Dictionary of Music - Birding America

aroque 29baritone horn 1 In American terminology, abrass instrument of the saxhorn family, very muchlike the EUPHONIUM but with only three valves and anarrower bore. It is pitched in C or B-flat and may beshaped either like a trumpet, with the bell pointingup, or with the bell turned back. (The French callthis instrument baryton, and the Germans call itBarytonhorn.) 2 The British name for a TENOR HORNin B-flat. (See also BRASS INSTRUMENTS.)baritone oboeSee under OBOE.bar line A vertical line through a musical staff (orgroup of staves) that separates two measures. Inaddition, a bar line is used at the beginning of apiece, before the clef and key signature, and a doublebar line marks the end (see DOUBLE BAR). Theuse of bar lines dates from the late fourteenth century,but until the seventeenth century they werefig. 20 p/u from p. 31used only to help the player’s eye follow the musicon different staves. Only in the seventeenth centurydid bar lines come to indicate the musical METER,marking off its regular pattern. In the twentieth century,composers sometimes change the meter manytimes within a composition and therefore either omitbar lines completely or use them, as in earlier times,simply to help the performer read the score.baroque (bə rōk′). A term borrowed from architectureto describe the style of music written inwestern Europe from about 1600 to about 1750.(The period preceding the baroque is called RENAIS-SANCE; the period following the baroque is calledPRECLASSIC or ROCOCO.) In the baroque periodmany new forms and styles were developed byFrench, German, Italian, and English composers.Among the outstanding figures are Monteverdi andFrescobaldi in the early baroque; Vivaldi, Couperin,and Purcell in the middle baroque; and Handel andBach at the end of the period. (See the accompanyingchart of major baroque composers; see alsoBOLOGNA SCHOOL.)The beginning of the baroque period is markedby a rebellion against the polyphonic style of theRenaissance, with its music in many voice-parts,all of equal importance. In its place came MONODY,in which one voice-part carries the melody and abasso continuo (see CONTINUO) supplies theaccompaniment. Polyphony was not wholly discarded,however; indeed, in the form of counterpoint(in which the individual melodic lines aresubordinate to the harmony they produce) itremained very important, especially in keyboardmusic. This resulted in the development of suchforms as the FUGUE, organ chorale (see CHORALEPRELUDE), and TOCCATA. Another important conceptin baroque music was the use of contrastingeffects between slow and fast, solo and fullchorus, and loud and soft, which is particularlyevident in such forms as the TRIO SONATA, CON-CERTO GROSSO, SINFONIA, and CANTATA. Duringthe baroque period performance was almost asimportant as composition; indeed, much of themusic was not fully written out and requiredimprovisation and ornamentation on the part of theperformer. (See also FIGURED BASS.)IMPORTANT BAROQUE COMPOSERSComposer Country Noted forTomaso Giovanni Albinoni (1671–1750) Italy Instrumental ensemble music (especially forstrings), operas, solo cantatas.Felice Anerio (c.1560–1614) Italy Madrigals, motets, other sacred music.Giovanni Francesco Anerio (c. 1567–1630) Italy Masses, motets, some of earliest oratorios in Italian.Jean-Henri d’Anglebert (c. 1628–1691) France Harpsichord music.Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)* Germany Keyboard, instrumental, and church choral music.(Continues)