-The Renaissance madrigal, toward the end of the sixteenth century led to increasingly extreme word painting.

-In Florence, a group of intellectual began to proclaim that word painting could not truly express feeling, and that the many voices of a madrigal could only delude emotion. They felt that only a single singer who could learn from actors and orators, could truly express emotion.

-From this came the recitative, a new style of solo singing that was half music half recitation. Recitative led inevitably to the stage.

Meanwhile in Venice, composers were alternating two three or four whole choirs and homophony became more prevalent than polyphony. Some choirs were designated for singers, some for instruments. Extravagance and magnificence became the new ideals. Ironically this extravagance had to be controlled by a greater sense of organization and stricter forms so that the listener would not lose track.

Giovanni was the nephew of Andrea Gabrieli. Both were Organists at St. Mark’s Basilica, and achieved brilliant echo effects by placing singers and instrumentalists in the church’s balconies. The piece below, "O Magnum Mysterium" was written by Giovanni for the Christmas season. The text marvels that the lowly animals were the first to see baby Jesus. Gabrieli uses 2 choirs, both with three voice parts and four instrumental parts plus organ. In the alleluia section, the choirs echo back and forth across Alleluia, and come together again at a meter change for a final climactic “alleluia”. Then for more emphasis the section is repeated. The imposed organization of Baroque music is evident here in that both the beginning and end have the same words, tempo, meter, texture, and sequence.

-Rhythms in Baroque music are regular and can be heard throughout a piece or section; unlike Renaissance Rhythm which could change very whimsically. There is a wide acceptance of meter and bar lines appear for the first time.

-The textures are now being built from the ground (bass) up with basso continuo, ground bass and basso ostinato.

-Basso Continuo- The bass part in baroque music is often performed by an organ or harpsichord which also plays chords over the bass line. This technique helps bind textures together. Originally it was an afterthought but composers started to map out the basso continuo first, and adjusted the polyphony to it, showing increasing reliance on homophony.

-Ground Bass- In this form, the bass instruments play a single short figure many times, generating the same harmonies (reinforced by the continuo). Above this there are different melodies or virtuoso passages.

-Basso Ostinato- Another name for ground bass. The term ostianto means any short section in any voice repeated over and over again.

-Functional Harmony- Baroque music developed the modern major/minor system, by which all chords led in a logical way towards the tonic chord (the chord around which the scale was centered). When one chord follows another now, it does so in a purposeful way. Functional harmony is the principle of chord progression in which each chord serves a specific function in relation to the tonic chord.

-Opera- A drama presented in music with characters that sing instead of using spoken word.

-The first operas were merely court entertainments. But in 1637, the first Opera house was built in Florence. Operas then could combine music with acting, scene design and special effects. For the Florentines, it was like seeing a movie.

-Composers often had to contrive moments of reflection for their characters, to get across plot details, or to relieve emotional pressure. These moments still today divide Opera into Recitative and Aria.

-Recitative- The technique of declaiming words in a theatrical manner. It is descended from declamation, and used when the words (usually dialogue or plot action) needs to be brought out. The accompaniment is usually kept to a minimum for the sake of the story line.

-Aria- An extended piece for solo singer. It is more musically elaborate and is used when a character needs to mull over their feelings, instead of reciting events moment by moment. They are moments of great vocal virtuosity.

Claudio Monteverdi was a central figure in early Baroque. He first worked in Mantua, and then moved to St. Mark’s in Venice. He was the first composer to be called “too radical”. This opera, "The Coronation of Poppea" is the story of Nero’s mistress, Poppea, who successfully schemes to have Nero’s wife deposed and advisor killed. For revenge, Nero’s wife (Ottavia) blackmails Poppea’s lover (Ottone) into attempting to kill her. This plot fails and results in his and Ottavia’s exile. Below is an example of a recitative. Poppea tries to convince Nero to stay with her which delays his departure, she seductively asks him “won’t you return?” Until finally he says he will.

-The development of music with no words at all is one of the most far reaching of the Baroque era. We can trace this development back to three sources:

1. Dance- Opera was the genre that was most fascinating to people at the time, and was firmly linked to ballet. Musicians would put together sets of dances called "suites" selected from operas or ballets, which could then be played by instrumental musicians by themselves.

2. Virtuosity- Instrumentalists gained recognition by playing exceptionally well on their instruments. Most of what the virtuosos played was improvised. No attempt to write this down was made until the early seventeenth century.

3. Vocal Music- Specifically imitative polyphony was transferred to the instrumental medium and the instruments were repeating the vocal melodies.

-Out of these genres developed the characteristic polyphonic genres of instrumental music.

-The Fugue was the characteristic polyphonic genre of the Baroque era. It uses only one line imitated throughout (like one long point of imitation).

-Variations were sectional pieces in which a theme is altered over many repetitions. Vocal music gave instrumentalists a well spring of themes to use for these variations.

Frescobaldi was a world renowned composer of organ and harpsichord works, and a master improviser. He composed music in the forms of stylized dances, and variations, but also in two others:







This is rehersal footage of the New Trinity Baroque, featuring cornetto player David Brutti (Italy), baroque violinists William Bauer, baroque cellist André Laurent O'Neil, chitarrone player William Hearn and organist Predrag Gosta.

Barbara Strozzi stands out among the very few woman composers in the Baroque period. Barbara was born in Venice and began developing her musical skills at age 12 with a lute. By age 15, she was an accomplished vocalist. Her dad, Giulio, was also a member of the Accedmia delgi Incogniti (The Academy of the Unknowns), this group of intellectuals would gather and discuss literature, ethics, religion, aesthetics, art etc. but there was no focus on music. So Giulio branched out and established the Accedemia degli Unisoni. This group would meet up at the Strozzi residence and young Barbara would showcase her talents there. She became a prolific composer of secular music. She wrote over 100 compositions, mainly madrigals and operas. Her lyrics were famously poetic and articulate. Like many composers at the time, her texts quoted other poets but were also of her own creation, some of them subtly hinting at gender issues.