what is the harmony of baroque music

Full Answer

Why is the Baroque period important to music?

It was a time of great musical development as famous Baroque composers, such as Bach (his death in 1750 is typically seen as being the end of the Baroque Period), Handel and Vivaldi created grand works. New instruments were also invented and the tonality of major and minor keys was firmly established.

What is baroque tonality?

The Baroque period saw the creation of common-practice tonality, an approach to writing music in which a song or piece is written in a particular key; this kind of arrangement has continued to be used in almost all Western popular music.

What is the spirit of the Baroque?

And the spirit of the baroque—an unwavering belief in the power of music to touch people’s lives—changed music history forever.

What are some examples of Baroque music?

Many of the musical genres still in use today, like the oratorio, concerto and opera, originated in the period. Twentieth century composers such as Ralph Vaughn Williams, Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten paid homage to the baroque in their works.

Does Baroque music have harmony?

The Baroque saw the creation of common-practice tonality, an approach to writing music in which a song or piece is written in a particular key; this type of harmony has continued to be used extensively in Western classical and popular music.

What is the melody of Baroque music?

Baroque composers wrote melodies based on major/minor tonality. They used motifs (short melodic phrases) that were repeated and developed and many of the melodies were decorated with ornaments, such as trills. The melodies of the Baroque period also became significantly longer.

What is the rhythm of Baroque music?

The rhythm is motorlike, constantly pulsing, and very steady. Broad rallentandos are anachronistic. The terms allegro, presto, vivace, etc., were used to indicate the character of the music more than a specific tempo.

What is harmony in music Renaissance?

Harmonies in the Renaissance period usually came from the combination of polyphonic melodies. The overall tonality of the music was based on modes - types of scales found in the Medieval and Renaissance periods - or major, or minor, scales. The chords created by polyphony were mainly major or minor.

What is the dynamics of baroque music?

Baroque music uses terraced dynamics. This means that the volume stays the same for a period of time, then there is a sudden shift to a different dynamic level. There are no gradual changes in dynamics (such as a crescendo or decrescendo).

What is the texture of Baroque music?

Baroque music uses many types of texture: homophony, imitation, and contrapuntal combinations of contrasting rhythmic and melodic ideas. Even when the texture is imitative, however, there are usually distinct contrasts among voices. In some cases, an independent bass supports two or more melodies in imitation above it.

What are the elements of baroque music?

Baroque music is characterised by: long flowing melodic lines often using ornamentation (decorative notes such as trills and turns) contrast between loud and soft, solo and ensemble. a contrapuntal texture where two or more melodic lines are combined.

Which best describes a baroque music?

Baroque music is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. ... The Baroque period saw the creation of tonality. During the period, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques.

What are the elements of Baroque style?

Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.

What is the harmony of a music?

What exactly is harmony? The harmony is the vertical aspect of music. Harmony is sounding more than one note together at the same time and is built to compliment the melody line. When 3 or more notes are combined to sound together, we call it a chord.

What are 3 types of harmony in music?

Here are the three most popular and important forms of harmony.Diatonic harmony. This is music where the notes and chords all trace back to a master scale. ... Non-diatonic harmony. Non-diatonic harmony introduces notes that aren't all part of the same master scale. ... Atonal harmony.

What is the harmony of jazz music?

Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and minor scales as a basis for chordal construction.

What is a typical feature of a Baroque melody?

Baroque music is characterised by: long flowing melodic lines often using ornamentation (decorative notes such as trills and turns) contrast between loud and soft, solo and ensemble. a contrapuntal texture where two or more melodic lines are combined.

What are the 4 types of melody?

Melodic motionsAscending. An ascending musical motion occurs when one pitch moves to a higher pitch. ... Descending. A descending musical motion occurs when one pitch moves to a lower pitch. ... Undulating. ... Arc.

What is the melody of medieval music?

Monophonic Music The vast majority of medieval music was monophonic – in other words, there was only a single melody line. (“mono-phonic” literally means “one sound”).

What is a recognizable trait of Baroque melody?

Baroque music is immediately recognizable for its instrumentation, ornamentation, and orchestration.

What are the characteristics of Baroque music?

The new interest in music’s dramatic and rhetorical possibilities gave rise to a wealth of new sound ideals in the Baroque period.

What is the philosophy of Baroque music?

Although a single philosophy cannot describe 150 years of music from all over Europe, several concepts are important in the Baroque period.

What is “baroque,” and when was the Baroque period?

Derived from the Portuguese barroco, or “oddly shaped pearl,” the term “baroque” has been widely used since the nineteenth century to describe the period in Western European art music from about 1600 to 1750. Comparing some of music history’s greatest masterpieces to a misshapen pearl might seem strange to us today, but to the nineteenth century critics who applied the term, the music of Bach and Handel’s era sounded overly ornamented and exaggerated. Having long since shed its derogatory connotations, “baroque” is now simply a convenient catch-all for one of the richest and most diverse periods in music history.

Who were the major Baroque composers, and where were they from?

Many of the well known personalities from the first part of the Baroque period hail from Italy, including Monteverdi, Corelli and Vivaldi. (By the mid- eighteenth century, our focus shifts to the German composers Bach and Handel .) Many of the forms identified with Baroque music originated in Italy, including the cantata, concerto, sonata, oratorio, and opera. Although Italy played a vital role in the development of these genres, new concepts of what it meant to be a nation increased the imperative of a “national style.” Differences between nations are often audible in music from the period, not only in the way music was composed, but also in conventions of performance; particularly obvious was the contrast between Italy and France. While certain countries may seem to claim a larger piece of our experience of Baroque music today, however, every nation played a role. As musicians and composers traveled all over Europe and heard each other’s music, the new conventions they encountered made subtle impressions on them. Some of the best known composers from the period include the following:

What musical forms came to define the baroque era?

Many of the forms associated with the baroque era come directly out of this new dramatic impulse, particularly opera, the oratorio and the cantata. In the realm of instrumental music, the notion of contrast and the desire to create large-scale forms gave rise to the concerto, sonata and suite.

What was it like to attend a concert in the baroque era?

In modern times, going to a concert is an event. We hear an ad on the radio or see a listing in the newspaper; we purchase tickets; we go to a concert hall and sit quietly until it is time to applaud. In the baroque era, this kind of public concert was rare. Many of the most famous baroque compositions were performed in churches for a service, or as part of a private concert or celebration in the home of a wealthy patron. During the course of the baroque, however, public performances became more common, particularly in the genres of opera and oratorio, and our modern concert tradition began to coalesce in many European cities. As Roger North described a performance in one of the earliest concert series, organized in London in the 1670s:

Why is contrast important in music?

Contrast is an important ingredient in the drama of a Baroque composition. The differences between loud and soft, solo and ensemble (as in the concerto), different instruments and timbres all play an important role in many Baroque compositions.

What was the Baroque style of music?

Baroque concerts were typically accompanied by a basso continuo group (comprising chord-playing instrumentalists such as harpsichordists and lute players improvising chords from a figured bass part) while a group of bass instruments— viol, cello, double bass —played the bassline. A characteristic Baroque form was the dance 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.

Where did Baroque music originate?

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 the Western classical music practice. For instance, Italian composers switched to the galant style around 1730, while German composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach largely continued to write in the baroque style up to 1750.

What is a dense, complex polyphonic music?

Dense, complex polyphonic music, in which multiple independent melody lines were performed simultaneously (a popular example of this is the fugue ), was an important part of many Baroque choral and instrumental works. Overall, Baroque music was a tool for expression and communication.

What instruments were used in Baroque music?

Baroque concerts were typically accompanied by a basso continuo group (comprising chord-playing instrumentalists such as harpsichordists and lute players improvising chords from a figured bass part) while a group of bass instruments— viol, cello, double bass —played the bassline.

How long did the Baroque period last?

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 approximately 150 years.

When was Baroque music first performed?

Overlapping in time, they are conventionally dated from 1580 to 1650, from 1630 to 1700, and from 1680 to 1750. Baroque music forms a major portion of the " classical music " canon, and is now widely studied, performed, and listened to. The term " baroque " comes from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning " misshapen pearl ".

Who applied the Baroque music theory?

In 1919, Curt Sachs became the first to apply the five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin 's theory of the Baroque systematically to music. 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 by Manfred 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 the plastic 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 and Paul Henry Lang.

What is the texture of music called?

In each case, the musician is performing their own part, which contributes to a wholly integrated sound. This makes for a full musical texture called polyphony, where individual parts are heard, as opposed to the parts making up a singular sound. In this clip from Pachelbel's Canon, listen for four distinct melodies.

What instrument was used in the dance suite?

Many dance suites and preludes used a more free version of counterpoint, where the music was less calculated. Often, a basso continuo was used. The basso continuo is like the bass line of a song; it was generally played by a low-pitched instrument and a keyboard instrument, such as the harpsichord.

What are interweaving melodies?

The interweaving melodies are characteristic of many genres from the period and can be considered one of the single most important characteristics of the period. Learning Outcomes. Upon completion of this video lesson, you should: Highlight the use of counterpoint in the music of the Baroque period.

Why did composers create rules?

The rules were created during the Age of Reason, when everyone was gettin' down with science and math, so although composers of the time valued musical expression, it was only natural that they too would follow calculations and formulas. Or who knows? Maybe it was peer pressure.

Who is the most famous composer of fugues?

J.S. Bach is probably the most well-known composer of fugues. Listen for the four interweaved voices in his Fugue in G Minor. While the fugue may be the most common example of Baroque counterpoint, it certainly wasn't the only kind.

Is Pachelbel's Canon a canon?

You've probably also heard a canon, such as Pachelbel's Canon. Most people hear it at weddings, though it was not specifically written for this purpose. The canon is similar to the round, but does not require exact repetition.

How to describe Baroque music?

Baroque music is also characterised by an increased emphasis on contrast.#N#This is heard in a number of ways: 1 loud and quiet dynamics (volume) – Baroque composers used terraced dynamics – this is where the volume of the music changes abruptly rather than through a gradual crescendo/diminuendo. You can often hear this effect between the quieter solo and louder tutti sections of a concerto grosso. 2 solo and ensemble instrumentation (e.g. in the concerto), 3 different instrumental timbres/sounds.

What is the historical context of Baroque music?

Historical Context of Baroque Music. The Baroque period was a very eventful period of history. In Europe, the 30 years war (1618-1648) was being raged and powerful rulers such as Louis XIV in France, Charles II in England and Peter The Great in Russia reigned with considerable ruthlessness.

What period is a harpsichord from?

In fact, as a general rule of thumb, if you hear a harpsichord in a piece of music it is highly likely to be a piece from the Baroque Period! A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument that looks a bit like a piano, but smaller. The strings are plucked rather than hit with hammers (like in a piano).

What were the melodies of the Baroque period?

Baroque Melodies. Baroque composers wrote melodies based on major/minor tonality. They used motifs (short melodic phrases) that were repeated and developed and many of the melodies were decorated with ornaments, such as trills. The melodies of the Baroque period also became significantly longer.

What technique did Baroque composers use to write contrapuntal music?

This technique is where different melody lines are played simultaneously and weave together to form a coherent whole. In particular, the music of Bach is still studied today when learning about counterpoint.

What instruments were popular in the Baroque period?

Instruments that had been introduced in the Renaissance period remained popular in the Baroque Period including the viol (or viola da gamba), recorders, lutes and flutes.

What is contrast in music?

Contrast in Baroque Music. Baroque music is also characterised by an increased emphasis on contrast. This is heard in a number of ways: loud and quiet dynamics (volume) – Baroque composers used terraced dynamics – this is where the volume of the music changes abruptly rather than through a gradual crescendo/diminuendo.

Overview

History

Etymology and definition

Instruments

Styles and forms

Genres

Notes

Further reading