The Baroque Era Essay example -- essays research papers

THE BAROQUE AGESocial and Cultural BackgroundBaroque is a term borrowed from the visual arts and virtuoso that is usedin many different senses. The Baroque Era applies to the years between1600 and 1750. The most famous composers of this time were Bach, Handel,Vivaldi and Teleman.Politically it was an age of magnificent rank(a) Monarchs. The mostmagnificent of all was Louis XIV of France. Louis ruled from 1634 until 1713. During this time the need to create a national culture or a regional stylethat would match or surpass the elsewhere created cultural models waspressed for.When looking at Baroque architecture it is noticeable that thesculptures and paintings are never gloss over they are twisted, moving, struggling,and dramatically lighted. Paintings of the Baroque Era focused more ondramatic subjects and experimented with dramatic lighting.The Baroque Era was concerned with feelings, the stronger thebetter. This could be seen throughout the churches. In church structurethe propor tions are grandiose, they are designed to impress and awe theobservers. Gold and rich textures and surfaces can be seen all through thechurches.All of these themes that I have discussed are also clear in the musicof the Baroque period. It paints pictures of vibrant colours and triggersstrong emotions. The desire to discover these themes is evident in the instauration of the exciting new form music, opera, and in the use of operatictechniques in dramatic music for the church.Important Musical DevelopmentsComposer-performers would strive at becoming Kapellmeisers in thisEra. A Kapellmeister is a music director at one of the great courts. Theywere responsible for all the music performed in the court. These positionswere very unstable though and composer were ceaselessly on the lookout for newopportunities.The responsibilities of performers during this era was to write musicat a furious pace due to the demand. Bach, for example, was responsible forone cantata a week while he was music director at Leipzig. Due to the pacethe music was written, the performers of the pieces had to fill in thedetails. Baroque music can so be classified as a type of jazz becausethe soloists would p... ... satisfying effect the listener of this piece feels the triumph and joy of the text due to its easy to follow material.Antonio Vivaldi,Spring from The Four SeasonsBach and Handel are not the wholly great composer of this era. AntonioVivaldi was another master of music during the Baroque period.Vavaldi was born in 1678 in Venice. His father too was a musician, aviolinist at St.Markss church in Venice. For thirty-six years, from 1704until 1740, he was music director at the Ospedale della Pieta, a school forillegitimate daughters of the aristocracy. He then left his job to conductopera in Italian cities. He eventually wrote concertos not only for violin andstandard winds-oboe, flute, bassoon-but also for instruments such as thepiccolo, mandolin, and guitar.One of his best known works is the Four Seasons. It is a set of fourconcerti grossi which relate to temperament during these seasons. The spirit ofchildlike playfulness can be seen throughout out this piece which isimportant to Baroque style. It is very easy to see why Vivaldis pieces arestill played and enjoyed to this day.