Music in the Baroque Era: Part IV

1600-1750

The Late Baroque Era in Italy and France

1700-1750

ITALY

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)• violin teacher• operas performed throughout

Europe• operas, cantatas, sacred vocal,

sonatas, 500 concertos (200 for solo violin)

• solo concerto– ritornello form

• alternating solo & ritornello sections– ritornello: a tutti section from a

concerto– solo: a section of a concerto

featuring a soloist accompanied by an orchetra

– “Spring” from “The Four Seasons”

– Concerto in a minor

France

François Couperin (1668-1733)• court organist, harpsichordist• wrote keyboard suites (orders)

comprised of dances and character pieces– Vingt-cinquième ordre

• La visionaire• La muse victorieuse

• character piece: piece with a descriptive title, usually the name of a person, place, or expressive characteristic of the piece

• ornament—small stereotyped melodic figures consisting of short notes that decorate a longer one (distinguished from embellishments, which must be written out)

Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764)• early career—organist

– keyboard pieces, motets, cantatas• Theory of Harmony

– chord progressions, not voice-leading, as basis of all musical composition

– tonic, dominant, subdominant• later career—opera composer

– Hippolyte et Aricie (start video at 3’33’’)– Les Indes Gallantes

• Rameau and Lully operas– similar

• French overture/prologue• recits have metrical shifts to imitate text• dance• ornamentation, not embellishment

– different• Rameau influenced by Italian music

– da Capo aria/melismas