Chapter 8 Prelude: The Late Baroque Period The Emotional World of Baroque Music

Key Terms “Affects”

The Emotional World of Baroque Music (1) Baroque thinkers, scientists, & artists fascinated by human emotions Scientists studied & classified emotions Baroque composers thought music should mirror a wide range of emotions Each new piece expressed a specific emotion consistently & exhaustively Thus Baroque emotional expression was powerful–yet curiously impersonal

The Emotional World of Baroque Music (2) Like good actors, Baroque composers studied appropriate ways of expressing emotions Also like actors, they expressed emotions that were not necessarily their own These emotions often took on a theatrical quality–larger than life Theatrical emotion must have intensity, clarity, focus

Affects Many techniques used to maximize expression of emotions (affects) Baroque writers catalogued musical elements appropriate for each affect Specific keys  D minor = serious; E minor = pathos; etc. Certain melodic or rhythmic figures Specific instrumental & vocal types or genres  Gigue = ardent & fleeting zeal  Chant = noble simplicity  etc.