Baroque Arts and Music

1. Introduction to Baroque
Arts and Music
by Elliott Jones
of Santa Ana College
for Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative shared under a
Creative Commons Attribution License

2. Barroco
Portugese term
Origin of “Baroque”
Pearl of irregular shape
Originally had negative connotation
Referred to excessive ornamentation in art
Bernini’s canopy in St. Peter’s
Altar at St. Peter’s

3. Baroque (1600 – 1750)
New sound emerges in northern Italy
Grows out of several trends
Virtuosic singing in Italian madrigals
Reaction against equal-voiced Renn. Polyphony
Growing desire for expressivity
Baroque style evolves greatly over 150 yrs.

4. Stylistic Variation
From early to late Baroque musical styles
and tastes change dramatically.
Some 20th century scholars felt this couldn’t
be considered a single historical period.
Though there is now consensus on using the
term “Baroque” to describe this period,
early Baroque music sounds very different
from late Baroque music.

5. Doctrine of the Affections
Musical expression influences emotion
One emotion (or “affect”) per piece/mvmt.
Musical settings should reinforce the text
Especially relevant to vocal music

6. Monody
An early Baroque innovation in singing
Expressive, text-oriented solo vocal line
Sparse accompaniment – basso continuo
Homophonic texture
Dominant melody
Chordal accompaniment
Origin of monody in Florentine Camerata

7. Basso Continuo
An accompaniment by two instruments
One melodic bass: cello, bassoon
One chordal instrument: harpsichord, organ
Music not fully written out
Bass line with numbers written below
indicating the harmony
This is called “figured bass”
Creates a top-bottom harmonic emphasis

8. Baroque Style Elements: Melody
Two kinds of melody develop
Vocal – expressive, virtuosic
Instrumental – mechanical, sequential repetition
Vocal lines frequently shift dramatically
from long to short notes
Melodic lines are typically long, expansive,
and irregular (contrast w/Classical period)

9. Baroque Style Elements: Harmony
Conceived vertically – chords
Continuo is ubiquitous
Dominance of major and minor scales
Over time the chord progressions become
more standardized

10. Baroque Style Elements: Rhythm
Rhythm generally uniform within a piece
Strong beat common in instrumental music
Rhythmic drive increases over the course of
the Baroque

11. Baroque Style Elements: Texture
Early Baroque composers favored
homophonic texture.
This was a reaction to late Renaissance
polyphony that they felt impeded expression
Late Baroque composers embraced
elaborate polyphonic textures.
J.S. Bach was a master of counterpoint.

12. Baroque Style Elements: Dynamics
Composers specify volume for first time
Forte = loud
Piano = soft
Baroque composers preferred sudden
changes in dynamic levels
Terraced dynamics

13. Virtuoso Musicians
Performance standards rise
Advanced playing/singing technique is
demanded by the music
Domenico Scarlatti – harpsichord
Antonio Vivaldi – violin
The castratti – operatic vocalists