Baroque Art and Music in 17th-18th Century Europe
Baroque Art and Music
Baroque Art in Italy
Baroque art originated in Italy and immediately spread throughout Europe. It is a decorative, sensuous, moving art, full of contrasts. Its style is very expressive, with a great sense of drama. It can become affected and luxuriant because of the passion for fantasy and ornamentation.
Baroque Music
Baroque music is also very striking: colorful, vital, moving, and full of dynamic contrasts. It presents many contrasts.
In Spain, there was no shortage of music, but the Bourbon kings hired renowned Italian composers and musicians – the composer and harpsichordist Scarlatti, the singer Farinelli, and Boccherini later on – to oversee the court’s music.
Baroque Musical Forms
- Vocal: Opera, Mass, Cantata, Oratorio
- Instrumental: Suite, Concerto, Concerto Grosso, Toccata-Prelude, Fugues, Chamber Sonata, Church Sonata
Baroque Church Music
The triumph of the oratorios, very extensive works, were not staged, but they were made to impress the believers psychologically, showing a powerful and magnificent God, just like a king. There were choruses, an orchestra, and soloists. The cantatas were more reduced. Masses also consisted of these elements.
Baroque Secular Music
Secular music was composed of songs and cantatas. It was not religious, intended for small circles of aristocrats, and operas for both the monarchs and the court, to be represented in theaters.
Polyphony in the Baroque
Renaissance polyphony was perfect for praising God, but very difficult to comprehend due to the overlapping text. The polyphonies of divine voices created a lot of fun in the music, or civilian music, but that made it difficult to understand a long text.
Accompanied Melody in the Baroque
Already in the Renaissance, the importance of understanding the text was evident, but it was in the Baroque when this new form of composition was developed: the accompanied melody. The horizontal melodic line returned to the forefront without losing its expressive clarity in singing.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
This Italian composer showed great interest in achieving a good connection between music and text. Monteverdi was a composer who bridged the Renaissance and the Baroque. He composed madrigals, sacred music, and operas.
Vocal and Instrumental Virtuosity in the Baroque
A virtuoso is a singer or instrumentalist of exceptional technical skill. Their spectacular performances are brilliant, and sometimes they arouse great admiration. Composers write works specifically for these individuals.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
This German organist and composer came from a family where some of his twenty children had also been good composers. After working in various German courts, Bach served as Music Director in the city of Leipzig. His inherent obligations consisted of composing music for the city and teaching music to students at St. Thomas. During his life, Bach was more admired as a performer than a composer. Bach’s music began to shine after his death.
Instrumental Music in the Baroque
At first, it was as important as vocal music. New ways emerged to exploit the technical and timbral possibilities of instruments.
Most Important Musical Instruments and Their Builders in the Baroque
The orchestra is configured as a structured set of instruments organized by families and already includes the sections of string, woodwind, brass, and percussion. The best violins were made in Italy, where the great builder A. Stradivari lived. The famous Stradivarius are still valued as the best in the world.