Baroque Period Study Guide

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Baroque Dance Suite (form, movements)

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Binary Form included 4 movements:

Allemande - Moderate duple tempo. Anacrusic

Courante - Fast triple or compound meter

Sarabande - Slow triple meter. Emphasis on beat 2

Gigue - Fast compound meter. Usually a finale

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Aria

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A strophic song sung solo with orchestral accompaniment in an opera.

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Figured Bass

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baroque notation indicating intervals to be played above a bass note. Improvised

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Chorale

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Simple Lutheran melody. Usually borrowed existing melodies

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Counterpoint

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Combining a melody and counter melody in a composition. Usually marked by lots of contrary motion and harmonic dependence on each line

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Da Capo Aria

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(the head Aria) ABA1 form. The aria is sung as written, then repeats and embellishes the A section.

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homophonic texture

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polyphonic music with rhythmic dependency

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Prima Practica

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(first practice) the old style of renaissance counterpoint with carefully controlled dissonance. Contrasted with second practica, the new style of Monteverdi utilizing the freely used dissonance to express the text

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Recitative/Secco recitative

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A speech-like manner of singing in a free rhythm./with sparse accompaniment

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Ritornello form

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Utilized in concertos, was a way to help the audience through a piece by bringing back a recurring theme. Form might be ABACADAEAF. The recurring theme generally occured in the tutti section.

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Treatise on Harmony

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1722 Document by Frenchman Jean-Philippe Rameau. Revolutionary idea about deriving melody from harmony instead of vice versa. Also established the idea of modern triads and inversions

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Cantata

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Early 17th century - solo vocal piece with strophic variation

Later - multimovement using contrasting singing styles

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Concerto/grosso

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3 movement fast-slow-fast. Soloist and orchestra./

small group of soloists and orchestra

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fugue

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a complex baroque composition. form:

exposition, development, recapitulation.

subject - opening short motive, repeated by different voices in different keys

episode - further development based on original motive

stretto - rapid overlapping entries of the subject

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baroque madrigal

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through-composed. more interpretive of text and tend to be florid, as the constraints of strophic music are removed and allow greater freedom

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Motet

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sacred choral or chamber works accompanied by orchestra.

Lully composed grand motets for choir and full orchestra, sometimes with soloists, sometimes multimovement

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Istitutioni harmoniche

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Gioseffo Zarlino. the treatise encouraging careful treatment of dissonances

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delle imperfezioni della moderna

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artusi. angry essay about montreverdi's controversial dissonances

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scherzi musicali

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written by giulio monteverdi. essay in his brother's defense, stating that the prima practica time had passed.

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Opera

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large-scale fulyl-staged dramatic theatrical work involving solo singers, chorus, and orchestra

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Opera Seria

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3 acts. sung all the way through. based on dramatic alternating scenes of recitative and aria. Scarlatti early

Handel later

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English serious opera

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late 1600s. Henry purcell. Dido and aeneas

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Oratorio

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Large scale religious work performed by solo singers, chorus, and orchestra without staging. Handel was a master

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Ballade opera

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English comic opera with common characters speaking english street dialect and singing short, catchy songs.

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Toccata

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"to touch" implied very technical works on the keyboard

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trio sonata

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multi movement work with 3 parts by 2 vln, 1 vcell, 1 hrpschd

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Claudio Monteverdi

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early 17t century. Innovative opera composer. One of the first to use seconda practica techniques

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Heinrich Schutz

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17th century. brought seconda practica style to germany

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alessandro scarlatti

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late 17th centry. leading opera composer of the mid-baroque. known for his bueatiful vocal writing and da capo arias.

utilized sinfonia and opera seria styles

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Sonata da chiesa:

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church sonata, more serious and contrapuntal,

four movements, tempo sequence slow-fast-slow-fast

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sonata de camera

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"chamber sonata" group of instrumental pieces set into three or four different movements, beginning with a prelude, or small sonata, acting as an introduction for the following movements.