Which Instrument Family Formed the Core of the Baroque Orchestra?

Baroque theatre in Český Krumlov

Teatro Argentine republic (Panini, 1747,Musée du Louvre)

Baroque music

Baroque music is a manner of Western fine art music equanimous from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era followed the Renaissance, and was followed in turn by the Classical era. The discussion "baroque" comes from the Portuguese word barroco significant misshapen pearl, a negative description of the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this menses. After, the name came to apply too to the compages of the aforementioned period.

Baroque music forms a major portion of the "classical music" catechism, being widely studied, performed, and listened to. Composers of the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Henry Purcell, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Arcangelo Corelli, Tomaso Albinoni, François Couperin,Denis Gaultier, Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Jean-Philippe Rameau, January Dismas Zelenka, and Johann Pachelbel.

The Baroque period saw the cosmos of tonality. During the menstruation, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, fabricated changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and likewise established opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto, and sonata as musical genres. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are however in apply today.

Etymology

Periods of Western classical music
AD / CE Early
Medieval	c. 500–1400
Renaissance	c. 1400–1600
Common practice
Baroque	c. 1600–1760
Classical	c. 1730–1820
Romantic	c. 1815–1910
Modern and contemporary
Modern	c. 1890–1930
20th century	1901–2000
Contemporary	c. 1975–present
21st century	2001–present

History of European art music

The term "Baroque" is more often than not used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a menstruum of approximately 150 years.

Although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears before in reference to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the première in Oct 1733 of Rameau'sHippolyte et Aricie, printed in theMercure de France in May 1734. The critic unsaid that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque," complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was filled with unremitting dissonances, constantly inverse key and meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device.

The systematic application by historians of the term "baroque" to music of this catamenia is a relatively recent development. In 1919, Curt Sachs became the outset to employ the v characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin's theory of the Bizarre systematically to music. Critics were quick to question the attempt to transpose Wölfflin'southward categories to music, however, and in the second quarter of the 20th century independent attempts were made past Manfred Bukofzer (in Frg and, later on his immigration, in America) and by Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune (in Belgium) to use autonomous, technical analysis rather than comparative abstractions, in society to avoid the adaptation of theories based on the plastic arts and literature to music. All of these efforts resulted in appreciable disagreement most fourth dimension boundaries of the flow, especially concerning when it began. In English the term acquired currency only in the 1940s, in the writings of Bukofzer and Paul Henry Lang.

As late as 1960 there was even so considerable dispute in academic circles, particularly in French republic and Britain, whether it was meaningful to lump together music equally diverse as that of Jacopo Peri, Domenico Scarlatti, and J.S. Bach nether a single rubric. Nevertheless, the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music. It may be helpful to distinguish the Baroque from both the preceding (Renaissance) and following (Classical) periods of musical history.

History

The Baroque period is divided into three major phases: early, heart, and late. Although they overlap in time, they are conventionally dated from 1580 to 1630, from 1630 to 1680, and from 1680 to 1730.

Early baroque music (1580–1630)

Claudio Monteverdi in 1640

The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in belatedly Renaissance Florence who gathered nether the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. In reference to music, they based their ideals on a perception of Classical (particularly ancient Greek) musical drama that valued discourse and oration. As such, they rejected their contemporaries' use of polyphony and instrumental music, and discussed such ancient Greek music devices every bit monody, which consisted of a solo singing accompanied by a kithara. The early realizations of these ideas, including Jacopo Peri'southwardDafne and50'Euridice, marked the beginning of opera, which in turn was somewhat of a goad for Baroque music.

Concerning music theory, the more widespread use offigured bass (also known equallythorough bass) represents the developing importance of harmony as the linear underpinnings of polyphony. Harmony is the terminate result of counterpoint, and figured bass is a visual representation of those harmonies ordinarily employed in musical performance. Composers began apropos themselves with harmonic progressions,and also employed the tritone, perceived equally an unstable interval, to create dissonance. Investment in harmony had besides existed among certain composers in the Renaissance, notably Carlo Gesualdo; Nonetheless, the use of harmony directed towards tonality, rather than modality, marks the shift from the Renaissance into the Baroque period. This led to the idea that chords, rather than notes, could provide a sense of closure—one of the fundamental ideas that became known equally tonality.

By incorporating these new aspects of composition, Claudio Monteverdi furthered the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque menses. He developed ii private styles of composition – the heritage of Renaissance polyphony (prima pratica) and the new basso continuo technique of the Baroque (seconda pratica). With the writing of the operas50'Orfeo andL'incoronazione di Poppea among others, Monteverdi brought considerable attention to the new genre of opera.

Centre baroque music (1630–1680)

The rise of the centralized court is i of the economic and political features of what is frequently labelled the Age of Absolutism, personified by Louis XIV of French republic. The manner of palace, and the court system of manners and arts he fostered became the model for the remainder of Europe. The realities of ascent church and state patronage created the demand for organized public music, as the increasing availability of instruments created the demand for chamber music.

Jean-Baptiste Lully

The eye Baroque flow in Italy is defined by the emergence in the cantata, oratorio, and opera during the 1630s of the bel-canto style. This style, ane of the well-nigh of import contributions to the development of Baroque likewise as the later Classical style, was generated by a new concept of melody and harmony that elevated the status of the music to one of equality with the words, which formerly had been regarded as pre-eminent. The florid, coloratura monody of the early Baroque gave way to a simpler, more than polished melodic way, usually in a ternary rhythm. These melodies were built from short, cadentially delimited ideas oftentimes based on stylized dance patterns fatigued from the sarabande or thecourante. The harmonies, too, were simpler than in the early on Baroque monody, and the accompanying bass lines were more than integrated with the melody, producing a contrapuntal equivalence of the parts that later led to the device of an initial bass anticipation of the aria melody. This harmonic simplification also led to a new formal device of the differentiation of recitative and aria. The most important innovators of this mode were the Romans Luigi Rossi and Giacomo Carissimi, who were primarily composers of cantatas and oratorios, respectively, and the VenetianFrancesco Cavalli, who was principally an opera composer. Later important practitioners of this style include Antonio Cesti, Giovanni Legrenzi, and Alessandro Stradella.

The eye Baroque had admittedly no bearing at all on the theoretical work of Johann Fux, who systematized the strict counterpoint characteristic of earlier ages in hisGradus advertizing Paranassum (1725).

I pre-eminent example of a court style composer is Jean-Baptiste Lully. He purchased patents from the monarchy to exist the sole composer of operas for the male monarch and to preclude others from having operas staged. He completed 15 lyric tragedies and left unfinishedAchille et Polyxène.

Musically, he did non establish the string-dominated norm for orchestras, which was inherited from the Italian opera, and the characteristically French v-part disposition(violins, violas—in hautes-contre, tailles and quintes sizes—and bass violins) had been used in the ballet from the time of Louis Xiii. He did, however, introduce this ensemble to the lyric theatre, with the upper parts often doubled by recorders, flutes, and oboes, and the bass past bassoons. Trumpets and kettledrums were frequently added for heroic scenes.

Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli is remembered equally influential for his achievements on the other side of musical technique—as a violinist who organized violin technique and pedagogy—and in purely instrumental music, especially his advocacy and development of the concerto grosso. Whereas Lully was ensconced at court, Corelli was one of the first composers to publish widely and have his music performed all over Europe. As with Lully'south stylization and system of the opera, the concerto grosso is built on strong contrasts—sections alternate between those played by the full orchestra, and those played by a smaller group. Dynamics were "terraced", that is with a sharp transition from loud to soft and back again. Fast sections and ho-hum sections were juxtaposed against each other. Numbered among his students is Antonio Vivaldi, who subsequently equanimous hundreds of works based on the principles in Corelli's trio sonatas and concerti.

In contrast to these composers, Dieterich Buxtehude was not a animate being of court but instead was church building musician, holding the posts of organist and Werkmeister at the Marienkirche at Lübeck. His duties every bit Werkmeister involved interim as the secretarial assistant, treasurer, and business organization manager of the church building, while his position as organist included playing for all the principal services, sometimes in collaboration with other instrumentalists or vocalists, who were besides paid past the church. Entirely outside of his official church duties, he organised and directed a concert series known every bit theAbendmusiken, which included performances of sacred dramatic works regarded by his contemporaries as the equivalent of operas.

Late baroque music (1680–1730)

George Frideric Handel

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748

Through the work of Johann Fux, the Renaissance style of polyphony was fabricated the basis for the study of limerick.

A continuous worker, Handel borrowed from others and often recycled his own textile. He was too known for reworking pieces such every bit the famousMessiah, which premiered in 1742, for bachelor singers and musicians.

Timeline of Baroque composers

Baroque instruments

Baroque instruments including hurdy gurdy, harpsichord, bass viol, lute, violin, and guitar

A double-manual harpsichord after Jean-Claude Goujon (1749)

Strings

Violino piccolo
Violin
Viol
Viola
Viola d'amore
Viola pomposa
Tenor violin
Cello
Contrabass
Lute
Theorbo
Archlute
Angélique
Mandolin
Guitar
Harp
Hurdy gurdy

Woodwinds

Baroque flute
Chalumeau
Cortol (also known as Cortholt, Curtall, Oboe family unit)
Dulcian
Musette de cour
Bizarre oboe
Rackett
Recorder
Bassoon
Clarinet

Brasses

Cornett
Natural horn
Baroque trumpet
Tromba da tirarsi (also chosentromba spezzata)
Flatt trumpet
Serpent
Sackbut (16th- and early on 17th-century English name for FR:saquebute,saqueboute; ES:sacabuche; It:trombone; MHG:busaun,busîne,busune / DE (since the early 17th century)Posaune)
Trombone (English language name for the same instrument, from the early 18th century)

Keyboards

Clavichord
Tangent piano
Fortepiano – early on version of pianoforte
Harpsichord
Organ

Percussion

Baroque timpani
Forest snare drum
Tenor drum
Tambourine
Castanets

Styles and forms

The Baroque suite

The Baroque suite oft consists of the post-obit movements:

Overture – The Baroque suite often began with a French overture ("Ouverture" in French), which was followed past a succession of dances of dissimilar types, principally the following four:
Allemande – Often the start trip the light fantastic of an instrumental suite, the allemande was a very popular dance that had its origins in the German Renaissance era, when it was more than oftentimes called the almain.^{[citation needed]} The allemande was played at a moderate tempo and could commencement on any beat of the bar.
Courante – The second dance is the courante, a lively, French dance in triple meter. The Italian version is called the corrente.
Sarabande – The sarabande, a Spanish trip the light fantastic toe, is the third of the four basic dances, and is ane of the slowest of the baroque dances. It is as well in triple meter and tin outset on whatsoever trounce of the bar, although there is an emphasis on the second trounce, creating the characteristic 'halting', or iambic rhythm of the sarabande.
Gigue – The gigue is an upbeat and lively baroque dance in compound meter, typically the concluding motion of an instrumental suite, and the fourth of its basic dance types. The gigue tin can kickoff on whatsoever beat of the bar and is easily recognized past its rhythmic feel. The gigue originated in the British Isles. Its counterpart in folk music is thejig.

These four trip the light fantastic toe types (allemande, courant, sarabande, and gigue) make upwards the bulk of 17th-century suites; afterwards suites interpolate one or more than additional dances between the sarabande and gigue:

Gavotte – The gavotte can exist identified by a multifariousness of features; it is in 4/iv time and always starts on the third shell of the bar, although this may sound like the first beat in some cases, as the beginning and third beats are the stiff beats in quadruple time. The gavotte is played at a moderate tempo, although in some cases it may be played faster.
Bourrée – The bourrée is similar to the gavotte as it is in 2/2 time although it starts on the 2d half of the last crush of the bar, creating a unlike feel to the dance. The bourrée is commonly played at a moderate tempo, although for some composers, such every bit Handel, it can be taken at a much faster tempo.
Minuet – The minuet is perchance the best-known of the baroque dances in triple meter. It can start on whatever trounce of the bar. In some suites in that location may be a Minuet I and II, played in succession, with the Minuet I repeated.
Passepied – The passepied is a fast trip the light fantastic in binary form and triple meter that originated every bit a court dance in Brittany. Examples can be found in afterwards suites such as those of Bach and Handel.
Rigaudon – The rigaudon is a lively French dance in duple meter, similar to the bourrée, simply rhythmically simpler. It originated equally a family of closely related southern-French folk dances, traditionally associated with the provinces of Vavarais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, and Provence.

Other features

Basso continuo – a kind of continuous accompaniment notated with a new music annotation system, figured bass, unremarkably for a sustaining bass instrument and a keyboard instrument.
The concerto and concerto grosso
Monody – an outgrowth of song
Homophony – music with ane melodic vocalization and rhythmically similar accompaniment (this and monody are assorted with the typical Renaissance texture,polyphony)
Dramatic musical forms like opera,dramma per musica
Combined instrumental-song forms, such as the oratorio and cantata
New instrumental techniques, similartremolo andpizzicato
The da capo aria "enjoyed sureness".
Theritornello aria – repeated short instrumental interruptions of vocal passages.
The concertato style – contrast in audio between groups of instruments.
Extensive ornamentation

Genres

Song

Opera
- Zarzuela
- Opera seria
- Opéra comique
- Opera-ballet
Masque
Oratorio
Passion (music)
Cantata
Mass (music)
Anthem
Monody
Chorale

Instrumental

Chorale composition
Concerto grosso
Fugue
Suite
- Allemande
- Courante
- Sarabande
- Gigue
- Gavotte
- Minuet
Sonata
- Sonata da camera
- Sonata da chiesa
- Trio sonata
Partita
Canzona
Sinfonia
Fantasia
Ricercar
Toccata
Prelude
Chaconne
Passacaglia
Chorale prelude
Stylus fantasticus

External links

Barock Music (webradio)
Pandora Radio: Bizarre Period (not bachelor outside the U.South.)
Handel's Harpsichord Room – costless recordings of harpsichord music of the Bizarre era
Renaissance & Baroque Music Chronology: Composers
Orpheon Foundation in Vienna, Republic of austria
Gratuitous scores by various baroque composers at the International Music Score Library Project
Music, Affect and Fire: Thesis on Affect Theory with Fire every bit the special topic
Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM), a gratis, searchable database of worldwide locations for music manuscripts upward to c. 1800

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicapp_historical/chapter/chapter-1/