The Baroque Era Essay Research Paper THE — страница 2

church of St.Thomas in Leipzig. He was best known as a keyboard performer. His greatest pieces though, were his organ pieces. Bach was also known for his Cantata s. The cantata was written in fairly free form. They were part of a long church service. In most cantatas the highest point is during the opening chorus, which is also usually the longest movement. Cantata no.140 Wachet Auf is an excellent example of the chorale cantata form. Bach wrote it for one of the final Sunday s after Trinity. The song is broken into a five-part structure: 1) Chorus 2) Recitative and Duets-Soloists 3) Chorus 4) Recitative and Duet-Soloists 5) Choral- Chorus and Congregation Another famous piece by Johann Sebastian Bach was Brandenburg Concerto No.5. The Brandenberg concertos are examples of a

Baroque form known as the concerto gross that is based on the principle of contrast between two groups, or sounds of different sounds and at the same time dynamics. The first movement of this piece is in ritornello form. It is made up of three basic patterns that work well with instruments. The second movement heard contains soloists and continues without string orchestra. The third and last movement is made up of soloists and orchestra. George Friederich Handel, For Unto Us A Child is Born from Messiah Handel is known as the other Baroque composer. Handel contrasts greatly with Bach, not only in their style of music but in their personalities, lifestyles, and careers. Handel was not born into a musical family. It wasn t until the death of his father that he quite his law career

to become a musician. After the genre of Italian opera faded Handel hit upon an English adaptation of the early oratorio, originally a concert setting of a biblical story in Latin. The success of his oratorios and a steady stream of new compositions made Handel increasingly wealthy and famous. He passed away in 1759, blind, but was still seen as a celebrity. Due to Messiah s length and it s contemplative rather than dramatic approach to nature, it makes it a not typical oratorio. For Unto Us A Child is Born is a splendid example of Handel s choral style, an element which makes oratorios so popular. As opposed to Bach s style of writing for only small groups of boys and men, Handel was fond of grandiose effects, such as double choruses. Handel s choruses were written strong enough

to impress the audience who had paid admission to hear the cantata. The oratorio is written in a three part structure. The three ideas are distinct and are always kept separate, and never combined. Out of this simple, repetitive structure comes a satisfying effect: the listener of this piece feels the triumph and joy of the text due to it s easy to follow material. Antonio Vivaldi, Spring from The Four Seasons Bach and Handel are not the only great composer of this era. Antonio Vivaldi was another master of music during the Baroque period. Vavaldi was born in 1678 in Venice. His father too was a musician, a violinist at St.Marks s church in Venice. For thirty-six years, from 1704 until 1740, he was music director at the Ospedale della Pieta, a school for illegitimate daughters of

the aristocracy. He then left his job to conduct opera in Italian cities. He eventually wrote concertos not only for violin and standard winds-oboe, flute, bassoon-but also for instruments such as the piccolo, mandolin, and guitar. One of his best known works is the Four Seasons. It is a set of four concerti grossi which relate to nature during these seasons. The spirit of childlike playfulness can be seen throughout out this piece which is important to Baroque style. It is very easy to see why Vivaldi s pieces are still played and enjoyed to this day.