Concerto and Concerto Grosso

• Contrast between orchestra and soloist(s)

• From the Latin concertare, “to contend”

• Caused large-scale approach

• Portrayed several different affects (emotions)

Movements

A movement is “a self-contained section of music that is part of a larger work,” and a typical Baroque concerto has three, going from fast and bright, to slow and emotional, to faster.

Ritornello Form

• Focuses on contrast between musical ideas

• Ritornello is the name for the orchestral music that starts a movement off, and it returns (in part) many times in this form

• Tonic key, then other keys for the entire middle section, then tonic again

• Amount of RITs and solos varies, but the general pattern below is there

Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Mandolins and Orchestra (c. 1720?)

• Vivaldi, from Venice, wrote hundreds of concertos, with most having 1-2 violins as the solo instruments (but it varied!)

• The mandolin, related to the lute, had 4-6 pairs of strings plucked with fingers at the time

• First Mvt. (Allegro): 3 solos and 4 RITs with varied form

• Second Mvt. (Andante): no ritornello, features soloists only, triplets (division of main beat into threes), minor mode, no basso continuo, pizzicato

• Third Mvt. (Allegro): more ritornello

Vivaldi’s Greatest Hits

Four Seasons, depicting every season, is a set of 4 concertos for which Vivaldi is famed- an early example of program music, which tries to convey a story

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Biography

• Called the “red priest” due to hair color

• Worked at the Ospedale orphanage for girls, but he was allowed leaves of absence to tour

• Virtuoso violinist

• Wrote over 500 concertos

Violin Concerto in E Major (Spring), Op. 8, No.1 (from The Four Seasons; before 1725), First Movement

• Most famous Vivaldi piece

• Poetry associated w/ the piece describes “the singing birds and murmuring streams, a sudden thunderstorm silencing the birds, and their return after it clears”

• Form of ritornellos is a (loud), a (soft), b (loud), b (soft)

• Ritornello form

• Has elements of a concerto grosso, as multiple violins play

Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord, and Orchestra (before 1721)

• Bach sent 6 concerto grossi to the margrave of Brandenburg

• Each was scored for different combinations of instruments (various tone colors)

• No. 5 has a three part ritornello

• First Mvt. (Allegro): Ritornello form, intricate rhythm, some imitative polyphony, some minor mode, rich harmonies, duple meter

• Cadenzas- improvised solo passages showing off the talent of virtuosos, found in many concertos, often at the end of the 1st Mvt.

• Second Mvt. (Affettuoso- “emotional”): minor mode, only solo instruments and cello, duple meter

• Third Mvt. (Allegro): full orchestra, imitative polyphony, compound triple meter

Fugue

• A fugue is “a polyphonic composition for a fixed number of instrumental lines or voices”

• Built around a subject, a single principal theme

• Very big in Baroque music

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Biography

• Bach had music passed down to him, and passed it on too

  • 20 children, each were very educated in music

• Started as a church organist, later worked for the Duke of Weimar, then at Cöthen, then at St. Thomas’s Church (Lutheran)

• Never really appreciated, regarded as old-fashioned

• Only traveled for organ construction contracts

• Blind later in life, composed by dictation

• Wrote for himself too

Fugal Exposition

• Exposition is the start of the fugue- all voices present the subject in a standardized way

• Subject announced alone w/o accompaniment, using any voice- the rest take turns with the subject

• After exposition, subject enters at spaced out intervals

  • Subject entries are these appearances of the entire fugue subject after the opening exposition- they are sometimes

  • Episodes are passages of music separating the subject entries, providing contrast even though they have subject-derived motives

• Fugues alternate between subject entries and episodes

Fugal Devices

• Countersubject- second subject that fits in counterpoint w/the first

• Inversion- turning the melody of the subject upside down and inverting all intervals

• Stretto- shortening space between subject entries so they’re closer together

Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1722)

• The Well-Tempered Clavier is an “encyclopedia” for fugues, with all techniques included

  • 2 books, decades apart, each w/ a fugue in every key and mode

  • 48 fugues total, each preceded by an introductory prelude in the same key and mode

  • Vary greatly in tone and techniques

  • Named after keyboard instruments

• Prelude: Begins w/ long trill, slow quadruple-meter dance, 2 motives alternating in textural position

• Fugue: Brief subject paired w/ countersubject, spacious exposition, bouts of major mode

Glenn Gould (1932-1982)

• Canadian pianist

• Made Bach popular

• Imitated harpsichord on the piano

• Eccentric- w/ strict preferences and odd behaviors- definitely a character

• Popular broadcaster w/ big ideas- thought recordings would be bigger than concerts

Baroque Dances

The Dance Suite

• Minuet: simple dance in triple time at a moderate tempo

• Sarabande: slow and intricate dance in triple time with accents on the first and second beats of the measure

• Suite: collection of miscellaneous dances, all in the same key

• Gigue: dance in compound meter, typically ending a suite

• Stylized dances: just for listening, not for dancing

Baroque Dance Form

• Two sections, a and b, typically actually aabb

  • b is typically longer than a

  • often include same motives and cadences (sense of symmetry)

  • each end w/ strong cadences

  • aka binary form

• Shorter dances were often ABA

  • B was called the trio- quieter than A or in a different mode

• Minuet and Trio form

George Frideric Handel, Minuet from the Royal Fireworks Music (1749)

• Handel was a composer of opera and oratorio mainly

• Celebrated the end of England’s War of the Austrian Succession

• Stylized dance

• Rehearsal at London’s Vauxhall Gardens was attended by 12K- the stage lit of fire and 2 died

• aabb

Bach, Gigue from Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor (c. 1720)

• Bach wrote 3 sets of suites for harpsichord w/ 6 suites each

• 6 suites for cello solo are very popular (my note here- and also very beautiful!!)

• Very stylized dance music

• Uses chords in string instruments, providing a very wide range

• aabb