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MUSI 4350/4360: Music of the Baroque Era
General Characteristics of the Baroque
The dominant trends in Baroque music correspond to those in Baroque art and literature. Among the general characteristics
of Baroque art is a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow
enhance the dramatic effects of many paintings and sculptures. The term Baroque denotes the inner stylistic unity of the
period. The most important unifying feature of all Baroque music is the characteristic accompanying part, the basso
continuo (Baroque era is usually referred to as the ‘thorough-bass period’). A bass line is followed by a continuo player(s)
above which a figure is written to indicate what additional notes should be played to fill in the harmony (figured bass). A
typical Baroque piece consists of a melodic line for a voice (more typically two melodic lines as in trio sonata), a bass line
for a continuo instrument such as cello or bassoon playing the written line, and a plucked (chitarrone) or keyboard
instrument (harpsichord or organ) playing the figured chords (mainly improvising) to fill the intervening space between the
two poles. The result is the polarity of outer parts.
During the Renaissance , harmony was the master of the word; in Baroque music, however, the word is the master of
harmony or, music is subservient to the words. The outermost voices (bass and soprano) acquired a dominant position
forming the skeleton of the composition. The rest could be filled in by the improvising continuo player in this structural
contour. Choral music had risen to its apogee in the 16th century and the turn of instrumental music had come.
Generally speaking, the Baroque era is a period of ecstasy and exuberance, and of dynamic tensions in contrast to the
assuredness and self-reliance of the Renaissance period. Particularly the early Baroque music (prior to 1650) shows, in its
canzonas and toccatas, striking traits of capriciousness, exuberance, and irregularity while later composers such as
Carissimi and Corelli brought about a trend towards greater restraint and regularity of style.
A great variety of forms, techniques, and idioms were created in the Baroque era for the first time. The development of the
opera, oratorio, passion, cantata, da capo aria; the creation of the ostinato forms, solo sonata, trio sonata and chamber
duet; the prelude and fugue, chorale prelude and chorale fantasy all happened during Baroque era. It instituted the
important forms of the concerto grosso and the solo concerto. In music, the Baroque era is the era of style-consciousness.
The means of verbal representation in Baroque music were indirect -intellectual and pictorial-. In Baroque music,
representation of extreme affections called for a richer vocabulary. Opera is one of the foremost innovations of the Baroque
era which allowed the realization of extreme affections in music. It represents melodic freedom. In early Baroque era, no
tonal direction existed, but experiments in pre-tonal harmony led to the creation of tonality.
The philosophy of Baroque music is that music represents the emotions (called the "affections" in the Baroque Era) of real
life and, in so doing, excites the listener’s emotions. The intention of Baroque music is to express emotions and it must
move the listener. It is generally agreed that Italian Baroque music expressed the emotions best. Baroque music was the
end-result of a search for new modes of expression. During this process, a concern for formal organization resulted in the
development of the Major-Minor Tonal System, which eventually replaced the older modal system of the past.
For Baroque musicians, the music of the Renaissance, referred to as stile antico was too rigid and structured for modern
tastes. The new Baroque style, stile moderno, was a vehicle of spontaneous expression, but failed to displace the stile
antico for some time. Some composers used both styles; stile antico in church music and stile moderno in secular vocal
music. One of the most important creations of Baroque was the concept of contrast as in Baroque art (like loud and soft,
solo and tutti, high and low, fast and slow). Numerous composers used the concerto or concertanto style (meaning a style
with a marked contrasting element).
Baroque music has unique idioms, suggesting the usage of specific style or character, and as an idiomatic form. Composers
began to write music specifically for a particular medium, such as the violin or the solo voice, rather than music with
interchangeable or no idioms that might be either sung or played by almost any combination of voices and instruments, as
had previously been the case. Before 1600, as the church had been the center of music, vocal music had been dominating,
and the instrumental music had been written for any instrument. After 1600, the violin became the main instrument and
developed its idioms. Instrumental and vocal styles began to be differentiated, eventually becoming so distinct that the
composers could borrow vocal idioms in instrumental writing, and vice versa. This transfer of idioms between instruments
forms one of the most fascinating aspects of Baroque music. In the late Baroque music, a rich interchange and
interpenetration of idioms is observed, i.e., transfer of lute ornaments to keyboard or vocal techniques to violin. Nobody can
mistake the violin character of a Baroque concerto grosso (persistent figuration to maintain the same affect).
The Baroque preference for extreme contrast had a decisive influence on the range of musical instruments. The desire for
deeper bass resulted in lowering the register of harpsichord and organ, addition of bass strings to the lute and enlargement
of the lute family by bigger members. The double bassoon and contrabass trombone were created. With its treble character,
the violin became the queen of the instruments. Among the wind instruments, the bassoon and shawm, reborn as oboe,
survived. At the close of the seventeenth century, the French horn and clarinet were added to the wind ensemble. Because
of their quiet sound in the enlarging ensemble, the viol family, recorder and harpsichord did not have a long life span and
eventually became obsolete.
Summary of Baroque Characteristics
1. Basso continuo (two principal contours -melody and bass polarity- with the intervening space filled in by improvised harmony)
2. Figured bass
3. A single unchanging affect
4. Contrast /the pursuit of striking effect (stile concertante): like solo-tutti alternation of the concerto grosso
5. Instrumental music dominating vocal music: new instrumental genres
6. Contrapuntal independence of voices and instrumental parts, a turn to chordal harmony from intervallic harmony
7. Homophonic texture: In late Baroque music homophony was held in check by the fast-moving continuo. In the relation between melody and chord
progression, the consideration of the latter began to weigh more heavily (a process finally led to the homophony of the Mannheim school). The
continuo-homophony differs from the plain homophony of the Mannheim school in its fast harmonic rhythm, and its energetic and sweeping
rhythmic patterns that prevailed in both melody and bass
8. A single unifying element in Baroque music. While the treble expresses the mood, the bass supports the melody
9. Unbroken lines with long phrases and well-spaced cadences, some improvisation (as in the realization of figured bass) and ornamentation
(particularly in France)
10. Interchange of idioms (especially between vocal and instruments; Vivaldi, JS Bach)
11. Expressive use of dissonance (stylistic difference between Renaissance and Baroque)
12. Variation: variation appears so consistently as an element of Baroque music that the whole era may justly be called one of variation.
13. Series of first inversion chords, series of suspensions, seventh chords on any degree of the scale, Phrygian cadence, hemiola, circle-of-fifths,
sequence, tierce de Picardie, lack of dynamic markings and performance directions, only rarely distant modulations (usually to one degree flat or
sharp)
14. Fast harmonic rhythm
15. Fully established tonality in late Baroque
Early Elements of National Style
Following an essentially international lingua franca and the rigorous counterpoint of the Renaissance, the national stylistic
awareness began to increase brilliance and expressiveness. In the early seventeenth century, the new Italian musical style
swept over Europe eventually dominating virtually everywhere with the exception of, to some extent, France. Italian attitudes
dominated the musical thinking of the period from the mid-sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries. France was the last country
affected by Italian national style. The commonest Italian genres, the canzona and sonata, appeared as outgrowths of vocal
music genres (solo monody), whereas, in France as the preference was for music that grew out of dance, the commonest
genre was the orchestral suite. Tonality remained important in both in France and Italy.
The French classical music had its golden age in the late seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century. During
that period, ballet entered its glorious phase. A great achievement was the re-organization of the orchestra: its make-up,
style of performance and the music written for them were re-organized mainly by Jean Baptiste Lully. The orchestral
Overture was established as a genre. The Suite also relies on contrast like the Sonata, where paired dances provided the
contrast. Dances were organized in a suite to achieve the slow-fast progression. The peak of this form’s achievement is
represented in the harpsichord suite in D minor by Marchand. An indigenous operatic tradition (recitatives and changing
time signatures), and some conventions of ornamentation (precisely indicated by signs) and rhythm (subtle and
discontinuous, strongly influenced by dance) were also established.
Italian: The commonest genre: concerto/sonata. Music that is not about anything. Large-scale abstract, instrumental
genres. The principal musical forms of the Baroque era arose in Italy. It was there that the cantata, concerto, sonata,
oratorio and opera were conceived and developed. Instruments: Violin/Harpsichord-Cello. Rhythm that is often continuous
by the late Baroque, made up of repeating patterns - the ‘decorative frieze’ effect. Texture: Simple, thematically clear-cut,
pattern- and sequence-employing. Harmonic and melodic sequences based around the circle-of-fifths. Chromatic chords
against a consonant background. Seventh chords as a means to an end (i.e., to propel the music to another tonal area-by
means of sequence), also surprise chords: Neapolitan sixths, augmented sixths and tonic minor triads in major keys. In the
early monodic literature, three methods of achieving musical coherence can be found: repetitions and imitations between
bass and melody, and the most characteristic one strophic variation (strophic bass). Ornamentation: not indicated in the
score, improvised by the performer. Italy’s stylistic dominance made unnecessary its musicians’ familiarity with other
practices.
French: The commonest genre: Suite. Music that is about something (literary and visual associations); dances, character
pieces. Music that aims above all to please, to be in good taste. French preference was for music that grew out of dance
rather than songs, and emphasized characteristic rhythmic detail. Instruments: Viola da gamba/Harpsichord-Lute. Texture:
Often light, flowing, seamless melody. Complex, asymmetrical look (even on paper), large variety of note values within each
phrase. No visible patterns and small use of sequence. Arpeggiated chords (style briese), broken counterpoint. Vocalism
based on the special characteristics of the language that was not shared by other countries. The measured declamation
characteristics of French theatre (tragedie lyrique) had little in common with the flamboyant, virtuoso manner of Italian
operatic writing. Ornamentation: No style aspect of Baroque performance distinguished more sharply between French and
Italian styles than ornamentation. French musicians wrote out all ornaments in precise details and expected the performers
to adhere to them strictly. In Baroque music, notated dotted rhythm was performed freely virtually everywhere with the
precise value of the dotted note being variable according to the mood or affect. In France, musicians habitually introduced
dotted rhythm in succession of conjunct notes, usually quavers, even where it was not indicated. This unequal playing of
quavers may have stemmed from a Renaissance practice. In France, no Italian tempo markings were used until the late
Baroque.
The Lullian French Overture (slow/fast) influenced most composers of the later Baroque era. It consists of two contrasting
halves repeated twice (AABB). It can be called in binary form although it is an exceptional example since one would not
expect a complete change of mood, tempo and meter to occur at the double bar.
German: German Baroque is mainly contrapuntal, hence Germany is the land of fugue, the main instrument being the
organ. The typical seventeenth century keyboard form is the prelude and fugue. Also in vocal music, homophonic bel canto
and contrapuntal style existed side by side (combination of the rigorous counterpoint of the Renaissance with an expression
of the affection, by way of bold dissonances and word painting). As Purcell did in England, mainly protestant Germans set
their native tongue to music (as opposed to Catholics using Latin). the Italian. Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672) and JS Bach
(1685-1750) were the greatest German composers of the Baroque period, with Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) in between
them.
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CMS
Characteristics of Baroque Music
Unity of Mood:
A baroque piece is famous for its doctrine of mood. What is happy will be happy throughout and what is sad
continues to the end. Composers moulded the musical language to fit moods and affections. Some definite rhythms
and melodic patterns are used to define certain moods and expressions.
The prime exception of this characteristics is an exception to this baroque principle of the unity of mood. Drastic
changes of emotions in the text may inspire corresponding changes in music. But even in such cases, the certain
mood continue for quite some time before it changes to another.
Rhythm:
Unity of mood in baroque is first conveyed by the continuity of rhythm. Rhythmic patterns heard at the beginning of
the piece is reiterated many times throughout the piece. This relentless drive compelled the music to push forward.
This forward motion is hardly ever interrupted. The beat are also far more distinct in baroque music.
Melody:
Baroque music creates a feeling of continuity. An opening melody will be heard over and over again in the course of
the piece. Even if the character of the piece is constant, the passage is varied. Many baroque melodies are complex
and elaborate. They are not easy to sing or play. Baroque melodies give and impression of dynamic expansion rather
than balance and symmetry. It gives a whole feeling of a jumble yet a theme is distinctly heard.
Terraced Dynamics:
Paralleling the continuity of mood, the dynamics of the piece also stay constant for some period of time before it
shifts to another level. When the dynamics shift, it is sudden like physically stepping of a step. Therefore, terraced
dynamics are a distinctive quality of baroque music. Gradual changes such as crescendo and decrescendos are
unheard of this is partly due to the fact that the manuals of the keyboards instrument then were able to provide only
the loud or the soft sound. They were not able to provide the “in between” sound.
Texture:
Late baroque music are often and predominantly polyphonic in texture : two more melodic lines compete for the
listener’s attention. Usually the soprano and the bass line is more important and imitation between various lines is
very common. A melodic line that happen in one voice will happen in other voices as well. However, this was not
strict during Bach’s and Handel’s time short snatches of homophonic pieces may also occur.
Basso continuo and figure bass:
In any baroque piece, it is common to see figures basses, little numbers at the bottom of the stave, it indicates the
chords that the basso continuo player must play.
The basso continuo consists of the cello and the harpsichord.