BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL ERA

NAME: DANNAP GIDEON N.

ID: UB28965HMU37521

PROGRAM: BACHELOR IN MUSIC EDUCATION

COURSE TITLE: HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC IN BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL ERA

TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT: ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
HONOLULU, HAWAII








TABLE OF CONTENT
Content……………………………………………………………………..pages

Introduction…………………………………………………………….3-6

Justification………………………………………………………….…6

Body…………………………………………………………………….…7-20

References………………………………………………………………21








Introduction
The history of western music can never be complete without mentioning the baroque and the classical period. The term baroque is of French applied to decorate the architecture of Germany and Austria during the 17th and 18th century borrowed to describe music developments. The baroque era span around 1600-1750.
Music flourished in the baroque style during the 1600 to 1750 century two great composers emerge during the said period, George Frederic Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. The baroque era was divided into three sections, the early baroque span around 1600-1640, mid baroque 1640-1680, and the late baroque 1680-1750. Although, the most recognized baroque music comes from the earliest phrase, the earliest period was recon as the most revolutionary period of the history of western music.
Musical texture in the baroque period was homophonic and polyphonic, the early baroque composers preferred the homophonic texture to the polyphonic texture of the renaissance era because composers felt they can display more clearly by using the homophonic texture, a melody with a chordal accompaniment. But the late baroque dominated the polyphonic texture.
Mood and unity during the baroque was emotionally stated, a piece of music that expresses one basic mood in the beginning maintain that mood throughout like joy, grief and agitation etc. other elements that expresses mood and unity in the baroque are the melody, rhythm and dynamics.
Major development of the baroque period was the use of figure bass, bass part which serves as the foundation of the harmony, the musical structure rest on the bass part. Orchestra in the baroque was mainly based on instruments basically of the string family; it is usually in a small number in contrast with the modern orchestra.
Music and society in the baroque era, music was mostly written on specific and special demand mainly for churches and courts, other organization within the society required regular supply of music like the opera house and municipalities.
Also concert Grosso is a form of music that was developed in the baroque era; it is a composition that a small group of soloist battle against a large group of players, the small group is usually between two and four while the large is between eight and twenty players, they are often called the tutti. Other forms of music in the baroque include fugue, a composition that is based on one theme called the subject, opera, sonata form, cantata and oratorio.
Composers of baroque era include G. F. Handel, J. S. Bach, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi and claudy Monteverdi.
In addition, the classical era was 1750-1820, in the middle of the seventeenth century which must be mentioned basically because it represents a process of change in the baroque to the classical period.
The term classical is applied to the period because it is all about art and literature, there was a kind of keen interest in admiration for an emulation of the classical artistic and literary heritage of Greece and Rome. Intellectually, this era was seen as an age of enlightenment.
Musical scene in this era reflected the changes in the society in which music was being written. In the history of music, public concerts became an important part of musical scene, though music was still written for church and court but the advent of public concerts reflected the new view that music should be written for the enjoyment and entertainment of the common person, sometimes music can also be emphasized as an advice that motivate people to help others in difficult situation.
Musical texture in the classical era was predominantly monophonic in contrast with the baroque period; however, musical texture was flexibly treated as rhythm. Classical melodies are often based on popular tunes and rhythm tends to be more flexible.
Musical forms in the classical era were mostly instrumentals, they consist of four movement, they include sonata form, theme and variation, minuet and trio, rondo, symphony, concerto and chamber music.
Composers of classical period include: w. A. Mozart, L. V. Beethoven, Joseph H., just to mention but few.

JUSTIFICATION
The aim of this research work is to carry out an investigation the history of western music in the baroque and classical period. This will give me the privilege of understanding what transpired in the said era and will also be an added advantage if I got to work with any college or high institutions as a teacher.





BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAROQUE ERA
The baroque era started around 1600 -1750. The word baroque according to oxford student dictionary referred to baroque decorated style of European architecture, art and music of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Some useful characterization of baroque style is that it fills space, sound with action and movement. Architects, painters and sculptor became keen in bring into existence deceptions and illusion like a stage settings. "Artist such as Bernini, Ruben and Rembrandt exploited their materials to expand the potentials of color, ornament and depth; they wanted to create a totally structure world" (Roger K., 1976, p.118).
Such style was well organized for the wishes of the baroque privilege class who thought in agreement completely in unity structures. For example, in France Louis xiv held court in the palace of Versailles, a glorious setting that melt baroque sculptor, painting and architecture into a sign of royal wealth and power. The fashion of baroque was also created for the need of the church, which used the emotional and dramaticl qualities of arts to enhance worships and make it attractive. Also the middle class powered the growth of the baroque fashion.
Music during the baroque era prospers in line with the baroque fashion. Two great composers existed in this era George Frederic Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach; these two great composers are seen today as the stronghold of baroque music. More so, the baroque was divided into three period, the early period was between 1600-1640, mid baroque 1640-1680 and the late baroque 1680-1750. Although most music that are known today came from the earliest period, which was recognized as the most revolutionary among the three period.
Musical texture in the baroque era, during the early baroque composers favored the monophonic texture in contrary to the renaissance polyphonic, they felt, words can easily be projected by using the monophonic texture i.e. a single melody with a chordal accompaniment but the late baroque favored the polyphonic texture again as composers tried to depict the content of text with extreme emotions, composers in the late period delight in using dissonances chord with a new freedom. Unlike before doubtful chord were not so prominent and insistent. But, generally, musical texture in the baroque era was predominantly polyphonic in texture i.e. two or more melodic lines that move independently with imitations between lines of the melodies. A melodic line that may be heard in the soprano part may also be heard in the bass part. Nevertheless, polyphonic texture was not the dominant throughout the era. There was a shift in music texture within a piece of music, a piece of music may change from the polyphonic texture to the monophonic in order to have a change of mood in the text of the music, and it is mostly common in the vocal music.
Unity of mood in this period was standardize in the sense that baroque music often expresses one basic mood, a piece of music that may begin with a joyful mood will maintain such mood throughout the music and if it expresses grief and agitation it remains all through. Unity and mood can also be express through rhythm. Rhythmic pattern heard in the beginning of the piece are reoccurring throughout the music. This rhythmic progression supplied an irresistible drive and energy. Beat in the baroque is emphasized more than the renaissance music. And also melody create a sense of continuity, a melody that opens a piece of music will be constantly repeated over and over again, even if the melody is presented in various form, its nature remains stable. There is a continues expanding, unfolding and unwinding of melodic sequence, that is a successive reoccurring of one musical idea at different octaves (Grout, D. J., 1973). A lot of melodies sound so complicated and decorative in the baroque, the continuity of rhythm and melody in the baroque music was the progression of dynamics level, volume tends to remain constant throughout, dynamics do not change suddenly. Changes in dynamics in baroque music occurred gradually and this gradual change in dynamics is referred to as terraced dynamics (Roger, k. 1976)
One significant development of the baroque era was the use of figure bass, chord became, to a great extend more important , in the earlier period, there was much concern on the individual melody than the chordal form but the late baroque chord became significant as composers wrote melodic lines they thought of chord to match with. Sometimes they compose melodies that will fit a specific progression. This keen interest in chord gave birth to the bass part, which served as the basis of harmony, the entire music structure rest on the bass part (Roger, K. 1976)
A fresh emphasis on chord and bass part brought about the most featured of baroque music, an accompaniment called the figure bass or the basso continuo. This is a bass part with numbers that indicate certain chord that will be played above it, the figure bass is usually played by at least two instruments like the organ, cello, bassoon or double bass.
Baroque orchestra develop into performing group based on instruments of the string family, by the modern standard, the baroque orchestra is very small consisting of ten to thirty instrumentalist, instrument used may vary depending on the piece that will be performed (Strunk, O. 1965)
MUSIC AND SOCIETY
Before the 1800 music was mainly written on special demand and orders that mainly come from the church, court opera houses and municipalities constantly required music supply, audience in the baroque did not want to listen to old fashion music style. The ruling class was greatly rich and powerful while the population eked out a bare existence, European rulers surrounded themselves by luxury (Roger, K. 1967). Music became the main point of entertainment, a court might engage an orchestra or a church choir and opera singers to perform for them but the size of the performers depends on how wealthy the court is. J. S. Bach directed about eighteen players in the orchestra of a small Germany court in1717 but a bigger court might have more than that number of players including the finest of opera singers, the music directors are usually in charge of performances and compose most music required, including operas, church music, and a piece for court concerts.
MUSIC FORMS N THE BAROQUE
A musical form in this period appears mostly in three and four sections or movement, a movement is a piece that sound somewhat complete and independent but is a part of a large composition. The most recognized forms in this era are as follows
CONCERTO GROSSO
Concerto Grosso, a form of music that became an important orchestra music during the baroque, it's a composition for small group of instrumentalist that oppose a large group of players called the tutti (full orchestra), the small group are usually between two and four players while the full orchestra are between eight and twenty or even more. The tutti is mainly strings instrument, with harpsichord as part of the basso continuo. A concerto Grosso may sound like a contest between the tutti and the soloist. A concerto Grosso consists of three movements that differ in tempo and nature, the movement may follow this sequence 1st movement fast and energetic 2nd slow and the last is usually fast and lively.
THE FUGUE
The fugue is often written for both instrument and voices. The fugue is a composition in polyphonic texture based on a theme called the subject. The form of a fugue is greatly flexible, the constant features of a fugue is how it begins the subject and maintain it all through.
A fugue in four parts may follow this order
Sop subject…………………………………………………….
Alto subject……………………………………………..
Tenor subject……………………………………..
Bass subject…………………
This means that soprano often presents the subject and other parts imitates what has been stated by the soprano. However, any part can preset the subject and the rest imitate.
BAROQUE SONATA
Instrumental music drastically and rapidly became very important in this era. Sonata is a composition that is written in several movements. The sonata originated from Italy but spread through Germany, France and England in the seventeenth century. The sonata was played in churches, town and cities; sometimes composers differentiate e between the church sonata (sonata da chiesa) which had a dignified character and are suitable for sacred performance, and chamber sonata (sonata da camera) which was dancelike in nature, intended for indoor performance (Tovey, D., F. 1963)
THE SUIT
The suit is a composition for solo instrument, small group or orchestra, it consist of two parts that is repeated: AA BB, the opening section A begins on the tonic key and gradually modulate to the dominant key and balanced by the section B which begins on the dominant and return to the tonic key. The two sections uses one theme but the contrast is only on the change in keys.
OPERA
The baroque period experience a development of creativity in music, opera is a drama that is set to music with an orchestra accompaniment, combining music acting, dance, poetry and costumes, this unique combination of arts create a theatrical excitement and emotions. Opera started in Italy around 1600 and spread throughout the world, today opera is a powerful form of musical theater. Its nature is reveal through singing rather than ordinary speech used on drama. Opera tends to create great pleasure; its music delights the ear and boosts emotional effects of the words and story.
ORATORIO
Another significant development of the baroque period is the vocal music like the opera; oratorio is an extensive composition for solo and chorus, it is often set to a biblical story. It differs from an opera in the sense that it does not required acting and costume like the opera, they can be performed in concert hall, churches and even festival, they are not intended for religious services only. An oratorio may contain successions of choruses, arias, duets, recitatives and orchestra accompaniment.
Composers of the baroque period are as follows George Frederic Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, Claudio Monteverdi, Arcangelo Corelli, Jean-Baptiste Lully, George Philipp Telemann and Jean-Philippe Rameau just to mention but few.
In addition, the classical era started 1750-1820, it was a period of revolution in idea and actions were parallel by shifts of style in arts (Hughes, D. G., 1974). Around the early eighteenth century the impressive style of the baroque budge to the more affectionate rococo style with its light color and graceful ornament. And painters begins to captivate people of the world by elegant men and women in pursue of worldly pleasures (Roger, K. 1976). But by the late eighteenth century another change in taste and the rococo art was thought trivial and lacking in morals content. "The rococo style was out of date by the neoclassical style which intended to regain the noble simplicity and calm grandeur of accien Greek and Roman arts (Roger, K. 1976, p.184).
In the history of music, the change from baroque to the blooming of the classical is referred to as neoclassical era which extended from 1730-1770. The change in musical taste was similar to the earlier trend in arts. Among the important pioneers of this new style were Back's sons Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Johann Christian. Around mid-eighteen century, composers concentrated on clarity and simplicity discarding what has enriched the baroque music. Polyphonic music was rejected in favor of monophonic.
Music texture of the classical era, in contrast to the polyphonic of baroque, the predominant texture is monophonic, a single line of melody with chordal accompaniment. However, texture was treated flexible as rhythm i.e. a piece of music may start with a monophonic texture and shifts suddenly to a polyphonic texture. Melodies in the classical era are among the most pleasing and easy to memorize and theme with highly complicated composition may have some sort of popular flavor, sometimes composers tends to adopt popular melodies and develop them into sophisticated compositions, example was the variation of Mozart in twinkle twinkle little star was adopted from a French song he knew (Pauly, R. 1973), more often, they wrote original themes with popular characters. Again, flexibility of rhythm add variety to classical music , in the classical era composition has a rich rhythmic pattern, a piece of music may contains several rhythmic pattern like the use of syncopations, unexpected pause and frequent change from shorter notes to longer ones. This variety of rhythmic patterns makes classical music to be unique and interested. Mood receives new emphasis in classical music with great variety and contrast, piece of music change suddenly and expressing conflicting surges of excitement (Grout, D.J. 1973).
New orchestras evolved in the classical era, a standard group of four instruments were used: string, brass, woodwind and percussion, the number of performance in a classical orchestra was more than the baroque orchestra though, practice may varies like Haydn conducted an orchestra of about twenty-five performers in 1761 but led a public concerts in London in 1795 with about sixty players (Carse, Adam. 1964)
FORMS IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
Musical forms in this era are basically instrumental works that consist of various movement that are contrast in nature and tempo, it usually has four movement which are arrange in this order
First movement ……………….. Fast and quick
Second movement……………. Slow and calm
Third movement………………...moderately in a dancelike
Final movement………………… fast and energetic as the opening (Roger, K. 1976). The following are forms develop in the classical era.
SONATA FORM
The word sonata means "sounded", sonata form is a single movement of a sonata; it should not be confused with sonata because sonata is a complete composition while sonata form is a part of a sonata, usually the first movement. A sonata form consists of three sections which are exposition, development and recapitulation which normally conclude with a tail called the coda (Tovey Donald, F. 1963)
THEME AND VARIATION
One of the common used forms in the classical era was the theme and variation, the theme and variation are both independent piece of a symphony, sonata or string quartet, its basic idea may be repeated over and over again with several changes in each repetition. The theme is the basic idea that the whole composition rest upon, the variation is also about the length of the theme, change in harmony, melody, dynamics, rhythm, tone color and accompaniment may be adopted to create a unique a variations. The theme is composed in two sections A and B which are repeated, and it is also retained in the variation.
MINUET AND TRIO
This form minuet and trio is also called minuet, it refers to a part of a composition, usually the third movement of a symphony or string quartet. It is composed in triple meter and most often in a moderate tempo, a minuet may follow this sequence A B A where the A is the minuet and the B is the trio, the trio is usually calm and danceable with fewer instrument.
RONDO
A rondo is an instrumental composition that consists of several sections with the main theme in alternation with other themes, the main theme is always lively and pleasing, and the theme is usually stated in the tonic key. A rondo is an independent piece but also a part of a symphony or string quartet, it usually serves as the concluding part because of its regularity and liveliness that brings excitement at the finale (end) (Roger, K. 1976).
CLASSICAL SYMPHONY
One great contribution to the classical era is the symphony; a symphony is an extended composition that consist of four sections or movement that evoke variety of emotions with dynamics and tone color of the orchestra. The first movement of a symphony is usually in sonata form, the second may be in the form of a theme and variation, the third may be in minuet and trio and the last movement is often in rondo form because of its lively concluding nature (Tovey Donald, F. 1963)
CHAMBER MUSIC
Chamber music just like the orchestra but it is meant for small group of players, usually for indoor performance. A chamber music is light in sound to the orchestra music. The most important form of chamber music is the string quartet, usually written for string instrument, they may consist of the following instrument two violins, a viola, a cello and a double bass. The string quartet can be compared with a conversion among four sensible and intelligent players.
Composers during the classical era are as follows Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Carl Emmanuel Philip, Johann Christian Bach, Franz Schubert, Michael Haydn, and Leopold Mozart.









REFERENCES

Carse, Adam, (1973) the history of orchestration. New York, Dover.
Charles, Hoffer, (2007) music listening today 3rd edition.
Grout, Donald, (1973) A history of western music rev. edition. New York: Norton.
Hughes, David, G. (1974) history of European music. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Pauly, Reinhard, (1974) music in classical period. 2nd Edition. Englewood, cliff, N. J.: prentice-Hall.
Roger, Kamien, (1976) music: an appreciation. 2nd Edition. New York: Norton.
Strunk, Oliver, (1965) source reading in music history: the baroque era. New York: Norton.
Tovey, Donald, F. (1963) the forms of music. Cleveland, Dover.