Question 1
Bach Johann Sebastian was a music composer and a musician from Germany within the periods of the Baroque. Through his skills in motivic organization, harmony, and counterpoint, Bach facilitated the formation and establishment of the German style. He also enriched the adaptation of textures, forms and rhythms from the outside Germany countries mostly France and Italy. His work in the field of music has made his music to be reserved for their artistic beauty, intellectual depth, and technical command. Some of his compositions include the golden variation and Brandenburg Concertos.
George Frederick Handel was a British Baroque composer born in Germany. He is well known for his great work in anthems, organ concertos, operas, and oratorios. Being born from a family outside music, he got his training Italy, Halle and Hamburg before settling in London where he influenced both the Italian and German composers’ polyphonic tradition.
Finally, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was Venice born. He was one of the greatest Italian Baroque teachers, composer, cleric and virtuoso violinist, and his influence was widely spread across Europe. His main work was mainly in the composition of most of the instrumental concertos mostly for violin, also facilitated the sacred choral works with several operas. One of his greatest work was the four seasons, a violin concerto.
Question 2
Aria is alone song with instrumental supplement, an accompanied elaborate melody that is sung by a single voice, an important component of opera.
Recitative is a musical style of delivery where the singer had the opportunity and permitted to implement ordinary speech rhythm; it is mostly used in oratorios, cantatas, and operas.
Ground bass is a short and repeating pattern of melody in the part of bass composition serving as the primary structural element.
Basso continuo also known as a continuous bass was used in the periods of Baroque and is a form of musical accompaniment. It was played by bass instruments like the bassoon and cello and played with keyboard instruments.
Question 3
Oratorios and Cantatas are both musical performances that were sung from the era of Baroque, and they comprise arias, choruses, duets, and recitative. Both Oratorios and Cantatas lack sets, action, staging or costumes, and this makes them so different from operas that are more of a theoretical story, and that provides a more fully realized story. Oratorios and Cantatas were mostly based on religious texts.
Question 4
Fugue is a composition of music where one or two melodies are introduced by one part and then sequentially taken up by others and developed by interlinking the voice parts. Fugue plan comprises the three sections that include exposition, development and recapitulation containing the return of the subject in the tonic key of the figures.
Question 5
Solo Concerto plan is a concerto where an orchestra accompanies a single soloist. The Four Seasons composed by Antonio Vivaldi was a set of four violin concertos. These were the best-known works and the most popular music repertoire of Baroque by Antonio. The four seasons have a significant in that they vary representing each season, for example, the summer-evoked thunderstorm in its final movement; also, the winter had its significance.
