Category: Music

This is the 6th post for the baroque period. It is a late post, but This post will continue from where we left ,and will not disappoint.

Now,From the last post we talked about concerto, and how it evolved overtime.Now we will move on to things like places where it happened, and how it was different from the place from where it all started,Italy.

Surprisingly,Until the late 19th century,England was known as the land without music.Even though London was the first place Ever to start the tradition of concerts,None of the concerts had native composers from London or England,Rather foreign composers like Johaan Christian Bach(who moved to England because of this) and Others like Mozart,Who came to London from time to time as well paid and feted musicians.

In 1719,Duke of Chandos and his friends wanted to take advantage of the fact that people in London was getting more interested in Opera.They started the Royal Academy of Music(Not related to the conservatoire that was with the same name started a century after).This was a commercial venture, formed aas a joint stock corporation.Their goal was to perform new Italian operas in Britain.

I do know that this post is well over 2 weeks late.I am sorry for the delay, and will make sure that I will get this blog up to date.The baroque period will come to an end very soon, making us come to the next period which is classical period.

This post is the post where we continue on from where we left.There will be not much connection, just on what happened in the period of the baroque period and how it has impacted/created the concepts that we know and use today.

Lets start of with Concerto which was initially used to describe any music for voices or or added instruments.Which evolved in the early 17th century to concerti ecclesiastic(Church music) an concerti di camera(chamber music).Now of course as time went on the music got much grander.

There were more aspects that were later focused on in the baroque period, one of them being Dynamic expression.Some examples of this would be When they would change the tempo making it either faster or slower and making sure that the composition is still perfectly sounded and compiles the listeners to listen to what the composer composed.Composers also played around with the aspect of quickly changing from the larger ensembles to the smaller ones.

The musician who came up with all this was a guy named Arcangelo Corelli.This musician used harmony in such a way that was never seen before.This was when you could compare pieces from the renaissance period of music to the baroque period of music.In the early stages of the baroque period, there was not much difference.Because Of this one musician,The Music was changed a lot.Arcangelo Corelli used to take his pieces to another level.Some of his performances involved as many as 80 musicians.This was big for his time, as the largest orchestras at the time had no more than 20 musicians.

Citations: Source 1-The classical Music book

this is the fourth post.this may not be close to the last post of the baroque period.there could be 10-15 posts in total for the baroque period.I have no idea.there are several other periods after this which will be interesting as well.Hope you enjoy this post!

so from the last post, we talked about the late of the baroque period, where many elements of the early part of the baroque period were removed and replaced with newer, simpler concepts.Now lets continue.So now we are going to talk about a sacred piece.which is Monteverdi’s Vespers.Well as you can imagine, its called Monteverdi’s Vesper as it is a piece thats played in early evenings.The pieces got the name because of this.”Vesper” means evening.This piece is an important piece because it marks the transition from the polyphonic style of music(polyphonic-many voices) also known as prima practica(first practice) to a more freer style.

Cremona Cathedral is where Claudio Monteverdi studied composition by the choir master Marc’Antonio Ingegneri. Now the next part came know as the second practica(second practice)which emphasises on there being a solo voice. There was more melody added to multiple aspects like the bass line being more melodic.

Because of these changes, it led to new characteristics of the baroque period, as to much irregularity and expressions was added, making it interfere the smooth flow of the music, compelling the listeners.Sounds weird,but personally I would hate it.The flow of music being mixed up just does not seem right.

In vocal music, the melody was used to express thoughts, feelings, actions, and sometimes for reactions of characters.Since characters were being emphasised on in this period, the development of an accompanied sonata came(including the trio sonata-basically 2 violins and one cello).

Monteverdi’s Vespers was an important piece, showcasing both the prima practica and the seconda practica.

Citations:source 1-The classical music book

This is my 3rd post for the baroque period.I Know this seems like it will take a lot of posts, But every post has something added from the last post.Once I Finish posting on the Baroque period(maybe 2-3 more posts) I will start of with the classical period, and then the romantic period.There will be Side posts that will be smaller than this, just incase you get bored.

So now, this is the surprising part.So later in the baroque period,(Like the late baroque) many elements that were there at the start of the baroque period were gone.Instead of the traditional opera with just singers and 1 instrument accompanied with a single bass instrument,(such as the cello),the new style was to a small group of opera singers, with an orchestra with it including stringed instruments, woodwind instruments, and brass instruments.

The person who performed the first opera, was Jacopo Peri.Jacopo Peri was born in 1561, and was raised in Florence.As a teenager, he played the organ(Known as the pipe organ) and went to different churches to sing.It was then in 1598 when he performed the La dafne, the first Opera.He also liked to collaborate with multiple other composers,Like Giovanni Battista da Gagliano and Marco da Gagliano.

Citations:Source 1-The classical Music Book

In the last post I mainly just gave an introduction and some information of the baroque period. Here we start by talking about the birth of the baroque period and major events in it.

The birth of the Baroque period-

The baroque period actually started of with the first ever opera which was the Jacopo Peri’s Dafne, In Florence(Italy) in 1598.The start of the Baroque period had a surprising start where Polyphony (2 melodic lines) became something people were not talking about, but rather just one single melodic line.This was called monody.The decline in polyphony and the new concept of monody was an attempt to recreate the style of classical greek drama.

How composers made compositions dramatic:

Composers in the early baroque period actually had a way of making their compositions seem more dramatic to the audience.More major chords(Used for something happy ) and Minor chords(used for something sad)were used.As well as that, people started to get dramatic and contrasting affects by varying how loud the song is, or how fast and slow it is.

Terms in this post that might seem complicated(explained):

Polyphony-Polyphony is a word from greek.In greek, Polyphony means many sounds.Its when 2 or more Lines of melody are put together.

monody-Single line melodies.

tempo-Songs speed, slower faster( I did not write tempo in the post, just for reference)

Major chords-usually chords that are meant for happy songs

Minor chords-well, the exact opposite of major chords.used when songs are supposed to portray something sad.

citations: source 1-Classical music-book, source 2

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When was the baroque period?

1600-1750

What happened in the baroque period?

This period was established in Italy in 1700, and later started in other places of the world.In this period,There were some great inventions, (I doubt that people have heard all of them) which were the harpsichord, the organ, the oboe, and the lute.

Harpsichord

The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument where strings are plucked, rather than by a hammer(This hammer is in the keyboard)The keyboard is a modified version of this as it came in the classical period rather than coming in the baroque period.

Organ

The second you read that, it will sound weird.I have no idea why they named the instrument “Organ” but like its better to add it then not.Like all the other instruments in this period is a keyboard instrument.The player operates it with both hands and feet. This instrument uses pressurised air produces notes through a series of pipes.The instrument is mainly knows as/referred to as “pipe organs” rather than “organ”

Oboe

The earliest oboe actually only had 2 keys.In the early 19th centuries several improvements occurred in the manufacture of the wind instrument key work. It introduced the concept of metal pillars in place of the wooden ridges which the keys had been mounted.

Lute

Lute is basically a guitar that was popular the 16th century.Some changes have been made but the Instrument has not changed much.The evolved version of the lute is a guitar.The lute was mainly popular in Europe.

What are the key characteristics of the baroque period?

grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, dynamism, movement, tension, emotional exuberance, and a tendency to blur distinctions between the various arts.

Where did it flourish?

It flourished in Italy,Germany, and France

next post:7th November

Citations:

source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4