The Baroque period was named by the classic era. The term actually means __________________________.

It expresses the extreme use of ornamentation both in the music and in the art and dress of the time.

Early Baroque music shows a ____________________________ and exuberance and irregularity. This con-

trasts with the more idiomatic writing of the later Baroque that shows more stylistic control.

Baroque music moved away from strict _________________________ into a more

_______________________ style of writing. The equal voice counterpoint of the Renaissance was replaced

with a polarity between the melody and bass parts. This is called _________________________.

Instead of through composed works, early Baroque works were made up of short ___________________.

However, this construction of pieces couldn’t be fully realized until the development ___________________.

While composers continued to develop the V-I idea, the use of unrestrict _____________________________

often obscured the harmonic center.

The Baroque period features three main genres. They are _____________________, ____________________

and _______________________.

The opera tradition began in ______________________. A group of scholars called the ________________

met to try and recreate Greek drama. Instead they made the new art form of opera. The earliest operas were

based on ___________________________ and tended to be pastoral in nature. Two main composers of early

opera were _______________________ and ________________________. The dialogue of the opera was in

the stile ___________________________ which was declamation over the basso continue. The arias were

often _____________________ and might have a __________________ which was a returning musical

theme after each verse. From 1620 –1630 Opera centered in ____________________. These operas used

recitative that was _____________ which means unaccompanied and less expressive. In 1637 the first opera

house opened in ____________________ and operas had to appeal to the masses. The subject of these was

often ________________________. Along with opera there was sacred and secular vocal music. Two main

forms were the _________________________ and the _________________________ which adopted traits

from opera and the madrigal. Early Sacred vocal composers were

G. Gabrieli and Heinrich Schutz. Both used polychoral techniques

where the choir sings in opposing balconies.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

In the Renaissance the main instrumental piece was the __________________________. There was also vo-

cal music that was played on instruments. However, in the Baroque period the instrumental music was more

idiomatic. An example is Gabrieli’s use of ______________________ in the sonata pian e forte. The main in-

strumental work was the ________________________. This word just means piece ______________. There

were two types. The _____________________ which means sounded piece for the church was in several sec-

tions. This piece was the precursor of the classical sonata. The other work ________________________

which meant piece for the chamber was a collection of ____________________. This was the precursor of

the later dance suites of Bach. The Sonata came to be a sectional piece, eventually alternating lively and

slower sections for 1-4 players and basso continuo. String pieces were popular because they had fewer issues

with tuning. Two important instrumental composers were __________________ (1574-1655) and

__________________(1597-1665).

Merula: Born in Bussetto Italy, Merula spent most of his career, marked with scandal and hardship, in Cre-mona. He worked for the church, but was also a composer, violinist and organist. He helped to develop music in all three areas, vocal, instrumental and keyboard, and was an important figure in the early development of the cantata and aria, both types of sonatas, variations on a ground bass and the sinfonia. His vocal music uses many of the developments of both Monteverdi and Gabrieli. Among his instrumental music are several can-zonas for strings that are sectional in nature and begin to show some idiomatic uses of the early violins. One type of variations that Marula wrote was the Chaconne (ciaconna in Italian). This was a set of variations on a repeated harmonic progression, often with a short repetitive bass called a ground bass, which often descend-ed stepwise from tonic to dominant. Two such works by Merula, on You tube are below. These are an exam-ple of his instrumental style :

Ciaconna for Two Violins and Basso Continuo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR6IQ9SPSYM

Ciaccona (L'Arpeggiata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRXgZzzdhSA

Marini: An Italian composer, Marini was one of the first to write Baroque violin. Marini was born February 5, 1594, in Brescia. Though he was an Italian composer, Marini traveled widely and held posts in Brussels and Dusseldorf. His works were printed and he influenced other European composers. In 1615 he joined Monte-verdie’s group at St. Marks Cathedral in Venice, known for the polychoral works that began with Willaert in the Renaissance and continued with Gabrieli and those who followed. “Although he wrote both instrumental and vocal music, he is better known for his innovative instrumental compositions. His string compositions begin to show idiomatic tendencies in the use of stopped chords, slurs and tremolo effects. He also occasion-ally used alternate tuning called scordatura. Much of his output is lost but the pieces that remain show his lyric skill, harmonic boldness within an increasingly tonal back-drop. A sample violin sonata by Marini is the Sonata Sopra La Monica found at the fol-lowing You tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1qedzERiO8

Early Keyboard Music

Much of the keyboard music of the 17th century is a continuation of traditional instrumental forms.

For instance, there was dance music in the Renaissance and many early keyboard dance suites re-

semble these earlier works, keeping the basic form while developing the materials in a slightly more

progressive manner. Many of the early keyboard pieces were improvisatory in nature. For instance

the toccata (meaning piece touched) is a freely improvisation work, sectional in nature where sec-

tions of improvisatory figuration alternate with sections in contrasting styles like counterpoint. An-

other form was the Ricercare was another important form. These pieces were imitative and laid the groundwork for

the fugue which was a very popular Baroque form. The move to monody also brought about the canzona which was a

song like aria for keyboard. While there were many keyboard instruments in the early Baroque, most were a variation

of the harpsichord and the organ.

Frescobaldi: Born in Ferrara Italy, Frescobaldi was a child prodigy and important keyboard composer of the late Re-

naissance and early Baroque. Though he had a brief trip outside of Italy early on, Frescobaldi spent most of his musical

life in Italy, particularly in Rome where he was employed by St. Peter’s Basilica as well as patrons and other churches.

He published many works and his most famous collection, Fiori Musicali published in 1635 was influential on contra-

puntal writing into the romantic age. Frescobaldi was one of the first Italian composers to focus largely on keyboard

music, publishing 8 volumes of works in his lifetime. Frescobaldi had an innovative and often virtuostic approach to

composition. While he made use of the earlier forms, his use of chromaticism, sharp dissonance and unpredictable

textures created works with a tension not common to the earlier time period. The works, though carefully composed,

have the effect of being highly improvisatory. An example of such a work is his Toccata IX from Secondo libro di toccata

in which he instructs the player not to get fatigued before reaching the end. This can be heard at You Tube: https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxn2Mi1bbyY

Froberger: Johann Jacob Froberger was born in Germany around 1616. A virtuoso keyboard composer and organist,

he had great influence on the development of the dance suite. Before this composers wrote individual dances, or if

they grouped them there was not a regular grouping and pieces were not necessarily related stylistically. Froberger

established the Allemande, Sarabande, Courante and Gigue as necessary parts of the suite. After some set backs early

in life, Froberger travelled to Italy twice for study. A student of Frescobaldi during his first tour of Italy, he studied In-

strumental composition with the master. He wrote improvisatory works like Frescobaldi but in a more thoughtful, ra-

tional style. The works were idiomatic to the instrument and the themes were more clearly tonal. Apart from the

suites, Froberger also wrote titled, descriptive pieces for the harpsichord. He was one of the earliest composers to pro-

duce such programmatic pieces. Nearly all of them are very personal; the style resembles Froberger's allemandes in its

irregularity and style brisé features. A You Tube example of his writing is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=BUQavwIVoL8

Sweelinck: Sweelinck lived in the Netherlands from 1562-1621. He is known for using consistent melodic and rhyth-

mic figurations throughout his pieces. A German organist, he wrote fantasias, variations and other organ works and his

music had influence on later composers, particularly in England. His Fantasia Chromatica for organ is on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtNaKNZqc5s

Scheidt: Samuel Scheidt was a German composer. He wrote a lot of sacred organ music. A student of Sweelinck,

Scheidt remained in Germany through the 30 years war and so developed a North German Style. His variations on Cho-

rales. “In his numerous chorale preludes, Scheidt often used a "patterned variation" technique, in which each phrase

of the chorale uses a different rhythmic motive, and each variation is more elaborate than the previous one, until the

climax of the composition is reached. In addition to his chorale preludes, he wrote numerous fugues, suites of dances

and fantasias. His Veni Creator Spiritus is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9TOw1rKe1I