Baroque Flashcards

Question

Johann Sebastian Bach

Answer 1

* Baroque * Virtuoso organist and keyboard player, a skilled violinist and a prolific composer in every genre of his time except opera. * Began studying with his father then with his older brother Johann Christoph Bach * Church organist in Arnstadt (1703) * 1708: Court musician in Weimer: Organist then concertmaster * St. Matthew Passion, Brandenburg Concertos, Well-Tempered Clavier, The Art of Fugue, Many Chorales

Answer 2

• 16th Century – Late Baroque • Compositions in several movements with each mvt having an individual mood or stylistic rhythm • Mvts connected by: Key signatures, thematic variations, or melodic ideas • All mvt’s are in contrasting styles • Johann Froberger -> Credited with bring dance suite to Germany o Decides 4 Main dances: Allamande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, • Prelude my occur first • Other dance types may be inserted between Sarabande and Gigue • Written out for single instrument and Available in Print forms • Broken Style

Answer 3

* Baroque * Born out of French Ballet * Dance music taken from opera and performed independently * Dances are contrasting * Performed in Ballroom Setting * Tend to start with French Overture * French Overture

Answer 4

• Opens an orchestral suite • Two sections – each played twice o First section: Homophonic and majestic, marked by double dotted rhythms and figures rushing toward the downbeats o Second Section: Faster and begins with a semblance of fugal imitation, sometimes at the end it returns to the tempo and figuration of the first section • Jean-Baptiste Lully’s overture to Armide is an example

Answer 5

• Trio Sonata o Most common instrumentation after 1670 for both church and chamber sonatas: Three part texture but can have more if more are playing the basso continuo • Sonata de camera – Chamber Sonata o Featured a series of stylized dances often beginning with a prelude • Sonata de chiesa (church) o Grows out of sonata or canzona • Instrumental counterpart of polychoral o Used in church services, Substitute for certain parts of the Mass Proper, or for antiphons for the Magnificat at Vespers o Trio Sonata in 4 mvts – usually abstract movements o No reference to dance because it is played in church

Answer 6

• Baroque • Organ arrangement based on a Protestant chorale tune • Used for different purposes: Prelude to congregational singing, as a stand alone piece, as an interlude between versus, as a concert piece • Presented in entirety in one voice or as the basis of polyphonic texture • Inventor: Sweelnick o Combined Secular Keyboard with chorale melodies • J.S. Bach

Answer 7

• Baroque • Prelude & Fugue -> AKA Tocatta and Fugue • Prelude/Tocatta Preceeds the Fugue when the fugue is self-contained o Written in a fantasy style o Has a very free sound/style

Answer 8

• Composition which is based on a single subject that is imitated through the piece in each part • Theme originally presented in one voice then imitated in others • Exposition follows which may use some of the original material • Episode follows -> all free material o Modulation may occur • Followed by subject in any voice o If presented differently -> answer

Answer 9

• Considered the most popular instrumental style of the Baroque Era o Concerto style and Concerto grew from Poly choral music • Groups of instruments contrasted each other in texture and style • Concerto Grosso • Giuseppi Torelli o Responsible for 3 mvt concerto (I: Fast, II: Slow, III: Fast)

Answer 10

* Baroque * Known as the “Red Priest” * 400 Concertos * Bach arranged some of his works * Popularized the form of mvts 1 & III of the concerto

Answer 11

Concertino vs Ripieno (tutti) • Concerto for two groups of instruments that were different sizes o Group #1 – Concertino -> Group of soloists o Group #2 -> Ripieno -> Everyone else not in Concertino o When both groups played together: Tutti

Answer 12

• • 18th Century • Standard form of Fast Movement (I, III) in the concerto o Not a formal procedure but more of a set of guidelines that offer variety • Performed by full orchestra or ensemble • Played between elaborate passages of soloists • Instrumental refrain • Full Ritornello: Played by everyone, homophonic texture, 1 key, normally 3 phrases o Episode: Concertino group or soloist with basso continuo, polyphonic, key modulation o Ritornello fragment o Episode o Cadenza -> return to original key o Full Ritornello -> stops the mvt in the original key • Vorderstatz (Introduction) • Fortspinnung (Spinning out, Continuation) • Epilogue

Answer 13

• The immediate restatement of a motif or longer melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice

Answer 14

- 1550-1618 - singer, teacher, composer - highest paid musician employed by the grand duke of Tuscany - prolific composer of dramatic music during her time - daughter of Guilio Caccini - wrote music for the ballet "The Liberation of Ruggiero from the Island of Alcina"

Answer 15

- Males who were castrated before puberty to preserve their high vocal range - sang the high parts in some church choirs in Italy, including the papal choir - sang in operas outside Rome, but almost always in male rather than female roles - Farinelli

Answer 16

- 1st public opera house - 1637 - Venice - supported by the paying public, with financial backing from wealthy and prominent families who rented boxes for the season

Answer 17

- 1602-1676 - leading Venetian opera composer - student of Monteverdi - wrote "Giasone" (Jason, 1649)

Answer 18

- diva of the Venetian operatic stage in the 1640s | - set the standard for the "prima donna" (It. for "first lady", the lead soprano in an opera)

Answer 19

- written in 1656 by Cesti - one of the most frequently performed operas of the 17th century - displayed the changes opera had undergone in half a century - instead of imitating Greek tragedy, librettist interwove romantic and comic scenes and high and low characters, seeking first of all to entertain - plot is based on disguise and love at first sight across social levels

Answer 20

- characteristic by 1650 (mid-17th century) - focus on solo singing - separation of recitative and aria - use of varied styles

Answer 21

- blended French and Italian tastes | - fan of Lully and Corelli

Answer 22

- composer and organist - founded theory of tonal music (Treatise on Harmony) - fundamental bass

Baroque Flashcards

(46 cards)