Music History I

1
Music History I

• Lecture Notes 4

2
Overture to Armide by Lully

• French Overture 2-part structure
• Slow opening section
• Fast section usually in imitative style
• How different from an Italian Overture?
• Open form first cadence of major importance ends
  away from the home key
• Closed form first cadence of major importance
  ends in the home key

3
Giulio Cesare by Handel

• Cleopatra and Nireno (and Tolomeo) recitative
  repeated notes wider intervals for dramatic
  effect basso continuo
• Cleopatras aria E major stepwise motion with
  3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths angular motion melismas
  on amor compare A and B instrumentation
• Tolomeos aria Key melodic line accompaniment
• Scene VII beginning of Caesars solo

4
Dido and Aeneas by Purcell

• Melodic and harmonic treatment of text
• No. 1, Belinda and chorus
• No. 2, Didos lament
• No. 3, Dialogue between Belinda and Dido
• No. 4, Chorus
• No. 5, Dialogue resumes
• No. 6, Duet and chorus

5
Zadok the Priest by Handel

• Harmonic, rhythmic, melodic content of long
  introduction
• Instrumentation
• Compare choral and orchestral parts
• Structural cadences identified
• Begins with I chord M. 8 (V) 23 (I) 30 (V)
• 60 (I) 61-63 (vii6/V to I) 74 (I) 80 (V) 86
  (V)94 (vi) 101 (iii to I in m. 103) 116 (V)
• Final cadence plagal with vii passing over IV

6
Jesu, der du meine Seele by Bach

• Observations by the textbook author
• Ritornello structure
• Instrumentation
• Ostinato (descending chromatic 4th)
• Chorale melody
• Aria. Duetto (No. 2, p. 250)
• Recitative (No. 5, p. 253)
• Aria (No. 6, p. 254)
• Choral (No. 7, p. 257)

7
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

• How is the principle of Affect applied by Bach
  in this work?
• Some might see the dotted rhythms, the solid bass
  line and the upward motion of the melodic line as
  indicative of a royal procession.
• Describe the melody as sung by the sopranos what
  about the supporting voices?
• Instrumentation taille the continuo
• Scriptural basis Matthew 251-13
• Other scriptural references Song of Solomon
  Genesis Isaiah Hosea Psalm 1611 Rev. 2121

8
The Bach Family

• Veit Bach and other ancestors
• Lüneberg St. Michaels School chorister
• Weimar violin in court orchestra
• Arnstadt organist at Neukirche walked to Lübeck
  to meet and hear Buxtehude
• Mühlhausen organist at St. Blasius married
  Maria Barbara
• Weimar organist for Duke Wilhelm Ernst six
  children concert master in Eisenach
• Cöthen Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold tried
  to make contact with Handel many compositions
• Leipzig Cantor of Thomasschule many cantatas
  over next 27 years court composer for Elector of
  Saxony
• Outstanding compositional output in all genres
  except opera

9
George Frederick Handel

• Halle played chapel organ at the court of
  Saxe-Weissenfels U. of Halle in 1702
• Hamburg violin/harpsichord at the Hamburg Opera
  to Lübeck made informed decision not to pursue
  the organist position there
• Italy visited several cities composed operas,
  oratorios, cantatas, motets met Corelli and the
  Scarlattis
• Germany Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover
  visit to London Rinaldo highly successful at the
  London Opera House (Queens Theatre) music for
  the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) during 2nd visit
• Permanent residence in London Water Music
  (1717) chapel master to Duke of Chandos Esther
  Royal Academy of Music (1719-28) several operas
  incl. Giulio Cesare British citizen (1727)
  created concerto for organ and orchestra
  oratorio Messiah in 1741 (premiered in Dublin,
  4/13/1742) 1st successful performance in London
  (1750)

10
More from the Syllabus

• Cantata A composite form prominent in the
  baroque period, consisting usually of a number of
  movements, such as arias, recitatives, duets, and
  choruses, which are based on a continuous text
  that may be either lyrical or dramatic, and that
  is not intended to be staged. (HDM)
• Your findings on opera (Genre 8.0, p. 36f)
• The Baroque Era in England, France, Spain, Italy,
  and Germany

11
Opera History

• Opera seria dominant on the continent from the
  1680s to the end of the 18th C
• To the French, opera was an imported art
• In Spain, music in plays but not in dramatic
  situations
• Germany of little interest to composers before
  the time of Mozart
• England Preference for spoken drama
• Pasticcio work written by several composers

12
Lully and Opera

• Lully a skillful entrepreneur, gifted composer
  with close ties to Louis XIV
• Established sung drama in France as part opera,
  part ballet
• Tragédie en musique overture, allegorical
  prologue, 5 acts of sung drama, many interludes
• Allegory a story in which people, things and
  happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning
• Symphony (17th-early 18th C) any music for a
  large ensemble
• His monopoly (1672-87) left other composers with
  no incentive to excel at operatic writing
• After Lully? Jean-Phillippe Rameau

13
Opera Seria

• The libretto usually came from Classical
  Antiquity
• Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), a highly skilled
  librettist
• The Poet of Opera Seria

14
The Da Capo Aria

• A Section in the home key
• B Section in a related key
• A Section returns (home key with embellishments)

15
The Cadenza

• A section in the music intended to display the
  virtuosity of the soloist

16
The Ritornello Principle

• Literal meaning brief return
• May open a work and appear one or more times
  after contrasting material
• Structural basis by which composers construct
  large-scale forms around successive returns of an
  opening idea
• Employed as a unifying device
• Important in the construction of a concerto

17
Opera French or Italian?

• Comparisons by François Raguenet (ca. 1660-1722)
• French opera
• Composed better
• Has a better bass voice
• Better blending of bass with upper parts
• Italian
• Uses a more natural musical language
• Composers are more bold and hardy in their arias

18
Recitative and Aria

• Secco Recitative A solo line with a very basic
  accompaniment (basso continuo)
• Accompanied Recitative Usually a more elaborate
  melodic line supported by a full orchestra
• Aria A more elaborate work for solo voice and
  instrumental accompaniment
• Exit convention a staging procedure that allowed
  a singer to exit upon completion of an aria
  (applause expected)

19
Gradus ad Parnassum

• Treatise by Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741)
• The most important writing on counterpoint in the
  18th C
• The basic premise? Success for the composer
  results from a learning process that takes place
  one step at a time

20
Why would they do that?

• Castrati of the 17th and 18th centuries were
• Looked upon as heroic personalities
• As male sopranos, they enjoyed great popularity
• They were well paid
• A common practice of composers was to give the
  most important parts in opera to them

21
Opera in Venice

• First public opera houses built there (1st in
  1638)
• The city was strategically located and attracted
  many visitors
• A long opera season
• Opera became a big business leading to
  unparalleled success through the end of the 18th
  century
• The impresarios? Planners and promoters
• How much for a ticket? 3 shillings, sixpence
  English, not counting a program and a candle (for
  reading) In U. S. currency, approx, 75 cents

22
Semi-Opera

• A play with a substantial number of musical
  pieces, vocal and instrumental somewhat like the
  genre that became known as an operetta The
  American musical is a kind of semi-opera

23
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

• Family
• Son of Thomas and nephew of Henry?
• Early Life
• Chorister in the Chapel Royal
• Assistant to the keeper of keyboard and wind
  instruments
• Succeeded Matthew Locke as composer-in-ordinary
  for the violins
• Productive Life in Adulthood
• Organist of Westminster Abbey
• Published Sonatas of III Parts (1683)
• Served under James II and William III
• Provided music for the funeral of Queen Mary
  (1694)
• Most of his works written in 1680

24
Dido and Aeneas

• One of a very few English operas of Purcells
  time may have been suppressed for political
  reasons

25
Opera in England

• Handels opera Rinaldo was the first to be
  produced with any real success the year was 1711

26
Washingtons Favorite

• The Beggars Opera by John Gay was reportedly
  George Washingtons favorite

27
Ballad Opera

• A dramatic work consisting of a series of popular
  songs

28
Sacred Music in the Baroque Era

• Many young women were sent to convents and many
  of them developed skills in music, especially in
  composition
• Oratorio Literally a prayer hall
• A large-scale genre of vocal music to be
  performed without staging or costumes
• Contains recitatives, arias, and choruses
• Cantata Literally a piece to be sung (cantare)
• A vocal work consisting of arias, recitatives,
  duets and choruses
• Based on a continuous text
• Intended for performance in a church or in a
  court chamber
• May be sacred or secular
• J. S. Bach wrote 280 sacred cantatas (200 extant)
  and 30 secular

29
Bachs Legacy

• Several of Bachs 20 children were musicians
• The one who eventually became more famous than
  his father C. P. E. Bach
• J. S. Bachs music largely forgotten after his
  death in 1750
• The 19th century composer responsible for
  bringing his music back to public acclaim Felix
  Mendelssohn (1809-1847)