Music 1102A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: The Virtuoso, Aria, Castrato
19 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Baroque textures, harmonies, and forms tend to be more free than renaissance music. Affect (expression of one particular emotion) become all important. Very difficult to differentiate the end of medieval and early baroque. Forms: poetry and drama -> using appropriate instruments will affect the chemicals in the audience"s body. Rulers vied to find and retain the best artists. Handel worked for king george 1 of england. Lully worked for king louis xiv of france. Church music and architecture built intricate structure around simple themes. First public opera house opened in venice, 1637. Impresarios (producers) invested in new productions and famous singers. Oratorios were unstaged operas based on sacred subjects, performed during lent. Rulers and public coveted virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. Soloists were expected to embellish from written music. Castrati (singers who had been castrated as boys to preserve their high singing range) were in high demand) Orchestra performed in the pit (a lowered area between the audience and the stage)
