Baroque music – 1600 1750 revised

Baroque Music – 1600-1750

Definition 0f “Baroque”

• Characterized by extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance

• Baroque style would be complicated, extremely “fancy”, lots of decoration and details, “showy”.

• Baroque music and art use this style

Baroque Instruments

Next you will see pictures of Baroque instruments and after each picture you will see videos so that you can see and hear the instruments in actual use.

Baroque Clarinet

The Clarinet gradually

evolved from being like

the recorder to being

a single reed instrument.

Next you will see one

being played.

Baroque String Bass• Also known as member of “Viola da gamba”

family. (Old name for “String Family”)

• Notice that both

the bass and the

cello in the next

video have 7 strings.

Today’s instruments

have 4 strings.

Baroque OboeThis is a picture of an early oboe.

At the end of the next

video, you will see a

table full of oboes, that shows how they changed from the earliest version

on the left of the table to our

modern version on

the right of the table.

Baroque Piccolo

Notice that this instrument is made of wood. In the next video you will see a picture of the composer Georg Telemann as you hear a piece he wrote for piccolo an orchestra.

Baroque Slide TromboneNext you will see a set of four trombones playing a piece by Bach, who was one of the greatest Baroque composers. Notice how similar this trombone is to the modern trombone we use today.

Cymbals

• Cymbals were originally Turkish, and in the Baroque era composers began to use them to add special effects to the percussion section.

Baroque Painting• Paintings used lots of details in this time.

• They often used religious stories.

• Landscapes were popular – nature scenes.

• Portraits were popular – paintings of people.

• Two important Dutch artists were Jan Vermeer, and Rembrandt von Rijn

Vermeer on left, Rembrandt self portrait on right.

Vermeer landscape

Notice all

of the details

in the buildings

and the people.

It is like a

photograph

in showing

detail.

Vermeer Portrait

Notice all of the detail. You can see the folds and wrinkles in the material. Her face is 3 dimensional. Look at the shine on the pearl.

Rembrandt Portraits – full of detail

Religious painting by Rubens

Notice all of the detail in the bodies of the people, you can see all of the muscle structure.

Antonio Vivaldi - composer

• Composer and violinist Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy in 1678. After he became a priest in 1703 he taught music at a school for girls that had an excellent musical reputation. In his later career he wrote operas. As a composer Vivaldi wrote 500 concertos (pieces featuring soloist instruments with an orchestra) in addition to many works for the church and for the theatre. He left Venice in 1741 in the apparent hope of finding new patrons (supporters) in Vienna, where he died shortly after his arrival in the city.

This is a painting of Vivaldi. In the next video you will see and hear “Autumn”. This is one section of a set of pieces he wrote called “The Four Seasons”.

George Freidrich Handel - composer

• George FreidrichHandel, 1685 - 1759, was born in Germany and lived and worked in England. He was famous for his operas, oratorios (religious versions of opera), anthems (hymns) and organ concertos.

Handel wrote the next piece, “Water Music”, for a party that was held by the King of England. The King and his guests sat on the shore of the Thames river, and watched a parade of boats and barges. The musicians for this piece rode on one of the barges and played for the King as they floated down the river.

The next video has one of the most famous pieces Handel wrote called “The Hallelujah Chorus”. This song was part of an oratorio called “The Messiah”. “The Messiah” used orchestra, choir and soloists to tell the story of the birth of Jesus, through His crucifixion and resurrection.

The “Hallelujah” chorus is for the Easter part of the story.

Next you will see a flashmob of the “Hallelujah Chorus” done in a shopping mall. When this piece is done in a formal concert, it is tradition for the audience to stand. This is because when it was first performed for the King of England, he loved it so much that he stood up to show his admiration. No one is allowed to sit when the King stands, so the whole audience stood up too.

Johann Sebastian Bach

One of the greatest composers of all time. Bach wrote hundreds of pieces for organ, choir, as well as many other instruments. He spent most of his life as a church organist and a choir director. “Soli Deo Gloria” was his theme. It means “To God be all the glory”.

Bach as organist

Next is a live performance of a famous piece Bach wrote for organ. When you watch the organist play, notice that the keyboard under the one he is playing is also playing along even though he isn’t touching it. This is because organs have a device called a “coupler” that lets one set of keys play along with another set so you can get more sound. Watch for his feet to play the pedals. The pedals are set up to be like the white and black keys of a piano.

Next is another major organ piece.

Bach made his living as a church musician. He would write and perform all of the organ music for each church service. He would also write the music for the choirs and soloists and accompany them as well. Sometimes people would come to church just so they could hear “The Great Bach” play.

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

This piece is often used at weddings today. It was originally written for choir and organ. The next video shows it being played on guitar by one of the most famous classical guitar players of the 20th century – Christopher Parkening.

Sheep May Safely Graze

This piece is being played on a harp. The strings are color coded so she knows which ones to play. This is a short version of another piece that was originally written for choir and organ.

Baroque people and inventions

• Benjamin Franklin

• Some of his famous

inventions are

mentioned in the

movie “National

Treasure”

• Telescopes were developed

• William Shakespeare – one of the world’s most famous authors of plays. His plays are still performed around the world. Some, like “Romeo and Juliet”, have even been made into movies.

• This Fahrenheit Thermometer Auctioned For $107,802 in 2012. It is around 300 years old.

• Sir Isaac Newton – discovered the law of gravity

• Ice cream, as we know it, was invented in the 1600's by the Chef of King Charles the First of England.

• What do you think

that chef would think

of “Wells Blue Bunny”

ice cream today?

• Antonio Stradivarius• Violin maker• Instruments that he made sell for millions of dollars today, because no one has ever been able to match the quality of their sound. He had a secret in how he made themthat he never shared.