Part I
Monody – This style is particularly associated with Italian songs in 17th century, specifically from 1600 to 1640. The main composers of Monody were Vincenzo Galilei, Emilio de Cavalieri, and Claudio Monteverdi. Sacrae cantiunculae tribus vocibus of 1582 is the major work in Monody by Claudio Monteverdi. The style grew in Italy as the response to the 16th century contrapuntal style vocal genres like motet and madrigal.
The Messiah – Messiah is the work of George Frideric Handel and reached the peak of its popularity in 19th century. It uses text painting and is segregated in three acts. The most appreciated piece is the “Halleluia” chorus which ends the second act. Messiah debuted on 13 April, 1742.
Concerto Grosso – This is the orchestral music of Baroque era. It has thrived as the secular court music. The major work is done by Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi and Ernest Bloch. Il trionfo dell’onore is the work by Alessandro Scarlatti.
The Well Tempered Clavier – This is composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and is a collection of music of solo keyboard. The work is associated with the classic western music and is considered to be majorly influential. This work is the collection of fully-used keyboard pieces with all 23 keys.
The Four Seasons – This belongs to the Baroque era and is a set of violin concertos composed by Antonio Vivaldi in 1723. Every set of violin concerto resembles a season. It was published in 1725 in Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione.
Claudio Monteverdi – He was baptized on 15 May, 1567 and died on 29 Nov, 1643. He was the Italian composer and contributed towards the development of the opera – considered as an important genre in music. He major work is done in late Renaissance. His major works in opera are La favola d’Orfeo in 1607 and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 1641 and L’incoronazione di Poppea in 1642.
Da capo aria – This is associated with Baroque era and involves the orchestra with a solo singer. The Messiah contains three popular Da capo arias, namely, Rejoice Greatly, The Trumpet Shall Sound and He Was Despised.
The Marriage of Figaro – This was composed in 1786 and is a comedy opera. This has been composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in association with Lorenzo De Ponte, an Italian and is segregated in four acts. Most famous part is the overture which is frequently played in concerts.
Fugue – This is majorly associated with late 16th century and is the imitation of the subject in melodic lines. The contribution of Bach in Fugue is immense and has individual perfection and extraordinary variety.
Opera Buffa – This is the comic opera which originated in middle of 18th century in Naples. Its source is the intermezzi between the serious operas acts. The earliest work of opera buffa is La Serva Padrona of 1733 composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s.
Part II
1. Monody style comprises of solo song which has vocal lines. These lines are embroidered, harmonies, expressive and simple in constitution and are sung with the bass which are independent of vocal lines.. The Monody developed in the 17th century, particularly in Italy in years 1600 to 1640. This was developed in retort to the contrapuntal style, which is grouping of coincident melodic vocal lines. The contrapuntal style was prevalent in 16th century in the form of motet and madrigal. In the attempt to revive and imitate the music of ancient Greek, composers started emphasizing on perfect expression and articulation of texts displaying high emotions. This effect was accomplished by removing counterpoint and placing recitative in its place. Florentine Camerata established the novel monadic style which was followed by other Italy’s humanistic circles. This novel monadic style was the dramatic representation of the early opera known as stile representivo and the concreto style revolutionizing the sacred music. This happened soon after 1600. Early monody is signified by the composition of solo songs in Le nuove musiche composed by Giulio Caccini in 1602 with conituo adjunct. Claudio Monteverdi’s solo compositions also mark the initiating phase of Monody.
Monody’s development marks the definite distinctiveness of the early Baroque early, which is completely opposite to the ones prevalent in late Renaissance style involving the chorus songs with focus on balancing the different parts of lines. Passages in monodies contrasting can be additionally declamatory or melodic, with these styles further developing in recitative and aria as the popular presentation styles.
2. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Thuringia and George Frideric Handel was born near Saxony. Bach belonged to a family of composers with strong protestant choral while Handel’s father was a surgeon and he grew up listening to aristocratic music. Handel studied to become a lawyer, however turned to music and became an excellent composer whereas Bach leaner music at Church as an apprentice and grew with music to evolve as a composer musician. Bach was the composer of instrumental music in contrapuntal style while Handel was the composer of vocal music in thorough-bass style. Bach was more international minded than Handel as he studied the developed art of different countries carefully and knowing the work of Handel while Handel paid no attention to work of Bach. Bach also had deeper roots in German folks and popular music. His religious music differs from that of Handel, not only in that it was written for actual Protestant Church service, but because it embodied his whole mind and thoughts. Like Handel’s oratorios, Bach’s passions and cantatas contain a simultaneous world of human images drawn from real life, with a more earthy popular tone. Handel was more theatrical in his writings and was always keen to raise the current issue and solving some fresh problems with his each new work, and on exploring the powers of music itself. After the death of the two composers, Handel’s music remained current throughout the industrial revolution and the subsequent democratic revolution, in which the bourgeois class sought for full political power. It helped inspire the great work of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
3. The Baroque period extends from 1600-1750 and includes music by Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi. Classical music is the music from classic period, approximately 1750-1800. The most popular classical composers are Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven in his early years. Baroque and classical music differs on many dimensions like Baroque music is contrapuntal and classical music is homophonic. Most church hymns are homophonic. In contrast, contrapuntal writing emphasizes melodic motion over harmony. It is as if each voice is singing its own melody. In contrapuntal, fewer note being synchronously compared to homophony. In baroque writing, there is an emphasis on ornamentation, typically short, fast notes inserted above and below at the beginning of a normal note in the melody. The trill, where the pitch alternates between the melody note and the next above, is the ornament. If Baroque style tends to ornament melodic lines, the classical style is plainer with an emphasis on developing ideas and formal structure. Both, Baroque and classical music is based on scales. Modulation in Baroque music appears frequently but the modulations do not have much significance. In classical music, modulations are often carefully resolved. Baroque music typically portrays a single emotion at least through an entire movement or major section of composition. Classical music is more likely to progress from one feeling to another in a narrative style, exploring a range of emotions. The excellent piece of Baroque ear is the Messiah and The Four Seasons. The excellent piece of Classical era is Flute Concerto No. 2 and Symphony no. 5.
Bibliography
Bekker, P. (2005). The Story of Music an Historical Sketch of the Changes in Musical Form. Kessinger Publishing.
Blanning, T. C. (2008). The triumph of music: the rise of composers, musicians and their art. Harvard University Press.
Randel, D. M. (2003). The Harvard dictionary of music. Harvard University Press.
Thomas Tapper & Percy Goetschius. (2001). Essentials in Music History. The Minerva Group, Inc., 2001.
