Music in the Baroque Era: Part I

1600-1750

The Doctrine of the Affections

• a piece of music should express one particular emotion

Stile Antico vs. Stile Moderno

Stile Antico

• also called prima prattica

• vocal polyphony• music over text• Josquin, di Lasso,

Palestrina, Willaert

Stile Moderno

• also called seconda prattica• effective expression of text• allowed for breaking of rules• Gesualdo, Rore, Caccini,

Monteverdi• affections• voices and instruments• monody: solo melody with

basso continuo accompaniment• tonality• rhythm (metered/unmetered)• notation (barlines, time

signatures)

Florentine Camerata• 1570s and 1580s; meetings

of powerful, intellectual, musical people in Florence @ Count Bardi’s palace.

• Giulio Caccini, Vincenzo Galilei (Galileo’s father)

• planned to revive Greek opera

• stile rappresentativo—text setting with solo melody which approximated natural speech inflection (recitative)

• ex. Caccini’s Amarilli, mia bella

Florence, Italy

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, Greece

Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)• Italian composer,

teacher, singer, instrumentalist

• Le nuove musiche– monody– madrigals and arias

• aria—strophic; high-voice melody with figured bass accompaniment• madrigal

– Amarilli, mia bella– Vedro ‘l mio sol

– preface contained advice on elaboration

Opera

An opera is a sung drama with accompaniment. Opera combines several art forms,

including:

Visual Art

Literature

Theatre

Like actors in a play, singers represent specific characters. Opera developed from the intermedio, a musical interlude performed betweenthe acts of play.

Dance

Vocal Music

Opera singers are virtuoso singers.

Instrumental Music

Opera is expensive. Early

operas were performed at courts. Public performances

came at the end of the 17th century.

Early Baroque Opera

1600-1650

• Dafne—1st opera, by Peri– Italian– only libretto (by Rinuccini) is extant– important as model for later operas:

• 1. prologue: character who tells audience central theme of opera

• 2. story from classic mythology• 3. pastoral scenes, characters• 4. moving prayer sung by main character,

answered through deus ex machina– cupid shoots Apollo w/arrow; Apollo falls in

love w/Dafne– Dafne prays she will escape him; Dafne is

turned into a laurel tree• 5. solo song• 6. choral singing at end

• L’Euridice—Peri/Caccini, text by Rinuccini– Nel pur ardor, aria– Per quel vago boschetto, recitative

Jacopo Peri (1561-1633)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

• Italian composer important in several genres, including:

Sacred Music

• teens, early 20s– stile antico

• 1590s—1st decade of 1600s: – worked at Gonzaga court

in Mantua– stile antico and stile

moderno• 1613—to Venice, St. Mark’s

maestro di cappella– after death of Gabrieli,

wrote similar polychoral works

St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy

Cathedral, Cremona, Italy

Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italy

Madrigals• Early Madrigals in the Renaissance Style

(1580s and 90s)• 5th book (1605)– seconda prattica, solo melody w/figured

bass– Artusi conflict– Cruda Amarilli

• 8th book (1638)– Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda• stile concitato—agitated style– tremolo/pizzicato– represents warlike action

• over 20 min. long• accompanied recitative • arioso (recit passage is in aria style)

Giovanni Artusi

Monteverdi

Opera

• L’Orfeo (1607, published 1609)– 1st great opera– Vi ricorda o boschi ombrosi, aria/canzonetta– Mira, deh mira Orfeo, song– Ahi, caso acerbo, dialogue in recitative– Tu se’ morta, rectitative; Ahi, caso acerbo, choral madrigal

• L’incoronazione di Poppea (1642)– smaller ensembles– Act I, scene III

What’s so great about Orfeo?

Many operas after Orfeo use many of the same techniques

• text/plot drawn from classical antiquity/ancient history; noble/divine figures, moral lesson

• 5 acts, each w/song by Orfeo, commentary by choir

• soloists accompanied by continuo• large group of diverse instruments• contrasting styles—duets, dances, madrigals,

ballettos• special effects

Opera in the Middle 1600s

Venice

•public performances of opera•older features:

–classical story•newer features

–castrato–3 acts–chorus and dance eliminated–more arias–combine serious and comedic–ex. Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (1643)

Rome•clearly defined recitatives and arias•castrati–females prohibited from singing, castrated males sang female roles

Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)•leading composer of Venetian opera, mid-17th c.•Monteverdi’s student•organist @ St. Mark’s•33 operas, including Giasone (Jason and the Golden Fleece)•lament over ostinato bass

Antonio Cesti (1623-1669)•Cavalli’s rival•Oronteo• E che si fa, recitative• Intorno all’ idol mio, aria

Italian opera became popular throughout Europe:

Early 17th CenturyChurch Music and Chamber Music

• arias, madrigals, motets, cantatas

• was not allowed to be an opera composer or church musician

• music for private gatherings

• cantata– secular vocal music for

solo voice– serious setting of Italian

poetry– like opera scene with no

staging– recit-arioso-aria– Lagrime mie

Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

• born in Rome• choir director• wrote oratorios and cantatas• oratorio (also called “concertato motets” or “dialogus”)

– dramatic work on a sacred subject/biblical stories– sung during Lent– voice/continuo– 5 or 6 soloists—soloists also perform together as choir– 10 to 30 minutes long– not staged– not part of a church service– sung in an oratory

• structure in Italy used for quasi-religious services• held several hundred people. • used to present sacred music outside of service

– Latin– castrati– Histoire di Jephte

• recitative: Plorate colles• Chorus: Plorate filii Israel

– (the first oratorio was written by Emilio de Cavalieri)

Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)• most important German composer of 17th century

• organist

• wrote 1st German opera

• Sacred concertos (also called “Symphoniae Sacrae”)– polychoral– written in the concertato style

• concertato: voices and instruments together• specific instrumentation

– in German– O lieber Herre Gott– Saul, was verwolgst du mich

• passion: a setting of the crucifixion

• studied w/Gabrieli, heard Monteverdi’s music– stile antico aspects of Gabrieli’s music:

• polychoral– stile moderno aspects of Monteverdi’s music:

• dissonance• voices and instruments together