baroque music

1600                                                                                                                                                1750

Baroque Music was   the music of Europe between 1600 and 1750. Although the music across these chronological borders has features in common with the adjoining periods, the beginning of the period is marked by the stylistic and technical innovations that enabled the creation of the new genre of opera, while the end of the period is characterized by the emergence of elements of the Classical style in instrumental music and opera. The term “Baroque”, which may be derived from a word signifying an irregular pearl, was applied retrospectively and originally pejoratively: from the perspective of Classical symmetry and balance, the music of the preceding period was regarded by some writers as over-exuberant and somewhat grotesque. (It is ironic that the works of the 16th-century Italian architect Palladio, which were taken as intellectual models for the Classical-period ideals of clarity and proportion, were the product of the same Italian humanist movement that lay behind the creation of opera.) The musical developments of the Baroque period can conveniently be described in three phases, sometimes referred to as the “early”, “middle”, and “high” Baroque, which more or less coincide with 50-year divisions of the period.

The Early Baroque

Opera was developed as a continuously sung musical drama by a musical and literary community (the “Camerata”) at Florence during the 1590s. The intention of the Camerata was to recreate the power of Classical Greek drama to move the emotions, using music to heighten the communicative powers of the human voice. The earliest surviving complete opera, Euridice (1600) by Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini, combined elevated declamation by soloists with pastoral dances for nymphs and shepherds, thus merging the perceived power of tragic drama with contemporary ideals of the idyllic pastoral convention. In order to provide the musical means for a powerful and flexible solo vocal style, new forms and techniques had to be developed, in particular the creation of an elevated style of accompanied song, or monody. This in turn required the development of suitably flexible means for accompanying the soloists, and it is in this area that the basso continuo initially developed great importance. “Figured bass” accompaniment, involving the improvised realization of a given chordal structure, became not only a utilitarian performing practice but a procedure that moulded attitudes to musical composition during the next century and a half, encouraging a “tune-and-bass” approach to composition and the generation of melodies on the basis of primarily harmonic structures. This influence, combined with the desire to enhance the expressive power of the solo voice, led the emphasis away from musical forms based on counterpoint and imitation, although forms based on these features survived and flourished in other contexts, in particular liturgical church music and keyboard music.

Opera might have remained an isolated experiment: it was created in the context of expensive and occasional court entertainments and involved elaborate staging, including the provision of extensive perspective sets and labour-intensive scenic effects, as well as the employment of many musicians. However, a critical factor for the development of the genre was the establishment in Venice of permanent opera theatres, under the patronage of Venice's richer families but accessible to a wider public, in the 1630s. Important also was the creative contribution of Claudio Monteverdi, who developed opera into an artistically coherent genre, first in Mantua in Orfeo (1607) and Arianna (1608, music mainly lost), and then especially in his later Venetian operas Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland, 1640) and L'incoronazzione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea, 1642). Forceful dramatic declamation backed up by striking orchestral effects, a combination which promoted the expression of what Monteverdi called his “agitated” style (stile concitato), are also found in his extended dramatic scene Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (The Combat of Tancred and Clorinda, 1624) which was published in a collection of Monteverdi's “Madrigals”: however, the early Baroque style rather eschewed the imitative textures and anecdotal word-painting of the earlier madrigal style, concentrating instead on using music in a broader way to enhance the “passion” or affekt being expressed by the singer.

While the ground for opera was being laid in the 1590s, another important event of the decade was the publication of the instrumental Sacrae Symphoniae by Giovanni Gabrieli at Venice in 1597, which laid out large ensembles in groups that could be variously contrasted and combined. This principle of scoring, following a choral model known as cori spezzati, was a direct consequence of the opportunities provided by the separate galleries in St Mark's, Venice, but the application of the idea to instrumental scoring became an influential one when Baroque composers had large forces at their disposal. One item from Gabrieli's collection, the Sonata pian' e forte, marked the entry of formalized dynamic directions into European music, and the establishment of “terraced” dynamic contrasts as one resource available to the composer.

The Middle Baroque

In the middle of the 17th century the focus of innovation moved from Italy to France, where Jean-Baptiste Lully, an expatriate Italian, developed a new strain of opera amid the grandiloquence of the French court. While Italian opera had come to place ever greater emphasis on the solo singer, French opera emphasized elements of dancing (drawing on the previous court ballet tradition), the chorus and spectacular scenic effects. For the soloists a clear yet elegant melodic musical style, suited to the French texts, was developed, which contrasted with the increasing elaboration of melodic lines that accompanied the growth of vocal virtuosity in Italy. In both Italian and French operatic styles, however, there was an increasing distinction between recitative (relatively fast-moving conversational episodes carrying the plot forward) and extended airs or arias which released in music the emotional tensions of individual characters: in the course of the 17th century the communication of significant emotions shifted gradually from recitative to aria, especially in Italy.

In developing the string-playing French court musicians into a well-drilled ensemble to accompany the operas, Lully also laid the foundation for the modern orchestra. In the second half of the century, the oboe developed in France as an acceptable orchestral instrument, while in Italy the best trumpet players also refined their style to the extent that they could feature in sonatas accompanied by strings: thereafter, oboes and trumpets (and also bassoons) established artistic roles in the orchestral ensemble, while still retaining their cruder functions as outdoor and military instruments. For the development of string music in the later part of the century, however, the lead passed back to Italy, where the golden age in the manufacture of instruments of the violin type, by makers such as Amati, Stradivari and the Guarneri family, was matched by the development of a suave style of writing for the instruments, by composers such as Torelli and Vitali, in compositions that established the concerto for string orchestra and the trio sonata for chamber ensemble as major instrumental genres. As the Italian operatic aria grew in length and elaboration, so the sonatas and concertos of the Italian composers gradually extended the scope of individual movements to supersede the succession of short contrasted sections that had been characteristic of earlier sonata-type pieces. The dissemination of the new Italian instrumental style was speedy and considerable, carried partly by the emigration of Italian players and partly by the ready market that developed for the sets of concertos and sonatas that rolled from the presses: Venice, Amsterdam, and then London, became major centres for the publication of music, and the popularity of the Italian compositions led to the establishment of Italian musical terminology for tempo and dynamics as a common linguistic currency for musicians throughout Europe.

By the end of the middle Baroque period a certain internationalism of outlook was in any case apparent in European music. Contrasted “Italian” and “French” styles were perceived, which could be drawn upon as appropriate: the “French Overture”, for example, became one option for the orchestral prelude to Italian operas. Composers working in Germany and Austria, such as Georg Muffat and Johann Kusser, showed some enthusiasm for the French style, while the Italian vocal and orchestral styles influenced the development of the German church cantata. It is difficult to identify in this period a specifically “German” musical style, but the German language gave a characteristic pattern of inflections to vocal lines, and the chorales (hymn-tunes) that had become firmly entrenched in Reformed culture provided a characteristic resource for compositions by German composers, both in church cantatas and in organ music. In Heinrich Schütz, Germany produced a major composer during the first half of the 17th century, but he suffered the terrible conditions of the 30 years' war which inevitably attenuated German cultural development at that period. As confidence returned in the later part of the century, German courts and cities established their own opera houses, Italianate in ideals but often with local traditions of musical execution: it was not unknown for some characters to sing in German while others in the same opera sang in Italian, or sometimes the recitatives would be in German and the major arias in Italian. The maintenance of even a modest court opera house involved the employment of musicians, but these could be involved in a number of other activities as well, such as performances at the court chapel and “chamber” concerts for the delectation of the patron. The scoring requirements of Italian string music gave a schema for the employment of court musicians: often there would be a highly-paid “trio sonata” of soloists—a couple of violins, a cello or viola da gamba (frequently Italian or French players), and a Kapellmeister or Konzertmeister who might be a keyboard player or lead violinist—surrounded by a ballast of more humble players. This matched the emerging musical principle of the Italian “Concerto Grosso” for string orchestra which featured a contrast between the “Concertino” soloists and the full band including the accompanying “Ripieno” players. The concertino/full orchestra contrast makes an early appearance in the orchestral accompaniment to the oratorio S. Giovanni Battista (Rome, 1675) by Alessandro Stradella. The oratorio genre had developed in 17th-century Italy in parallel to opera, using the same technical musical forms and styles for the presentation of sacred stories, though often performed without the resources of full theatrical staging. Another opera-related genre was the chamber cantata, which reflected the stylistic and formal characteristics of the music in Italian or French operas. Some cantatas were effectively miniature operatic scenas, but others were essentially musical settings of more intimate lyric poetry.

The outstanding composer of the middle Baroque period is the Englishman Henry Purcell, whose musical career provides a kind of compendium to the successive influences of national styles. Growing up as a chorister in the Chapel Royal in the 1670s, Purcell experienced the waves of French influence that followed the Restoration and King Charles II's return from exile in France. An early manifestation of the French influence was the introduction of “Symphony Anthems” in the Chapel Royal accompanied by a chamber ensemble of string players. Earlier in the century, musical developments in Italy had even slightly influenced the vocal writing in the Chapel's music, but the old styles and genres had shown a sturdy resilience in England, particularly in chamber music with the continued development of Renaissance-style contrapuntal fantasias for consorts of viols, and of lute-accompanied solo songs. Purcell blended together the inherited English traditions with newer European influences, first in his own anthems and odes for the court, and then in the publication of a set of trio sonatas in 1683 in “just Imitation of the most fam'd Italian masters”: in fact Purcell brought his own contrapuntal mastery and harmonic system, which preserved dissonance treatment of a most un-Italianate type, to bear on the composition, which rendered the sonatas far from being “imitations”. Only three years before, Purcell had written pieces in the old Fantasia genre for viols, but his acceptance of the new flowing Italian music, albeit in a personal version, was swift. Purcell died at the age of 36 in 1695: during his last decade, circumstances at court had gradually discouraged his earlier area of activity in church music, and he gave increasing attention to writing music for London theatre productions.

The High Baroque

While the violin had come to supersede the viol as the principal treble string instrument during Purcell's lifetime, the lower string parts were probably still being taken by instruments of the viol family: it took some time for the fully “modern” string orchestra, including cellos and double basses, to reach Britain. But continental wars drove some of Europe's finest instrumentalists to Britain during the first decade of the 18th century, and their presence was one of the factors that enabled the creation of an up-to-date full orchestra to accompany the Italian opera company that was gradually established in London during that decade. By then, Italian music had taken further steps towards yet broader and grander styles, in both operatic and instrumental music. In the hands of Alessandro Scarlatti and Giovanni Bononcini, Italian opera had developed an expressive expansiveness that matched the virtuosity of a new generation of brilliant singer-actors: the 18th century was to be enlivened by stars among the castrati such as Nicolini, Senesino and Farinelli, but they had equally talented counterparts among the leading ladies—except in Rome where, in times when opera was allowed at all, Papal disapproval of women taking the stage resulted in a situation where female roles were played by men. In the 18th century also the Italian “Opera Seria” type of libretto was brought to a new level of intellectual and poetic quality by Pietro Metastasio, working in Italy and at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Although particular styles were to some extent cultivated in different operatic centres, the highly professional composers and soloists of Italian opera moved around Europe.

In instrumental music, the reputation of the Rome-based Arcangelo Corelli as a violinist, orchestral leader, and composer quickly spread throughout Europe during the last two decades of the 17th century. His concerti grossi were famous by reputation long before their publication as the composer's Op. 6 the year after his death in 1713: they quickly became “classic” works, the climax of a mellifluous style in string music. But in their multimovement structures and elegant harmonic style they were in some ways old-fashioned: an alternative taste in the 18th century preferred the livelier three-movement concertos of the younger Antonio Vivaldi, the unconventional “red-headed priest” and violin virtuoso, whose musical career encompassed the composition of a considerable quantity of operas and church music as well as concertos. Nevertheless, Corelli's sonatas and concertos marked an important historical point in the development of musical style, with their cadence-directed harmony and “circle of fifth” progressions. In them, the dominance of major and minor keys (the harmonic system known as tonality) had decisively replaced the variety of modes, and the modal harmonic systems, that had been characteristic of Renaissance music. At the same time, late Baroque composers retained older modal practices for occasional use, as part of a repertory of compositional effects for use in contrast to the prevailing major/minor harmonic system.

The high Baroque also saw substantial achievements in keyboard music. A French tradition of elegant and highly decorated harpsichord music found its culmination in the works of François Couperin, whose first book of Ordres (Suites) was published in 1713. Couperin's suites, as published, were multimovement works, mixing in “character” pieces with dance genres: German and English composers producing French-style suites more often worked around a framework of four dance types—Allemande, Sarabande, Courante, and Gigue (derived from the Jig). Harpsichord-making flourished during the Baroque period, with high quality instruments of different types being produced by Flemish/Dutch, German, French, and Italian makers. The pianoforte was almost an accidental creation from one of the leading Italian keyboard-instrument manufacturers in the 1680s, but it did not come into its own until a century later: the harpsichord and organ were the principal keyboard instruments of the period, though the clavichord was also taken seriously as both a chamber and a practice instrument, especially in Germany. In the hands of such builders as Schnitger and “Father” Smith in northern Europe, and Silbermann in Saxony, the organ reached a peak of development in the middle and high Baroque periods: the different tonal tastes represented by these, and by the contemporary French organ-makers, is reflected in the organ music of composers such as Dietrich Buxtehude, William Croft, Johann Pachelbel, and Louis Marchand. The single-movement binary form “sonata” for harpsichord was developed into a substantial keyboard genre by Domenico Scarlatti, the son of Alessandro, whose mature years were spent in the service of the Spanish court.

Our perception of the high Baroque is, however, dominated by two other composers who were born in 1685, the same year as Domenico Scarlatti—Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Both achieved contemporary fame as keyboard players, but their significance for us is broader. Between them, they contributed to virtually every significant musical genre of the period and their music sums up the stylistic trends of the later Baroque, in each case worked into an individual synthesis by their own career patterns and creative personalities. In one aspect, each represents a different type of typical Baroque musical practitioner: Bach, the German Kapellmeister working for the court or city, and Handel the theatre-based composer. Professionally speaking, they represented excellent stock: perhaps there has been no other time in which the major figures were backed up by such a range of other talented, technically competent, and innovative composers as the Baroque period. In his church cantatas and passion music Bach fused the Italianate vocal style with a serious, “German” approach, and his keyboard suites show a similarly effective marriage with the French style. While working clearly within the “continuo basso” tradition, Bach's fascination with the intellectual and emotional possibilities of fugue and imitation introduced an extra dimension to the music of the late Baroque period.

Handel's principal original musical orientation was towards Italian opera: it was this genre that took him from his native Germany, first to Italy and then to London. After a substantial career with Italian operas in London, in which he produced the most striking works of the late Baroque genre, he turned to develop a new genre of English oratorio for theatrical performance in London. To some extent this development was forced upon him by changes in musical taste in London, but it gave him the opportunity to combine his strengths as an aria-writer with a forceful style of chorus writing that had previously been seen in his church music. As composers in the “constructive” sense, Bach and Handel stand supreme in the high Baroque. Handel, and to a lesser extent Bach also, developed substantial movement structures on the basis of thematic material which involved a certain amount of “borrowing” of musical ideas, from themselves and other composers. Bach died in 1750 and Handel's creative career effectively ended with the onset of blindness after the completion of his oratorio Jeptha in 1751. In Handel's latest music, hints can be found of the new melodic and harmonic styles that were to come to fruition in the subsequent “Classical” period.