Week 10 Lecture Notes p.1

Transcription

1 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.1 Renaissance to Baroque Interest shifted from elaborate polyphony to monody ( one song ), solo song with instrumental accompaniment. Use of dynamics became more nuanced. Not specified in scores as much as in later eras, but the instruments themselves (i.e. harpsichord/organ) contributed as did the texts music was set to. The rise of the virtuoso musician paralleled the rise of more refined instruments and more virtuosic compositions. Castrati were particularly virtuosic vocalists. New kind of notation for monody. Figured bass was a numeral above or below the bass note so a musician would know what chord to play. The bass line was called basso continuo and was often split between two instruments. Cello or bassoon would play the basso continuo and a chordal instrument (that could play more than one note) would play the figured bass harmony this is the true advent of major-minor tonality, the strong push to the tonic in a piece. Improvisation was a large part of realizing figured bass and of embellishing a score. Baroque music sounded very different in performance than on paper, just like 20 th century jazz and pop music. Rhythm became more insistent in moving bass lines as Baroque music progressed. Composers started to use of dissonance and chromaticism to heighten tension. Cantata is a Baroque style that fuses polyphony and monody. It is a work for one or more solo vocalists with instrumental accompaniment. From the Italian cantare, to sing. 3 genres of secular cantatas: lyric expresses personal emotion music to dominate the story. dramatic written for performance in a play narrative tells a story, following characters through a plot.

2 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.2 Bach and the Sacred Cantata Cantatas were sacred and secular. Bach wrote both but sacred cantatas were his strongest. Cantatas are based on chorale hymns associated with German Protestantism (Lutheranism). Martin Luther and fellow Reformers made singing in German, first in unison and then in 4 parts, central to Lutheran services. Melody was in the soprano so all could hear it. Pointed the way to homophony (clear-cut melody supported by chords). Bach ( ) found fame as a virtuoso organist more than as a composer. Being an organist was the family business. Longest post was at Leipzig until his death, running sacred (church) and secular (collegium musicum) choirs. Bach wrote many chorale preludes short organ piece built on a chorale hymn. Also wrote 200 cantatas, sonatas and masses. Bach raised the existing musical language to new heights rather than innovating new forms. A Mighty Fortress is Our God 5-8 movements; chorales interspersed with arias and recitatives Movements usually based on chorale hymns, arias and recitatives sometimes received freer treatment. Used conjunct melodic writing. Used fugues a form of imitative polyphony. In Fortress each melodic line receives fugal treatment. Each phrase is introduced by one voice then imitated by the three others. The middle movements made of up free arias and recitatives. Final movement is SATB and orchestra. Each vocal line is doubled by several instruments. The homorhythmic conclusion makes for a simple and direct conclusion,

3 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.3 enhanced by trumpet and percussion added after Bach s death b one of his sons. Baroque Instrumental Music Instrumental music becomes as important as vocal music. Organ, harpsichord, violin signal the rise of the virtuosi. Major advances in timbral, idiomatic writing begin. Music is written for what each instrument does best. Instrumental begins signaling the rise of orchestration. 1600s = dramatic improvements of string instrument production. Gut strings (steel today) = softer, less bright and penetrating. Rise of modern prototype woodwinds flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon. Trumpet moved from utility/marching instrument to orchestra. Still no valves yet. French horn provided mellower brass contrast. Timpani introduced as bass to trumpets. Organ, harpsichord, clavichord all pre-figure modern piano. Harpsichord and clavichord almost gone by 18 th century replaced by piano. Timbral colors of organ clearly delineate all four voices to clearly hear the counterpoint. Organs multiple keyboards = terraced dynamics. Harpsichord vs. piano quills not hammers, shorter sustain, nonextreme dynamic possibilities. Recent resurgence of baroque music played on baroque instruments due to an interest in authentic representation. Sonata Types Sonata da camera/chamber sonata: group of dances, often open with a slow movement and pick up intensity.

4 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.4 Sonata da chiesa/church sonata: serious, more contrapuntal, often 2 violins and continuo (trio sonatas), if there s a 4 th instrument it would be chordal for the figured bass. Bach and Scarletti wrote many solo sonatas with high technical demands laying foundations for modern piano technique. Concerti From latin concertare = to contend with Solo Concerto = experiments in sonority and virtuosity; solo instrumental with orchestral accompaniment. Concerto Grosso = concertino (small group of soloists) and tutti/ripieno (full orchestra accompaniment) i.e. Bach s Brandenburg Concerto Vivaldi ( ) was a famous exponent of solo concerti. Followed Allegro-Adagio-Allegro form, violin most common soloist. Was the concertmaster at the most important music school in Venice. He wrote over 500 concerti, half were for solo violin. Also wrote chamber music, operas, cantatas, and masses. The Four Seasons Four violin concertos, each accompanied by a poem. Each line of the poem was written above a passage in the music that represented the text. First movement, spring, was for strings and harpsichord or organ. Ritornello (theme that returns) unifies the first movement. Allegro-Large-Allegro form within the first movement. Example of Program music literary link between text and music.

5 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.5 Baroque Instrumental Forms Ground bass = repeating bass line, with other voice built on top (i.e. Pachabel s Canon in D) Operatic overtures French overture (slow/fast fast section fugal) Italian overture (fast/slow/fast precursor to solo concerto, concerto grosso, and symphony) Keyboard Forms Free (no fixed melody, use of improvisation, occurs in preludes and chorale preludes) Fugue (based on counterpoint; strict) Prelude short piece based on the expansion of a melodic or rhythmic figure. Toccata another freer, virtuosic form Fantasia Chorale Prelude short organ works elaborating on a chorale melody) also chorale variations all used to introduce materials before voices enter. Bach wrote 250 chorale preludes i.e. Jesu Joy of Man s Desiring Fugues and Devices Single theme pervades. Called the subject. Imitation principle enters in one voice then each in succession. Can be for instrumental ensembles, vocal ensembles, or solo chordal instruments. All lines called voices whether instrumental or vocal. 1 st imitative voice = the answer

6 Week 10 Lecture Notes p.6 Continuation of 1 st voice once second enters = countersubject After all voices enter, free counterpoint is woven around all the subjects. Once all subjects enter, the exposition is at an end. Fugue continues with subject returns and episodes interludes that serve as areas or relaxation. Imitative Contrapuntal Devices Augmentation larger note values resulting in slower fugue Diminution shorter note values resulting in faster fugue Retrograde stating the subject backwards Inversion stating the subject upside-down Stretto crowding the subjects very close to one another Bach s most famous Keyboard fugues are The Well Tempered Clavier (48 preludes and fugues) and The Art of Fugue (his last collection, 14 fugues and 4 canons) Week 10 Listening: 1. Bach Cantata No Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, 1 3. Bach Jesu Joy of Man s Desiring 4. Bach Sarabande, from Cello Suit No.2 5. Bach Toccata in D Minor 6. Pachebel Canon in D Major 7. Vivaldi The Four Seasons, Spring 8. Bach The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus 1