An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

I. Music of the Early Baroque Period
A. General Characteristics
1. Term Baroque (1600-1750)
a) Used by Charles de Brosses around 1750 in describing the facade of the Pamphili
Palace in Rome which was being made over in a kind of filigree ornamentation
b) The term was embraced by art historians in the late 19th century to describe a
whole period of art and architecture
(1) term originally meant abnormal, bizarre, exaggerated, grotesque. or in bad
tastes
(2) art critics Jacob Burckhardt & Karl Baedeker in 19th century brought out the
positive side of the term - describing the flamboyant, decorative, and
expressionistic tendencies of 17th century painting & architecture.
(3) adopted by music historians in the 1920's applying the term to music from late
16th century thru mid 18th century.
i) music is to diverse to apply the baroque label to designate all music as
baroque
ii) rather, defines a period, evoking the artistic & literary culture of an entire
period
iii) Dates are approximations with characteristics appearing before 1600 with
many declining by 1730
(4) Within the chronological limits of 1600-1750 composers accepted a set of
conventions for organizing music and shared ideals of how it should sound -
most important they believed that music's principal goal was to move the
affections
2. Geographical & Cultural Backgound
a) Italian attitudes dominated the musical thinking of this period - by the end of the
Baroque era the music of Europe had become a single language with Italian roots
(1) from mid 16th to mid 18th century Italy remained Europe's most influential
musical region
i) Florence with a brilliant period of musico-theatrical innovation at beginning
of the 17th century
ii) Rome exerting a steady influence on sacred music and for a time an
important center of opera, cantata, & instrumental music
iii) Venice & Naples becaming a centers of opera
iv) Bologna & other northern cities witnessing important developments in
instrumental music
(2) France which developed and maintained its own distinctive national idiom
could not escape the Italian influence
i) particularly strong throughout the first half of the 17th century
ii) Jean-Baptiste Lully whose works did most the establish the French style
(emerging after 1630's) was ironically a Florentine brought to France at age
13
(3) Germany, the 30 Year's War overwhelmed an already weakened musical
culture
i) in the second half of 17th century music was rebuilt on the Italian style
ii) Bach & Handel owed much to the Italian influence