Bell Ringer – 10/31 m.socrative.com – Room OR Bell Ringer Card  QUESTIONS:  1. A polyphonic piece of music that starts with a simple theme that keeps getting more and more complex is called a ___________.  2. Music written with an external idea in mind, or to tell a story, is called ________________.  3. A piece of music written for one of more soloists and an orchestra is called __________________.

Vocal Music

Vocal Music – Cantata  Cantata = “sung,” vocal composition with instrumental accompaniment with several movements with related text  The vocal version of a sonata  Usually had instrumental accompaniment  Designed to be performed without costume or scenery  Mostly written for solo soprano voice, both secular and religious  Grew out of the church

Vocal Music – Cantata  Bach wrote several cantatas – more than 200  As a choirmaster and professional organist, he was required to compose a new cantata weekly for the church (Protestant)  He usually wrote for 4 parts  His sacred music achieves extraordinary power – a heartfelt expression of faith  Cantata 80: “A Mighty Fortress is our God” 

Vocal Music - Opera  Opera is a drama set to music  The music is continuous, with set pieces designed to dramatize the action and display the vocal skills of the singers  Combines a number of complex art forms into one big, ornate, and even more complex piece of art  Includes music, drama, dance, and visual art

Vocal Music - Opera  Included roles for castrati – male singers who had been castrated in boyhood so their voices would remain in the soprano range  Created adult voices of unusual strength and clarity  Played many male heroic roles    Began in Italy

Vocal Music - Opera  Wanted the singing to resemble the intonations and rhythms of speech – “recitative”  Usually simple music, moves the story along quickly, “speak singing”  Is not ornate – does not “show off” vocal ability   Jacopo Peri’s “Eurydice” is the first surviving opera – consisted primarily of recitative

Vocal Music - Opera  Emotional moments in opera were sung as arias  Aria: a solo or duet that was very expressive.  The story would “stop” and the singer would share their feelings  Challenging range 

Vocal Music - Opera  Claude Monteverdi made Baroque opera an art form  In “Orfeo” he took the same mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and made it a five act opera.  He created more substantial and emotional music  The mood swung widely through contrasting passages of louds and softs  (with music, quick shifts in volume or expression are the musical equivalents of the strong contrasts of light and shade in baroque painting.)

Vocal Music - Opera  Monteverdi had solos, duets, ensemble singing, and dancing in his operas  Melodic lines were highly ornamental – similar to a fugue  Monteverdi is called the “father of opera”

Vocal Music - Opera  Opera spread to France, England, and Germany very quickly  King Louis XIV of France established a national opera  French opera included ballet

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo  One of the earliest operas still regularly performed  41 instruments used  Instruments specifically used to depict particular settings or characters  Strings and Harpsichord represent the pastoral fields  Brass illustrates the underworld  Very polyphonic

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo  The Plot...  The Performance...   Act IV – 1:21:00