baroque music main currents in baroque music. baroque music the transition to the baroque brought...
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Baroque Music
Main Currents in Baroque Music
Baroque Music
• The transition to the Baroque brought about a shift from several independent lines (polyphony) to one in which a melody stood out (homophony).
• Monody: originated in vocal music around the year 1600 and was a new style featuring solo song with instrumental accompaniment
• Monody focused on text and its emotional power
Baroque Music
• Figured bass: shorthand notation for harmony–Chords created through improvisation
• Basso continuo: bass part, performed by 2 instruments–Chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ or
lute)– and bass instrument (cello or bassoon)
Baroque Music
• Camerata- group of people (writers, artists, and musicians) engage in discussion about “the new music”.
• Members of Camerata were aristocratic humanists who aimed to resurrect the musical-dramatic art of ancient Greece.
• Music must heighten the emotional power of the text.
• Camerata gave the path to more advance form Opera.
Baroque Music
• Establishment of the major-minor tonality system was the outcome of this simpler style and less complex harmonies and was the most significant change in all of music history.
Baroque Music
– Equal temperament: a new tuning system that mathematically equalized the distance between adjacent tones–Made it possible to play in every major and
minor key without experiencing unpleasant sounds– J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (2
vols.) each contains 24 preludes and fugues, one in every possible key