Baroque

Front 1

primo prattica

Back 1

Renaissance vocal polyphony of Franco-Netherlands. A style in which music dominates text

Hint 1

Monteverdi may have popularized these terms, first mentioning them in the preface to his 5th Book of Madrigals, 1605

Front 2

seconda prattica

Back 2

new style of vocal polyphony in which text dominates. According to Monteverdi,

Hint 2

Monteverdi may have popularized these terms, first mentioning them in the preface to his 5th Book of Madrigals, 1605

Front 3

Three main types of Baroque style

Back 3

1. Figured bass led to a texture of 2 written contours: melody and bass with an improvised harmony Essentially for vocal music, accompanied melody, Monody!
2. Contrapuntal, Polyphony, Counterpoint reached its highest point in the music of J.S. Bach Inventions, Fugue, Canon an extension of Renaissance polyphony
-Essentially for keyboard solo music (clavichord, harpsichord, organ)
3. Concertante (contrasting) or Concerto style includes Polychoral styles. echo effects, solo vs. tutti, origin of today’s concerto

Front 4

The Affections

Back 4

Early Baroque composers extrapolated from Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers the idea that music should represent emotional states through accepted formulas: musical figures, rhythms, turns of phrases, etc

Front 5

Texture

Back 5

Basso continuo, the sound of the Baroque

Front 6

Basso continuo, the sound of the Baroque

Back 6

accompanied solo singing was not new but the desire for unobtrusive accompaniment to a florid upper solo part was different. By 1600, some composers began to write independent bass lines for melodic complement to the vocal line. Because this bass part was continuous, it became known as basso continuo or thoroughbass. Because this bass line often had Arabic numerals placed above or below it to indicate intervals to play above the bass note, the continuo part was often known as figured bass.
the process of improvising on this musical shorthand is called realization. At first, only a keyboard player realized the continuo but then 2 instrumentalists were customary.

Front 7

Notation

Back 7

in the 17th century, composers used barlines to mark off or “measure” patterns of strong and weak beats but not until mid 17th century were barlines used systematically to show regularly recurring rhythmic patterns.

-by this time as well, old proportion signs had been replaced by modern time signatures like 4/4 3/4 2/4. The C and C [with slash through it] remained from the old proportion system.

Front 8

Music Printing

Back 8

music publishing peaked before 1580 in Venice, Nuremberg, Paris and Antwerp and quality diminished for a time after that because of the high costs associated with the newest technology: incised copper plate engraving.

-earliest practical music printed from engraved copper plates was from before 1540

Front 9

Castrati

Back 9

male singers castrated before puberty in order to preserve soprano or alto voices, were very important to music of the 17th and 18th centuries and most popular between 1650 and 1750.

Hint 9

Many composers wrote for them: Handel, Mozart, Gluck