(DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 49

See also: Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■ Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Missa Pange lingua 43 ■ Spem in alium 44 ■
Great Service 52–53 ■ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79


bellowing, and stammering, they
more closely resemble cats in
January than flowers in May.”
The reform of notation in the
14th century had, for the first time,
given composers the ability to set
down almost any musical idea with
precision. Since then, the Catholic
Church had at times encouraged,
and at other times censured, their
tendency to embellish music and
add ever-increasing degrees of
complexity and subtlety.
At the end of the 15th century,
the daily Mass was usually sung
to plainchant. However, if the
institution hosting the service had
the resources, the Ordinary of the
Mass (the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus
Dei) might be treated to many
varieties of embellishment. In the
1490s, several writers noted the
presence of a cornett player at
High Mass as part of the chapel
of Philip IV of Burgundy. They do
not mention what he played; his
mere presence, as a wind player
in the chapel, was enough to be so that by the 1530s their presence The Council of Trent met 25 times
remarkable. Wind players, who had at a polyphonic High Mass became in 18 years to discuss its response to
previously improvised, began to less unusual to congregants. the “heresies” of Protestantism and
hone their skills in reading music While the contribution of wind to clarify Catholic doctrine and liturgy.
and accompanying such choirs, players to church music would have
been impressive, the resonance of Cirillo was not always uppermost
a brass ensemble, if badly handled, in a composer’s mind. Franco-
might hinder the clear delivery of Flemish musicians often paraded
the text. The Spanish composer their skill in handling complex
Francisco Guerrero encouraged his polyphonic structures in
cornett players to improvise florid compositions of extraordinary
[Palestrina’s] Stabat ornaments but to take turns, as virtuosity. In a Mass in four parts,
Mater … captivates the “when they ornament together it for instance, certain sections might
human soul. makes such absurdities as would be written in the manuscript
Franz Liszt stop up the ears.” with only three parts notated, so
that the singer had to “find” the
Little thought for the text fourth part by following the logic of
Even when a Mass was sung as the other three parts—effectively
unaccompanied polyphony, the solving a riddle. The composer
clarity of expression favored by might make the singers’ job even ❯❯





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50 SIMPLIFICATION OF POLYPHONY


Musical textures
Degrees of
complexity
Renaissance
composers, aided
by more precise
notation methods
and encouraged
by wealthy
patrons, produced Monophony Homophony Polyphony
increasingly Sung by a single singer Melody supported by chordal Several parts, which are
multilayered music. or single choir in unison. harmony and solid bass in the independent and of equal
Examples include plainchant same rhythm. Often used in importance. Forms include the
and most troubadour songs. the singing of hymns. canon, fugue, and motet.

harder by writing canonic voices clear that reconciliation between with polyphony and with organ,
that moved at different speeds from Rome and the Reformers would let nothing profane be intermingled,
the original. The tour de force here be impossible. but only hymns and divine praises.”
is Johannes Ockeghem’s Missa Yet the Protestant reforms had Composers needed to respond to
prolationum, in which each of forced the Roman Catholic Church this new directive.
the four movements of the Mass to introduce changes to doctrine
explores a different canonic and practice, which included Enhancing the words
scenario. The interval separating purifying its sacred music. In 1562, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
the voices of the canon becomes a resolution of the Council of Trent had published his first book of
progressively longer in each laid down guidelines for musicians. Masses in 1554 and had returned
consecutive movement This stated: “All things should to Santa Maria Maggiore, where
Josquin Desprez’s Missa indeed be so ordered that the he had first served as a choirboy, as
l’homme armé super voces Masses, whether they be celebrated maestro di cappella (music director)
musicales provides only one with chant or chorally, may reach in 1561. The story runs that he
line of music for an elegant and the ears of listeners and gently anticipated complete papal
varied three-voice setting of the penetrate their hearts, when censure. Fearing the reduction
second repeat of the Agnus Dei. everything is executed clearly and of music in Catholic liturgy to
The result of three voices singing at the right speed. In the case of plainchant alone (a reform a few
polyphony woven from a single those Masses, which are celebrated zealots had called for), he stood
melody sung at different speeds is ready with a Mass in four voices to
extraordinary for its audacity, but demonstrate that polyphony could
the emphasis is not on easily serve the text in a way that would
discernible words. please even the harshest critics.
The Missa Papae Marcelli does
An official response The Renaissance fostered the appear to date from 1562, the
The Catholic Church dealt with the growth of personality, an idea year of the Council’s resolution
mounting crisis precipitated by fundamentally opposed to the concerning music. It is said that
Luther’s reforms with a series selflessness and objectivity the cardinals found this Mass
of meetings to decide what the of the old polyphony. especially pleasing, approval that
official response should be. After Zoë Kendrick gave Palestrina status as the savior
many delays, the Council convened of polyphony. It seems, in fact, that
in the town of Trent in northern Biographer of Palestrina the Mass was probably written for
Italy in 1545. By the time of the Holy Week and complied with Pope
final meeting (1562–1563) overseen Marcellus II’s desire for a restrained
by Pope Pius IV, positions had setting that could be clearly
reached a deadlock, and it was understood in mind.





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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 51


Palestrina’s work fulfils much of Palestrina was even more daring. The German states were greatly
what was expected of polyphony While he referred to it as a sacred split in their religious allegiance;
in the era after the Council of Trent, piece, he unashamedly embraced the Southern principalities still
with his targeted approach to a more passionate style, explaining adhered to Rome. Duke Albrecht V
dissonance, clarity of declamation, in his dedication to Pope Gregory of Bavaria, a leading figure of the
and refined command of polyphonic XIII that this was in keeping with German Counter-Reformation, for
writing. Yet Palestrina did not shy its subject matter. example, employed many musicians
away from taking the new precepts including Orlande de Lassus, a
to their limits: his Missa repleatur Elsewhere in Europe Flemish composer renowned as
os meum in five voices, published Palestrina was one bright star in a a child for the beauty of his singing
in 1570, shows complete control constellation of great polyphonists voice. Under generous ducal
of the virtuoso “canonic” style of the Counter-Reformation. In patronage, Lassus directed the
favored by the Franco-Flemish Spain, the orthodox zeal of Philip II Hofkapelle, combining voices,
composers but with such clear encouraged a strong school of violins, viols, lute, a variety of
handling of the text that even polyphonic composition in its brass and woodwind instruments,
Cirillo might have approved. cathedrals. Tomás Luis de Victoria, and even a rackett (a newly
In his Canticum Canticorum, a prolific composer of sacred works, invented, gently buzzing bass
composed in 1584, an acclaimed was renowned for the intense reed instrument). Such a large
cycle of 29 motets based on the drama of his music. He had been ensemble of almost orchestral
Old Testament’s “Song of Solomon,” a choirboy and organist in Ávila, ambition would have been highly
before going to Rome, where he unusual for the time. If the Catholic
may have studied with Palestrina. Church looked askance at such
Palestrina spent five years as
maestro di cappella (music director) Later returning to Spain, he spent instrumentation, its guidelines
at St. John Lateran in Rome, depicted most of his working life at Madrid’s were obviously open to a degree
in this 17th-century Dutch print. convent of the Descalzas Reales. of local interpretation. ■











































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52


THAT IS THE NATURE


OF HYMNS—THEY



MAKE US WANT TO


REPEAT THEM



GREAT SERVICE (c. 1580/1590), WILLIAM BYRD




lthough William Byrd is Mary died in 1558, Elizabeth I
IN CONTEXT believed to have been a returned England to Protestantism.
A Catholic for most, if not all, However, Elizabeth was tolerant of
FOCUS of his life, he composed music for Catholicism among the country’s
English Protestant the Anglican Church in addition to gentry if they were loyal and
church music
motets and Masses in Latin for the practiced it discreetly. She
BEFORE Catholic rite. He lived through three sanctioned the use of Latin for
1558 John Sheppard eras of religious revisionism in services at the Chapel Royal, and
composes his Second Service, England. Under Henry VIII and then
a setting for five voices of the Edward VI, the country had been The seeds of Protestantism in
“full” service (rather than Protestant since 1534, but in 1553 England were sown by Martin Luther,
the customary short service Mary Tudor acceded to the throne the architect of the Reformation in
comprising only settings of the with her husband Philip II of Spain Germany, shown here playing music
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis) and reinstated Catholicism. When with his children.
and precursor to Byrd’s
10-voice Great Service.

c.1570 William Mundy
composes his Evening Service
In medio chori for a choir in
nine parts, expanding to 11
parts at times.
AFTER
c.1620 Thomas Weelkes
publishes Evensong for Seven
Voices, a Great Service in up
to 10 parts.
c.1630 Thomas Tomkins’s
Third or Great Service for 10
voices is the grandest work
in the genre.







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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 53

See also: Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Missa Pange lingua 43 ■ Canticum
Canticorum 46–51 ■ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79


the first publication of Latin “sacred
songs” in 1575 was lukewarm,
perhaps because of the Catholic
sentiment of some of the texts.
In spite of his Catholicism,
To a man thinking about Byrd’s loyalty to queen and country
divine things … the most appears to have taken precedence
fitting measures come, over his religious adherence. In
I know not how, as if by thanksgiving for the victory of the
their own free will. English fleet over the Spanish
William Byrd Armada in 1588, Elizabeth William Byrd
composed a song titled “Look,
and Bow Down Thine Ear, O Lord.” Born into a large merchant
It is thought that she chose William family in London in 1540,
Byrd to set it to music. Although William Byrd most likely
the anthem is now lost, it would gained his musical training
have been a clear demonstration as one of 10 boy choristers
composers were permitted to of her high regard for him. at London’s St. Paul’s Church
use Latin as well as English when (the Gothic predecessor of
writing liturgical music. Last Anglican work St. Paul’s Cathedral), before
Byrd flourished under In 1580, Byrd published his going on to sing for Catholic
Elizabeth’s patronage. By 1565, Great Service, his last work for ceremonies at the Chapel
he was the organist and master the Anglican rite. A monumental Royal under Queen Mary.
at Lincoln Cathedral, where he composition, the Great Service Later, in 1572, during
Elizabeth I’s reign, Byrd
produced his Short Service, comprises seven sections for an became a Gentleman of the
settings for Matins, Communion, Anglican celebration of the mass Chapel Royal, a post he held
and Evensong, amounting to the in English for two five-voice choirs. for more than 20 years.
greater part of music in English for It is not known if Byrd wrote his While Byrd composed
the Anglican liturgy. Later, when Great Service with any particular much secular music, including
Byrd was a Gentleman of the choir or occasion in mind. However, works for virginals, he is best
Chapel Royal, Elizabeth granted the sheer scale of the piece and the known for his religious music.
Byrd and his fellow composer technical requirement of the writing In 1575, he and Thomas
Thomas Tallis, who was also a would have put it beyond the reach Tallis published a first volume
Catholic, a monopoly on music of all but the largest choirs. Some of Latin motets, Cantiones
production in England. hear it as a farewell to colleagues, Sacrae (Sacred Songs). After
or a last act of contrition to a Tallis’s death, Byrd continued
God and queen monarch who had chosen to the series with two volumes of
Concern about Byrd’s religious overlook Byrd’s Catholicism. his own Cantiones in 1589 and
1591. Byrd published his last
adherence did become an issue, In 1605, a messenger carrying work, Psalmes, Songs, and
however, in 1577, when Byrd’s wife, a copy of Byrd’s newly published Sonnets in 1611, 12 years
Julian, was accused of failing to Gradualia (a collection of settings before his death in 1623.
attend a service by the Bishop of of movements of the Mass for the
London, John Aylmer, a rigorous Catholic church year, for three
enforcer of the Act of Uniformity to five voices) was apprehended Other key works
of 1559, which aimed to unify the and thrown in Newgate gaol. 1589 Cantiones sacrae, Book 1
Anglican Church. From then on, The composer, however, avoided 1591 Cantiones sacrae, Book 2
Byrd did not make a secret of his imprisonment, facing only pressure 1605 Gradualia
Catholic faith, and the reception for in the courts and heavy fines. ■





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54


ALL THE AIRS


AND MADRIGALS …



WHISPER SOFTNESS



O CARE, THOU WILT DESPATCH ME (1600),
THOMAS WEELKES






n 1544, at a time when England transalpina, a collection of Italian
IN CONTEXT was hungry for Continental madrigals reworked with English
I fashions, the composer and texts, whetting an appetite for
FOCUS poet Thomas Whythorne toured homegrown songs sung in parts.
Madrigals
Europe and wrote sonnets that
BEFORE he later set to music in Songs, the Illustrating the words
1571 Thomas Whythorne first book of English madrigals. Many English collections followed,
publishes Songes, the first In Italy, the masters of the often arranged for voices and viols
collection of English madrigals. madrigal style included Philippe to satisfy a growing middle-class
Verdelot and Jacob Arcadelt, whose taste for after-dinner music
1594 Thomas Morley works appeared in the earliest book making. In 1595, Thomas Morley
publishes his First Book of of Italian madrigals, published in introduced the ballett, a rustic
Madrigals to Four Voices, Rome in 1530. In 1588, Nicholas madrigal with a fa-la-la chorus
the first collection to use the Yonge published his Musica in imitation of an instrumental
Italian description of the style. refrain. Thomas Weelkes, among
others, began to use musical effects
AFTER to illustrate the text—known as
1612 Orlando Gibbons “word painting.” In O Care, Thou
publishes his First Set of Wilt Despatch Me (1600), Weelkes
Madrigals and Motets; it describes the poet’s disturbed
includes “The Silver Swan,” Madrigal … music made state of mind in sliding semitones
a short madrigal but one of upon songs and sonnets … (chromaticism) at odds with the
the best known today. to men of understanding cheerful fa-la-la refrain.
most delightful. In Italy, the madrigals of Carlo
1620–1649 The fashion for Thomas Morley Gesualdo da Venosa use extreme
the English madrigal waned, harmonic shifts and dissonance to
giving way to the lute song, paint words, while the Madrigali
and the style vanished with guerrieri et amorosi (1638) of
the establishment of the Claudio Monteverdi lift the form
Commonwealth of England to theatrical heights. ■
from 1649.
See also: Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Musique de table 106 ■
Die schöne Müllerin 150–155







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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 55


THIS FEAST … DID EVEN


RAVISH AND STUPEFIE ALL

THOSE STRANGERS THAT

NEVER HEARD THE LIKE


SONATA PIAN’ E FORTE (1597), GIOVANNI GABRIELI








he Basilica of St. Mark’s Gabrieli, appointed organist of
IN CONTEXT in Venice provides a St. Mark’s in 1566, and his nephew
T dramatic setting for Giovanni Gabrieli, employed the
FOCUS composers exploring instrumental Venetian ensembles of pifferi
Renaissance wind bands
timbre and the use of space. The (civic wind players) both to
BEFORE Flemish composer Adrian Willaert reinforce a vocal ensemble or for
c. 1480 A choir book prepared was the first to exploit its potential purely instrumental purposes.
as a gift for Isabella d’Esté on when he became musical director
the occasion of her marriage, there in 1527. His chori spezzati Dramatic impact
contains part of the repertoire (“split choirs”) style divided the In the past, civic trumpeters had
of the wind ensemble of the ensemble around the galleries, mostly just sounded the curfew and
Duke of Ferrara, one of the giving performances a greater played for dances. As Renaissance
most accomplished of the day. theatricality. Learning the chori cities and nation-states jostled
spezzati style from Willaert, Andrea for power, the role of their
1582 Florentio Maschera instrumentalists became more
publishes the first collection of important. Music making of the
canzoni, Italian instrumental highest order was encouraged, and
pieces for violins, or cornetts in this Venice became preeminent.
and sackbuts. Giovanni Gabrieli’s Sonata pian’
e forte (1597), for six trombones,
AFTER a cornett, and a viola da braccio
1585–1598 Venetian (early violin), was the first work for
cornettist Giovanni Bassano specific brass instruments and the
publishes his book of passaggi, first to include dynamic indications
virtuosic ornamented versions of loudness and softness for the
of motets and popular songs. players, adding dramatic light and
Renaissance recorders were often shade effects. In the shimmering
1661 In England, the used to accompany songs. This image shadows of St. Mark’s, such an
“Sagbutts and Cornetts” of the from Musica getutscht (1511), a treatise intense sonata might accompany
on music theory by Sebastian Virdung,
Royal Wind Musick play suites illustrates fingering on the instrument. the consecration of the Host. ■
by Matthew Locke for the
coronation of Charles II. See also: Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■ Water Music 84–89 ■ The Four
Seasons 92–97 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ Elijah 170–173







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56


MY LUTE,



AWAKE!





LACHRIMAE (1604), JOHN DOWLAND










usical instruments plectrums that then plucked
IN CONTEXT developed rapidly from strings. Zwolle also described the
M the late 14th century dulce melos, a keyboard instrument
FOCUS onward, as musicians refined their in which the strings were struck by
Renaissance skills and emulated court style to metal mallets, the earliest recorded
instrumental music
attract patronage. The first organ use of a piano-style action.
BEFORE with pedals and 12-note chromatic
1507 Francesco Spinacino’s keyboard was recorded in the The rise of the lute
Intabulatura de lauto is German town of Halberstadt in Beyond these innovations, the more
published in Venice—the first 1361. Around 1440, while working portable lute evolved to become
printed collections for solo lute. in the Burgundian court, Dutch the emblematic instrument of the
organist Arnaut van Zwolle drew a Renaissance. Pietrobono, a much-
1545 The appointment of diagram of the earliest harpsichord, feted musician to the Este family
“Mark Anthony Gayiardell and with keys that lifted vertical pieces of Ferrara around 1450–1470, had
George Decombe, viallines” of wood, called jacks, fitted with played virtuosic streams of melody
as court musicians marks the (not unlike fast electric guitar solos)
debut of the violin in England. with a quill plectrum, while an
accompanist called a tenorista
AFTER played the slow, accompanying
1611 Giovanni Girolamo lower parts on another lute. The
Kapsberger publishes his addition of gut frets, tied around
Libro primo d’intavolatura de Blame not my lute, the neck of the lute, facilitated
lauto, music for the theorbo—a for he must sound left-hand speed and accuracy.
lute with an extended neck to Of this or that as liketh me; A more significant stylistic
hold additional bass strings. For lack of wit with change occurred when the lutenist
the lute is bound put down the plectrum. Stroking
c. 1630 English composer John To give such tunes as
Jenkins produces his pavans pleaseth me. the strings with the thumb and
fingers of the right hand, the
and In nomines for viol consort Thomas Wyatt soloist could play all the voices
in up to six parts, continuing of a polyphonic piece. By the late
an English interest in music for 15th century, the lute was no longer
viol consort that lasts into the simply the companion of minstrels
time of Henry Purcell. but had moved to the heart of
court music and composition.





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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 57

See also: Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Gabrieli’s Sonata pian’ e forte 55 ■ Le bourgeois gentilhomme 70–71 ■
Stamitz’s Symphony in E-flat major 116–117


Renaissance consort instruments,
including the lute and strings, are
shown in Hearing (c.1617–1618), a
collaboration between Jan Brueghel
the Elder and Paul Rubens.


(1604) develops the composer’s
own Lachrimae pavan (a dance
with stately music often treated to
instrumental elaboration) to create
seven melancholy variations, scored
for a string ensemble with solo lute.
Renaissance ensembles usually
comprised consorts of the same
instrument, but Dowland imagined
for his Lachrimae pavans either six
viols or six violins, including the
bass violin, forerunner of the cello.
The 16th-century lute at first had a lute with nine courses. England Dances like the pavan and the
six courses (a single string for the excelled in the new style of lute triple-time galliard were used by
highest note, then five pairs of playing, which was also popular keyboard players and composers
strings tuned in unison or octaves), with amateur players, including to show their skill at improvisation,
then gained extra courses in the Elizabeth I, who is shown playing usually playing “divisions”
bass called diapasons, tuned the instrument in a miniature (variations) on the repeat of a
diatonically (by steps of one tone). painted by Nicholas Hilliard. section. My Ladye Nevells Booke
Dowland composed around (1591) by the English composer
The English connection 90 works for the lute alone but also William Byrd contains 10 pavan—
By the turn of the 17th century, incorporated the instrument into galliard pairs with variations for
John Dowland was one of a number a wider ensemble, known as a the virginal, an instrument related
of composers who were writing for consort. His collection Lachrimae to the harpsichord. ■

John Dowland It has been variously claimed Although his son, the composer
that Dowland was born in 1563 in and lutenist Robert Dowland,
Westminster (London) or Dalkey described his father in 1610 as
(Ireland), and his early life remains “being now gray, and like the
obscure. He spent his late teens in Swan, but singing toward his
service to the English ambassador end,” Dowland was, within two
in France, where he embraced years, made one of the lutenists
Catholicism, later claiming that of King James I of England
this conversion prevented his and Scotland. Between that
appointment as lutenist at the appointment and his death, in
English royal court in 1594. 1625, few compositions survive.
Dowland then set off for three
years on a European tour, before Other key works
finding an appreciative patron
in Christian IV of Denmark. The 1597 Firste Booke of Songes
relationship later soured, and or Ayres
Dowland was dismissed in 1606. 1612 A Pilgrim’s Solace







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BAROQUE
























1600–1750





















































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BAROQUE
























1600–1750





















































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60 INTRODUCTION




The earliest surviving Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Danish-German composer Handel premieres his
opera, Jacopo Peri’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme Dieterich Buxtehude’s suite of short pieces
Euridice, is composed in satirizes social climbing organ prelude Ein feste Water Music on a
honor of King Henry IV of and the snobbish Burg ist unser Gott barge on the Thames
France and his marriage aristocracy of France greatly influences the River, hosted by
to Maria de’ Medici. under Louis XIV. chorale genre. King George I.






1600 1670 C.1690 1717


1610 1689 1714








Claudio Monteverdi’s Henry Purcell’s The publication of
Vespers incorporates opera Dido and Aeneas Arcangelo Corelli’s
polyphony and monody, relates the mythical love Twelve concerti grossi,
bridging the affair between the Queen Op. 6, establishes the
Renaissance and of Carthage and the concerto grosso as a
Baroque styles. Prince of Troy. style of composition.


he Baroque period of music accompaniment was of particular built their music on major and
started dramatically, with significance: in the recitative minor chords. Dramatic and
T the performance of the sections of early opera—the freely contrasting effects were achieved
world’s first opera, Jacopo Peri’s composed expositions of the plot by varying the loudness and tempo,
Dafne, staged in Florence in 1598. that connected the arias—the voice moving the music between keys and
The opera illustrates the dramatic was accompanied by a single bass instruments, and sometimes adding
change in musical style from instrument, such as a cello, and embellishments such as trills.
polyphony to something more an instrument capable of playing The revolutionary new style
expressive—a change exploited chords, such as a harpsichord and the idea of a drama set to
to great effect in Monteverdi’s or lute. This accompaniment, music proved very popular,
Vespers, which contrasts sections known as the “basso continuo,” especially among the aristocracy
in the old and new styles. or simply continuo, became a in Italy and France, who employed
key feature of music in the Early a staff of musicians and a resident
Key developments Baroque period. composer to provide entertainment
One of the main features of the The importance of the continuo in the courts. In addition to operas,
Early Baroque period, and one that was that it provided a harmonic they performed instrumental
must have been startling at the base for the melody. While music, and in the royal court at
time, was a rejection of polyphony Renaissance music had been Versailles, Jean-Baptiste Lully
in favor of a single line of melody characterized by polyphony, the assembled an orchestra to provide
with a simple accompaniment. new style was defined by harmony. incidental music and dances for
This “monody,” as it was called, In place of interweaving melodies the performance of the latest
was an attempt to reproduce the based on the ancient Greek scales comedies by playwrights such
style of Classical Greek drama. The or modes, early Baroque composers as Molière. This form of light





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 61




Antonio Vivaldi’s Georg Philipp In the last decade
Le quattro stagioni (The Telemann handles of his life, J.S. Bach
Four Seasons) is published a diverse range of writes The Art of
with accompanying musical genres in Fugue, comprising
program notes to his celebrated 14 fugues and
critical acclaim. Musique de table. four canons.






1725 1733 C.1742–1750


1717–1723 1727 1733








François Couperin, of J.S. Bach’s sacred The success of
the renowned Couperin oratorio St. Matthew Jean-Philippe
family of musicians, Passion sets Rameau’s Hippolyte
publishes four volumes of chapters 26 and 27 et Aricie challenges
harpsichord orders in the of the Gospel of the dominance of
Pièces de Clavecin. Matthew to music. Italian opera.


entertainment caught on elsewhere of the instrumental chorale prelude, itself had been hijacked, appearing
and influenced the development of a sometimes florid setting of a instead as unstaged choral works
the musical drama known as a chorale melody, usually for organ. such as the secular cantata and
“masque” in England. the sacred oratorio.
Since the Reformation, opera High and Late Baroque The Late Baroque period was
had been frowned upon by As time passed, many elements dominated by three composers
Protestants, and in the Germanic of the Early Baroque period born in Germany in 1685. The
countries, musical activity was disappeared. By about 1700, the first, Georg Philipp Telemann
largely restricted to the Church. period referred to as the “High is often overshadowed by his
Gradually, though, a distinctly Baroque” had begun. What had contemporaries but was by far
German Baroque style, very been a small accompanying group the most prolific. The second was
different from the Italian and for opera singers had taken on a George Frideric Handel, a populist
French, evolved from the chorale, life of its own as an orchestra of who made his name in England
the hymn tunes of the Lutheran stringed, woodwind, and brass with his oratorios and orchestral
Church, uniting the harmonic instruments, playing a new form of music. The third, regarded by
treatment of the new style of vocal music, the “concerto grosso,” made musicians as the greatest of the
music with some elements of the popular by Arcangelo Corelli and three, was Johann Sebastian Bach:
old Italian polyphony. Antonio Vivaldi. The continuo, a conservative composer but a
This hybrid style was more while still acting as the harmonic consummate craftsman. During a
suited to the northern European backbone of the orchestra, had also lifetime of employment by courts
temperament and soon became become an independent chamber and the Church, Bach’s sacred and
accepted into Protestant church ensemble, playing a form of music secular music represented the high
music. It inspired the development known as the “trio sonata.” Opera point of the Baroque period. ■





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62


ONE OF THE MOST


MAGNIFICENT AND

EXPENSEFULL

DIVERSIONS



EURIDICE (1600), JACOPO PERI








IN CONTEXT

FOCUS
Early opera
BEFORE
c.700 bce Ancient Greek
drama incorporates music.
Greek myth identifies Orpheus
as the “father of songs.”

1598 Peri collaborates with
Jacopo Corsi on La Dafne,
the first opera, to a libretto by
Ottavio Rinuccini, staged at
the Palazzo Corsini, Florence.
AFTER
1607 Monteverdi’s first opera,
L’Orfeo, is staged in Mantua.
1637 The first public opera he conditions for the Orpheus and Eurydice climb out
of the Underworld in Edward Poynter’s
house—the Teatro San birth of opera were painting of 1862. The Greek myth was
Cassiano in Venice—opens T right in Florence in a particularly apt subject for opera
the 1590s. Large-scale theatrical
with Francesco Manelli’s entertainments utilizing music, because Orpheus was a musician.
L’Andromeda (now lost).
known as intermedi, often
1640 Monteverdi composes performed as interludes during introduction of recitative (recitar
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, his spoken plays, were commissioned cantando), the art of speaking in
first opera written for a public for dynastic celebrations, such song, that defined opera.
theater in Venice. as weddings and baptisms. Their Florentine intellectual societies,
musical sections—songs (or “arias”), most notably the Camerata de’
dances, and choruses—were Bardi, which met at the house of
themselves interspersed with patron, playwright, and composer
spoken dialogue. It was the Giovanni de’ Bardi, had included in





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 63

See also: Le bourgeois gentilhomme 70–71 ■ Dido and Aeneas 72–77 ■
Orfeo ed Euridice 118–119 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■ The Barber of Seville 148


their humanist debates discussions
about the nature of Greek drama,
which they concluded was sung
throughout. Peri wrote La Dafne
(1598) with composer Jacopo Corsi
and poet Ottavio Rinuccini in an Singing his works
attempt to revive this practice. composed with the
greatest artifice … moved
Elements of opera and disposed every stony
While only fragments of La Dafne heart to tears.
exist today, Peri’s second work, Severo Bonini Jacopo Peri
Euridice, survives intact. The
libretto of Euridice tells the Greek Born into a noble family in
myth of Orpheus, who enters the 1561, Jacopo Peri grew up
Underworld to retrieve his wife in Florence. As a teenager,
Eurydice after her death from he played the organ and
snakebite. Euridice offers the sang at various churches
standard intermedio combination instruments may also have been and monasteries in the city
of songs alternating with choruses used. The performance included before beginning a lifelong
and instrumental passages, but sections composed by Peri’s rival association with the Medici
these are linked by recitatives— at court, Giulio Caccini, who had court as singer, accompanist,
the new style of sung speech. In his trained several of the singers. and composer. In 1598, he
preface to the work, Peri described Caccini even made his own produced La Dafne, followed
his intention of “imitating speech musical setting of the libretto two years later by Euridice
for the wedding festivities of
with song,” which was the bedrock and had it printed prior to Peri’s. Maria de’ Medici and Henry IV
of the new genre. He also listed The publication of these scores of France. Peri also composed
some of the instruments played ensured the opera’s survival. for the musically distinguished
in the original production, such as Mantuan court.
harpsichord, chitarrone (bass lute), In Peri’s footsteps Peri often collaborated
violin, lyre, and lute, although other The new form represented by with other composers, such as
Euridice was repeated in Florence the brothers Giovanni Battista
and emulated elsewhere. In Mantua da Gagliano and Marco da
in 1607, Claudio Monteverdi, master Gagliano. While only a small
of music at the city’s ducal court, handful of these works survive
produced L’Orfeo, which is regarded as testament to Peri’s talent,
as the first operatic masterpiece. they nonetheless laid down
It creates a coherent world, Monteverdi later composed three the template that later opera
highly charged with a further works for the Venetian composers would follow.
distinctive atmosphere. opera houses—Il ritorno d’Ulisse Peri died in Florence in
It is simple without being in patria, L’incoronazione di Poppea, 1633. His gravestone in the
vapid, and dignified without and one now lost—exemplifying Florentine church of Santa
Maria Novella describes
being portentous. the new style. Soon Monteverdi’s him as the inventor of opera.
Stephen Oliver followers, such as Francesco Cavalli
and Antonio Cesti, were producing Other key works
operas in Italy and abroad, with
the basic construction blocks of 1598 La Dafne
recitatives and arias holding the 1609 Le varie musiche
structure together. ■





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MUSIC






















MUST MOVE











THE WHOLE MAN









VESPERS (1610), CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI






























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MUSIC






















MUST MOVE











THE WHOLE MAN









VESPERS (1610), CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI






























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66 BIRTH OF THE BAROQUE


onteverdi’s Vespers for known as seconda pratica (“second
IN CONTEXT the Blessed Virgin of practice”), with its emphasis on
M 1610 is one of the most solo voice. In the latter, harmonies
FOCUS influential collections of sacred became more adventurous, with
Birth of the Baroque
works for voices and instruments greater use of monody, in which
BEFORE of the 17th century. No larger choral a melody was underpinned by an
1587 Andrea Gabrieli work had been written before, and instrumental “continuo,” or bass
publishes Concerti, a collection none as long nor as innovative line, in the form of the organ,
of sacred ceremonial music appeared again until J.S. Bach’s harpsichord, or lute. The bass
for voices and instruments, Passions and Handel’s oratorios lines also became more melodic.
introducing the cori spezzati in the 18th century. Embellishments, which had
(“separated choirs”) style. previously been improvised by the
Choral leap performer, were more elaborate and
1602 Lodovico Viadana Written for vespers, the early often fully notated by the composer.
publishes Concerti evening service in the Catholic These developments led to the
ecclesiastici for one to Church, in particular vespers distinct musical characteristics
four voices, the earliest in honor of the Virgin Mary, of the Baroque period, in which
composition with a basso Monteverdi’s Vespers marks the irregularity and extreme expression
continuo—a chordal transition from the old polyphonic sometimes disturb the smooth
instrumental accompaniment. (“many voices”) style known as musical flow, compelling the
prima pratica (“first practice”) of the attention of listeners. Contrasts of
December, 1602 Giulio Renaissance, in which all voices melody, texture, timbre, tempo, and
Caccini premieres Euridice are equal, to the freer Baroque style rhythm abound in Baroque music.
based on the same libretto In addition, instruments assumed a
as Jacopo Peri’s Euridice, Cremona Cathedral, where the more important role and their music
introducing stile recitativo (a young Monteverdi is thought to was more idiomatic, reflecting
declamatory style between have studied composition under the greater technique and better-made,
speaking and singing), choirmaster Marc’Antonio Ingegneri. more reliable instruments.
inspired by the dramas
of the Ancient Greeks.
1607 Monteverdi composes
his groundbreaking first
opera, L’Orfeo, based on the
Greek legend of Orpheus.

AFTER
1619 Heinrich Schütz, a pupil
of Giovanni Gabrieli, publishes
Psalmen Davids, a collection
of psalm settings. He goes on,
in 1629, to produce three sets
of Symphoniae Sacrae, which
give equal importance to
voices and instruments.














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BAROQUE 1600–1750 67

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Magnus liber organi 28–31 ■ Messe de Notre
Dame 36–37 ■ Missa Pange lingua 43 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51


new style called concertato style,
contrasting multiple choirs and
instrumentalists, developed in
Venice and spread to Germany.
In England, this new trend was
The end of all good music reflected in the verse-anthem,
is to affect the soul. in which “verses” for solo voices
Claudio Monteverdi alternated with choral passages.

A virtuosic vespers
Monteverdi’s Vespers was one of Claudio Monteverdi
the first pieces of sacred music
to exploit the rich possibilities of Born in Cremona in 1567,
seconda pratica, but the composer Monteverdi began composing
The new style was taken up in did not forget the advantages of music while still a teenager,
most forms of music. The greater prima pratica and set the texts that producing a collection of
use of figured bass (numerals and are strictly liturgical in traditional three-part motets and a
symbols, indicating the harmonies plainsong. The usual musical book of madrigals. These
to be played by the continuo player) sequence for the vespers service achievements enabled him
lent themselves to opera and consisted of eight movements, to leave Cremona to become
oratorio. In vocal music, the melody starting with an opening “versicle” a string player at the court
projected the thoughts, emotions, that began with the words “Deus of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga
actions, and reactions of a in adjutorium meum intende” (“God in Mantua, where he was
character in an opera, or even make speed to save us”). The influenced by the court’s
maestro di cappella (music
in an accompanied song. original 1610 edition of Vespers director), Giaches de Wert,
The new emphasis on character contains 13 movements, and and started writing operas.
led to the development of the includes a version of the Magnificat In 1607, his first opera, L’Orfeo
accompanied sonata (including the for six voices and organ. In addition was performed in Mantua,
trio sonata, comprising two violins to music for vespers itself, the followed by L’Arianna in 1608.
and a cello), the solo recitative and volume includes an a cappella (“in After Gonzaga’s death
aria, and the concerto—indeed, the chapel,” or unaccompanied) in 1612, Monteverdi went to
any musical form showcasing one Mass setting—Missa in Illo Rome, where he presented
particular performer among a Tempore—based upon a motet of his Vespers to the Pope. The
group. This stylistic development the same name by the Renaissance following year he became
emphasized contrast, allowing composer Nicolas Gombert. (Mass maestro di cappella at St.
for wider emotional expression in and vespers were the two services Mark’s, Venice. His final opera
vocal music and for more rhythmic of the Roman Catholic liturgy most L’incoronazione di Poppea was
variation in expressing and elaborately set in late 16th- and performed in 1642, the year
before he died.
projecting the text. It stimulated early 17th-century Italy.)
experimentation among composers, Within the 13 movements
who explored increasing of Vespers, Monteverdi sets five Other key works
instrumental virtuosity. psalms that honor the Virgin Mary,
together with Ave Maris Stella 1605 Fifth Book of Madrigals
Sacred music (Hail Star of the Sea), an eighth- 1607 L’Orfeo
1640–1641 Selva morale e
While the old polyphonic style century hymn to Mary that spirituale
continued to be widely used in precedes the Magnificat in the 1642 L’incoronazione di
European church music during the official set of daily prayers, and Poppea
first half of the 17th century, a the Magnificat itself. Monteverdi ❯❯





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68 BIRTH OF THE BAROQUE


uses plainsong (single line when they had slightly different
unaccompanied Latin chants, meanings and usage from today.
associated today with monks Until around 1650, “sonata” was
and monasteries) as the basis of used interchangeably with
the seven sections. The repeated “canzona,” an instrumental
return to plainsong provides a composition employing repetition,
compositional thread that connects while “concerto” simply meant
the very different Renaissance and an ensemble piece for voices
early Baroque styles. It also helped and instruments.
ensure that his work would not
alienate the Church. Monteverdi’s intentions
It is not known whether Monteverdi
Sacred concertos expected to hear the Vespers
In addition to Monteverdi’s five Monteverdi dedicated and presented sung as a complete work. There is
psalm settings, the Ave Maris Stella his Vespers to Pope Paul V, a member little evidence that any of the 1610
setting, and the Magnificat, he set of the powerful Borghese family, publication was actually performed
four antiphons—short sentences possibly in the hope of commissions. during his lifetime and it is not
sung or recited before or after a known whether the vesper
psalm or canticle. The first two creating an other-worldly effect. For movements were ever performed
(non-liturgical—not part of the example, the first singer’s “gaudio” together. Some scholars have
service) antiphons come from the (joy) is echoed as “audio” (I hear). suggested that Vespers is simply
Old Testament’s Song of Solomon. Devices such as repeated phrases a collection of religious settings
They are Nigra Sum, sed Formosa for emphasis might have appeared honoring the Virgin Mary,
(I am Black but Comely) and Pulchra in an opera. which were published together
Es (Thou Art Fair), sung by two The vesper settings are for convenience. The publication
sopranos whose lines interweave completed by the Sonata sopra may have been intended by the
as if in a love duet. Sancta Maria (“Sonata on [the composer as two works—Vespers
In the third antiphon, Duo plainsong] Holy Mary, Pray for Us”). and Mass—complete in their own
Seraphim, two angels call across Together, the four antiphons and right, and also as a compendium
the heavens, and in the fourth, the Sonata were described by of sacred music from which to
Audi Coelum (Hear, O Heaven), Monteverdi as “sacred concertos.” draw movements for different
the endings of the words sung by “Sonata” and “concerto” are terms occasions when expert singers
one tenor are echoed by another, that date from the 18th century, and instrumentalists were

Music in Venice opening of the world’s first
opera house, the Teatro di
Few other cities in Europe have San Cassiana, in 1637.
a longer or more glorious musical In the 19th century, Rossini
tradition than Venice. In the saw some of his greatest
Baroque age, it was a major center triumphs in Venice, while
of the arts and a powerful trading Wagner, a regular visitor who
hub, with a great tradition of later died in the city, composed
church and state ceremonies Tristan und Isolde here, and
requiring music. The fame of Verdi premiered Rigoletto (1851)
Venetian composers, such as and La traviata (1853) at Teatro
Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, La Fenice, the chief opera house
Monteverdi, and Vivaldi, rivals from 1792. In the 20th century,
The Family in Concert, c.1752, that of the city’s artists—Bellini, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
by the Venetian artist Pietro Longhi, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, and (1951) and Benjamin Britten’s
who specialized in contemporary Tiepolo. Opera first found a mass The Turn of the Screw (1953)
domestic scenes. following in the city, with the were also premiered here.






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BAROQUE 1600–1750 69


some performances contrast large From the Renaissance
choirs with smaller ensembles to the Baroque
using the cori spezzati (separated
choirs) technique to create a
“stereo” effect. Instruments are The Monteverdi
I would rather be only specified for certain sections Vespers builds on
moderately praised for of the work: the opening fanfare traditional Gregorian
plainchant structure.
the new style than borrowed from Monteverdi’s opera
greatly praised for Orfeo of 1607; the Sonata; and
the ordinary. sections of the Magnificat.
Claudio Monteverdi
Voices and instruments
Contemporaries were sometimes It adds virtuoso music
critical of Monteverdi’s change in for solo singers, creating
style from the traditional prima a more emphatic,
pratica to the more operatic expressive effect.
seconda pratica technique he
available, such as at a court like used in the sacred concertos and
Mantua, St. Peter’s in Rome, or also in his madrigals. They may
St. Mark’s in Venice. A minimum have found this sort of writing too
of ten voices is required to perform ostentatious for religious music. This freer expression is
Vespers, and instrumental and One writer, Giovanni Artusi, supplemented by
vocal parts require enormous attacked the Baroque style, improvisational flourishes
dexterity. For the more “choral” quoting madrigals by Monteverdi and dramatic devices.
sections, such as Laudate Pueri, in support of his arguments.
Dixit Dominus, and the closing He found the use of dissonance,
movement of the Magnificat, unorthodox key changes, and
irregular cadences objectionable.
However, Monteverdi did not see
A page from a manuscript shows the two techniques as radically A greater emphasis on
Monteverdi’s handwritten notation harmony leads to a freer
for L’incoronazione di Poppea (“The different: they were both ways of compositional technique.
Coronation of Poppea”) of 1642, his setting a text expressively and
last work before his death in 1643. of being faithful to it. ■




The ultimate effect
is a grand
public sound …







… that builds
upon traditional
structures to create
a new choral style.








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70


LULLY MERITS WITH


GOOD REASON THE

TITLE OF PRINCE OF

FRENCH MUSICIANS


LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME (1670),
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY






he 1670 comédie-ballet grandeur, is told through a mixture
IN CONTEXT Le bourgeois gentilhomme, of spoken dialogue written by
T devised by the French Molière, interspersed with lively
FOCUS composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and orchestral interludes and dances
French Baroque
the playwright and actor Molière, by Lully. The choruses and solo
BEFORE represents the high point of this arias were the work of both men.
1626 Les vingt-quatre violons specifically French genre. It was
du roi, the King’s orchestra, the culmination of a series of Dramatic skill
is founded—an ensemble in comedy-ballets by the two men Lully was a skilled musician,
which Lully later performs. who were known as Les deux dancer, and actor, and this is
Baptistes (Molière’s real name evident in his compositions.
1647 The premiere is held of being Jean Baptiste Poquelin). The Instead of merely accompanying
Luigi Rossi’s opera Orpheus, comédie-ballet genre mixed spoken the singers, Lully’s orchestra
the first opera commissioned drama with music and dance, enhances the drama of his works,
by the French court. ballet having long been enjoyed commenting on the actions of the
at the court of King Louis XIV. characters and creating a sense
AFTER The story of Le bourgeois of place and occasion. His earlier
1691 Henry Purcell composes gentilhomme, the foolish Monsieur Ballet des Muses (1666) anticipated
his opera King Arthur, with Jourdain, who has delusions of the rise of the concerto, by pitting
“shivering” effects in the solo instrumental passages against
violins, allegedly influenced alternating orchestral responses.
by Lully’s opera Isis. Examples of virtuosity and
complexity are often evident
1693 Marc-Antoine in Le bourgeois gentilhomme,
Charpentier’s opera Médée particularly in the quickfire
is indebted to Lully’s style. I do not believe there is any exchanges between characters,
sweeter music under the
1733 Jean-Philippe Rameau’s heaven than Lully’s. in the whirling violin and flute
Hippolyte et Aricie is the first Madame de Sévigné ornamentations of the Spanish
French opera to depart from French aristocrat (1626–1696) tunes, and in the stately flourishes
Lully’s style and the first of the overture. Over the course of
piece of music to be described five acts, Lully uses every tool at
as “Baroque.” his disposal, from popular dance
forms, such as jigs and minuets,
to drinking songs and even a





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 71

See also: Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Euridice 62–63 ■ Hippolyte et Aricie 107 ■ Orfeo ed Euridice 118–119 ■
The Magic Flute 134–137 ■ The Barber of Seville 148 ■ Der Freischütz 149 ■ La traviata 174–175 ■ Tosca 194–197



































A skilled violinist, Lully performed the timing of both singers and method of musical direction that
in his own works. He is thought to be orchestra. Indeed, there is an precipitated his untimely demise.
the man holding the violin in François etching of Lully’s later opera, In March 1687, he died from a
Puget’s painting of 1688.
Alceste, premiered in 1674, that gangrenous wound that developed
shows a man “beating time” on after a blow to his toe while
grandiose “Turkish” march with the floor with a staff. Unfortunately beating time as he conducted
lively percussion. Although Lully for Lully, it was this vigorous his own Te Deum. ■
was not the innovator of musical
“orientalism,” he is widely credited Jean-Baptiste Lully
with spreading its influence in the
18th century. His use of a scene- Born into which point he gallicized his
setting overture—an orchestral, a family of name. Lully’s monopoly on
marchlike introduction usually Florentine French opera enabled him to
to allow for royal pageantry and millers in 1632, produce multiple works of his
homage to be paid—became Giovanni own creation. His prolific output
a standard musical feature for Battista Lulli before his early death in 1687
almost all subsequent operas. began his rise through French also included chamber music
society when he gained a and sacred works.
Enter the conductor position as a servant at the
Lully’s increased instrumentation, French court at the age of 14. Other key works
with five-part strings, woodwind, He attracted the attention of 1663 Miserere mei Deus
Louis XIV, with whom he later
and percussion, meant that danced in courtly spectacles. 1674 Alceste
Le bourgeois gentilhomme was By 1661, he had been placed 1677 Te Deum
one of the earliest pieces of music in charge of court music, at 1686 Armide
to require a conductor to coordinate





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HE HAD A PECULIAR

GENIUS






















TO EXPRESS THE ENERGY OF


ENGLISH WORDS









DIDO AND AENEAS (c.1683–1689),


HENRY PURCELL



























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74 BAROQUE OPERA IN ENGLAND



IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Baroque opera in England
BEFORE
1617 Lovers Made Men, a
masque by Ben Jonson, is set
to music by Nicholas Lanier in
the Italian recitative style.
1656 The Siege of Rhodes, by
five composers, is considered
the first English opera, but is
called “recitative music” to
avoid the Puritan ban on plays.

c. 1683 John Blow’s Venus
and Adonis is premiered at he greatness of Dido and Puritans show disdain for the
Charles II’s court. Aeneas by Henry Purcell flamboyantly dressed Cavaliers in a
1685 Albion and Albanius, T (1659–1695) lies in the 17th-century tavern scene. Cromwell
closed many inns and theatres, which
with a libretto by John Dryden perfection of its characterization he called bastions of “lascivious mirth.”
and musical depth. Although
set to music by Louis Grabu, is conceived on a miniature scale, it
the earliest full-length English is the most significant early English tradition could develop, due to the
opera to survive in its entirety.
opera and a masterpiece of the exile of the future King Charles II
AFTER entire Baroque musical era. following the defeat of the Cavaliers
1705 Jakob Greber’s Gli amori In the late 17th century, when (Royalists) in the English Civil War
d’Ergasto is the first Italian Dido and Aeneas was composed, (1642–1651) and the establishment
opera produced in London. opera was still in its infancy in of a Protectorate under the rule of
England. It had evolved in Florence the Puritan Oliver Cromwell. During
1711 Handel premieres the in the 1590s from a form of private this period, English composers
Italian opera Rinaldo, his first entertainment organized by groups were often not exposed to foreign
work for the London stage. of artists and musicians known as influences and their music tended
“academies” (see pp.62–63). From to retain a strong national identity.
there, it had spread throughout Italy Forms such as the verse anthem,
with performances in one or other in which solo voices and choir sang
of the many small courts. Only in alternate verses, were favored in
1637, with the opening of the Teatro Anglican liturgy. Secular music
di San Cassiano in Venice, was included “catches”—simple, often
opera performed for a wider public. bawdy rounds or canons, usually
Dido and Aeneas is The new genre had reached sung in taverns—which had no
one of the most original Germany by this time and France direct continental equivalents.
expressions of genius by the 1640s, quickly taking root
in all opera. in both countries. A mysterious genesis
Gustav Holst In England, opera advanced The Restoration of the monarchy
more slowly, partly because of a under Charles II in 1660 brought
prejudice against sung drama in a England closer to Europe and its
country where spoken drama was musical repertoire. This would have
dominant. England also lacked a influenced Purcell as he developed
royal court around which operatic his skills composing masterly





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 75

See also: Euridice 62–63 ■ Orfeo ed Euridice 118–119 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■
The Barber of Seville 148 ■ La traviata 174–175 ■ Peter Grimes 288–293


anthems and songs from the age some suggest that it was
of 16. Many of these early works commissioned originally for the
show the depth of imagination that court of Charles II. There is,
would later make Dido and Aeneas however, no evidence of any
such a powerful work. performance in the proposed period
Surprisingly little is known (1683–1684). Priest himself was a
about the creation of Dido and choreographer and dancing master
Aeneas. The earliest surviving who knew Purcell from stage
manuscripts date from several productions on which they had
decades after Purcell’s death, both worked. John Blow’s Venus
and some material, such as music and Adonis, the model for Dido and Henry Purcell
for his librettist Nahum Tate’s Aeneas and also an opera with a
prologue, has been lost. There is prologue and three acts, had been Born in 1659, when court life
also a mystery about when and revived by Priest and his pupils and was about to be restored with
where the work was first performed. premiered at court around 1683. the accession of Charles II,
Although it was staged at Josias Purcell was a thoroughly
Priest’s Boarding School for Young The continental influence trained musician. In his
Ladies in Chelsea in the late 1680s, While Purcell drew on the style relatively brief career, he
of his English predecessors and acquired the range of skills
contemporaries such as Matthew needed to succeed in every
Dido entertains Aeneas in a scene Locke and Blow, European musical available genre. He was a boy
by an unknown 18th-century Italian chorister in the Chapel Royal,
artist. While based on Virgil’s epic models are evident in Dido and and, as an adult, held a series
poem, Purcell’s opera used witches, Aeneas and other works. During of court appointments, writing
rather than gods, to separate the lovers. his years in exile, Charles II had ❯❯
music for state occasions in
addition to works for church
and chamber, songs, and
harpsichord suites. As the
organist of Westminster
Abbey from 1680, he worked
close to London’s West End
and wrote incidental music
for dozens of plays. He also
collaborated on a series of
dramatic or semi-operas with
substantial musical content,
including King Arthur and The
Fairy Queen. He died in 1695
during the composition of
The Indian Queen, leaving his
brother to complete the work.

Other key works

1691 King Arthur
1692 The Fairy Queen
1694 Come, Ye Sons of Art
1695 Funeral music for
Queen Mary







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76 BAROQUE OPERA IN ENGLAND



A musical revival (“The king’s 24 violins”) at
the court of Louis XIV. It played
The creative foundations for for church services and court
England’s music and drama were occasions, performing birthday
in a poor state when Charles II odes by Purcell and others. The
came to the throne in 1660. The post of “Master of the King’s
Puritans had closed London’s Musick” was reinstated with
theatres from around 1642 and, the reappointment of Nicholas
abhorring music in places of Lanier. Foundations such as the
worship, had even disbanded Chapel Royal, which trained
cathedral choirs. Charles’s professional musicians, were
interest in the arts and his also renewed. New theatres
subsequent support for them were opened and thrived,
was part of a wider policy of producing what is now called
encouraging entertainment. Restoration drama—often
As a child, Purcell served as a This influenced music in bawdy comedies—for which
chorister of the Chapel Royal at several ways. Charles created a songs and incidental music
Hampton Court, England, a training royal string orchestra modeled on were required, frequently
ground for young musicians. the Vingt-quatre violons du roy supplied by Purcell himself.

acquired a taste for French and counterpoint, as well as a structural the classical hero of Virgil’s epic
Italian music. Such preferences device by which sections are poem, the Aeneid. Having escaped
influenced aspiring musicians repeatedly built up from a short from the burning city of Troy at the
eager for royal patronage. aria, followed by a chorus, and end of the Trojan War, he had sailed
French influences are noticeable then a dance. The opera included with his followers to North Africa.
from the start of Dido and Aeneas. several dances, a feature common There he woos the Carthaginian
Act One starts with a typical for French and English operas of the queen Dido—a wary widow who
French overture, its slow, stately time. Such dances would no doubt finally submits to his advances.
introduction based on intense have pleased the dancing master, Wicked witches plot against her,
dotted rhythms (which divide Priest, when the opera was staged however, sending an imp in the
the beat between a long note and at his school. likeness of Mercury to call Aeneas
a short one). The second part of Equally noticeable is the impact away to his glorious destiny as the
the overture is fast, using imitative of Italian opera—and specifically of founder of Rome. In despair at his
Didone, another opera about Dido departure, Dido commits suicide.
and Aeneas by Francesco Cavalli. Purcell masterfully employs
Both operas employ a ground bass stirring motifs and deft word-
or passacaglia, in which the bass painting to express the fluctuating
line is repeated throughout with moods that shape the action.
changing melodies and harmonies Throughout the opera’s varied
As poetry is the harmony above it. Purcell uses this to great movements, Purcell’s text and
of words, so music is dramatic effect for two of Dido’s music work together in perfect
that of notes; and as arias, including her lament, which synergy to evoke the necessary
poetry is a rise above comes close to the end of the score emotions of sadness, joy, or the
prose … so is music the and provides a natural climax to evil intent of the witches—music
exaltation of poetry. the whole drama. and poetry “walking hand in hand
Henry Purcell support each other,” an ideal Purcell
Dramatic effects expressed in the dedication of his
As it has survived, Dido and semi-opera Dioclesian (1690).
Aeneas consists of three short His use of melismas—setting
acts telling the story of the arrival one syllable on several notes—is
in ancient Carthage of Aeneas, striking, enhancing the effect of





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 77


descriptions of “valor,” “torment,” Compositional devices in 
and Dido “languishing” in grief in Dido’s Lament
her recitative “Whence could so
much virtue spring.” Purcell also
intentionally creates dissonance
(disharmony between notes) in
the string parts during Dido’s
lament, to express the queen’s
extreme anguish in one of the
most moving musical statements of A five-bar bass “Remember me” motif
grief ever composed. The last death repeated throughout lends a sense
scene is remarkable, too, in an era suggests inevitability. of yearning.
when operatic heroes or heroines
seldom perished. In Cavalli’s
Didone, Dido is saved from herself
and marries someone else.

A lasting legacy
Little is known about performances
of Dido and Aeneas in Purcell’s Appoggiatura Falling phrases and
lifetime. It was revived on the (short “leaning” note) dissonance to
London stage in 1700 and again in suggests sobbing. indicate anguish.
1704, yet these productions seem
to have been the last until the
late 19th century. Increasingly Queen Mary until 1694. Theatre and Aeneas suggests, however,
performed ever since, it is now work dominated Purcell’s last years. that, but for his early death at the
regularly presented by schools and Here the chief form was that of age of 36, Purcell could have laid
amateurs as well as in the world’s dramatic or semi-opera. This very the ground for an English operatic
great opera houses. English type of entertainment tradition. That space would
The accession of William III to comprised a play with interludes of eventually be filled by the German-
the throne in 1689 diminished songs, dances, and choruses at the born George Frideric Handel, who
court patronage, although Purcell ends of acts; these had little direct would compose his own operas in
wrote fine odes for William’s consort connection to the play and were London between 1711 and 1741. ■
performed by a separate company
of singers and dancers. The best
known examples are King Arthur
(1691), to a text by the poet John
Dryden, and The Fairy Queen
(1692), whose spoken text is an
adaptation by the actor-manager Music is yet but in its
Thomas Betterton of Shakespeare’s nonage, a forward child,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. which gives hope of what it
Purcell’s other works ranged may be hereafter in England,
from church and chamber music when the masters of it shall
to songs and formal odes. His Dido find more encouragement.
Henry Purcell

The score of Dido and Aeneas uses
a simple bass line which may have
been provided by cello, bassoon, double
bass—or bass viol, as shown here by
Dutch artist Caspar Netscher (1639–84).





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78


THE OBJECT OF


CHURCHES IS NOT THE

BAWLING OF CHORISTERS


CHORALE PRELUDE, EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER
GOTT (1690), DIETERICH BUXTEHUDE









hen, in 1517, Martin organ piece to introduce the melody
IN CONTEXT Luther penned the of the chorale so that people would
W 95 theses that would know what tune to sing.
FOCUS trigger the Reformation, his main
Lutheran hymn tunes
objections had little to do with Signature trait
BEFORE music: they rather concerned The chief pioneer of the chorale
1529 Martin Luther composes the selling of indulgences and the prelude was Dieterich Buxtehude.
the hymn Ein feste Burg. question of papal authority. As His practice was to present the
the Reformation got underway, chorale melody in an ornamented
1624 Samuel Scheidt however, church music was to be version in one single upper voice,
publishes his Tablatura nova, profoundly affected. For centuries, projected by the right hand on a
a collection of keyboard singing in church had been the separate manual (organ keyboard),
music containing eight sets preserve of monks and trained while the left hand and pedals
of chorale variations. singers and, being in Latin, it was provided an accompaniment,
incomprehensible to the average normally on softer-sounding stops.
AFTER person in the congregation. Buxtehude drew some influence
1705–1706 J.S. Bach walks Luther placed particular from the works of earlier composers,
from Arnstadt to Lübeck—a emphasis on congregational such as the keyboard variations of
distance of 235 miles (378 km) participation and on the use of the the Dutch organist Jan Pieterszoon
to meet and hear Buxtehude. vernacular, so that everyone could
1726 J.S. Bach completes understand what they were hearing
the final chorales in his and singing. The chorale—a
Orgelbüchlein (“Little Organ congregational hymn—was key
to this. Luther himself composed
Book”), his largest collection many of the earliest chorales, of
of chorale preludes.
which perhaps the most famous is [I wanted] to comprehend
1830 Felix Mendelssohn his Ein feste Burg, based on Psalm one thing and another
bases the finale of his 46—“A mighty fortress is our God, about his art.
“Reformation” Symphony a tower of strength never failing.” J.S. Bach
(No. 5) on Luther’s Ein By the Baroque period, chorale
feste Burg. melodies formed the basis for
many different genres of music in
the Lutheran church. One of these
was the chorale prelude, a short





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 79

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Magnus liber organi 28–31 ■ Great Service 52–53 ■ Pièces de clavecin 82–83 ■
St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ The Art of Fugue 108–111 ■ Elijah 170–173


































An Allegory of Friendship by Dutch them, or is presented as the first them imitatively, while at other
artist Johannes Voorhout shows (and “strongest-sounding”) of a times opting for a chordal approach.
Buxtehude leaning on his elbow. collection of four notes. In this manner the tune is
Among the other musicians is the The accompaniment in the presented once from beginning
harpsichordist Johann Adam Reincken.
left hand and pedals is generally to end. This particular style of
in two- or three-part harmony, setting influenced J.S. Bach,
Sweelinck (1562–1621) and his pupil sometimes using motifs from the who followed a similar model
Samuel Scheidt (1587–1654), but chorale melody and interweaving in his Chorale Preludes. ■
while Scheidt often presented
the tune of the chorale in slower, Dieterich Buxtehude
unornamented notes and wove the
variations around it, Buxtehude It is uncertain exactly when position of organist at St. Mary’s
made the chorale melody itself the and where Dieterich Buxtehude in Lübeck. Tradition held that
clearest and most ornamented line, was born, but by his early new organists should marry a
with the variations being simpler. childhood, his family was living daughter of their predecessor,
Buxtehude’s prelude on Ein feste in Helsingborg (in modern-day an obligation that Buxtehude
Burg ist unser Gott, composed Sweden), from where they later fulfilled within weeks of taking
around 1690, is a perfect example moved to Helsingør in Denmark. up office. He retained his role as
of this approach. The right hand It was there that Buxtehude organist of Lübeck until his
presents a spontaneous-sounding learned his musical craft from death in 1707.
solo melody that follows the contour his organist father.
After working at his father’s
of the chorale tune. The chorale former church in Helsingborg Other key works
itself is made clearer by the fact and then at St. Mary’s church in 1680 Membra Jesu Nostri
that each of its notes is either Helsingør, in 1668 Buxtehude c.1680 Praeludium in C major
held for longer than the decorative, accepted the prestigious 1694 Trio Sonatas, Op. 1
improvisatory notes that connect





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80


THE NEW ORPHEUS


OF OUR TIMES




CONCERTI GROSSI, OP. 6 (1714),
ARCANGELO CORELLI










he Italian term “concerto” the modest setup of a small
IN CONTEXT was initially used to group of soloists and a string
T describe any music for ensemble with continuo (bass
FOCUS voices and added instruments, with line), as developed by the Italian
The concerto grosso
a distinction evolving in the early composer Arcangelo Corelli around
BEFORE 17th century between concerti the turn of the 18th century.
1610 The publication of ecclesiastici (church music) and
Giovanni Cima’s Sonate concerti di camera (chamber Corelli’s early Concerti Grossi were
a Tre for violin, cornet, and music). By the late 18th century it premiered in Rome’s Palazzo Pamphilj,
continuo—an early example had evolved into the much grander a dazzling example of Italian Baroque
of secular Italian chamber showcase for virtuosity that is architecture that reflected the order
music for three instruments. familiar today, but its roots lie in and playfulness of the music.

1675 The first performance
of Alessandro Stradella’s
Sonata di Viole No. 25, which
contrasts a soloist with an
ensemble. Corelli is likely
to have heard this during
his time in Rome.
AFTER
1721 J.S. Bach puts together
his Brandenburg Concertos,
several of which experiment
with the instrumentation of
both solo and ensemble groups.
1741 Handel’s Twelve Concerti
Grossi, Op. 6, are published,
in direct homage to Corelli’s
Concerti Grossi.









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BAROQUE 1600–1750 81

See also: The Four Seasons 92–97 ■ Musique de table 106 ■ Saint-Saëns’ Piano
Concerto No. 2 in G minor 179


The music ranges from serene
adagios (in slow time) wrought
with exquisite suspensions, to
allegros (fast time), peppered
with quickfire exchanges between
It is wonderful to observe the large and small ensembles.
what a scratching of Corelli Corelli’s use of harmony in these
there is everywhere—nothing concerti was in keeping with a
will relish but Corelli. more general shift in Italian
Roger North Baroque music away from the
Writer and musician myriad lines of Renaissance Arcangelo Corelli
(1653–1734) polyphony toward the use of
chord sequences and cadences Born into a prosperous family
to create a stable tonal center. in the small Italian town of
Corelli’s work immediately Fusignano, in 1653, Corelli
attracted the admiration of patrons was accepted into Bologna’s
and fellow musicians. Among the Accademia Filarmonica
Op. 6 concerti, No. 8 in G minor, orchestra at the age of 17.
Corelli’s masterful Op. 6, Concerti subtitled “Fatto per la Notte di His mastery of the violin,
Grossi, published posthumously Natale,” was commissioned by his combined with the rigor
as a set of 12, epitomize the form. patron of the 1690s, Cardinal Pietro of his teaching methods and
Each of Corelli’s concerti Ottoboni. Known as the Christmas his many pupils, who included
consists of four to six movements, Concerto, the work has enjoyed Antonio Vivaldi and Francesco
played by a trio concertino—three long-lasting popularity. Geminiani, caused his
reputation to grow.
soloists comprising two violins In the mid-1670s, Corelli
and a cello continuo—and the Harmony and balance moved to Rome, where he
ripieno, a larger string ensemble Although Corelli had previously entered the service of Queen
with harpsichord accompaniment. written for the concertino Christina of Sweden, who
Confusingly, Corelli often expanded combination of instruments in had a home in Rome, and later
the concertino section to four his 48 trio sonatas, it is impossible served as Music Director to
musicians. The basso continuo to dismiss the Concerti Grossi Cardinal Pamphili. His last
(cello and harpsichord) provided as a mere inflation of these patron was Cardinal Pietro
a continuous musical framework, small-scale chamber works. Ottoboni, who was himself
or foundation, over which the Some performances involved as a musician and librettist.
melody and harmony of both the many as 80 musicians—a huge Corelli died in 1713. Despite
soloists and the accompanying number, especially in Corelli’s day, his relatively modest output,
group, or ripieno, were constructed. when orchestras more usually his most active composing
numbered around 20 musicians. years coincided with a boom
Dynamic expression In 1789, more than 70 years in music publishing at the
turn of the 18th century. As
By employing these contrasting after Corelli’s death, the English a result, his influence spread
instrumental forces, Corelli musician, composer, and music across Europe, even during
explored the possibilities for historian Dr. Charles Burney his lifetime.
dynamic expression, enlivening wrote of the Concerti Grossi:
the exchanges between the “The effect of the whole … [is] Other key works
sections through dramatic so majestic, solemn, and sublime
juxtapositions—often enhanced that they preclude all criticism.” 1694 12 Trio Sonatas, Op. 4
when the concertino ensemble Even today, their melodies 1700 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5
joins in with the ripieno sections. continue to resonate. ■





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82


THE UNITING OF THE


FRENCH AND ITALIAN

STYLES MUST CREATE

THE PERFECTION OF MUSIC


PIÈCES DE CLAVECIN (1713), FRANÇOIS COUPERIN








ntil François Couperin’s technical virtuosity and the formal
IN CONTEXT Ordres, or suites, French modulation of melodies, rather than
U keyboard music had largely changes of mood and feeling.
FOCUS taken the form of Baroque popular
French Baroque dances, such as the allemande, Ornamental flourishes
harpsichord music
courante, and sarabande. However, Although he used the sonata
BEFORE in part due to his connections at structure in his music, Couperin
1670 Jacques Champion de the French court, Couperin was concentrated on grace and gesture,
Chambonnières publishes also familiar with Italian music, swayed by the prevailing French
Les pièces de clavessin (“Pieces including the sonata, a piece in view of music as a sophisticated,
for Harpsichord”), the first major several movements for a small elegant, and even frivolous pastime.
French work on harpsichords. group of instruments, which Many of his works have descriptive
involved no dancing or singing. titles, which he claimed were ideas
1677 Nicholas-Antoine Sonatas of this period usually that occurred to him as he was
Lebègue writes Les pièces had a two-part structure, with each writing. The careful balance he
de clavessin, the first dance half repeated. As seen in the more struck between the lighthearted
suites published in France. than 500 sonatas of Domenico French sensibility and the more
Scarlatti, they tended to focus on formal, structured Italian approach
AFTER gave his work wide appeal.
1725 J.S. Bach includes The keyboard works were
Les bergeries (from Sixième written entirely for harpsichord or
Ordre 1717) in his Notebook spinet. On these instruments, the
for Anna Magdalena under player has no control of volume.
the title of Rondeau. Couperin incorporated subtle
I like better what embellishments into his music to
1753 C.P.E. Bach pens volume touches me than control its flow and intensity and,
1 of Versuch über die wahre what surprises me. unusually for the period, expected
Art das Clavier zu spielen, François Couperin performers not to add to, or
a treatise influenced by Pièces de clavecin (1713) improvise around, what he had
Couperin’s L’art de toucher le written. Furthermore, he published
clavecin (“The Art of Playing detailed instructions for these
the Harpsichord”). “ornaments,” marking the notes
precisely as they should be played,
thereby codifying such signs for





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 83

See also: Micrologus 24–25 ■ Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor 90–91 ■
Musique de table 106 ■ Clementi’s Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor 132–133


later generations. His style was a complete course, but advice for
not to everyone’s taste—while J.S. the player on body postures and
Bach arranged some of Couperin’s technical issues. It included a
works, he is said to have found series of eight preludes for study
them overly fussy. and fingerings for some of
Such reliance on ornamentation Couperin’s published pieces.
tends to mean that Couperin’s Particularly forward-looking
music translates less well onto the are his suggestions that children
modern piano, which, with its fuller should master a few pieces before
and more sustained sound, makes learning to read music and that
the decoration too prominent. This, practice should be supervised. François Couperin
coupled with his dislike of overt These ideas anticipated some
virtuosity and harmonic daring modern approaches to music Even within the dynasty of
(such as sudden key changes or education, such as the Suzuki great musicians into which
clashing notes), may explain why method in the mid-20th century. ■ he was born in 1668, François
his music has been eclipsed by Couperin was extraordinary.
Scarlatti’s in the concert hall. Appointed on the death of
Although not the first treatise on A young girl learns to play the his father, Charles, to take
keyboard playing, Couperin’s L’art harpsichord in The Music Lesson over the role of organist at
by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. François
de toucher le clavecin was one of Couperin taught music to Louis XIV’s St. Gervais Church in Paris
the most important, offering not children at Versailles. at the tender age of 11, he
went on to become one
of the most sought-after
performers and teachers in
France. In 1693, Couperin
was appointed by Louis XIV
as organist at the Royal
Chapel. He became court
harpsichordist to Louis XV in
1717 and composed works for
the royal family. He died in
Paris in 1733.
Couperin’s series of
Ordres for keyboard are
considered some of the most
significant contributions to
Baroque harpsichord music.
Players of the instrument
today still study L’art de
toucher le clavecin in order
to inform their performances.

Other key works

1713–1730 24 Ordres (in
four books)
1714–1715 Les concerts
royaux (The Royal Concerts)
1724–1725 Apothéoses







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WHAT THE ENGLISH

LIKE IS





















SOMETHING THEY CAN




BEAT TIME TO











WATER MUSIC, HWV 348–350 (1717),


GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
























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86 AN INTERNATIONAL STYLE


ntil the late 19th century,
IN CONTEXT England was often known
U as the land without music.
FOCUS Even though London had a thriving
An international style
concert life, with the earliest
BEFORE tradition of public concerts in Handel is the greatest
1660s Following the Europe, the fashion was to promote composer that ever lived …
restoration of the monarchy in foreign composers and performers I would uncover my
England, Charles II reinstates rather than native musicians. Both head and kneel down
music to the English court. Handel and Johann Christian Bach on his tomb.
He favors the French style (known as the English Bach) moved Ludwig van Beethoven
and particularly promotes to London to make the most of its
dancing, a passion he acquired opportunities, and composers
during his exile in France. such as Mozart and Haydn often
visited the city as well-paid and
1670s A group of professional feted musicians.
musicians called the Music
Meeting open a concert hall Music as pleasure of some of the florid excesses of
near Charing Cross, London. When Handel arrived in London in High Baroque counterpoint that
1711, he already had a distinctive were favored by Bach.
AFTER style that was rooted in his North Handel was soon appointed
1727 Handel composes the German upbringing and influenced director of music to the Duke of
anthem Zadok the Priest for by his time in Italy. He had met Chandos, who introduced him to
George II’s coronation. Arcangelo Corelli and Domenico other members of the English
Scarlatti in Italy and achieved aristocracy. While employed by the
1800s Composers turn away success with Italian operas and duke, Handel honed a new, more
from an international style to religious works there. He was also forthright style, which can be heard
highlight the individuality of familiar with the work of Jean- in his Chandos Anthems and the
nations, finding inspiration Baptiste Lully, who dominated masque Acis and Galatea. It was
in folk dance rhythms and French music, and England’s Henry also at this time that he wrote
nationalist themes. Purcell. This cosmopolitanism Esther, the first of his English
appealed to London concert-goers, oratorios, a genre for which he
who welcomed Handel’s avoidance would become renowned.

George Frideric Handel Born in Halle, in northeastern there for the rest of his life.
Germany, in 1685, Handel received He later found fame with his
his earliest musical training from oratorios, especially Messiah,
a local organist. While still a and set a seal on his career with
teenager, he moved to Hamburg the Music for the Royal Fireworks
to work as a composer and from in 1749. Handel died a wealthy
there went to Italy. He developed man and was buried with the
his dramatic talent in the comic great and the good in London’s
operas Rodrigo (1707) and Westminster Abbey.
Agrippina (1709) and the psalm
setting Dixit Dominus (1707). Other key works
Returning to Hanover in
1710, Handel became Kapellmeister 1725 Rodelinda, HWV 19
(music director) to the Elector of 1742 Messiah, HWV 56
Hanover (later George I of Great 1749 The Music for the Royal
Britain and Ireland). He relocated Fireworks, HWV 351
to London a year later and lived 1751 Jephtha, HWV 70







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BAROQUE 1600–1750 87

See also: Gabrieli’s Sonata pian’ e forte 55 ■ Euridice 62–63 ■ The Four Seasons 92–97 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■
Elijah 170–173 ■ La traviata 174–175 ■ The Ring Cycle 180–187 ■ Tosca 194–197






































Handel presents Water Music to very different from the hunting founded a century later) under
George I in a painting by the Belgian horns familiar to English audiences. a charter from the King. It was a
artist Edouard Hamman. According to Along with bassoons and trumpets, commercial venture, formed as
newspaper reports, the whole river was these helped the music carry in a joint-stock corporation, with
filled with small boats and barges.
the open air. the aim of commissioning and
Essentially, Water Music is a performing new Italian operas in
In 1717, George I asked Handel blend of popular European styles. Britain. Handel was one of its three
to compose the music for a barge It starts with an overture in the composers as well as its musical ❯❯
trip down the Thames. The music uneven rhythms of the French style,
needed to be sensational: the incorporates dances that were
King wanted to make a big public fashionable across Europe at the
statement to draw attention away time, and includes the most English
from his son, the Prince of Wales, of music—the hornpipe—which
who was forming an opposing became the signature tune of
political faction. Handel had to the work. I should be sorry if I only
balance a desire for novelty with entertained them. I wish to
the need for broad popular appeal. Opera in London make them better.
While a concert in a barge with In 1719, the Duke of Chandos and George Frideric Handel
some 50 performers was a novelty his friends, taking advantage of
in itself, Handel added to the the growing interest in opera in
occasion by importing Bohemian England, inaugurated the Royal
horn players, whose elegant Academy of Music (unrelated to
fanfares would have sounded the conservatoire of the same name





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88 AN INTERNATIONAL STYLE

Public music and director. He traveled to Europe
concert-going to engage the finest orchestral
musicians and the most celebrated
London was the first city to singers, including the Italian
establish public concerts with castrato Senesino, and the
paying audiences. The trend soprano Francesca Cuzzoni. He saw men and women
began around 1672, when the Handel understood the
violinist and composer John where others have seen only
Banister organized a paying audience’s continual hunger for historical-mythical busts.
concert in his own house. By novelty. When London audiences Paul Henry Lang
the time Handel arrived in became used to these artists, Music critic
London, there were purpose- he brought in another soprano,
built venues for chamber Faustina Bordoni, who built a rival
music concerts. In addition, fan base among the audience,
theatres in Drury Lane and reinvigorating interest in the opera
the Haymarket offered Italian for a few more seasons. The high
and, later, English opera to fees paid to such luminaries may
London’s beau monde. have been part of the reason that was unusual at the time. He also
From around 1740, pleasure the company went out of business understood the importance of
gardens sprang up across the in 1728 with debts of around spectacle, and a number of his
capital, most famously in £20,000 (over $5.5 million today). operas required elaborate stage
Vauxhall. Here visitors machinery. In Alcina, which was
would stroll, dine, and be
entertained by live music from Master of stagecraft written for the new opera house
wind bands and orchestras. Handel wrote a series of 13 operas at Covent Garden, the stage
A rehearsal of Handel’s Music for the Royal Academy of Music, directions include “with lightning
for the Royal Fireworks in which had 235 performances in his and thunder, the mountain
Vauxhall Gardens, in 1749, lifetime. Masterpieces in the Italian crumbles, revealing Alcina’s
attracted some 12,000 people, style, they included Giulio Cesare delightful palace.” Such stage
each paying two shillings in Egitto (“Julius Caesar in Egypt”, effects attracted audiences just
and sixpence, and causing 1724) and Alcina (1735). Although as much as the music.
a three-hour traffic jam on he used the operatic conventions of
London Bridge. the day—recitatives and arias—to A new direction
unfold the narrative, he gave the When Italian opera went out
operas a dramatic structure that of fashion in London after the
extraordinary success in 1728
of John Gay’s The Beggar’s
Opera, which satirized the form,
Handel used his skills to create
and popularize oratorios in English.
Starting with Deborah (1733),
Handel understands these thrillingly dramatic works for
effect better than solo singers, chorus, and orchestra
any of us—when he told biblical stories with English-
chooses, he strikes like language librettos, but were
a thunderbolt. performed unstaged in theatres. To
Wolfgang Amadeus some extent influenced by operatic
Mozart traditions, and even Greek tragedy,
The band plays music from Handel developed a directness of
an illuminated bandstand in style and a new kind of robustness
London’s Vauxhall Gardens, UK, that appealed to British audiences.
while visitors stroll and dance
in the open air. The public flocked to hear works
such as Messiah (1742), Samson





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 89


Some of the dances in Water Music



English hornpipe
Bouncy, moderately paced
dance in duple time (two
Minuet Bourrée
French court dance in beats to the bar). A lively French dance
triple (waltz) time. with folk roots.







Gigue Sarabande
A lively Baroque A slow stately dance
dance (jig) of Italian or of Spanish origin.
French origin.



Handel knew how to please an audience.
Water Music contains popular dance forms
from different parts of Europe.


(1743), and Belshazzar (1745). Lenten period, when its depiction
Messiah was so popular that men of adultery caused consternation.
were asked to attend performances Works such as this were essentially
without their swords to create more operas in English and are usually
room for the audience. performed as such today.
Handel often presented these
works himself, renting theatres and National yet international
hiring performers, and often netting During a period when music was
a good profit. When a rival company considered ephemeral and works
provided stiff competition, Handel were seldom heard in the years
wrote a number of organ concertos after their first performances,
which he performed as interludes Handel was considered a major
during the performances. Unusual composer in his lifetime. He was
as this was, it provided a rare probably the first composer whose
opportunity to hear his great work did not suffer a fall in popularity
keyboard virtuosity in public after his death. In England, he
and was therefore something helped to broaden interest in
of a marketing masterstroke. music beyond the confines of the
The Handelian oratorio became aristocracy and created a national
so popular that Handel wrote musical identity in an international
secular works in the same style. style that lasted until Edward
He designated Semele (1744), Elgar in the late 19th century. His
which was based on classical anthem Zadok the Priest, composed Louis François Roubiliac’s memorial
to Handel stands above his tomb in
mythology, as a musical drama for the coronation of George II, is Westminster Abbey, UK. Just three
“after the manner of an oratorio” still used in the crowning of British days before his death, Handel said
and even presented it during the monarchs today. ■ that he wished to be buried there.





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90


DO NOT EXPECT ANY


PROFOUND INTENTION,

BUT RATHER AN INGENIOUS

JESTING WITH ART



SONATA IN D MINOR, K. 9 “PASTORALE” (1738),
DOMENICO SCARLATTI





he Italian virtuoso originality of their content belies
IN CONTEXT harpsichord player and their seemingly mundane and
T composer Domenico practical purpose.
FOCUS Scarlatti published his first edition A contemporary of both J.S.
Italian Baroque sonata
of Essercizi per gravicembalo Bach and George Frideric Handel,
BEFORE (“Exercises for Harpsichord”) in 1738. Scarlatti’s dazzling skills on the
1701 Baroque composer As the title of the collection suggests,
Arcangelo Corelli publishes the 30 sonatas were intended to A family poses with their harpsichord
his Violin Sonatas, Op. 5— be études (studies) for students in a 1739 work by Cornelis Troost. The
an early example of solo of the harpsichord—although by instrument’s popularity would soon
instrumental writing. Scarlatti’s own admission, the wane in favor of the piano.
1709 Antonio Vivaldi
publishes Twelve Sonatas for
Violin and Basso Continuo,
Op. 2, again showcasing
the virtuosic abilities of a
solo instrument.
AFTER
1784 Mozart publishes Piano
Sonata No. 1, K279, following
in Scarlatti’s footsteps with his
focus on solo keyboard writing.
1795 Beethoven publishes
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 2,
continuing Scarlatti’s
experimentation with
the genre.












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BAROQUE 1600–1750 91

See also: Pièces de clavecin 82–83 ■ Musique de table 106 ■ Clementi’s Piano
Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 5 132–133 ■ “Eroica” Symphony 138–141


their sonatas tended to consist
of three to four movements of
contrasting moods. However,
Scarlatti’s sonatas for the solo
harpsichord—at that point, a
For bold playing of the relatively neglected instrument—
harpsichord … [s]how yourself typically follow a two-part, single-
more human than critical, and movement structure, often pivoting
thus increase your own around a central “crux,” or pause,
pleasure. … LIVE HAPPILY. and tending to be of shorter
Domenico Scarlatti proportions, lasting only around Domenico Scarlatti
three to four minutes in total.
The son of the prolific
The Pastorale opera composer, Alessandro
Although he was influenced by Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti
the sarabandes and courantes was born in Naples in 1685.
(both courtly dances) of his A talented musician himself,
keyboard were legendary, his contemporaries, Scarlatti’s music he followed his father into a
dancing fingers described by one of this era is unique in its use of musical career of wide-ranging
astonished British observer as folk idioms taken from his Iberian commissions and royal
resembling “a thousand devils.” surroundings. The Sonata K9 in patronage. At 16 he became
Scarlatti allegedly once had a D minor is nicknamed the Pastorale composer and organist to the
public contest of keyboard skills (Pastoral). This is in part due to the royal chapel in Naples before
with Handel, a musical duel that, deceptive simplicity of its melody going on to serve the exiled
Polish queen, Maria Casimira,
by all accounts, ended in a draw. but also owing to the traditional in Rome. He later became
Scarlatti put his talents to use at music it evoked, including elements maestro di cappella (music
the highest level of royal service, of Spanish folk dance music such director) at St. Peter’s.
tutoring Maria Barbara when she as the strumming, percussive In 1721, Scarlatti joined
was both princess of Portugal and effects of Spanish guitar. This the Portuguese court in
later queen of Spain. It was her addition of country stylings to the Lisbon, where he gave music
aptitude for the instrument and her formal courtly influences was to lessons to Princess Maria
continuous employment of Scarlatti continue to define Scarlatti’s music. Barbara. When the princess
that provided the conditions for his He broke down the expectations of married Fernando VI of Spain,
groundbreaking Essercizi. Baroque chamber music convention, she summoned Scarlatti to
experimenting with dissonance be her music tutor. He served
Scarlatti’s sonata style and syncopation in his later sonatas. the queen until his death in
The term “sonata” derives from the It is such playful “jesting with Madrid in 1757. Scarlatti is
Italian verb suonare, meaning “to art” that places Scarlatti as a mainly known for his 555
keyboard sonatas, although
sound,” and generally denotes solo master of both Baroque music he also produced a huge
instrumental music—that is, music and the evolving classical style. quantity of chamber and
which is “sounded” as opposed Scarlatti helped pave the way sacred vocal music.
to sung (or “cantata”). In the early for the still more radical sonata
18th century, Italian composers experiments of Mozart and
such as Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Beethoven that followed and that Other key works
Vivaldi, and Tomaso Albinoni further emphasized the importance 1724 Stabat Mater for
had written widely for solo of freestyle, expressive melody lines 10 voices
instruments—the violin being a over the more formal structure of 1757 Salve Regina
particularly popular choice—but Baroque music. ■





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SPRING





















HAS COME, AND WITH


IT GAIETY
















THE FOUR SEASONS (1725),


ANTONIO VIVALDI




























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94 ITALIAN BAROQUE SOLO CONCERTO



IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Italian Baroque solo
concerto
BEFORE
1692 Giuseppe Torelli, based
in Bologna, publishes the first
of three collections of concertos
that give a new prominence to
the solo violinist.
1707 Concertos published by
the Venetian Tomaso Albinoni
use the three-movement
(fast–slow–fast) structure that
will become the standard.

1721 J.S. Bach’s six
Brandenburg Concertos use
the structure and principles
standardized by Vivaldi in
his concertos.
AFTER
1773 Mozart composes his
first violin concerto using the
three-movement structure.





n Italy, in the 1720s, Vivaldi fluidly to describe works written The Ospedale della Pietà, a
was best known as a composer for combined ensembles, whether foundling hospital on the Grand Canal
I of operas, but in northern of voices and instruments or in Venice, where Vivaldi became violin
Europe—as well as after the comprising different groups of master in 1703. The ospedale had an
composer’s death—his fame instruments. In Rome, for example, all-female choir and orchestra.
rested on his concertos, a form he Arcangelo Corelli wrote concerti
shaped, developed, and made his grossi for an ensemble of two violinist and composer Giuseppe
own, perhaps most famously in violins and keyboard. These Torelli wrote works for solo violin
Le quattro stagioni (The Four instruments could be joined by a and a larger instrumental ensemble,
Seasons) of 1725. larger string ensemble, the role of while in Venice, wealthy amateur
Since Vivaldi’s day, the word which was more to augment than Tomaso Albinoni composed
“concerto” has found a clear to stand in musical contrast to the beautiful oboe concertos. Written
meaning as a piece for one or smaller group. for one or two oboes and a larger
more instrumental soloists and ensemble, they were among the
an orchestra: a solo concerto The concerto develops first notable solo works written
showcases one musician; a It was in Northern Italy, and Venice for the instrument.
concerto grosso (“big concerto”) in particular, that the concerto In the works of both Torelli and
has two or more. Before Vivaldi, started to take the form that Vivaldi Albinoni, a contrast was starting to
however, the term was used more would come to use. In Bologna, emerge between the solo sections





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 95

See also: C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in A major 120–121 ■ Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor 179 ■
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand 266–267


and the parts played by the larger helped to change the course of
ensemble, as if two voices were musical history. Yet he was never
being heard simultaneously within a revolutionary. Instead, he took
the same piece. These were the existing trends and modified them,
foundations upon which Vivaldi creating a new musical language
built his body of work. that exhilarated both musicians He can compose a
Slightly younger than Albinoni, and contemporary audiences. Many concerto more quickly
his fellow Venetian, Vivaldi wrote his of his borrowings were from opera, than a copyist can write.
first known concertos when he was another genre that found new life in Charles de Brosses
in his mid-20s. Overall, during the the Baroque period and with which French scholar and politician
next 40 or so years, he would write Vivaldi was heavily involved as a
around 500 concertos, many of composer. Following in Albinoni’s
which were published in collections footsteps, he took the basic fast-
such as Il cimento dell’armonia e slow-fast structure of the operatic
dell’inventione. Others were sold overture and transformed it into
in manuscript—a form that the the standard three-movement
commercially minded Vivaldi found structure of the concerto: a fast or musical idea played, repeated,
was more profitable. Of these first movement, filled with musical and modified over the course of
concertos, more than 200 were for action as solo and ensemble the movement by the orchestra.
solo violin; Vivaldi himself was a sections alternate with one another, Typically in Vivaldi’s work,
renowned and flamboyant violinist. followed by a slow, more meditative a fast movement starts with the
Others were for solo bassoon, cello, middle movement, succeeded by orchestra making a full statement
flute, oboe, mandolin, and recorder. a renewed burst of activity in the of the ritornello. This gives way to a
Vivali wrote nearly 50 double final movement. solo section, in which the musician
concertos (composed for two solo merely receives background
instruments), along with other The ritornello accompaniment from the orchestra.
variations, including one concerto Within the fast movements, Vivaldi The full orchestra then returns,
that included solo parts for 16 borrowed the key structuring restating part of the ritornello in
different instruments. Through device from opera—he used the a new key. Ritornello and solo
his astonishing oeuvre, Vivaldi ritornello (“little return”), a refrain sections then alternate, typically ❯❯

Antonio Vivaldi Vivaldi was born in 1678, the son other concertos, as well as
of a violinist in the orchestra of some 50 operas and numerous
St. Mark’s in Venice. He initially religious vocal works, sonatas,
trained for the priesthood and and cantatas. His popularity
was ordained in 1703, but he soon had declined by the late 1730s.
ceased to practice as a priest. His He died in Vienna in 1741,
break as a musician came when while trying to restore his
he was appointed violin master fortunes, and was buried in
at Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà. a pauper’s grave.
Vivaldi’s first published
collection of concertos, L’estro Other key works
armonico (“Harmonic Inspiration”),
printed in 1711, made his name 1711 L’estro armonico, Op. 3
internationally known, especially 1714 La stravaganza, Op. 4
in Germany, where the young J.S. 1725 Il cimento dell’armonia e
Bach was one of its admirers. He dell’inventione, Op. 8
went on to compose hundreds of 1727 La cetra, Op. 9







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96 ITALIAN BAROQUE SOLO CONCERTO



The concerto

The main attraction of the
concerto for composers
and musicians is the sheer
dramatic potential of the
form, as soloist and orchestra
alternately compete and
collaborate with one another.
Many composers have been
inspired to write concertos
by the talents of particular
performers, such as the
cellist Antonín Kraft, for
whom Haydn wrote his
Cello Concerto No. 2 in D
and Beethoven his Triple
Concerto. Mozart wrote his
famous Horn Concertos for
the horn player Joseph four to six times, culminating in
Leutgeb. Concertos soon The score of “Spring” from The
became a showcase for a final orchestral restatement of Four Seasons, part of L’estro armonico
(Harmonic Inspiration), a collection of
virtuoso performers, such the ritornello. 12 concertos whose lively flamboyance
as the violinist Paganini and The solo sections, meanwhile, transformed the stately form.
the pianists Liszt and Chopin. can also be seen in opera. Baroque
Around the turn of the 20th operas gave new prominence to the
century, Rachmaninov wrote aria, which allowed singers to show moods and states of mind, as
his piano concertos—and off the power, range, and expressive their titles made clear—for
Dvorak and Elgar their much- nature of their voices. Similarly, example, Il piacere (Pleasure),
loved cello concertos. Later, the solo sections of concertos L’inquietudine (Anxiety), L’amoroso
fans of the concerto grosso allowed instrumental soloists to (The Lover), and Il riposo (Rest).
included Michael Tippett in display their virtuoso skills. In an Le quattro stagioni, however, along
his Fantasia Concertante on age characterized by theatricality, with a cycle of three concertos
a Theme of Corelli. Vivaldi brought a dose of dramatic called La Notte (Night), took this
virtuosity to the concerto. a step further, and used the music
to relate a simple musical narrative
Four Seasons known as a “programme,” a form
Vivaldi allowed his theatricality that was taken up by many
free rein in The Four Seasons, first composers in the Romantic era.
published in Amsterdam in 1725. In the published version, Vivaldi
Earlier versions of the pieces had made the programme explicit by
been circulating for a number of including four sonnets of unknown
years in manuscript form, and were authorship, often theorized to have
already widely known and admired. been written by Vivaldi himself.
Le quattro stagioni represented These sonnets each tell the story
the first four in a collection of 12 of one of the four seasons. The
violin concertos entitled Il cimento sonnet for spring, for example,
Violinist Nigel Kennedy records dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The starts by describing how birds
The Four Seasons with the English Contest of Harmony and Invention”), salute the new season “with joyous
Chamber Orchestra in 1989. The all written between 1723 and 1725. song” and how brooks fanned by
recording sold more than two
million copies. Many of Vivaldi’s concertos sought soft breezes flow “with sweet
to evoke or describe particular murmurings.” All this Vivaldi





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BAROQUE 1600–1750 97


describes musically in the first Painting pictures with music
movement of the “Spring” concerto,
where the opening ritornello is a
dance representing the celebratory
joy of returning spring, succeeded
by three solo violins conveying
birdsong and other characteristics
of the season.
High praise Spring Summer
In Italy, Vivaldi’s popularity Three solo violins mimic chirruping Tranquil sounds speak of summer heat,
had waned by the end of his life birds and babbling brooks. An upbeat with buzzing insects, a cuckoo, and
due to rising interest in a new third movement suggests a spring a lark. Minor chords and dramatic
festival with dancing.
undertones convey a summer storm.
Neapolitan style of opera. North
of the Alps, however, Vivaldi’s
concertos, and Le quattro stagioni
in particular, made him one of the
most famous composers of the
day. Vivaldi’s patrons included the
Bohemian nobleman Count Wenzel
von Morzin, to whom Vivaldi
dedicated Il cimento dell’armonia
e dell’inventione, the collection Autumn Winter
The fast first movement captures
Fast violins convey chattering
that contained Le quattro stagioni. the drama of a harvest festival. The teeth and stamping feet, and rapid
“I beg you not to be surprised,” orchestra is interrupted by a solo violin scales and dissonance suggest
he wrote, “if among these few and representing a “swaying drunkard.” winter chills and gales.
feeble concertos Your Illustrious
Grace should find the Four Seasons
which, with your noble bounty, commanded a performance of to his earliest biographer, Johann
Your Illustrious Grace has so long the “Spring” concerto, played by Nikolaus Forkel, it was this
regarded with indulgence.” an orchestra assembled entirely experience that taught him the
Another illustrious endorsement of musically gifted nobles and importance of “order, coherence,
came from King Louis XV of courtiers. Another lover of the and proportion” in music.
France, who in November 1730 “Spring” concerto was philosopher According to modern scholars,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who Forkel’s assessment may be
in 1775 arranged the piece for an exaggeration, but Vivaldi’s
unaccompanied flute. influence on Bach is clearly evident
in, for example, Bach’s use of the
Influence on composers ritornello form. Equally evident is
Vivaldi played a splendid Most remarkable, however, was the fact that Vivaldi gave the three-
solo … Such playing has not the legacy of Vivaldi’s concertos movement (fast-slow-fast) concerto
been heard before and can to his fellow musicians. One a place among the most important
notable devotee was J.S. Bach.
music forms, inspiring countless
never be equalled.
J.F.A. von Uffenbach His patron, the Duke of Saxe- future composers from Bach,
Haydn, and Mozart to Beethoven
Weimar, returned from a trip to the
German traveler Netherlands with a copy of Vivaldi’s onward. Moreover, the concerto
(1687–1769)
first concerto collection, the L’estro was a major influence on another
armonico (“Harmonic Inspiration”), emerging form, one that soon
published in Amsterdam. Bach became the supreme form of
transcribed six of the concertos instrumental expression for
for solo harpsichord, and according composers—the symphony. ■





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MUSIC
THE END AND FINAL AIM OF ALL
























SHOULD BE NONE OTHER THAN THE

GLORY OF GOD










ST. MATTHEW PASSION (1727),


JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH



























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