Baroque Chorale Essay

“A Music Faculty Recital” at Prince George 's Community College was actually the very first concert I’ve been to that included Baroque style. The environment created a nostalgic yet modern and elegant mood; something that made you feel like you were in the late 1700’s yet still in modern times. The songs were mostly enjoyable and we 're all well played. This concert included an ensemble: the flute, the cello, the piano, and the harpsichord. Peggy Bair, who played the flute, was very enthusiastic. Irma Cripe, who played the cello, was quiet for the first part of the concert but gradually became more important throughout the concert. And lastly, the virtuous Gary Kirkeby, who played the piano and harpsichord, served as the backbone of all parts of the concert and made this concert very enjoyable.

The Baroque Era started in 1600 and lasted till 1750. Some of the famous composers from the Baroque Era include Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, and JS Bach. Music in Baroque society became amusement for aristocrats, modern orchestra began to evolve, and the idea of opera are beginning to develop. In many Baroque pieces the use of a Basso Continuo, which is played by two instruments typically a keyboard and a member of the strings family was found in many pieces during this time. The Baroque period can be characterized with clear and distinct meter, repeated rhythmic patterns, homophonic texture, and terraced dynamics. The Baroque is also classified by its distinct genres including Fugue, Solo Concerto, and Cantata. The Ritornello form being introduced had an impact on Baroque music because it is outlined using harmonic progressions, key modulations, and motives from the main theme in order to give character to a piece.

The cantata was typically sung in a church service, and could be a single movement or multiple movements. Cantatas were sung by a soloist orchestra, like the Italian opera: “Cantatas were used to denote small and large scale works, ranging from a solo singer with basso continuo to a large ensemble of soloists, chorus, and instruments.”2 Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was a composer who published a group of sacred cantatas, one titled Judith: “Judith is performed largely by one singer with basso continuo. A violin joins in for instrumental sections called symphonies and as part of an accompanied recitative.”2 The cantatas of the Lutheran church were much more sacred than Italian cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote most cantatas for the Lutheran church. The texts of Bach’s cantatas included biblical passages, a chorale text, and poetic interpretation. Bach explored a variety of instrumental and vocal elements in his cantatas: “Bach’s cantatas embody many different forms and traditions, including motet-like movements for chorus, chorale harmonization, virtuosic solos and duets, with additional solo

Music of the baroque period was considered very complex and similar to the other forms of art of this time. Additional brass, woodwind and string instruments had been created to add additional depth to the works of this time. Composers of this time attempted to give voices to their works and invoke emotions. The works were created to tell a story.

The Baroque musical period occurred throughout Europe from 1600 to 1750. The compositions during this period had certain characteristics. Some of these characteristics included unity of mood, continuity of rhythm and melody, and most compositions, in the middle to late Baroque period, included polyphonic textures (Kamien, 2011). Many musicians, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Arcangelo Corelli, thrived during this period. They composed hundreds to thousands of compositions in various different musical forms and each piece holds the characteristics of the Baroque period uniquely. This paper will review the

During the Baroque period, instrumental music was written for every conceivable size of ensemble. On the smaller side, the Baroque sonata offers one of the finest examples of chamber music. Two types of sonata are found during this period: the sonata da chiesa (church sonata), and the sonata da camera (chamber sonata). The sonata da chiesa was more somber, while the sonata da camera was, much like the suite, usually comprised of dance forms. The gigue from Corelli's Sonata for 2 violins and lute is a fine example of the sonata da camera

Many scholars deem the Lutheran Chorale as “one of the most thrilling chapter in the history of the Reformation”(H.G. Haile Luther; An experiment in Biography H.G. Haile,Author 1980;Doubleday & Company Inc Garden City New York ). Luther greatly appreciated older German hymns from the Middle ages, as can be seen through his works. Luther would find poets to write new hymns in what he deemed as a “proper devotional style”. Luther would often paraphrase Psalms in his hymns. In 1523 several of his hymns and those of his friends were printed and distributed in individual leaflets or broadsheets.

Baroque music is characterized through contrasts as dramatic elements, monody and the advent of the basso continuo, and different instrumental sounds. Contrast is an essential feature in the production of baroque arrangements. The alternations between bold and flamboyant and soft, solo and ensemble, different instruments and timbres all constitute a key portion in various baroque compositions. Composers similarly created more precise instrumental arrangements regularly stipulating the instruments on a musical piece that ought to be executed instead of allowing the performing musician to select.

Music has been categorized over time in different periods, each of which have their own characteristics, composers and music style. Two of those important periods were baroque and romantic, which had left an important musical legacy though history. The baroque was the period from about 1600 to 1750. It was called one of the best periods of the music history, because there was a huge change from the style of composition from antique and renaissance music which achieved great expectations about this music. Furthermore, Baroque music was written by great composers such as Bach, Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi who were the most representative composers of the period. In addition, Baroque music was characterized

The Baroque Period (1600-1750) was mainly a period of newly discovered ideas. From major new innovations in science, to vivid changes in geography, people were exploring more of the world around them. The music of the baroque period was just as extreme as the new changes. Newly recognized composers such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi were writing entirely new musical ideas and giving a chance for new voices to be heard that were normally not thought of sounds. Their musical legacy is still recognized today, and is a treasured discovery of outstanding compositions being reiterated with every performance of them.

When approaching a performance, accomplished musicians often consider the historical context from which a piece originates. They most often think of such considerations in the application of that context as it pertains to early music that is, the Baroque era or earlier. For any era, such historical considerations are called performance practice, and may include the use of vibrato, ornamentation, dynamic levels, tempi, instrumental timbres, performance setting, and balance. Vibrato and ornamentation are two important areas of consideration that vocalists must explore when aiming to give an authentically Baroque performance.

Baroque music tends to be complex, but with a very organized system of forms and harmonies that is the basis for almost all music from what is called the “Common Era,” the period between 1700-1900. The Common Era developed throughout the nineteenth century, but after 1900 music entered an age of experimentation; music perhaps became a postmodern art genre very early on. Baroque music all sounds similar, although the educated listener can tell Bach from Handel without difficulty. In the realm of contemporary music, however, entirely atonal music from Schoenberg and Webern can easily exist alongside French Impressionism and Copland’s American neo-Romanticism. Today’s composers are similar only in that their styles, and entire musical languages, are radically different.

In 1600 a new style of music began to evolve, this form of music was

The baroque period of music commenced in the year 1600 and ended around 1750 (Fuller – “Baroque”). Its texture was mainly polyphonic (Fuller – “Classical”). Polyphonic means that two or more different melodies are played simultaneously (McComb). This provides an energetic rhythm, long melodies, and many ornaments. The most famous composers of this time period were Vivaldi, Corelli, Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, J.S. Bach, and Couperin. Many new styles of music were introduced, such as operas, sonatas, oratorios, suites, fugues, and concertos. Orchestras began to develop, but it was not until the classical period when orchestral music was perfected (Fuller – “Baroque”).

The three most well-known, and arguably most important, musical eras in western civilizations would be the; medieval, Renaissance and Baroque time periods. With the basics of music with Gregorian chant and organum from the medieval era to the newfound polyphony texture from the Renaissance and the equal temperament and major-minor tonality of the baroque era; Each time period brings a part of the foundation that most past, present, and future music is and will be based on. While it may seem that these three eras or completely different, they do contain several underlying similarities.