BAROQUE

The Baroque was the artistic period that covered the 17th century and the first half of
the 18th century. We delimit it between two significant dates: the beginning, in the year
1600, with the premiere of the first preserved opera; and the end in 1750 with the death
of J. S. Bach, the most famous representative of the musical Baroque.

The Baroque art looked for the expression of feelings, the sense of movement and
contrasts, and a liking for details and ornamentation. Revolutionary period: the
orchestra was born and with it, the great instrumental and vocal forms, the use of
tonality and harmony was established and the first virtuoso performers and the first
great composers appeared.

The music was at the service of the great European monarchies, aristocracy and the
Church. The role of the musician was reduced to being a servant of his protector.

1.- Religious vocal music

Although Catholic Church kept cultivating the motet and the mass and Protestant
Church the Chorale, however, new religious forms appeared like: Cantata, Oratorio and
Passion.

1.1.-Cantata

Etymologically, cantata means “music for singing”. First it appeared as a secular form
but was later adopted by religious music, which introduced texts from the Gospels, the
Psalms or popular religious topics.

It´s a compound form written for orchestra, choir and soloists, formed by a sequence or
recitatives and arias for decorating the services of Sundays, It doesn´t tell a story but a
succession of musical movements and its length is shorter than an Oratorio. G. P.
Telemann (1681-1767) y J. S. Bach (1685-1750).

G.F.HAENDEL J.S.BACH
1.2.- Oratorio

It can be regarded as an opera with a religious theme but without stage performance,
more elaborate and longer than the cantata, it is also a compound form written for
orchestra, choir and soloists, and formed by a sequence of recitatives, arias and choirs.

It tells a story normally from the Old or New Testament. This form, introduces the
narrator and reinforces the role of the choir.

The most representative composers of this form is J. F. Haendel (1685-1759) with his
Messiah.

1.3.- Passion

It is an Oratorio about the passion and the death of Christ, inspired by the Gospels. Eh
narrator is the evangelist, who tells the events in a recitative style, the characters of the
gospel are interpreted by soloists and the parts of the disciples and the people are
performed by the choir.

Bach is the most representative composer with his St. MatthewPassion and St. John
Passion.

2.- Secular vocal music

During this period, composers still cultivated forms inherited from the Renaissance but
unlike it, here voices were highlighted over the rest of them (which were subject to the
accompaniment of the singing). This new composition technique was called
accompanied monody that represented a shift in the horizontal-melodic conception
(counterpoint texture) towards a vertical-chordal conception (harmonic texture).

The prominence of a superior melody implied the appearance of a new lox voice. It
served as a harmonic support and it was called basso continuo.

Basso continuo, sometimes just called "continuo", was played by a keyboard and
another bass instrument such as cello, violone (an old form of double bass) or bassoon.
The keyboard instrument was normally a harpsichord, or, if it was being played in
a church, an organ. Basso continuo would accompany solo instruments and singers as
well as instrumental groups. This basso continuo gives the characteristic mechanical
rhythm to this kind of music making it sometimes heavy and over-decorated as well as
quite predictable.

2.1.- The birth of opera

The first great opera in history was L´orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi (premiered in the
year 1607) which established the structure of the genre.

2.1.1 Characteristics of opera

The opera is a compound vocal form with a narrative nature that makes use of stage
performance. It is written for orchestra, choirs and soloists, and elaborated in three
fundamental parts:

 Overture: instrumental introduction that begins the piece.

 Sung parts: for soloists (main characters) and choirs (supporting characters).
We distinguish two types of singing depending on the content of the text:
1. Aria style: expressive melodies for more emotional texts.
2. Recitative style: declaimed text for passages that require a more agile
progress of the action.
 Interludes: instrumental sections that are inserted in order to join and put
together the different parts of the opera.

2.2.- Types of opera.

The evolution of opera en the Baroque made room for two types:

a) Opera seria: It makes use of plots based on mythological and heroic topics written
in Italian. It was the favorite genre of aristocracy and the first operas belong to this
type which evolved quite a lot in Italy. Main composers: A. Scarlatti (1660-1725)
and G. F. Haendel (1685-1759).
Opera seria made use of Castrati who were male singers castrated before puberty
in order to avoid voice change, they kept a high and crystal timbre, with the
thoracic cage of a grown man which allowed them to obtain an extraordinary
technical virtuosity and vocal power. During the 17th and 18th centuries they
became the main protagonists of the opera seria, performing roles of gods and
heroes with arias full of ornaments, written for them to gloat. One of the most
famous Castrati was Farinelli.

Real Farinelli Character in the movie

A castrato (Italian, plural: castrati) is a type of male singing voice equivalent to

soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer
before puberty or it occurs in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never
reaches sexual maturity.
Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents a boy's larynx from being
transformed. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is
largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent
castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century and was made
illegal in Italy in 1870.
As the castrato's body grew, their limbs often grew unusually long, as did the bones of
their ribs. This, combined with intensive training, gave them unrivalled lung-power and
breath capacity. Operating through small, child-sized vocal cords, their voices were also
extraordinarily flexible, and quite different from the equivalent adult female voice.
Their vocal range was higher than that of the uncastrated adult male.

b) Opera Buffa: It makes use of plots based on daily life, with characters closer to the
audience, simpler music and without Castrati. It employed the main language of
each country and replaced recitatives with dialoged passages.

This kind of opera became one of the most important genres of the baroque, and it
acquired peculiar characteristics in every nation:

-In France it was called “tragédielyrique” and its main composer was Jean Baptiste
Lully (1632-1687).

-In England opera lid its foundations with Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (1659-
1695).

-In Germany, the adaptation of opera buffa was called “singspiel”.

-In Spain, it was called “zarzuela” and José de Nebra (1702-1768) was one of the main
composers.

Examples of Opera Seria and Buffa:

Orfeo: Claudio Monteverdi- 1607

El Retorno de Ulises a la patria: Claudio Monteverdi- 1640

La Coronación de Popea: Claudio Monteverdi- 1642

El Ormindo: Francesco Cavalli- 1644

Orontea: Antonio Cesti- 1649

Celos aun del aire matan: Juan Hidalgo- 1660

Alceste: Jean- Baptiste Lully- 1676

Dido y Eneas: Henry Purcell- 1683

Armide: Jean-Baptiste Lully- 1683

Agripina :1710- Haendel

Rinaldo :1711- Haendel

Il trionfo dell´onore-: 1718- Alexandro Scarlatti

Julio Cesar en Egipto: 1724- Haendel

Pimpinone: 1725- Telemann

Artajerjes: 1730- Leonardo Vinci

La serva padrona: 1733 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Alcina: 1735- Haendel

Las indias galantes: 1735- Jean-Philippe Rameau

Platea: 1745- Rameau

3.- Instrumental music

The emancipation of instrumental music that started in the Renaissance, reached its
apex during the Baroque. In this important advancement, the technical evolution of
instruments and the birth of orchestra as a stable and organized ensemble played a
decisive role.

Performers specialized in one instrument, which made possible the appearance of the
first “virtuoso”.

(trumpets, cymbals or kettledrums,

oboes, bassoon, violins, violas, double bass, harpsichord, cellos).
The arrangement of the orchestra, families appeared then: string, woodwind, brass and
percussion. The essential basis of the Baroque orchestra was bowed string and basso
continuo.

Brass instruments such French horns, trumpets and trombons were used in orchestras
but rarely as soloists instruments.

3.1.-Instrumental forms

a) Suite: it is a compound instrumental form made up of a sequence of dances of

different nature. Although the number and disposition of them can vary, the most
common was:

Allemande Courante Sarabande Gigue

Binary rhythm Ternary rhythm Ternary rhythm Ternary rhythm
Slow tempo Fast tempo Slow tempo Fast tempo

The Suite can be written for a solo instrument or for a whole orchestra. Main composer:
J.S. Bach.

b) Sonata: It is a compound form divided into four movements that contrast along slow
and fast beats with different textures and rhythms.It can be composed for a solo
instrument, a duo or a trio; but always with the accompaniment of the harpsichord as a
basso continuo.

c) Concerto: it is a compound form made up of a sequence of three contrasting

movements (fast/slow/fast) and depending on how the instruments intervene, the
concert can be:

-Concerto grosso: for a group of soloists and the rest of the orchestra (tutti). Main
composers: J.S. Bach and G. F. Haendel.

-Solo Concerto: composed for a single soloist instrument that contrasts in constant
dialog with the orchestra. Main composer: A. Vivaldi (1678-1741).

ACTIVITY

You must do a presentation about one of these topics:

-Castrati.

-Presentation of one baroque opera among the list above.