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Music History XI

1 - What are the style features of early baroque music ?

A characteristic Baroque form was the dance suite

Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also
established the mixed vocal/instrumental forms of opera, cantata and oratorio and the instrumental forms of
the solo concerto and sonata as musical genres.
or

Baroque concerts were typically accompanied by a basso continuo group (comprising chord-playing
instrumentalists such as harpsichordists and lute players improvising chords from a figured bass part) while
a group of bass instruments—viol, cello, double bass—played the bassline

2 - Please give information about the invention of the opera? Explain aria, recitative and libretto. How
did opera differ from the Church Cantata and Oratorio?

Enter Jacopo Peri (1561–1633), who composed Dafne (1597), which many consider to be the first opera.
From that beginning, two types of opera began to emerge: opera seria, or stately, formal and dignified pieces
to befit the royalty that attended and sponsored them, and opera buffa, or comedies.

Libretto – the words of an opera. Some composers wrote their own librettos; some collaborated with their
librettists

Aria – a formal song in which characters expresses their emotions.

Recitative – the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of
speech.
Opera is at the extreme with all its sets, costumes and acting. Oratorio is in the middle, less dramatic than
opera, with no sets or costumes but a large chorus for the voices. Cantatas are like oratorio, but with far
fewer voices
3.Please give information about the development of instrumental music in the early baroque period.

The baroque period saw the creation of tonality. During the period, composers and performers used more
elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing
techniques. Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also
established opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto, and sonata as musical genres.
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4 - What is basso continuo ? Which instruments played the basso continuo ?

basso continuo is, in 17th- and 18th- century music, the bass line and keyboard part that provide a harmonic
framework for a piece of music.

The basso continuo was usually played with a low line instrument, like a cello or bassoon, and a chord
instrument, like a harpsichord, organ, or lute.

5. Please explain the baroque concerto and concerto grosso. Who were the leading composers of
these genres ?

Baroque concerto grosso is an instrumental form involving two groups of performers

Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori Francesco Geminiani, Pietro Locatelli, Giovanni Benedetto Platti and Giuseppe
Torelli wrote concertos

6 – Which instruments are included in the baroque orchestra ? Festive and basic…

Strings,woodwind,brass,timpani,harpsichord org
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7 – Please describe the musical life in the early 18’ th century …

8 – What is the ground bass technique ? Please give examples from the repertoire…

Some examples are Claudio Monteverdi, Zefiro torna (1614); Henry Purcell, “When I Am Laid in Earth” from
Dido and Aeneas (first performed 1689); Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata No. 78 etc...

9 - What are the general characteristics of late baroque music ?

Some of the hallmarks of late Baroque style are a steady, driving beat, lengthy melodic lines (often extended
through the use of repeated ascending or descending melodic patterns known as sequences), and dense
textures.
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10 – Please briefly summarize the careers of Vivaldi, J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. In which genres did
they give important works?
Bach had a growing reputation as a great performer, and it was his great technical skill that landed him an
organist in the New Church in Arnstadt. He was responsible for providing music and teaching music for
religious ceremonies and special events. But after Bach became famous, he started working for the
kingdom.

Vivaldi At the age of 25, Vivaldi was named master of violin at the Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of
Mercy) in Venice. He composed most of his major works in this position over three decades. The Ospedale
was an institution where orphans received instruction -- the boys in trades and the girls in music.

Vivaldi, J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel lived in the baroque music period. And they produced works in the
baroque genre.