Nguyen Bui

Mus 1
Professor Zimmerman
Q&A #2

1. Were there any opportunities for women to be creative in the Baroque era, such
as being musicians?
In the Baroque Period, women were offered few opportunities to be creative. There
were allowed to, of course. For example, women musicians either join a convent or
making their way in a court or an academy. But, it came with a downside; their
character and morality were questioned because they were viewed as a courtesan,
educated women who entertain men musically, intellectually, and sexually.

2. What are the components of an opera?

There is the recitative or the solo declamation that is designed to imitate speech,
which also shaped the rhythm of the language. In addition, the aria appears from time
to time to relieve the melodic tension that was accumulated throughout the
performance. The aria is the most anticipated and memorable part of the whole opera.
There is also the overture performed at the beginning of most operas, and sinfonias
played between scenes. The composer also works with the librettist to create to text or
script of the opera.

3. What were the developments from chorales to Lutheran Cantata?

Chorales are congregational hymns from the German Lutheran Church. It was created
by Luther and his followers as weekly hymns. It was composed with simple and
memorable melodies, and with German poetry translated and/or interpreted passages
in the Bible. Lutheran cantata was developed to accommodate the expanding chorales
arrangements. That means musicians substitute some inner stanzas with new poetry
instead of using every stanza the same way.

4. What is Oratorio? How is it different from opera?

Oratorio is based on religious texts, performed by solo voices, chorus, and orchestra.
The Catholic Church intended it to be a more moral version of the opera, so oratorio
doesn’t have scenery, costumes, or action. There are some actions, but it was depicted
with the help of a narrator.

5. What are lining-out and the effect it produced?

Lining-out is a system used in the seventeenth century by the Pilgrims and Puritans.
First, a leader sang each line of a psalm, and then others repeated it. The intent was
for everyone to be able to sing monophonically, but individuals modified the melody.
This created the heterophonic effect, where many people singing simultaneously with
different pitches of the same tune.

6. What is the Stradivarius violin and how was it made?

 Stradivarius violins were some of the finest violins made in the North Italians
workshops of Stradivarius, Guarneri, and Amati. They were made in the seventeenth
century, but some musicians still seek them out and pay millions of dollars. The
strings were made of guts, are animal intestines. The gut strings produced a softer yet
more penetrating sound.

7. What are the suite and its dance types?

The suite is a multimovement work made of a series of contrasting dance movements,
usually all in the same key. There are many types of suite dances: the German
allemande, the French courante, the Spanish sarabande, the English jig (gigue), a
minuet, gavotte, lively bourée, passepied, or hornpipe. The German allemande is in
moderate duple meter and often performed in the first movement of a Baroque suite.
It was popular during the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. The French courante
and the Spanish sarabande have a triple meter at a moderate tempo. The English jig
(gigue) is a lively compound meter. These are some of the many standard movements
in the suite.

8. What are the components of the binary and ternary form that was prevalent in
the Baroque period?
The binary form is A-A-B-B, while the Ternary form is A-B-A. In both structures, A
section usually from the home (tonic) key, then moves to a contrasting (dominant)
key. B section made a move back but the reverse order (dominant to tonic key). The
two sections often have related melodic elements. There are modulation and full stops
at the end of each part, making it easy to listen to.

9. How do the organ and harpsichord works?

The organ is a wind instrument that has many keyboards and a set of pedals. This is to
control the air by mechanical means. There are various sets of pipes with contrasting
tone colors so that the ear could pick on different lines. The harpsichord is a string
instrument in which quills pluck the strings instead of being struck by hammers like
the piano. This means that the harpsichord cannot sustain notes, and there are fewer
dynamic nuances than the piano.

10. What are the contrapuntal devices?

Contrapuntal devices change the original melody. Augmentation lengthens it, often
twice as slow as the original, while diminution is doing the opposite. Retrograde made
the pitches backward (starting from the last note to the first). There is also inversion,
where the original move in the same intervals but in the opposite direction. Lastly,
stretto heightens the tension by overlapping statements of the subject.