suite. While the pieces in a dance suite were inspired by actual dance music, dance suites were designed purely for listening, not for accompanying dancers.
During the period composers experimented with finding a fuller sound for each instrumental part (thus creating the orchestra),[2] made changes in musical notation (the development of figured bass as a quick way to notate thechord progression of a song or piece), and developed new instrumental playing techniques. Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established the mixed vocal/instrumental forms ofopera,cantata andoratorio and the instrumental forms of the soloconcerto andsonata as musical genres. Dense, complexpolyphonic music, in which multiple independent melody lines were performed simultaneously (a popular example of this is thefugue), was an important part of many Baroque choral and instrumental works. Overall, Baroque music was a tool for expression and communication.[1]
The etymology ofbaroque is probably via the Frenchbaroque (which originally meant a pearl of irregular shape), and from thePortuguesebarroco ("irregular pearl"); also related are theCastilianbarrueco and theTuscanbarocco. The term is of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly fromLatinverrūca ("wart") or possibly fromBaroco, a technical term from scholastic logic.[3]
The term "baroque" is generally used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a period of about 150 years.[1] Though it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the première in October 1733 of Rameau'sHippolyte et Aricie, printed in theMercure de France in May 1734. The critic implied that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque", complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was filled with unremitting dissonances, constantly changed key and meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device.[4]
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was a musician and composer as well as philosopher, wrote in 1768 in theEncyclopédie: "Baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, and loaded with modulations and dissonances. The singing is harsh and unnatural, the intonation difficult, and the movement limited. It appears that term comes from the word 'baroco' used by logicians".[5] Rousseau was referring to the philosophical termbaroco, in use since the 13th century to describe a type of elaborate and, for some, unnecessarily complicated academic argument.[6][7]
The systematic application by historians of the term "baroque" to music of this period is a relatively recent development. In 1919,Curt Sachs became the first to apply the five characteristics ofHeinrich Wölfflin's theory of the Baroque systematically to music.[8] Critics were quick to question the attempt to transpose Wölfflin's categories to music, however, and in the second quarter of the 20th century independent attempts were made byManfred Bukofzer (in Germany and, after his immigration, in America) and by Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune (in Belgium) to use autonomous, technical analysis rather than comparative abstractions, in order to avoid the adaptation of theories based on theplastic arts and literature to music. All of these efforts resulted in appreciable disagreement about time boundaries of the period, especially concerning when it began. In English the term acquired currency only in the 1940s, in the writings of Bukofzer andPaul Henry Lang.[1]
As late as 1960, there was still considerable dispute in academic circles, particularly in France and Britain, whether it was meaningful to lump together music as diverse as that ofJacopo Peri,Domenico Scarlatti, andJohann Sebastian Bach under a single rubric. Nevertheless, the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music.[1] It may be helpful to distinguish the Baroque from both the preceding (Renaissance) and following (Classical) periods of musical history.
Throughout the Baroque era, new developments in music originated in Italy, after which it took up to 20 years before they were broadly adopted in rest of theWestern classical music practice. For instance, Italian composers switched to thegalant style around 1730, while German composers such asJohann Sebastian Bach largely continued to write in the baroque style up to 1750.[9][10]
TheFlorentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of CountGiovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music anddrama. In reference to music, they based their ideals on a perception of Classical (especiallyancient Greek) musical drama that valued discourse and oration.[11] Accordingly, they rejected their contemporaries' use ofpolyphony (multiple, independent melodic lines) and instrumental music, and discussed such ancient Greek music devices asmonody, which consisted of a solo singing accompanied by akithara (an ancient strummed string instrument).[12] The early realizations of these ideas, includingJacopo Peri'sDafne andL'Euridice, marked the beginning of opera,[13] which was a catalyst for Baroque music.[14]
Concerning music theory, the more widespread use offigured bass (also known asthorough bass) represents the developing importance ofharmony as the linear underpinnings of polyphony.[15] Harmony is the result ofcounterpoint, and figured bass is a visual representation of those harmonies commonly employed in musical performance. With figured bass, numbers, accidentals or symbols were placed above thebassline that was read bykeyboard instrument players such asharpsichord players orpipe organists (orlutenists). The numbers, accidentals or symbols indicated to the keyboard player what intervals are to be played above each bass note. The keyboard player wouldimprovise achord voicing for each bass note.[16] Composers began concerning themselves withharmonic progressions,[17] and also employed thetritone, perceived as an unstable interval,[18] to create dissonance (it was used in thedominant seventh chord and thediminished chord). An interest in harmony had also existed among certain composers in the Renaissance, notablyCarlo Gesualdo;[19] However, the use of harmony directed towards tonality (a focus on a musicalkey that becomes the "home note" of a piece), rather thanmodality, marks the shift from the Renaissance into the Baroque period.[20] This led to the idea that certain sequences of chords, rather than just notes, could provide a sense ofclosure at the end of a piece—one of the fundamental ideas that became known astonality.[citation needed]
By incorporating these new aspects of composition,Claudio Monteverdi furthered the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition—the heritage of Renaissance polyphony (prima pratica) and the newbasso continuo technique of the Baroque (seconda pratica). With basso continuo, a small group of musicians would play thebassline and the chords which formed the accompaniment for amelody. The basso continuo group would typically use one or more keyboard players and alute player who would play the bassline and improvise the chords and several bass instruments (e.g.,bass viola,cello,double bass) which would play the bassline. With the writing ofthe operasL'Orfeo andL'incoronazione di Poppea among others, Monteverdi brought considerable attention to this new genre.[21] This Venetian style was taken handily to Germany byHeinrich Schütz, whose diverse style also evolved into the subsequent period.
Idiomatic instrumental textures became increasingly prominent. In particular, thestyle luthé—the irregular and unpredictable breaking up of chordal progressions, in contrast to the regular patterning of broken chords—referred to since the early 20th century asstyle brisé, was established as a consistent texture in French music byRobert Ballard,[22][23] in his lute books of 1611 and 1614, and byEnnemond Gaultier.[24] This idiomatic lute figuration was later transferred to the harpsichord, for example in the keyboard music ofLouis Couperin andJean-Henri D'Anglebert, and continued to be an important influence on keyboard music throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries (in, for example, the music ofJohann Sebastian Bach andFrédéric Chopin).[23]
The rise of the centralized court is one of the economic and political features of what is often labelled theAge of Absolutism, personified byLouis XIV of France. The style of palace, and the court system of manners and arts he fostered became the model for the rest of Europe. The realities of rising church and state patronage created the demand for organized public music, as the increasing availability of instruments created the demand forchamber music, which is music for a small ensemble of instrumentalists.[25]
One pre-eminent example of a court style composer isJean-Baptiste Lully. He purchased patents from the monarchy to be the sole composer of operas for the French king and to prevent others from having operas staged. He completed 15 lyric tragedies and left unfinishedAchille et Polyxène.[26] Lully was an early example of aconductor; he would beat the time with a large staff to keep his ensembles together.
Musically, he did not establish the string-dominated norm for orchestras, which was inherited from the Italian opera, and the characteristicallyFrench five-part disposition (violins, violas—in hautes-contre, tailles and quintes sizes—andbass violins) had been used in the ballet from the time of Louis XIII. He did, however, introduce this ensemble to the lyric theatre, with the upper parts often doubled by recorders, flutes, and oboes, and the bass by bassoons. Trumpets andkettledrums were frequently added for heroic scenes.[26]
The middle Baroque period in Italy is defined by the emergence of the vocal styles ofcantata,oratorio, andopera during the 1630s, and a new concept of melody and harmony that elevated the status of the music to one of equality with the words, which formerly had been regarded as pre-eminent. The florid, coloratura monody of the early Baroque gave way to a simpler, more polished melodic style. These melodies were built from short, cadentially delimited ideas often based on stylized dance patterns drawn from thesarabande or thecourante. The harmonies, too, might be simpler than in the early Baroque monody, to show expression in a lighter manner on the string and crescendos and diminuendos on longer notes. The accompanying bass lines were more integrated with the melody, producing a contrapuntal equivalence of the parts that later led to the device of an initial bass anticipation of the aria melody. This harmonic simplification also led to a new formal device of the differentiation ofrecitative (a more spoken part of opera) andaria (a part of opera that used sung melodies). The most important innovators of this style were the RomansLuigi Rossi andGiacomo Carissimi, who were primarily composers of cantatas and oratorios, respectively, and the VenetianFrancesco Cavalli, who was principally an opera composer. Later important practitioners of this style includeAntonio Cesti,Giovanni Legrenzi, andAlessandro Stradella, who additionally originated theconcerto grosso style in his Sonate di viole.[27]
Arcangelo Corelli is remembered as influential for his achievements on the other side of musical technique—as a violinist who organized violin technique and pedagogy—and in purely instrumental music, particularly his advocacy and development of theconcerto grosso.[28] Whereas Lully was ensconced at court, Corelli was one of the first composers to publish widely and have his music performed all over Europe. As with Lully's stylization and organization of the opera, the concerto grosso is built on strong contrasts—sections alternate between those played by the full orchestra, and those played by a smaller group. Fast sections and slow sections were juxtaposed against each other. Numbered among his students isAntonio Vivaldi, who later composed hundreds of works based on the principles in Corelli'strio sonatas and concerti.[28]
In contrast to these composers,Dieterich Buxtehude was not a creature of court but instead was church musician, holding the posts of organist and Werkmeister at the Marienkirche at Lübeck. His duties as Werkmeister involved acting as the secretary, treasurer, and business manager of the church, while his position as organist included playing for all the main services, sometimes in collaboration with other instrumentalists or vocalists, who were also paid by the church. Entirely outside of his official church duties, he organised and directed a concert series known as theAbendmusiken, which included performances of sacred dramatic works regarded by his contemporaries as the equivalent of operas.[29]
A large instrumental ensemble's performance in the lavishTeatro Argentina, as depicted byPanini (1747)
A characteristic of the Baroque form was thedance suite. Somedance suites by Bach are calledpartitas, although this term is also used for other collections of pieces. While the pieces in a dance suite were inspired by actual dance music, dance suites were intended for listening, not for accompanying dancers. Composers used a variety of different movements in their dance suites. A dance suite commonly has thesemovements:
Overture – The Baroque suite often began with a French overture ("Ouverture" in French), a slow movement followed by a succession of principally four different types of dances:
Allemande – Often the first dance of an instrumentalsuite, the allemande was a very popular dance that had its origins in the GermanRenaissance era. The allemande was played at a moderatetempo and could start on any beat of the bar.[35]
Courante – The second dance is the courante, intriple meter. It can be either fast and lively or slow and stately. The Italian version is called the corrente.[36]
Sarabande – The sarabande, a Spanish dance, is the third of the four basic dances, and is one of the slowest of the baroque dances. It is also in triple meter and can start on any beat of the bar, although there is an emphasis on the second beat, creating the characteristic 'halting', or iambic rhythm of the sarabande.[35]
Gigue – The gigue is an upbeat and lively baroque dance in compound meter, typically the concluding movement of an instrumental suite, and the fourth of its basic dance types. The gigue can start on any beat of the bar and is easily recognized by its rhythmic feel. The gigue originated in theBritish Isles. Its counterpart infolk music is thejig.[35]
The four dance types (allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue) make up the majority of 17th-century suites. Later suites interpolate one or more additional dances between the sarabande and gigue:
Gavotte – The gavotte is in duple metre, with phrases which start on an offbeat. The gavotte is played at a moderate tempo, although those in an Italian style may be faster.[37]
Bourrée – The bourrée is similar to the gavotte as it is in2 2 time, although it starts on the second half of the last beat of the bar, creating a different feel to the dance. The bourrée is commonly played at a moderate tempo, although for some composers, such as Handel, it can be taken at a much faster tempo.[2]
Minuet – in triple meter at moderate tempo. It does not have ananacrusis. The Italian minuet was typically faster, with longer phrases.[38]
Passepied – The passepied is a fast dance in binary form and triple meter that originated as a court dance inBrittany.[39]
Rigaudon – The rigaudon is a lively French dance in duple meter, similar to the bourrée, but rhythmically simpler. It originated as a family of closely related southern-French folk dances, traditionally associated with the provinces of Vavarais,Languedoc,Dauphiné, andProvence.[40]
There are many other dance forms as well as other pieces that could be included in a suite, such asPolonaise,Loure,Scherzo,Air, etc.
Prelude – a suite might be started by a prelude, a slow piece written in an improvisatory style. Some Baroque preludes were not fully written out; instead, a sequence of chords were indicated, with the expectation that the instrumentalist would be able to improvise a melodic part using the indicated harmonic framework. The prelude was not based on a type of dance.
Entrée – Sometimes an entrée is composed as part of a suite; but there it is purely instrumental music and no dance is performed. It is an introduction, a march-like piece played during the entrance of a dancing group, or played before a ballet. Usually in4 4 time. It is related to the Italian 'intrada'.
Basso continuo – a kind of continuous accompaniment notated with a new music notation system,figured bass, usually for one or more sustaining bass instruments (e.g.,cello) and one or more chord-playing instruments (e.g., keyboard instruments such asharpsichord,pipe organ orlute)
Monody – an accompanied Italian solo song, an outgrowth of arrangements of ensemble music for solo instruments in the late 16th century[41]
Homophony – music with one melodic voice and rhythmically similar (and subordinate) chordal accompaniment (this and monody are contrasted with the typical Renaissancetexture,polyphony)[42]
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