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Amy True

Dr. Rumpf

Listening and Literature

11 March 2013

Ten Things to Know About the Baroque Era

1. King Louis XIVa. Was a part of nearly every well-known composers careerb. Established the French school of Balletc. Known for his grandeur and his elegant palace of Versailles, which was done in

signature Baroque style architecture

2. The Three Factors of Baroquea. Political: Monarchies such as Louis XIV and Louis XV firmly established a lavish

musical life

b. Economic: Colonization created an upper class, which supplied cities with operasc. Curiosity: People relied less on the Catholic Church to answer their questions and

more on inductive reasoning. When applied to music, new techniques and

materials to create music were invented.

3. Instrumentation and Performancea. Newly perfected violins replaced the violsb. Brass instruments did not have valves, which limited them to playing only in one

key

c. Castrati: artificial male sopranosd. New dynamics such aspiano andforte were used, but not oftene. Tempo markings such as allegro were used, but had imprecise meanings

4. Florentine Camerataa. Intellectuals who gathered in Florence, Italy (the place the Baroque era began)

who wanted to create theatrical pieces where words would dictate the music and

rhythm. They believed this was the role of music in the tragedies of Ancient

Greece.

5. Doctrine of Affectionsa. Defined the role of music as the arousal and sustaining of feelings.b. This is seen through improvisation, which every musician was required to know.c.

Through heavy ornamentation, such as trills and mordents. This is seen in themusic of composers like Elisabeth de la Guerre.

6. Johann Sebastian Bacha. Without Bach, the Baroque Era would never have been the same. His death was

so influential to the era that the era ended when he died.

b. His first job was playing for the Duke of Weimar at a young agec. He composed in every form of music except for opera

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7. Jean Baptiste-Lullya. Heavily influenced the French Overtureb. Established a monopoly in France over all operas, and any group of musicians

was limited to two singers and eight instrumentalists, otherwise they would have

to have his permission.

8. Arcangelo Corellia. Earliest Baroque composerb. Heavily influenced the development of the violinc. Shaped the concerto grossod. Taught Vivaldi and was friends with Handel: he had influenced much of

Baroques finest composers

9. Georg Telemanna. He was one of the top leading composers at the timeb. He wrote a cantata every two weeks, and at the age of twelve composed his first

opera.c. More popular than Bachd. Embraced simple music with less texture

10.Elisabeth de la Guerrea. Wrote the first opera by a woman in Franceb. Wrote some of the earliest examples of trio sonatasc. Lived in a convent, so she wrote mainly religious music.d. Was influenced by the people of many different backgrounds who stopped there

on their pilgrimages.

i. This was seen in her music such as the slides from one note to another in aSpanish style, or percussion reminiscent of the Russian dances.