Music and Baroque Period - Essay Example

Music in the Baroque Period Order No. 278337 No. of pages: 2 20988 The Baroque period in history refers to the style prevalent between 1600 -1750, and this period in music came immediately after the Renaissance which was followed by the Classical music era. This was a period of scientific progress and the intellectual and artistic arena vibrated with a new found energy. The music of this period is characterized by functional tonality, where emphasis was laid on elaborate musical ornamentation, a new approach to notation and instrumental playing techniques which were typical of this age.

It was during this period that opera gained a strong foothold in the musical repertoire. Baroque music has been called "Odd pearl or strained syllogism" but to the ears of Rousseau and Pluche, it sounded "bizarre, extravagant, and unnatural."(Palisca, Claude) The advancement of music and its various genres found competent handling from the likes of great musical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friederic Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Jean-Baptiste Lully. In their works, can be found the different kinds of music.

In the work of Bach and Handel, the Oratorio flourished, and the Opera became popular due to Handel's compositions. The music of the Church also changed, with greater emphasis laid on the cantata, as well as toccatas, and fugue. This was the period, when court life was at its peak and the master of court-style composing was attributed to Jean-Baptiste Lully, while the Concerto grosso, found great meaning in the hands of Antonio Vivaldi its master. Baroque music can be divided into three periods - early, middle and late characterized by different styles.

The early period was entrenched in religion while the middle period was characterized by music played in the court. This was the age of 'absolutism' when the power of the Church and the state created the need for organized public music and Chamber music. Music began to be treated as an art to be taught under the auspices of a formal structure. Jean-Baptiste Lully's works during that period is marked by acquiescence to the demands made by the court and thus we have in collaborating with Moli're in com'die-ballets, i.e. plays with dancing.

He composed operas for the King, creating the trag'die lyrique based on libretti where the main focus was on the conflict between the public and private life of the king. Antonio Vivaldi was another great composer whose works include trio sonatas, violin sonatas and concerti. Vivaldi contributed to the music of the age through the use of certain patterns like the use of 'ritornello' in the fast movements and a fast-slow-fast three-movement plan. His violin concerti, "The Four Seasons" is one of his most enduring works, which also serves as a programme music, that is a musical storytelling, where everyday sounds are mimicked.

Frideric Handel flourished under royal commissions, and his style is marked by extreme ornamentation, and his reworking of the 'Messiah' is one of the most frequently played pieces and its "Hallelujah Chorus" is one of the most recognized musical pieces. Handel's "natural habitat was the opera house" (Machlis 303), and in his operas we see a moving away from a tightly structured scheme to a more flexible use of aria, arioso, and chorus Johann Sebastian Bach towers over the period and his music has created a kind of religion around him, according to B'la Bart'k.

In the works of this virtuoso can be seen varied experimentation of both the homophonic and polyphonic forms. He weaved harmony into the chorale and worked with all the contrapuntal devices. In his work we find all the styles and instruments save for those of the theatre. The music of Bach according to Joseph Machlis, "represents the subjective mysticism of the late Baroque" The legacy of Baroque music is the rich variety, created by the multifarious style of its composers. This was an era, when the musicians brought it out of churches and into the chambers of the wealthy and the courts of the kings and nobles who patronized them and in the hands of these four composers it covered the small pieces of the 'Concerti' to the elaborate set up of the operatic convention.

References Baroque Music - Part One http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/m345/Baroque_Music1.html