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Baroque Period
Baroque means highly decorated. The word Baroque was borrowed from architecture to describe the elaborate music of the day. Baroque music is full of confidence and very complicated. Music of the Baroque period is complicated. It's like trying to listen to four or five people talking, all at the same time. Musicians of the day made up music as they played it. That's called improvising. It let performers "show off." People who supported musicians were called patrons. They were usually kings, queens, dukes, and wealthy business people. The Catholic Church also helped support musicians. Opera appeared during this period. Opera is a singing play, like a musical. Opera singers had to learn how to sing very loud because there was no way back then to amplify their voice. One famous opera singer defined opera as a controlled scream. An oratorio was like an opera, but without scenery. Solo singers, choirs, and an orchestra were used in oratorios. These were very serious and dramatic works. The most famous oratorio we written by Handel and is called The Messiah. Instruments and the Chamber Orchestra Two popular keyboard instruments of the day were the organ and harpsichord. The violin was the queen of instruments during this time. During the Renaissance instrumental music was written for dances. The piano had not yet been invented. The job of the harpsichord in the orchestra was to copy the parts of the lower instruments and add chords and harmony to the music. Instruments that copy another part and add chords to it are performing a basso continuo. This is also called a figured bass. Before the Baroque period there were small groups of instruments called consorts. As more instruments were added, they became families of instruments. Before the Baroque period, instrumental music was used mostly for singing and dancing. Now instrumental music was being written and played for its own sake. The Baroque period saw the beginning of the orchestra. A chamber orchestra is a small orchestra where each player has his own part to play. Chamber music is played by trios (3), quartets (4), quintets (5), and up to about ten players. An instrumental suite (pronounced sweet) is a set of dances. It's like an assortment of chocolates. Each chocolate tastes different, even though the chocolates are all part of the same box In an instrumental suite, each piece sounds different, even though they're all part of the same set of dances. Instrumental suites were very popular during the Baroque period. These collections of instrumental dances were composed in the same key. A suite could be played by one instrument or many instruments. The different parts of the suite were mostly named after dances from the Renaissance. Listen to movements from instrumental suites by clicking the titles:
Form is a plan a composer has when he writes a song. Many of the musical forms that were used during this time are still used today. A popular form of this time was the fugue. No one wrote better fugues than Bach. A fugue is like a round. One voice starts the piece, then other voices enter, one after another, just like in a round. The difference is that the voices in fugues enter on higher and lower pitches. They also continue to play new material while the other voices make their entrance. To listen to a fugue, click here. Can you hear the different voices as they enter? To learn more about form, click here. Baroque music has a polyphonic texture. This means the music has many voices playing different things all at the same time. It's like listening to five people talking to you at once! Just think how hard it would be to keep track of what everyone was saying to you. Listen to the polyphonic texture of this tune by Henry Purcell. Can you hear the different voices? How many voices do you hear? Listen to Invention No. 8 by Bach to hear counterpoint.
Ornamentation was used to dress up the music. Baroque music uses lots of ornamentation, more than any other style of music. To hear how Bach used ornamentation, click here. Counterpoint is hearing two or more lines of music. The parts are equal in importance. It's like listening to two or more people talking at once. 1. Open your music books and find some words that describe how the music should be played. Can you list ten words? What do they mean? 2. Baroque music was often written to honor a person or event. Can you think of music today that honors a person or event? Find some Baroque music that honors a person or event and share it with the class. 3. Do you think Bach would like to hear his music played on the electronic instruments of today? 4. Puritans were early American settlers who lived a strict and simple lifestyle. Do you think they would have enjoyed or disliked the Baroque period? 5. Are musicians and composers today supported by kings and queens? How do musicians and composers of today earn money? Do modern musicians and composers have patrons? 6. Improvisation means to make the music up as you go along. This was a way for Baroque musicians to show off their skills. What modern style of music also uses improvisation?
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Capistrano Elementary School |
Capistrano School
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