MUS 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, Figured Bass
MUS10 Lecture 9 – The Baroque Era
Baroque Era
• Characterized by flowering of instrumental music to be listened to for its own sake, such
as the concerto
• Beginnings of tonal music, solidification of tonality
• Increased emphasis on virtuosity or individual display of skill
• Importance of treble and bass
o Basso continuo: bass line played by sustaining instrument such as cello, viola da
gamba, or bassoon, with chords improvised by harpsichord, organ, lute, or harp
▪ Harpsichord: predecessor of piano, strings inside are plucked with a
pletru ot stuk y a haer
• Could also be used as solo instrument
o Bach, Well Tempered Clavier
o Soloist in Bach, Brandenburg Concerto, No. 5
▪ Theorbo instrument
• Developed from smaller Renaissance lute, more bass strings
added
• Important continuo instrument in early Italian baroque music
• Players read figured bass or tablature
o Figured bass: numbers below bass line that indicate chords that may be used
o Basso ostinato: ground bass (type of bass line)
▪ Passacaglia and chaconne are types of ground bass
• Baroque instruments different from modern instruments, instruments still being
developed during the time
o Horns originally did not have keys
o Ornamented decoration of the piano
o Organ was one of the most prominent instruments of the time
• Important musical forms of the Baroque Era
o Fugue
▪ Subject-answer alternation
• Theme called the subject
• Form with melodies in different registers
▪ Exposition: opening section of piece when all material presented
▪ Episode between main themes: imitation but does not include the
complete subject
▪ Pedal point: dominant chord at end of piece, final return to tonic
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