Learning Objectives
- 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 Period (1600–1750)
Music for Keyboard
Baroque keyboard music falls into two categories:
- free forms that rely on harmony and improvisation (prelude, toccata, fantasia)
- more structured forms that use counterpoint or imitation (ricercar, fugue)
Composer: Girolamo Frescobaldi
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"Fugue in G minor"
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.
François Couperin
Couperin was the master of French Baroque keyboard music. His highly ornamental style may be 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 this Allemande helped usher in the French rococo period.
Composer: François Couperin
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"Concerts Royaux: Premier Concert: Allemande"
Jean-Philippe Rameau
After the death of Couperin in 1733, Rameau became the leading French composer. The tradition of French harpsichord music is exemplified by Minuet from Suite in A minor-major. Rameau made a significant and lasting contribution to musical theory with the publication of his Treatise on Harmony (1722).
Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau
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"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: I. Prelude"
Composer: Jean-Philippe Rameau
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"Pièces de Clavecin: Suite in A minor: IX. Minuet"
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Frescobaldi is arguably 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.
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, such as the Toccata nona, caprices, ricercari, and dance movements; and fugues, such as the Fugue in G minor that the 20th-century composer Béla Bartók transcribed for the piano.
In 1608, Frescobaldi became the organist at St. Peter's in Rome, a prestigious position he held until his death in 1643.
Composer: Girolamo Frescobaldi
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"Fugue in G minor"
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, that explore the twelve major and minor keys. The Well-Tempered Clavier is one of the most important keyboard works of the late Baroque period and of all keyboard literature. In the following example, the Prelude and Fugue in C minor from Book I is performed on a modern piano.
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
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"Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor, BWV 847"