The Music Style of Baroque Period

The Baroque period of music is generally considered to be roughly from 1600 to 1750, that is, from Montville to Bach and Handel. 1750, the death of johann sebastian bach, a master of polyphony, marked the end of polyphony in the peak of Baroque and the end of Baroque era. The reason why this period is called Baroque is that there are some similarities in the musical expressions and ways of a period, so it has no special significance to use this term to mark it. The word baroque comes from French, and its source is Portuguese barroco, which means a pearl with an out-of-round shape. It was first used by critics at the end of Baroque when commenting on the music of this period, which generally contains derogatory meaning, referring to rough music, strange and exaggerated music. Musicians in the classical period after Baroque tend to simplify and standardize the musical language. In their view, baroque music is too ostentatious and not standardized. Therefore, the word baroque is used by critics to refer to the works of art and music in17th century and18th century. Now, with the passage of time, we can look at the music of this period with a more in-depth and meticulous historical perspective. Baroque no longer has a rough and rough meaning, but compared with the music works before and after Baroque, it does have exaggerated and somewhat irregular characteristics.

Renaissance art pays attention to clarity, unity and coordination. But by the end of the 16th century, the emotional factors in art were increasing day by day, and the clear, definite and perfect form was overwhelmed by the need to express feelings. In art, we can see from Caravaggio's colorful and dramatic paintings (1573- 16 10). Musically, we have seen clues from the pastoral songs of Marenzio and Carlo Suardo and the ancient songs of Daolund, and their next generation has further developed. In order to produce these strong effects, a new musical style must be developed. Generally speaking, the smooth polyphonic music in the Renaissance is no longer suitable for the characteristics needed in the new period. The most important creation in Baroque period is the concept of "contrast". Renaissance music was fluent, and all the voices (usually four to five) were intertwined and synchronized. After 1600, this kind of texture is less and less used, and can only be seen in church music, which is the most conservative because it is bound by traditional fixed liturgy.

"Contrast" can be manifested in different aspects: the level of sound; Fast and slow speed (the contrast between fast and slow paragraphs or between fast and slow voices); Strong and weak; Differences in timbre; Solo (singing) and ensemble (chorus) and so on. These all existed in the music structure of Baroque period, and each had its own position. Many musicians in the Baroque period used concertos or compound concertos (the word itself means obvious contrast factors). The basic feature of this form is the change of texture, sometimes one voice (solo) or several voices, and sometimes a larger group ensemble.

The most obvious and strongest contrast is that a new school called "monody" appeared at that time. It is a solo song with a smooth vocal part, accompanied by a pipa or harpsichord, and the accompaniment is slow. The representative figure (to some extent, the creator) of this genre is composer and singer Caccini. About 1545- 16 18) In his epoch-making work Lenuovemusiche, the melody of human voice varies greatly according to the meaning of lyrics, ranging from very simple to very decorative in rhythm and texture; But also in contrast to the accompaniment part of almost fixed sound type. Caccini belongs to the "Camerata Club" in Florence (a group of musicians, poets and nobles). In 1970s and 1980s, he came into contact with the concept of recreating the viewpoint of expressing feelings in ancient Greek music. This group followed this idea and adopted the form of "one song".

The word "accompaniment" was hardly considered in Renaissance music. As an idea, it belongs to the Baroque period, that is to say, the position of musical instruments is different. In fact, the most important feature of Baroque music is its accompaniment, that is, basso continuo. Basso continuo player plays bass on harpsichord or organ (or plucked instrument pipa or guitar), and the numbers on it indicate the full chord he should play. Basso continuo is often played by two people, one with cello (or viola or bassoon) and so on.

The sound instrument plays the bass part, and the other person plays the filled chord. This texture using basso continuo is: the melody part of human voice or musical instrument is above, the bass instrument is below, and the harmony is in the middle. This is typical Baroque music. There are often two voices on it, sometimes written for two singers, and sometimes two violins (called a triple sonata at this time). This structure is also typical in baroque music, especially in basso continuo, which shows how important and core the concept of harmony produced by bass is to baroque music. The emergence of this concept is not sudden. In the16th century, the bass voice in polyphonic music was distinguished from the above lines, but it was not until the Baroque period that this style was clearly determined.

Together with and related to the above changes, it is to give up polyphony (more precisely, polyphony music has become an old-fashioned method, which is almost only used in a certain kind of music in the church). Attaching importance to harmony will inevitably lead to several termination points of harmony series in a piece of music, which are called termination points or convergence points, and are formed by a series of harmony series with a certain level. Related to this is the progress of rhythm. In vocal music, melody must follow (or even exaggerate) the natural rhythm of language to express the emotion of lyrics. Useful for dance rhythm in instrumental music (including some vocal music, especially chorus). Because bass uses the rhythm of dance music, it accelerates the development of tonality and tends to a certain tone. At the same time, the emergence of new musical instruments has also accelerated this process, the most important of which is the violin family. At that time, the violin pronunciation was suitable for the clarity of polyphonic music, but it lacked a sense of rhythm and strength. However, the violin's clean and lively bow action and the ability to play brilliant technical music are suitable for playing dance rhythm music, which is more skillful than single-part songs. The alternation of vocal music style and instrumental music style is a typical baroque technique. There are two different styles in baroque music for novelty and effect.

The important musical forms in the early Baroque period were single-part songs (as opposed to polyphonic music in the early period) and related operas and oratorios, which emphasized the close combination of sound and music and also played a role of setting in opera. Monolithic music does not use counterpoint method, and its musical form is developed by combining melody with bass, such as segmented musical form, echo music structure, variation on repeated bass part, etc. There has also been a corresponding development in musical instruments, such as the ensemble instruments suitable for playing basso continuo and the instruments suitable for playing the violin instead of the violin family. Violqin's family musical instruments are more flexible and can play a higher range.

Second, the music of European countries in Baroque period.

During the Baroque period, the art of music developed rapidly. And contributed to the rise of rococo art later. The music of this period is the most representative in Germany, Italy and France.

1. German music in the Baroque era

German music in the Baroque era is represented by Xu Ci, Bach and Handel. If the polyphonic music since the Middle Ages is compared to a pyramid, their music is like the top of the tower, because they not only absorbed the new Italian music since the Renaissance, but also opened up a new road. Xu Ci (1585-1672) went to Italy to study at the age of 24, and studied under the Great Gabbrielli of Venice Conservatory of Music (1557- 16 12). After returning to China, he published the first German opera Daphne, and later wrote many passions. Xu Cigang is a hundred years behind Bach and Handel, and his style has an important influence on the creation of these two baroque masters.

Handel and Bach's music works, whether in the synthesis of traditional music or in following the new trend of thought, radiate extraordinary splendour in the history of music. Handel's works are mostly operas and oratorios, and his instrumental music also contains strong vocal factors, which is obviously influenced by Italy. Bach's music contains strong instrumental factors in vocal music works, which laid a solid foundation for the arrival of the classical era.

2. Italian music in Baroque era

Opera, a great art form, was born in the "cradle of music"-Italy, an ancient European civilization. In Florence at that time, there were many great artists and a group of nobles who were very interested in ancient Greek art. They were determined to give new life to Greek drama. These nobles began to compose music for ancient Greek stories, and the chorus put on costumes to sing the whole story. This was the embryonic form of opera. Later, the characters in the story were all played by singers; Between chorus programs, male and female singers are solo. When the characters' words are soft, the lines are regarded as half-singing and half-speaking, like hymns, called recitative; And strong feelings are expressed by real melody, which is called aria. Then, specially use aria to show off the singer's beautiful timbre. At that time, whether performing operas in Italy, Britain or Germany, the arias were always sung in Italian, while the recitative part was sung in the national language.

In Italian baroque music, there are strings that can be compared with early operas. At that time, the ancient overtures and concertos of traditional Chinese opera were mainly strings. There were many Italian violinists in this period. For example, Giuseppe Torrelli (1650- 1708), Caullery (1653- 17 13), T.AntonioVitali,1Vitali. In the cremona in the northern Italian Alps, violin makers can be described as endless, such as Amati, Guanelli and stradivari. Their elaborate violins are still active on the stage, showing endless artistic charm.

The overture of opera must be divided into three parts: quick start, slow middle and quick end, which later became the basic form of concerto and symphony. String instruments such as violin, viola, cello and double bass are still indispensable instruments in the orchestra, as well as extremely important chamber music and solo instruments. It can be seen that Italian music in the Baroque era has far-reaching influence.

3. French music in Baroque period

At that time, in Paris, France, opera and clavichord music were very popular in the palaces of various princes and nobles. French opera in this period was independent from the Italian opera tradition and close to the form of ballet. In the Baroque era, the most representative French opera composer was Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). His operas are concise, clear and melodious, and at the same time, they have a strong dance. Its content is spicy, humorous and incisive.

At the same time as opera, clavichord music prevailed. Ancient pianos are often decorated with baroque culture, which is the predecessor of modern pianos with harpsichords. At that time, the guqin masters were coupland (1668- 1733) and Mora (1683- 1764). They wrote many suites for ancient piano music, many of which are still widely used today. Introduction to Harmony Acoustics (by Remo) published by 1722 is the earliest theoretical work of harmony acoustics in the history of music.