History General Characteristics Performance Media Instruments:  Rhythm Melody Texture Strucure/Form Variations. Suites Ouverture(overture) Cantata and Song Oratorio and Motet Chorales Composers Johann Sebastian Bach Antonio Vivaldi Alessandro Scarlatti Domenico Scarlatti Francesco Geminiani George Frideric Handel Claudio Monteverdi Johann Joseph Fux  Francois Coupern Giovanni Battista Bononcini Georg Philipp Telemann Jean-Philippe Rameau Johann Pachelbel Dietrich Buxelhude Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean Baptiste Lully Dietrich Buxelhude Johann Pachelbel

 

History

General Characteristics

Performance Media

English HarpsichordBassoonContrabassoon

 

 

Instruments:

by Mike, Arturo and Sidney

 

Oboe: The oboe is a part of the woodwind family. It is played using a double reed and has a nasally sound. Many pieces use it as a solo instrument. Its range is about 2 ½ octaves, starting on Bb, which is one whole step down from middle C.

 

Bassoon: The bassoon, also reffered to as fagotto, is apart of the woodwinds. It is made up of three to four different peices that are put together.It is played with a double reed. When the double reed is blown through, the two peices of cane begin to vibrate against each other, creating a noise. It has a range of about 3 ½ octaves, stating at Bb. It is pitched in C. One notable baroque piece written for bassoon is Sonata in F major by Telemann.

 

Contrabassoon: The contrabassoon is an octave lower than the bassoon. The notation, however, is written an octave above the actual notes played. It is considered the lowest-pitched instrument of the orchestra.

 

Recorder: The recorder is one of the oldest instruments in western music. It is made of the lip, the piece near the top of the body, the fipple, which is a block of wood inserted at the end which is blown, and a narrow channel along the fipple, where the air is blown through against the edge of the lip, the part that makes the sound, this is called the airway. It is a woodwind that does not use a reed. It has seven holes along the body and one thumb hole on the back. There are various sizes of recorders; there are the great bass, quint bass, bass, tenor, alto, two soprano and sopranino. It used to be known under the Latin name fistula. It is not only common for the baroque period, the first document about a recorder appeared in 1388.

You can listen to an example of a recorder here

 

Violin: The baroque violin is very similar to today’s violin but there are some important differences. By looking at it, it is usually recognizable because the neck, bridge, tailpiece and the fingerboard were a little different in the baroque period, but this is hard to recognize if one does not know a lot about violins. The neck is a lot thicker and wider then today’s violin, the fingerboard is shorter, the bridge has s different shape; it is thinner at the base and thicker at the top. Also, the absence of fine tuners is easily recognized. Another thing that is easily recognized as well is the missing chin rest and shoulder rest, because they were not invented yet in the baroque period. Also, the bows were very different then today’s bows. Today’s violin bows curve downward in the middle and the baroque bow was straight, if not even bend outward sometimes. But the baroque violin does not only look different, it sounds different because back then gut strings were used for violins, which resulted in a less pure sound.

 

Pipe Organ: A pipe organ is an instrument, which makes sound by forcing pressurized air through pipes. Pipe organs exist in many different sizes; small pipe organs can have only a few dozens of pipes while large some pipe organs can have thousands. The sound is created by pressing a key, just like on a keyboard or piano, which enables the traveling of air through that pipe. Because there is a continuous supply of air, the sound can sustain as long as you press the key. Pipe organs are one of the oldest known instruments. The first traces of pipe organs have been tracked back to ancient Greece in the third century BC. Back then the water pressure for making the sound was created by boiling water. That is were the name "water organ" comes from for early organs. In the baroque they were mostly used for sacred music, especially because they were large and therefore mostly found in churches

• Generically, any stringed instrument having strings that run in a parallel plane to the soundboard and along a protruding neck.
• Its classical form, by about 1500, has a flat fir belly, or soundboard, and a deep, extremely lightweight, pear-shaped body made by bending narrow strips of wood (ribs) and gluing them side-by-side.
• Tied onto the neck and fingerboard are seven to ten gut frets. Six pairs (double courses) of strings run from tuning pegs (set in a peg box that angles sharply back from the neck) to a bridge glued to the belly. Above the bridge is a round sound hole filled with an intricate carving, or rose
• Tuned G/c/f/a/d'/g'
• The right-hand fingers pluck the strings, while the left hand fingers alter the pitch with the frets.
• The English lutenist John Dowland composed for these lute in the renaissance.
• In the 1600’s the lute got its more typical baroque form which added a few bass strings
• The tuning for these extra stings on the lute was F/E/D/C, and they were not fretted (the rest of the strings however still were)
• Larger lutes with more and longer bass strings were also built; they include the Theorbo, Chitarrone, and Archlute
• French composers such as Denis Gaultier developed a notable body of music with these lutes.
• By 1700, the introduction of metal-over spun gut strings allowed bass strings of normal length to be used.
• Typical lutes of the 18th century have one bent-back pegbox and a broad neck over which are stretched five to seven bass strings and the six double courses
• At this point they were usually tuned A/d/f/a/d'/f' (relative pitch).

 

Viol:

• Bowed stringed instrument popular from about 1500 to about 1750
• The viol rests vertically on the player's knees, hence its Italian name viola da gamba (leg viol). The bow is held palm outward and is slightly convex (in contrast to the concave violin bow)
• Made in three principal sizes (treble, tenor, and bass), the viol has a deep body and sloped shoulders. A back that angles back sharply near the neck; a violin-like bridge; C-shaped sound holes; and tied-on gut frets that contribute to its clear, penetrating sound
• The six gut strings are tuned (in the tenor) G c f a d1 g1 (c = C below middle C; d1 = D above middle C), a tuning shared by the viol's relative, the lute. The treble’s tuning has the same pattern starting on D.
• Less common was the double bass, tuned an octave lower; it was one ancestor of the modern double bass
• In the 1500s and 1600s a consort, or ensemble, of viols was a favorite medium for chamber music by such composers as Purcell
• The rise of the orchestra in the 1700's, led to the replacement of the treble and tenor viols with the violin.
• The bass viol persisted, its most famous virtuoso being the French player Marin Marais. Music for bass viol includes the Brandenburg Concerto no. 6 by J. S. Bach.

• It was a large, low-pitched instrument related to the violin, it was held between the performer's knees
• It was bowed, and fretless.
• It has four strings tuned C G d a (C = two C's below middle C; a = the A below middle C)and it had a four octave range.
• The earliest surviving cellos are two from the 1560s by the Italian violinmaker Andrea Amati.
• Until the late 18th century, the cello was primarily a supporting instrument, playing bass lines and adding fullness to musical textures.
• However, during the baroque era, Bach composed unaccompanied cello suites, and Vivaldi and Boccherini composed Concertos for cellos.

• Musical instrument in which strings, sounded by plucking, run between a neck and a resonator, the strings run perpendicular to the resonator.
• Harps are made in three basic shapes: arched harps, in which the neck and body form a bowlike curve. Angular harps, in which neck and body form at least a right angle. And frame harps, in which a third piece, the fore pillar, is placed opposite the angle between the neck and body, forming a triangle, to brace them against the tension of the strings
• Frame harps, almost exclusively European, appeared by the 9th century and developed in two versions one used in Ireland and Scotland, and one on the Continent.
• The Irish harp, like its Scottish counterpart, was a powerful instrument with a broad, deep sound box hewn from one block of wood; a thick, strong neck; and a heavy, curved fore pillar. Strung with 30 to 50 brass strings that were plucked by the player's long fingernails to produce a brilliant, ringing sound, it survived in Irish aristocratic circles until about 1800
• Medieval harps in other parts of Europe were smaller and lighter, with about 7 to 25 strings, apparently of metal, and narrower, shallower sound boxes.
• By about 1500, gut strings came into use, and a taller form developed, having a straight fore pillar that could support more string tension than a light, curved fore pillar. This Gothic harp is the ancestor of the folk harps of Latin America and of the modern Irish and orchestral harps.
• As music in the 16th to 18th centuries gradually demanded more notes lying outside the seven notes of the European harp's scale, attempts were made to enable the harp to produce the additional notes.
• These included adding a second row of strings tuned to the sharps and flats (chromatic harps), setting small hooks on the neck that could be turned to catch a string and raise its pitch a half step, and providing pedals to which the hooks (or later, rotating disks) were connected by levers and wires set inside the fore pillar
• Devised in 1720, the first single-action pedal harp could raise the pitch of the selected strings by a half step, allowing the harp to play in many, although not all, keys. The original pitch of the strings being tuned to B major

• The Harpsichord is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked to produce sound.
• It was developed in Europe in the 14th or 15th century and was widely used from the 16th to the early 19th century, when it was replaced by the piano.
• The harpsichord is particularly effective in performing contrapuntal music—that is, music that consists of two or more melodies played at the same time, such as that of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
• The harpsichord usually has a wing-shaped body, or case, like a grand piano; however, its proportions are narrower and longer, and the case and its inner bracing are normally lighter.
• Harpsichords of any shape have the same plucking mechanism. For each string a small piece of material, or plectrum, is set in a thin slip of wood, or "jack," which rests internally on the far end of the key. When the front of the key is depressed, the far end rises, and the plectrum plucks the string. The jack is pivoted so that, when the key returns to rest position, the plectrum slides by without striking the string.
• Since the volume and tone of the sound produced by the plucking mechanism remain constant regardless of the forcefulness of the keystroke, various methods have been developed to alter the harpsichord's sound.
• Harpsichords often have two keyboards, or manuals, which can usually be coupled or used separately, allowing further variations of tone color and volume. A typical two-manual harpsichord of the 18th century had strings at normal and octave-high pitch playable on the lower manual, strings at normal pitch controlled by the upper manual, and a coupling mechanism.
• The earliest school of harpsichord building developed in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Italian harpsichords differed from others in that they normally were made of extremely thin wood and then placed in a stronger outer case of the same shape.
• A second important school of building developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in Flanders, centered around the influential Ruckers family of builders. These schools gave way in the 18th century to distinctive styles of building that developed in France (the Blachet family), Germany (the Hass family), and England (Jacob Kirkman).

• The largest and lowest-pitched member of the violin family, it is also known as the double bass.
• It is usually about 1.8 m (about 6 ft) high and has four strings tuned to sound EE AA D G (EE = third E below middle C; G = second G below middle C) and notated an octave higher
• A low fifth string is sometimes added, tuned to the C below the E string. On some instruments, the E string is extended at the head and fitted with a mechanism that clamps off the extra length; releasing the mechanism allows the string to sound the low notes down to C.
• Three-stringed basses were common in the 18th and 19th centuries (often tuned A D G). Early basses of the 16th and 17th centuries had four or five (or, rarely, six) strings
• Until the 19th century, bass players used bows with the stick out-curved in relation to the bow hair—long after the in-curved bow was standard for the violin, viola, and violoncello.

 Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Kaspar Kerll, Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro PogliettiGlossaryRhythm

 

 Rhythm

- Sachin and Edd

• Two Diametrically opposed rhythmic patterns
• In Vocal Recitatives: Rhythm is free and dictated by the text itself
• In Accompaniments: Strong and relentless beat, accented by harmonies and repeated notes
• Many works are based on one rhythmic pattern
• Unchanging tempo

 

~Two different types of rhythm common of the time were regular and flexible;

Regular- used for dance music and became more pursuasive

Flexible - Used for Vocal Recitatives and improv solos like toccatas and preludes

 

 

Types of Dance:

Gigue (not Jig)- A gigue or giga is a lively Baroque dance usually in compund meter, and often has contrapuntal texture. Gigues frequently occur as movements in binary form in larger works such as concertos and sonatas, and were one of the more common final movements in a baroque suite.

 

Courante (not Carrenta)- The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are just some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. The courante came in two varieties: French and Italian. The French was moderately fast, in contrast to the allemande that preceded it, whereas the Italian was faster and more free flowing. In a Baroque dance suite, an Italian or French courante typically comes between the allemande and the sarabande, making it the second or third movement.

Sarabande-shown in the video below is a slow dance in triple meter with the distictive feature that beats two and three of the measure are often tied, giving a destinctive rythm of quarter and half notes in alteration. Note in the video a dragging step on half steps.

 

 

Allemande- The Allemande was initially written as a first movement before a Courante. 16th century Allemandes were in duple meter at a moderate tempo but 17th century Allemandes featured more quadruple meter and a larger range of tempo. Allemandes are most noted for their lack of syncopation and tonal contrasts.

 

 

Melody

by Roxanne and Becky

• Melodies are continuous, flowing, and obvious.
• Polyphony was still popular, but less complicated than Renaissance.
• “Text-painting” is used; the accompanying music evokes and reflects the emotion of the text.
• Melismas occur often in baroque music as a form of ornamentation.
• Plenty of ornamentation
• Motives are commonly repeated in these pieces, often modified and developed throughout the piece.
• Chromaticism was, in a sense, developed with the experimentation with breaking away from Renaissance tradition.
• Though previously frowned upon, dissonance became more accepted and welcomed in Baroque music, giving each piece a tonal direction.
• Baroque music had a lot of borrowed melodies, in the sense that composers would take a phrase from another piece of music and put it in their own works.
• Counterpoint during this time was now driven by harmony rather than by the various individual melodies.

 

Texture

by Katherine and Hanna

• Polyphonic:
  ~ multiple melodic lines
  ~ soprano and bass lines were most important
  ~ imitation between lines was common
  ~ forms of polyphony – canons, fugues
• Homophonic:
  ~ one melodic line
  ~ Early Baroque period
  ~ occurred in Bach and Handel’s pieces

Basso Continuo

 

 

Strucure/Form

by Juelan, Amy, and Elina

 

Variations.

Varity of techniques used in pieces

1. Repeated melody with little or no change, though it may be transferred between

different voices and surrounded with different contrapuntal material in every variation.

This is called Cantus Firmus Variation.

2. Melody is ornamented differently for every variation, if so the part stays in the topmost

voice, with unchanged underlining harmonies.

3. The bass and/or harmonic structure is the constant factor instead of the melody.

 

 

Suites

A composition in several movements instead of a short piece in a certain mood and/or rhythm. Each consisting of loose aggregation of many miniature pieces. Most in dance rhythms that are highly stylized and refined.

 

 

Ouverture(overture)

Pieces that introduce operas and other large composite works, but can also be independent compositions and sometimes make the opening movement of a suite, sonata, or concerto.

 

 

Cantata and Song

A form consisting of many short contrasting sections; a pattern of alternating recitatives and arias for solo voice with continuo accompaniment on text usually in the form of a dramatic narrative or soliloquy. Designed to be performed in a room. Resembles a detached scene from an opera.

 

 

Oratorio and Motet

For sacred concert perforates and often serve as a substitute for opera during season where the theater is closed like Lent. Most Oratorios are for solos and duets.

 

 

Chorales

Congregational hymns with organ accompaniment, where there is uniform movement in equal notes, with the close of each phrase marked with a fermata.

 

 

Musical-textual elements

1. Concerted chorus on a biblical text.

2. Solo aria, with strophic no biblical text

3. Chorale, with its own text and the tune which might be treated in many ways

 

 

Sacred concerto elements

1. Arias or arias and choruses in the concertato medium.

2. Chorales only, also in concertato medium.

3. Chorales and arias in simple harmonic settings or in the concertato medium.

(note: these combinations are called Cantatas, but the proper name is sacred concertos)

 

 

Composers

 

 

 

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

 

 

By: Laura

1. Dates of life: 1685-1750

2. Where born/died:

-Born in Eisenach, Germany

-Died in Leipzig, Germany

3. Life:

J.S. Bach was born into a family of musicians. His father played violin, and other relatives were music copyists, town pipers, fiddlers, and played the oboe or organ. His father taught him to play the harpsichord and violin and was introduced to the organ by his uncle who was famous organist. Bach lived with his oldest brother, Cristoph, after his parents died when he was 10. His brother taught him to play the harpsichord and organ. As a boy, he was admired for his soprano voice as he sang in the Mettenchor (Mattins Choir) in Lüneburg. After his voice changed, he studied violin, but then became interested in the organ and decided to pursue church music. He became an organist at the church of Arnstadt and began composing when he was 18. At the age of 22, Bach moved to Mühlhausen and married Maria Barbara Bach. He had seven children. He was known as an outstanding church musician and excellent organist and was appointed to the Duke of Weimar. During his nine years in Weimar, Bach composed some of his greatest organ music, including Toccata and Fugue in D minor as well as church cantatas and keyboard suites. In 1717, when he was 32, Bach accepted the post of master of music to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, where he composed much of his orchestral music, including his six popular Brandenburg Concertos and works for the clavichord and harpsichord. After his wife, Maria, died in 1720, he remarried in 1721 to Anna Magdalena Wülken, who was also a musician. He had 13 more children with her and taught most of his children to play a musical instrument. Several of Bach’s sons grew up to be respected composers and performers as well. In 1723, Bach accepted the post of music director of St. Thomas’s School in Leipzig, where he composed many of his most famous choral works, including Christmas Oratorio and the St. Matthew Passion. Bach was very religious and a devoted family man. He signed his music with “S.D.G” (Sol Deo Gloria), which means “to the glory of God.” He boasted that he could form a vocal and instrumental ensemble just from his family alone. In 1749, Bach became blind and died in Leipzig in 1750.

4. Mentors: Dieterich Buxtehude, who inspired Bach with his improvisatory preludes and use of counterpoint

5. Main influences:

In Lüneburg, Bach was influenced in his musical composition and performance by the French style. In Weimar, he came into contact with Italian instrumental music. Since Bach also stayed in Germany his entire life, he was influenced by German music as well. These French and Italian influences were mainly brought out through texture and rhythm. He often made arrangements of other composers’ works. For example, he could take an Italian ensemble composition, such as a violin concerto, and turn it into a single piece for harpsichord.

6. Types of compositions known for:

-Preludes and Fugues (Well-Tempered Clavier- a prelude and fugue in each of the 24 major and minor keys)

-Inventions and Sinfonias (Two- and three-part contrapuntal works)

-Cantatas

-Canons

-Concertos (Brandenburg Concertos)

-Fantasias

-Masses

-Toccatas

Bach wrote music in a wide variety of other “forms” as well, including sonatas, dance suites, oratorios, etc.

7. Great works:

Harpsichord: Little Book for the Keyboard, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2

Organ: Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Orchestra: Brandenburg Concertos

Choral: Christmas Oratorio, St. Matthew Passion

8. Compositional Techniques:

Bach is seen as the supreme master of counterpoint, but also embodies the entire Baroque era in his music.

9. Interesting facts:

-Bach is considered the father of Baroque. Bach had 20 children and composed the Little Book for the Keyboard for his nine-year-old son, Wilhelm Friedemann.

- Georg Philipp Telemann was the first choice to be cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, but turned down the position, forcing the administration to choose a "mediocre" second choice, J.S. Bach.

    -The Beatles were influenced by Bach in their music.

 

 

 

Antonio Vivaldi

 

 

By: Laura

1. Dates of life: 1678-1741

2. Where born/died:

-Born in Venice, Italy

-Died in Vienna, Austria

3. Life:

Antonio Vivaldi’s father was a violinist, who taught Vivaldi how to play the instrument. He became a priest in 1703, but did not celebrate mass after a year due to pain in his chest. Vivaldi was employed for the majority of his working life by the Ospedale della Pietá, an orphanage, where he was the maestro di violino (master of violin). He also worked for the Teatro Sant’ Angelo, an opera theater, where he staged and produced operas. His first opera was Ottone in villain 1713. He moved to Mantua at the end of 1713 where he composed operas and cantatas as Chamber Capellmeister. Between 1725 and 1728, eight operas were premiered in Venice and Florence. His concertos, such as the Four Seasons, became extremely popular during this time as well. Vivaldi traveled to Prague in 1730, and after he returned he concentrated mainly on operas. He wrote instrumental music only for the Ospedale della Pietá. In 1738, Vivaldi traveled to Amsterdam, where he conducted a festive opening concert for the 100^th Anniversary of the Schouwburg Theater. He moved to Vienna in 1741, but died shortly after he moved there.

4. Mentors: Vivaldi’s father

5. Main influences:

6. Types of compositions known for:

-Concertos (The Four Seasons, composed over 500 concertos primarily for solo violin and group ensembles)

-Operas (46 operas)

Vivaldi also composed sonatas, sinfonias, chamber and sacred music.

7. Great works:

The Four Seasons is by far Vivaldi’s most famous work.

8. Compositional Techniques:

Vivaldi had a more playful energy in his music compared to the serious tone set by Baroque music. His concerti had a fast, slow, fast form with a ritornello form.

 

 

Alessandro Scarlatti

 

 

By: Laura

1. Dates of life: 1660-1725

2. Where born/died:

-Born in Trapani or Palermo, Sicily (Italian)

-Died in Naples, Italy

3. Life:

Alessandro Scarlatti trained in Rome. In 1678, he got married and was later appointed Maestro di Cappella of San Giacomo degli Incurabili. Here at only 19 years old, he performed his first large-scale oratorio-operatic work. In 1684, Scarlatti moved to Naples, and was appointed Maestro di Cappella at the vice-regal court of Naples. In Naples, Scarlatti produced over 40 operas, which were first performed in Viceregal Palazzo Reale and then at S. Bartolomeo, a public theater. Here he was employed as a director. In 1703, Scarlatti moved back to Rome after staying in Florence for a year. Here he was Maestro di Cappella at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he was required to compose motets and Masses in strict concertato and Papal styles. As another source of income, Scarlatti also started to compose oratorios, cantatas, and celebratory serenatas. Later on, Scarlatti experimented with orchestral writing, where he expanded the Sinfonia concept with his twelve Sinfonie di concerto grosso. Scarlatti’s final years were spent in Naples, teaching, composing cantatas, a Serenata, and a set of Sonatas for Flute and Strings. He died in Naples in 1725.

4. Mentors: None found

5. Main influences: Early Baroque Italian voice styles, which mainly rooted from Florence, Venice, and Rome

6. Types of compositions known for:

-Operas

-Cantatas (over 600, mostly for soprano and continuo)

-Oratorios

-Concertos

-Sinfonias

7. Great works:

Opera: La Griselda

8. Compositional Techniques:

From 1695, Scarlatti’s operas and “musical dramas” had three movement (fast, slow, fast) sinfonias (opera overtures), which eventually became the standard for all Italian operas. He also differentiated the singing styles of aria and recitative. In his later operas and overtures, he experimented with a more modern style of instrumentation.

 

Domenico Scarlatti

 

By: Laura

1. Dates of life: 1685-1757

2. Where born/died:

-Born in Naples, Italy

-Died in Madrid, Spain

3. Life:

Domenico Scarlatti was the son of Alessandro Scarlatti. He was taught at first by his father and took after him as well, as he began composing operas. At age 18, his first operas, Ottavia ristituita al trono and Giustino, were performed. In 1705, he moved to Venice to study with Francesco Gasparini who was the musical director at the Ospedale della pieta. In Venice he met George Frideric Handel and they became good friends. Scarlatti really established himself in Rome. He composed chamber music and operas for the miniature opera theater of Queen Maria Casimira. He became music director of St. Peter’s in Rome in 1715. Scarlatti became court harpsichordist in Libson to the King of Portugal and teacher of Princess Maria Barbara in 1720. For her, he composed keyboard music that ended up as Scarlatti’s greatest contribution to music literature. In 1725, he returned to Naples, and at this time his father died. Scarlatti spent the rest of his life in Maria Barbara’s service in Spain after she married the Spanish crown prince, who became King of Spain. In 1738, his 30 Essercizi per Gravicembalo were published in London and became widely used.

4. Mentors:

-His father, Alessandro Scarlatti

-Francesco Gasparini, the musical director at the Ospedale della pieta

5. Main influences:

Spanish folk music and dances, where Scarlatti was influenced by the vivid colors and rhythms used in it

6. Types of compositions known for:

-Sonatas (over 500 single-movement keyboard sonatas)

-Sinfonias (17)

-Concerti grossi (orchestra)

-Cantatas

-Oratorios

-Operas

-Compositions that foreshadowed the sonata form

7. Great works:

-30 Essercizi per Gravicembalo (Studies for Harpsichord)

-“The Cat’s Fugue” K. 30, L. 499

8. Compositional Techniques:

Scarlatti’s harpsichord playing exhibited much freedom. He introduced new techniques, such as crossing the hands, fast repeated notes, wide leaps, glissandi, and double-note passages. In his keyboard sonatas, he generally used binary form.

9. Interesting facts:

-Scarlatti’s cat was the inspiration for one of his sonatas-“The Cat’s Fugue” K. 30, L. 499. His cat walked over the keyboard striking notes that Scarlatti used for the subject of the fugue.

     -Scarlatti and Handel participated in a keyboard tournament that ended in a tie.

 

 

Francesco Geminiani

 

• Lucca, in Tuscany, (Italian)

• played the violin in the Town Orchestra for three years
• moved to Naples in 1711 to take up the position as Leader of the Opera Orchestra
• Music historian Dr. Burney put it, "his unexpected accelerations and relaxations of measure".
• Moved to England and became a brilliant violin player
• invited to play the violin before George I
• Published "The Art of Playing the Violin" (1731) along with Rules for Playing in a True Taste ''A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick, a Guida harmonica with supplement (c.l754), The Art of Accompaniment (c.l754) compositions and his theoretical treatisesSigismundus, on a text by Postel)Collegium Musicum with which he gave public concerts (and which Bach was later to direct)Il trionfo di CamillaAstarto opened the second season at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket late in 1720, outshining Handel's own operasL'odio e l'amore followed a month later at the Haymarket TheatreAlmira (1705), Rinaldo (1711), Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar, 1724) and Orlando (1733) Esther (1718), Alexander's Feast (1736), Israel in Egypt (1739), Messiah (1742), Sampson (1743), Belshazzar (1745), Judas Maccabaeus (1747), Solomon (1749) and Jephtha (1752); other sacred vocal music, including Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (c.1713), Acis and Galatea (masque, 1718), Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739), Utrech Te Deum (1713), anthems and Latin church music Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749); concerti for oboe, organ, horn Costanza e Fortezza, Il trionfo di CamillaAstarto opened the second season at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket late in 1720, outshining Handel's own operas
• Geminiani based his earliest published Concertos on Corelli's Sonatas for Violin and Continuo, Op.5
• Magdeburg (German)
• As a child he showed considerable musical talent, mastering the violin, flute, zither and keyboard by the age of ten and composing an opera (
• Attended Leipzig University in 1701
• within a year of his arrival he founded the student
• Telemann wrote operatic works for the Leipzig Theater, and in 1703 became musical director of the Leipzig Opera and was appointed organist at the Neue Kirche in 1704
• 1705 he accepted an appointment as Kapellmeister to the cosmopolitan court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau
• His association with the Sorau Kantor and theorist Wolfgang Caspar Printz and the reformist poet Erdmann Neumeister as well as the proximity to Berlin and contact with Polish folk music all proved stimulating
• invasion by the Swedish army, causing the Court to be hurriedly disbanded
• he went to the free imperial city of Frankfurt-am-Main to take up duties as Director of Municipal Music and also as Kapellmeister of the Barfüßerkirche
• He composed occasional music for civic ceremonies, five year-long cycles of church cantatas, oratorios, orchestral music and a wealth of chamber music, much of which was published; only the opportunity to produce opera was lacking
• in 1721, the coveted post of Kantor of the Hamburg Johanneum, a post that traditionally carried with it teaching responsibilities and the directorship of Hamburg's five principal churches, became vacant, and Telemann was invited to succeed Joachim Gerstenbüttel
• was required to compose two cantatas a week, annually to produce a new Passion, and to provide occasional works for church and civil ceremonies
•  

 

George Frideric Handel

 

• English composer, but German by birth and was most famous for his Operas and Oratorios.
• He composed for the general public.
• At a young age, he composed with an Italian style. His first Opera, Almira, was a big success.
• While he was in England, he maintained an Italian style in his Operas. But, he later developed into a light and ballad opera.
• Around 1728, the Italian style had faded so he started writing Oratorios. His most famous was Messiah in 1742.
• He was an amazing organist.

 

His Works Include:

• Over 40 operas, including
• Oratorios, including
• Secular vocal music, including solo and duo cantatas; arias
• Orchestral music, including
• Chamber music, including solo and trio sonatas
• Keyboard music, including harpsichord suites, fugues, preludes, airs and dances

 

 

 

Claudio Monteverdi

Dates of Life: 1567-1643Place of Birth: Cremona Place of Death: Venice :

 

 

NationalityItalian :

LifeBegan his career as a chorister at the cathedral in Cremona. At the age of 16 he had already published his volume of three-part motets and a book of sacred madrigals. In 1601 he became maestro di cappela at the Mantuan court. In 1607 he wrote his first opera L’Orfeo. The tragic death of his wife and close friend made him suffer a complete collapse. During this time he wrote Vespro della beata vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin 1610). He wrote many ballets and operas for the Mantuan court, but many of his scores were destroyed when Austrian troops sacked the palace in 1630 in Venice. His madrigal collections show his moving with the times, from typically Renaissance polyphony pieces to highly expressive dramatic works for solo voices with instrumental accompaniment. :

MentorsNone found :

InfluencesThe death of his wife and his close friend were influences when he composed the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, which date from this unhappy period. :

CompositionsOperas, Madrigals, Motets

Great Works:Vespro Della beata vegine, Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, (1610) a glorious setting for voices and instruments, L’Orfeo (1607) an opera. :

Unique StyleHe was a master of producing precisely styled motets that extended forms of Marenzio and Giaces de Wert. He used idiomatic writing, virtuoso flourishes and a thorough going use of new techniques. :

Other FactsHe bridged the worlds of the High Renaissance and the Baroque Era. He could re-invent and adapt his musical styles according to changing tastes. All of his music, early or late, is characterized by qualities of emotional intensity, depth of expression and understanding of human nature comparable with those that inform the works of Shakespeare.

 

 

 

Johann Joseph Fux

 By: Connor

• 1660-1741 

   

   

   Francois Coupern

  by Liz

  

  • Born: 10 November 1668, Paris, France
  • Death:  11 September 1733, Paris, France
  • At age 18 he inherited his father's position as organist at St. Gervais in Paris
  • He was taught by Lalande
  • He taught Harpsichord and Organ
  • He grouped his pieces into ordres, not suites
  • Standardized the notation of ornaments
  • Blended the French and Italian Styles

   

  Giovanni Battista Bononcini

  By: Connor

  

  • Modena, Italy (Italian)
  • trained as a cellist in Bologna
  • member of the Accademia Filarmonica
  • a musician at San Petronio (for which he composed two Lenten oratorios, 1687-8)
  • maestro di cappella at San Giovanni in Monte until 1689
  • Bononcini collaborated with the poet Silvio Stampiglia on six serenatas, an oratorio and five operas, of which the last,
  • recruited in 1698 to the court of Leopold I in Vienna
  • After the death of Emperor Joseph I in 1711, Bononcini left the Viennese court for Rome
  • 1719 he was invited to London by the Earl of Burlington to become a composer for the Royal Academy of Music under Handel's direction
  • Bononcini was warmly received in London where .
  • Muzio Scevola

  Bononcini returned to London, accepting a position as director of the private concerts of the Duchess of Marlborough

   

  Georg Philipp Telemann

  By: Connor

  

  • Magdeburg (German)
  • As a child he showed considerable musical talent, mastering the violin, flute, zither and keyboard by the age of ten and composing an opera (Sigismundus, on a text by Postel)
  • Attended Leipzig University in 1701
  • within a year of his arrival he founded the student Collegium Musicum with which he gave public concerts (and which Bach was later to direct)
  • Telemann wrote operatic works for the Leipzig Theater, and in 1703 became musical director of the Leipzig Opera and was appointed organist at the Neue Kirche in 1704
  • 1705 he accepted an appointment as Kapellmeister to the cosmopolitan court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau
  • His association with the Sorau Kantor and theorist Wolfgang Caspar Printz and the reformist poet Erdmann Neumeister as well as the proximity to Berlin and contact with Polish folk music all proved stimulating
   

   

   

  Jean-Philippe Rameau

  by Liz

  

  • D'Alembert rewrote his books into one easier to read book, Elements de Musique Theorique et Practique selon les     Principes de M. Rameau
  • Baptised 25 September 1683 in Dijon, France
  • Died 12 September 1764 Paris, France
  • Went to Jesuit College des Godrans, but he sang and composed too much, so he was kicked out
  • Was the organist at quite a few Cathedrals around France and by 1706 was an organist in Paris
  • Wrote a few books including Traite de l'Harmonie, Generation Harmonique, and Demonstration du Principe de l'Harmonie
  •  
  •     He thought that he was a better thinker than composer
  • In 1745 he recieved the title Compositeur du cabinet du roi
  • He wrote 65 keyboard pieces
  •    He tried to use the keyboard as a sustained instrument, so his pieces sound good on piano
  • His works include:
  1. Hippolyte et Aricie
  2. Castor et Pollux
  3. Dardanus
  4. L'entrtien des Muses
  5. Le Berger Fidele
  6. Platee
  7. Les Fetes d'Hebe

   

  Johann Pachelbel

  By: Aline

  

   

  Dates of Life:

  Place of Birth

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  Life:

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  Dietrich Buxelhude

  By: Aline

  

  Dates of Life:

  Place of Birth:

  Nationality:

  Life:

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  Works

  Great Works

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  Jean-Baptiste Lully

  By: Aline

  

  Dates of Life:

  Place of Birth:

  Nationality:

  Life

  Mentors:

  Influence:

  Works:

  Great Works:

  Unique Style:

  Other Facts:

  He accidentally stuck his foot with the heavy stick he used to mark the beat by banging it on the floor. Lully refused to have the toe amputated. sacred music Isis, Thésée, Phaëton and Armide court ballets, comedy-ballets, opera, lyric tragedies Playwright Molière, the poet Philippe Quinault Nicolas Métru: Lully’s singing voice was spotted at the age of 13; he had also a talent for dancing and playing the violin. He established himself as a strict disciplinarian with a quick temper, later in life as director of the opera house in Paris. He made an expedient marriage in order to disguise his homosexuality. He married the daughter of the court composer Michael Lambert. Jean-Baptiste Lully and Louis XIV, the "Sun King", enjoyed a close, symbiotic relationship. Lully had stuck gold, and made a huge fortune. Italian Florence Place of Death: Paris 1632-1687 His organ works had enormous influence on Bach St Mary required him to play and compose music for the main services: Abendmusiken: Organ Music, cantatas for the German protestant liturgy He was taught by his father His father was a schoolmaster and organist. In 1637 Buxtehude himself became organist at St Mary’s Church in Lübeck; this appointment was one of the most important and lucrative in Germany. Dieterich Buxtehude applies as Tunders successor. 11 April Buxtehude is appointed organist and "Werkmeister" of St. Mary’s, Lübeck. 3 August he marries Tunder’s daughter Anna Margareta. DanishOldesloe        Place of Death: Lübeck c.1637-1707Predecessor of J. S. BachGerman protestant church music, complex polyphonic pieces based on Protestant hyms tunes Pachelbel’s Canon, six suites for two violins Organ MusicHeinrich Schwemmer, Georg Caspar WeckerBecame organist at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, later in Thuringia and near Erfurt, where he came into contact with members of the Bach family. He remarried in 1684 after he lost his first wife and their baby son in a plague epidemic. Pachelbel raised a family of seven children. German: Nuremberg Place of Death: Nuremberg 1653-1706
• Secular/Sacred composer
•  
• student at Graz University
• became the organist of the famous Scottish Church in Vienna
• then appointed Court Composer by the Emperor
• 1701 Fux became Capellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral
• 1711 became Music Director at the Imperial Court itself, the highest musical position in Europe Gradus ad Parnassum, a textbook from which most of the composers of the next generation learnt their counterpoint , even Bach himself had a copy in his libraryHirtenfeld in Eastern Styria, Austria (Austrian)
• Published
• "the greatest master of the Austrian Baroque"
• Famous Pieces: Costanza e Fortezza,

Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Kaspar Kerll, Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro Poglietti 

 

 

Jean Baptiste Lully

 By: Aline

 

Dates of Life:

Place of Birth:

Nationality:

Life: Lully's singing voice was spotted at the age of 13; he had also a talent for dancing and playing the violin. He established himself as a strict disciplinarian with a quick temper, later in life as director of the opera house in Paris. He made an expedient marriage in order to disguise his homosexuality. He married the daughter of the court composer Michael Lambert. Jean-Baptiste Lully and Louis XIV, the "Sun King", enjoyed a close, symbiotic relationship. Lully had stuck gold, and made a huge fortune.

Mentors:

Influence:

Works:

Great Works:

Unique Style:

Other Facts:

He accidentally stuck his foot with the heavy stick he used to mark the beat by banging it on the floor. Lully refused to have the toe amputated. sacred music Isis, Thésée, Phaëton and Armide court ballets, comedy-ballets, opera, lyric tragedies Playwright Molière, the poet Philippe Quinault Nicolas Métru Italian Florence Place of Death: Paris 1632-1687

 

 

Dietrich Buxelhude

 By: Aline

Dates of Life:

Place of Birth:

Nationality:

Life:

Mentors:

Influence:

Works

Great Works: Abendmusiken

Unique Style:

Other Facts:

His organ works had enormous influence on Bach St Mary required him to play and compose music for the main services: Organ Music, cantatas for the German protestant liturgy He was taught by his father His father was a schoolmaster and organist. In 1637 Buxtehude himself became organist at St Mary’s Church in Lübeck; this appointment was one of the most important and lucrative in Germany. Dieterich Buxtehude applies as Tunders successor. 11 April Buxtehude is appointed organist and "Werkmeister" of St. Mary’s, Lübeck. 3 August he marries Tunder’s daughter Anna Margareta. DanishOldesloe Place of Death: Lübeck 1637-1707

 

 

Johann Pachelbel

by: Aline

1653-1706

 

 

 

Glossary

 

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Place of Birth

Life:

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Predecessor of J. S. BachGerman protestant church music, complex polyphonic pieces based on Protestant hyms tunes Pachelbel’s Canon, six suites for two violins Organ MusicHeinrich Schwemmer, Georg Caspar WeckerBecame organist at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, later in Thuringia and near Erfurt, where he came into contact with members of the Bach family. He remarried in 1684 after he lost his first wife and their baby son in a plague epidemic. Pachelbel raised a family of seven children.: Nuremberg Place of Death: Nuremberg Nationality: German