Baroque Period - Research Paper Example

? Contributions of Baroque Period Musicians to the Greater Landscape of Music and Contributions of Baroque Period Musicians to the Greater Landscape of Music Introduction The Baroque period was characterized by artistic style and utilization of exaggerated motions and easily interpreted details in producing drama, exuberance, literature, dance and music. The Baroque style was originally adopted in Rome and Italy during the 1600s, and spread to Italy and Europe, especially in Germany (Carl and Charles, 2009). The dramatic style of Baroque art acted as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumph. The class of aristocracy constructed the Baroque places around the entrances to courts, popular staircases, and reception rooms. Germany saw widespread of Baroque musicians from areas such as Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin (Bailey, 2012). The minor composers of Baroque who contributed to greater music landscape include Johannes Nucius, Heinrich Schutz, Clamor Heinrich Abel, Johan Joachim Agrell and Johann Friedrich Agricola. Clamor Heinrich Abel Clamor worked in Kothen as a court musician and an organist in Celle. He became ducal chamber musician in Hanover from the year 1666 (Walter, Murray, and Simon, 2001). Clamor Heinrich Abel made a series of compositions and musical guidebooks between the year 1694 and 1696 when he was Obermusicus in Bremen. His best works of music include various compositions for chamber music and string orchestra. Clamor composed a collection of fifty-nine individual works under the heading Erstlinge musikalischer Blumen, which included works for four instruments, allemandes, preludes, sonatinas, courantes and sarabandas (Martyn, 2000). Initially, Clamor’s musical works were published in three separate volumes, and later they were combined into Drei Opera musica (Walter, Murray, and Simon, 2001). Clamor is considered the inspirer of violist and violinist Ferdinand Abel Christian and Carl Friedrich and Leopold August, who were both viol virtuoso and composer. Johan Joachim Agrell Johan was a minor German Baroque composer. He was a violinist in 1934 and travelling to several countries including England, Italy, and France to perform and train violinists. Johan became a Kapellmeister in Nuremberg in the year 1746 (Agrell, 2011). He was in charge of music making in chapels, choirs, and orchestras. As a Kapellmeister, Johan wrote occasional vocal works and several harpsichord concertos, sonatas and symphonies. Johan’s symphonies contained two to three episodes or movements featuring sonata principles (Martyn, 2000). Harpsichord concertos were musical instruments played by means of a keyboard. Most of his works were published and sold in various markets where other musicians used them as guides for their music endeavors (Agrell, 2011). Johan was a fluent Baroque composer in the gallant style of North German during his time; he was also a widely accepted musician and conductor. Johan’s contribution to musical landscape is evidenced by the composition of twenty-two symphonies that gained popularity in the music industry and among trainers and trainees. Johannes Nucius Johannes Nucius was a Germany composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque period. Nucius was a talented composer who penned an influential treatise in applying rhetoric in compositional devices; his works of art shows an influence of Lassus. Among his publications, include two collections of motets, which contained a total of one hundred and two pieces, and several masses (Lambert, 2004). The works of Nucius that were published in Leibnitz and Prague were homophonic with an abundance of expressive devices; he later described the application as Musices poeticae in his major treatise. Nucius’ fame that lasted until the 18th century arose from the Musices poeticae. This treatise was the most influential among the three of the famous German Baroque treatises such as the Syntagma musicum (1618), Critica musica (1722-1723) and Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) (Lambert, 2004). As a critical guide to composition, Musices poeticae primarliy focuses on counterpoint. Musices poeticae comprises of nine chapters that cover a variety of topics such as the definition of music, explanation of sound, concords and discords controls, consonance-dissonance succession, modes of music, cadences, and proper strategies of composition for diverse number of voices. The seventh chapter lists specific musical devices that can be used to express different feelings. Musices poeticae was the first in German Baroque in comparing musical devices with devices of rhetoric. Johannes Nucius’ definition of music and sound provided a critical description of music, which led to a clear understanding of the meaning of music among the musicians and the public (Burrows, Wiffen, and Ainsley, 2012). Nucius concentrated on dissonance-consonance succession with the objective of highlighting rhyming schemes and the importance of having regular number of syllables in every line of the stanza in a song (Agricola, Baird, Agricola, Johann and Baird, 2006). Musical modes introduced by Nicius contributed to composition of songs by emphasizing on scale and characteristic melodic behaviours. The most significant contribution of Nucius to music was the concept of rhetoric. Nucius represented an aspect of early Baroque practice; however, he concentrated mainly on the distant past for his examples on musical rhetorical devices (Wistreich, 2011). The book by Nucius is based on writings of earlier artists, but the section on rhetoric is original and portrays the rapidly changing practice during the Reconnaissance-Baroque styles transitional period. Heinrich Schutz Heinrich Schutz was a German composer up to the year 1672. Heinrich was considered the most important German composer and organist during the 17th century. He was the first musician to write German opera, which was performed at Torgau in 1627 (Spagnoli, 2005). Heinrich introduced the idea of Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden in 1548, which remained in fashion in Dresden for several years. Staatskapelle Dresden was an orchestra based in Dresden, German with the venue at Semperoper opera house. Heinrich Schutz concentrated on the sacred music that ranged from solo voice music with the accompaniment of musical instruments to a cappella choral music. A cappella is specifically solo or group songs that are performed without accompaniment of musical instruments. The earliest composers of a cappella intended to show a distinction between the Renaissance polyphony and Baroque styles. A cappella was performed mainly in a manner of church or chapel or gospel music and choir (Lambert, 2004). Heinrich Schutz introduced the concept of singing in gospel hymns without using musical instruments. He is also the origin of solo songs that are performed in the church by individuals during the service or competitions. Heinrich Schutz wrote three books featuring music: Symponiae sacrae, the Psalms of David and the Seven Last Words on the Cross (Herbert and Wallace, 2011). His music started early in the most progressive styles and grew into a style that was simple and austere. Heinrich Schutz was one of the last composers to write in modal style. He introduced the concept of contrapuntal alignment of voices instead of using harmonic motion. Most of his music was featured with strong tonal pulls when approaching cadences. Heinrich also introduced the concept of imitating other people’s music, but structuring them in a way such that successive voices do not enter after the same number of beats (Lambert, 2004). Heinrich Schutz contributed to the greater musical landscape by publishing more than five hundred music works containing multiple pieces of music that guided upcoming musicians several years following his death. Johann Friedrich Agricola Agricola was a German singer, composer, pedagogue, organist, and writer on music. Johann Friedrich Agricola was once recognized as one of the most skillful composers and organists of his time. He composed the comic opera, II filosofo convinto in amore, which was performed at Potsdam in 1750 (Kallen, 2013). This comic opera was widely recognized and led to his appointment to the court composer to Fredrick the Great. When Carl Heinrich Graun died in 1759, he was promoted to the conductor of the royal orchestra (Paul and Kim, 2000). As a conductor, he trained and gave shape to the opera of the time. Agricola wrote a number of Italian operas, chorale preludes, keyboard pieces and church music, which marked his great contribution to the music industry. Conclusion The Baroque period was characterized by extensive music composition and performance. The musical activities during the Baroque occurred in Germany in centres such as Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. The Baroque musicians were dedicated towards discovery of new music designs and compositions through creativity with the objective of gaining popularity. Some minor composers worked as individuals, while others worked for courts and agencies as composers and conductors. The most notable Baroque period composers were Johannes Nucius, Heinrich Schutz, Clamor Heinrich Abel, Johan Joachim Agrell and Johann Friedrich Agricola. All composers made remarkable contributions to the greater musical landscape through their creativity and innovative works. 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