Baroque

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Musical Structures: Introduction

In the baroque period, new musical structures evolve from the renaissance: major and minor based harmony, basso continuo, the concertante principal, monody, and the modern barline system.

Basso Continuo is fundamental

The major/minor harmonic system comes to replace the church modes, in other words the contrapuntal technique of the Netherlandish composers gives way to the harmonic triad as the basis for the basso continuo. Sauveur later discovers the harmonic series. Rameau is the first to develop a conceptual apparatus for functional harmony.

Basso Continuo, or figured bass is the harmonic fundament in baroque music. Whereas in a 16th century composition the ad libitum direction could be given on the lowest part (basso seguente), the bass became an essential part of baroque composition. This unbroken bass line (basso continuo),with it's implicit harmonies (filled in by the performer) forms the musical basis for the concertising upper part.

Individualism and the 'Concertante' Principal

The concertante principal stands for the individualization of individual voices whereby freedom by improvisation (e.g. ornamentation) is developed. The concertising voices, in concordance above the bass, have their own individuality both thanks to and despite one another (burgeoning individuality within the harmonic whole). We come across the concertante principal in all genres, not only in the concerto.

The New Music

Monody: the baroque tries to set dramatic or lyric texts to music in the most efficacious way. The inspiration came from the ancient monody technique, of which the wondrous effect on the listener was well-known. Without actually having access to any of this old music, a new type of monody is invented, emulating the ancients: Texts are composed for solo execution with great emphasis on the expression of the affections (for example in the polyphonic madrigal). The basso continuo becomes the predominant form of accompaniment (as opposed to the formerly popular lute accompaniment for songs etc).

The first example of this new music is Caccini's Nuove Musiche (Florence 1602), comprising, amongst other things, monodies from his early Opera's. These pieces are called arias and are strophic (like the later song with basso continuo accompaniment), or madrigal, in which case they are through-composed (like the later Italian cantata da camera). Distinguishing features of monody:

• the voice following the speech rhythm (see the fast note values). That is the new manner of singing (nuova maniera di cantur), which as it were, speaks in harmony (quasi in armonia favellare, Caccini's introduction)
• The melody is divided into sentences
• The most meaningful words, star, love, sky, are on strong parts of the bar
• The text influences the key: g-minor for grief, F-major for joy (love, heaven)
• The voice and the bass form a duo of outer voices, mostly an octave, a fifth, or a third apart
• The character of the bass part is fundamental, and is instrumentally conceived, with the octave, fifth, and fourth leaps often signaling a cadence
• The harmonic filling in of the chords ( the harpsichordist usually improvises the right-hand part but here has been written out) gives the singer support
• expressive performance by the singer (cantare con affetto), ornamentation, gestures