The aesthetics of the Baroque era and it's addiction to motion and scale was reflected not only in architecture, sculpture and painting, but it has mainly become obvious in the music. The world of contrasts, contradictions and passion was expressed by major and minor keys. The meaning of the major key is joy, the slightest nuances from tenderness to exultant. The minor key means sadness in melancholy and tragic desperation.
RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE
Musical culture in the XVII and the beginning of the XVIII century has been developed in the frame of Baroque style (Claude 3). It has created new art principles which distinguish Baroque music from the music of Renaissance era. Harmony, steadiness and optimism of the Renaissance were replaced by tragic perception of the world and close attention of composers to human's feelings and emotions. The choir polyphony of Renaissance has been changed by melodic mono voice – homophony that expressed subtle emotions of the human’s soul. The essence and characteristic features of Baroque music are unstable dissonances, contrasts and sounds of many instruments (Claude 4).
OPERA
New genres have come out, such as opera and instrumental music. There were still developing well known genres - passios. Claudio Monteverdi was an outstanding composer of opera. He was the first composer of the Baroque period and the creator of madrigals, sacred music pieces and some operas. In his music for operas he has created "agitated style" (concitato), which shows the drama of acts and feelings (Hill 12). The best operas of Monteverdi are Orpheus, Ariadne and Coronation of Poppea. They were written on mythological and historic themes and distinguished by rich and interesting plots (Hill 15). The sound of diverse music instruments explains the psychological world of each character and their moral standards. The orchestra music does not only accompany singing voice, but it is becoming the participant itself (Treitler 23). Striving for variety, contrasts and love for exaggerations were shown in the opera Orpheus for the first time. Dramatic content of this piece of art is shown with the help of bright melody. For instance, the main melody of Orpheus is a song ballad, mourning for dead wife, which was sung by a single voice madrigal, and the compassion of Orpheus' friends - by choir madrigal (Treitler 24). Composer has combined declamation with vocal that became the basis for arias and arioso (Treitler 24). On the initiative of Monteverdi, the first in the world public opera theater has been opened in Venice. A few years later, the same theaters have been opened in London, Hamburg, Paris, Prague and Vienna.
CONCERTO GROSSO
The features of the "agitated style" of Monteverdi were reflected in art and performing manner of the representatives of Baroque concert music, and mainly in the music of Antonio Vivaldi, who has written many concerts and operas (Hill 19). In the core of his great concert (concerto grosso) an opposition of one or several solo musical instruments to the whole orchestra can be heard (Hill 19). Baroque composer Vivaldi has shown the real pictures of the life of a nature. In his music masterpiece “Seasons of the year”, he managed to express a joyful renovation of spring nature, summer intense heat, autumn fading and winter frost (Hill 20). New style gradually becomes the part of the church music, the Bach's organ masses and Handel's oratorios.
PASSIOS AND ORATORIOS
The art of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel was the conclusion of Baroque music culture. All the accomplishments of the previous eras were combined in their works: polyphony of German organists, the homophone style of the Italian opera and French dancing music (Estrella 11). They all inherited traditions of instrumental music concerto grosso. Bach has entered into the history as the master of organ music. His organ masses, oratorios, cantatas and passios show the controversial living on earth and the absolute harmony of the God's world (Estrella 11). The emergence of choir performance of passios, dramatic and solemn tales of suffers and death of the Jesus Christ, dates back to the XVII century. The St. Matthew Passion was the organ piece of music that has been performing for four hours (Estrella 15). According to the author's idea, there are two four-voice choirs, soloist singer and 34 musicians (Estrella 15). Bach has filled the plot of the gospel legend with new sound. The music of passios stirs up the storm of emotions, from the deep moan to the reflection of life and art. The mournful melody of voice is accompanying by the crying of the violin, and the choirs resemble the shouts of the crowd, that demands to execute Jesus (Hill 25). The church didn't like this music. It was too far from the religious values to the clergymen’s opinion. Only in hundred years time German composer Mendelssohn has performed this masterpiece in Leipzig. In the style of Baroque, Bach wrote mass c minor. The music, including vocals and arias, represents a wide emotional range. The short phrases of the Latin prayers makes listeners think about life and death, about human's moral greatness. During the Bach’s lifetime it hasn't been performed, though. The complication of this piece of art and its duration were not allowed to perform it during the holiday mess. Six Brandenburg Concertos of Bach in the style of concerto grosso are also very well known.
George Frideric Handel is creator of large pieces of music of secular contents for choirs, soloists-singers and the orchestra, which were intended for concert performance. He has written 32 oratorios on biblical, mythological and secular scenes (Hill 27). One of the best examples are Messiah, Samson, Iosif, Solomon (Hill 27). Music of oratorios of Handel is full of contrasts, oppositions of choir parts, solo episodes, changes of rhythms (from aggressive dance to slow solemn procession) (Hill 27). The main characters of oratorios of Handel on biblical themes are leaders and prophets. They have suffered various trials which couldn’t break their will and firmness.
CONCLUSION
The world of musical culture of baroque is difficult and diverse. It cannot be reduced to one style. Addressing the music of that period, it is possible just to draw an overall picture of its development. It needs to be explored more profoundly.
Works Cited
Claude P. Norton Anthology of Western Music, Volume 1. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 1996.
Hill J.W. Baroque Music: Music in Western Europe, 1580-1750. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 2005.
Treitler L. Source Readings in Music History. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 1998.
Estrella E. Music forms/Styles of the Baroque period. University of California Press, 2014.
