The Baroque Period

The word “Baroque” The word baroque means “oddly shaped pearl”, because back then people thought the music and art was rather odd! The music of the Baroque Period was overly ornamented and exaggerated, which was different than what people were used to hearing.

Examples of Baroque art Notice how decorated and detailed everything was, even to the point of gaudy.

Almost every inch of space on a building was decorated. Great attention was paid to details.

They built giant cathedrals because they believed that the bigger and taller the cathedral- the closer they would be to God.

Music during this time was also very detailed and complicated. It was like trying to listen to 4 or 5 people talk at the same time.

People who supported (paid, gave food and shelter to) composers were called patrons. Patrons were kings, dukes, princes, or other wealthy people. Some composers still worked for the church.

Opera Opera was a new musical form that combined drama and passion. Opera was a popular form of entertainment. Going to the opera was a big deal back in the Baroque period, and opera singers were famous celebrities.

Baroque Orchestra Before, a group of instruments were called consorts, but during the Baroque period, more instruments were being invented and grouped together into families. Composers were writing music specifically for orchestras for the first time during this period.

Characteristics of Baroque Music Music during the Baroque Period had very distinct characteristics.

Basso Continuo The bass line was usually played by the harpsichord or organ and was the foundation of the music In this example the basso continuo is being played by the low strings, but you can still hear it. Listen for the lowest notes.

Figured Bass In Baroque Music, it was common to see little numbers written below the staff. These numbers told the basso continuo players which chords to play.

Here is another example of figured bass

Word Painting Music was written according to the words or a certain feeling. Death was represented by low notes, heaven was represented by high notes.

In Handel's melody, the word "valley" ends on a low note, "exalted" is a rising figure; "mountain" forms a peak in the melody, and "hill" a smaller one, while "low" is another low note. "Crooked" is sung to a rapid figure of four different notes, while "straight" is sung on a single note, and in "the rough places plain," "the rough places" is sung over short, separate notes whereas the final word "plain" is extended over several measures in a series of long notes. This can be seen in the following example:

Terraced dynamics In the Baroque Period, there were no gradual changes in dynamics (volume). The volume changes were sudden and abrupt. Gradual changes such as crescendo and decrescendos are unheard of this is partly due to the fact that the manuals of the keyboards instrument then were able to provide only the loud or the soft sound. They were not able to provide the “in between” sound.

There are some very distinct terraced dynamics in this piece. It starts off forte (loud), is suddenly piano (quiet) and then jumps to forte again.

Harpsichord The harpsichord was one of the popular instruments during the Baroque period.

Harpsichord The harpsichord looks similar to the piano, but the piano has little hammers that hit the strings when you press a key. In the harpsichord, the strings are plucked when you play a key.

Organ Another popular instrument of the Baroque period was the pipe organ.

A pipe organ contains one or more sets of pipes, a wind system, and one or more keyboards. The pipes produce sound when pressurized air produced by the wind system is driven through them. An action connects the keyboards to the pipes. Stops allow the organist to control which ranks of pipes sound at a given time. The organist operates the stops and the keyboards from the console.

Composers during the Baroque Period Johann Sebastian Bach Georg Frederic Handel Antonio Vivaldi And many others that we aren’t going to study

Johann Sebastian Bach

Georg Frederic Handel

Antonio Vivaldi

Popular musical forms of the BP Opera Oratorio Fugue concerto