Baroque Instrumental Music

Objectives

Be ready to...

List the characteristics of the Baroque era (1600-1750) in context of social change including religious wars (Protestants vs. Catholics), the exploration and colonization of the New World, and the rise of middle-class culture.
Identify a new style—monody—that featured solo song with instrumental accompaniment in the Baroque period through listening examples.
Define figured bass, a shorthand that allowed the performer to supply chords through improvisation.
Compare and contrast the major-minor tonality system and the equal temperament tuning system.
Explain the significance of the union of text and music as expressed in the Baroque Doctrine of the Affections and reflected in genres such as opera, oratorio, and cantata.
Define and compare the genres of opera, oratorio, and cantata.
Compare and contrast the development of two types of concertos: the solo concerto and the concerto grosso.
Correctly identify visually and aurally the main keyboard instruments of the Baroque era: organ, harpsichord, and clavichord.
Describe the main characteristics of J. S. Bach's keyboard music, in particular his Well-Tempered Clavier.

Baroque Instrumental Music

The Baroque Concerto

The most important instrumental form of the period was the multi-movement Baroque Concerto, which was notably different from the concerto of the Classical period. Two main types of concerti were produced in this period: the solo concerto for solo instrument and orchestra, and the concerto grosso, played by a small orchestra.

The origins of the concerto may be found in the concertato technique of early Baroque vocal music, where two groups were placed in opposition to each other. In most cases, the large group of the instrumental concerto was a string orchestra comprised of violins, violas, cellos, and continuo. In the concerto grosso, the concerto part was often played by a solo violin, or by a small group of violins. During the late Baroque, strings were commonly substituted for wind and brass instruments.

Solo concertos were usually virtuoso showpieces in which soloists were required to perform technically demanding parts. Giuseppe Torelli's (1658-1709) Trumpet Concerto, provides a good example of these demands. In this piece, we can hear the two main sections of the concerto very clearly. The portion of the concerto where the large group is playing is the ritornello. The section where the soloist takes over is the solo section. Each movement of the concerto may have three or four alternating ritornelli and solo sections, each one in different keys, before the closing ritornello which ends in the original key.

Composer: Giuseppe Torelli

"Sonata a 5 in D, I. Andante and II. Allegro"

Composer: Giuseppe Torelli

"Sonata a 5 in D, I. Andante and II. Allegro" [ 00:00-00:20 ]00:19

Composer: Giuseppe Torelli

"Sonata a 5 in D, I. Andante and II. Allegro" [ 00:20-00:32 ]00:13

The concerto grosso, which translates into grand concerto or large consort features several soloists working as a small group in alternation with the ritornello of the large consort. Perhaps the most famous of these works are the set of six Brandenburg Concertos by J. S. Bach. In the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, Bach uses a group of soloists that includes oboes, horns, and violins. Note that in this piece, the complex elements of Bach's polyphonic style are still evident, sometimes even clouding the distinction between the large group and the soloists. The Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 features violin and flute soloists. Note the prominent role of the harpsichord in the first movement of this piece.

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

"Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046: Adagio"

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

"Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050: Allegro"

Ensemble Music

During the Baroque, instrumental music was written for every conceivable size of ensemble. On the smaller side, the Baroque sonata offers one of the finest examples of chamber music. Two types of sonata are found during this period: the sonata da chiesa (church sonata), and the sonata da camera (chamber sonata). The sonata da chiesa was more somber, while the sonata da camera was, much like the suite, usually comprised of dance forms. The gigue from Corelli's Sonata for 2 violins and lute is a fine example of the sonata da camera.

Composer: Arcangelo Corelli

"Sonata da camera in D minor: Giga: Allegro"

The dance suite, often used for large social functions, became more popular in the late Baroque and was often adapted for a larger orchestra. Examples of this type are Handel's two most popular orchestral suites: Fireworks Music and Water Music. The Fireworks Music suite was, appropriately, first performed at a large fireworks display, while the Water Music was written for a party to be held on the Thames River. Legend has it that the partygoers rode on one barge floating down the Thames, while Handel and the musicians played on another barge immediately following. The most famous movement from these suites is entitled Alla Hornpipe, from the Water Music suite.

Composer: George Frideric Handel

"Water Music: Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV 349: II: Alla Hornpipe"

Music for Harpsichord, Clavichord, and Organ

Baroque keyboard music tends to fall into two categories: free forms that rely on harmony and improvisation (prelude, toccata, fantasia), or more structured forms that use counterpoint or imitation (ricercar, fugue.) As composers searched for ways to expand older musical forms, many types of instruments emerged. The three primary keyboard instruments used during the Baroque period were the organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. The term clavier was often used as an umbrella term for both the harpsichord and clavichord.

Composer: Girolamo Frescobaldi

"Fugue in G minor"

François Couperin (1668-1733)

Couperin was the master of French Baroque keyboard music. His highly ornamental style is found in his ordres, groups of dances comparable to the Baroque suites. The aristocratic quality, concise musical language, and light emotional quality of pieces such as thisAllemande, helped usher in the French rococo period.

Known as "Le Grand" to distinguish him from an uncle of the same name, Couperin was the most distinguished of a family of French musicians, officially succeeding his uncle and father as organist of the Paris church of St. Gervais when he was eighteen. He enjoyed royal patronage under Louis XIV. In 1693, he was appointed royal organist and, belatedly, royal harpsichordist. In France, as a keyboard-player and composer he was unsurpassed at the height of his career. He died in Paris in 1733.

Composer: François Couperin

"Concerts Royaux: Premier Concert: Allemande"

Jean-Phillippe Rameau (1683-1764)

After the death of Couperin in 1733, Rameau was the leading French composer. He made a significant and lasting contribution to musical theory. Born in Dijon, two years before the year of births of Handel, Bach, and Domenico Scarlatti, Rameau spent the earlier part of his career principally as organist at Clermont Cathedral. In 1722 or 1723, however, he settled in Paris, publishing further collections of harpsichord pieces and his important Treatise on Harmony. Sixty of Rameau's 65 harpsichord pieces were written by 1728, with a final group appearing in 1741. The tradition of French harpsichord music is exemplified in this movement from the Suite in A Major/minor.

The harpsichord suite was a multi-movement piece based on dances of the period. Rameau's Suite in A Major is composed of a Prelude, followed by several such movements. Here are the movements of the suite, in the order in which they appear:

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: I. Prelude"

Suite in A Major/minor

Jean-Phillippe Rameau

1. Prelude

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: I. Prelude"

2. Allemande I

Composer: 0

"Allemande I"

3. Allemande II

Composer: 0

"Allemande II"

4. Courante

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: IV. Courante"

5. Sarabandes I and II

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de clavecin, Suite in A Minor-Major: Pieces de Clavecin: Suite in A Minor-Major: V. Sarabandes I and II"

6. Gigue

Composer: Riccardo Castagnetti

"Passepied et Gigue: Gigue"

7. Venitienne

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de clavecin, Suite in A Minor-Major: Venitienne"

8. Gavotte

Composer: 0

"Gavotte"

9. Menuet

Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau

"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: IX. Minuet"

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

Frescobaldi must be accounted as one of the most important keyboard composers of the first half of the 17th century. He was born in Ferrara, where the musical tastes of the ruling duke, Alfonso II d'Este, attracted musicians of great distinction.

Frescobaldi moved to Rome at the early 1600s under the patronage of Guido Bentivoglio, who in 1607 took him to Brussels, an important center of keyboard music in the northern European tradition. In 1608 he became an organist at St. Peter's in Rome, where he remained until his death. At different points in his life, he was also active in Mantua. He also served the Medicis for six years in Florence.

As an important composer for the organ and other keyboard instruments, Frescobaldi published a number of collections of keyboard pieces, as well as compositions for varied groups of instruments. The keyboard works include toccatas, for example the Toccata nona, caprices, ricercari, dance movements, and fugues like the Fugue in g minor that you will hear transcribed for the piano by the 20th century composer Béla Bartók.

Composer: Girolamo Frescobaldi

"Toccata No. 9: Toccata Nona"

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Scarlatti was one of the most prolific and original Baroque keyboard composers. Born in Naples, he was the sixth child of Alessandro Scarlatti. After a period in Italy he moved to Portugal, and, later, to Madrid, where he served in the court of the Infanta Maria Barbara after her marriage to the Spanish Infante (who became Phillip II). He remained in the service of Maria Barbara after her husband's accession to the throne, and died in Madrid in 1757. He is chiefly known for the over 500 single-movement sonatas or Essercizi (Exercises) that made innovative use of the harpsichord. The sonatas are organized by K. number, based on the catalogue of Scarlatti's sonatas compiled by the American harpsichordist, Ralph Kirkpatrick.

The Infanta also had pianos in her palaces, and some of the sonatas may have been written with these early hammer-action instruments in mind. The sonatas in E Major, K.380, f minor, K.466, and C major, K. 159 which you will hear played on a modern piano, show Scarlatti's supreme command of binary form, as well as his deep understanding of the technical and expressive possibilities of the keyboard.

Composer: 0

"E Major, K.380"

Composer: Domenico Scarlatti

"Sonata in F Minor, K.466"

Composer: Domenico Scarlatti

"Sonata in C Major, Kk. 159, (L. 104), "La Caccia""

Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier

To demonstrate the feasibility of equal-tempered tuning, Bach wrote a monumental set of preludes and fugues. Commonly known as The 48, they consist of two series or Books, each with 24 preludes and fugues, which explore the twelve major and minor keys. The Well-Tempered Clavier is one of the most important keyboard works of the late Baroque, and, indeed, of all keyboard literature. The Prelude and Fugue in C-minor, performed on a modern piano in this example, is the first of Book I (see Listening Guide).

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

"Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor, BWV 847"

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

The last significant Baroque instrumental composer we will examine remains one of the most popular composers in Western music. Antonio Vivaldi, sometimes called the red priest because of the color of his hair and his ordination, spent most of his career as a music teacher at a school for orphaned girls in Venice. Under Vivaldi's direction, the school became a prestigious musical academy. With the school's orchestra at his disposal, he had the rare luxury of being able to ensure that the vast amount of instrumental music he wrote would be performed immediately.

While Vivaldi produced choral music, operas, cantatas, and chamber works, his most important contributions are the more than 500 concertos he wrote. He experimented with different sound combinations between the ensemble and the soloist, establishing a trend for the next generation of composers. His own virtuosic playing raised the bar for soloists' technical skills. His colorful imagination is nowhere more obvious than in his most famous masterpiece Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons).

The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos, each depicting a different season of the year. In these concertos, Vivaldi tries to capture the unique essence of each time of the year. For example, the first movement, Spring, includes musical passages designed to evoke chirping birds, flowing streams, thunder and lightning. In Winter, Vivaldi depicts a cold bitter landscape in passages that suggest the chattering of teeth, the crunch of snow underfoot, or the gentle drift of snowflakes.

Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

"The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, Rv 269, Spring: I. Allegro"

Composer: Antonio Vivaldi

"The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, No. 4, Rv 297, Winter: I. Allegro Non Molto"

This approach to composition, in which the composer seeks to tell a story, paint a picture, or set a mood through music, is called program music. The opposite approach is usually referred to as absolute music. After falling out of favor during the Classical era, program music became very popular again in the Romantic period.

If the seeds of Western European music were planted during the Middle Ages and first flowered during the Renaissance, they reached their full maturity, complete with foliage and fruit, during the Baroque period. The humanity and spirituality of the works of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi speak to us as clearly today as they did to 16th and 17th century audiences.