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PRELUDE Music as Exploration and Drama

3

These harmonic notes are the language of the soul and the instruments of the heart.”

—Barbara Strozzi
(1619–1677)

Music intensifies emotion. This may seem self-evident to us in the twenty-

first century, but it was in the period that we are about to explore — the 1600s and early 1700s—
that Europeans set out to develop musical approaches designed to “ramp up” various emotional states a
nd help listeners experience their diversity more deeply.

Composers and performers became increasingly interested in how music could enhance the expression
of words—
most prominently through the development of a kind of musical theater called opera, but also through t
he training of specialized singers whose virtuosity (remarkable technical skill) made the amateur singing
tradition of the Renaissance seem outdated and bland. Even more novel was a significant focus on the e
xpressive power of musical instruments—
not only in conjunction with voices, but on their own. While purely instrumental music existed before th
e 1600s, in the Baroque era it became much more prominent with the development of several new genr
es and the refinement of instrumental building and performance techniques.

During the early part of this period, musicians seemed almost giddy with the possibilities for intense exp
ression, creating works that appear designed to swing between musical extremes. As time passed, such
experimentation gave way to a more standardized approach: the later Baroque is characterized by a gre
ater interest in predictable musical forms and procedures.

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“BAROQUE” ART AND CULTURE

Renaissance and Baroque sculptural approaches.

TOP: Michelangelo shows us David in contemplation (1501–04).

BOTTOM: In contrast, Bernini captures David in mid-slingshot (1623).

The years between 1600 and 1750 represent a period of change, adventure, and discovery. The conques
t of the New World stirred the imagination and filled the treasuries of Western Europe. The ideas of Galil
eo and Copernicus in physics and astronomy, of René Descartes in mathematics, and of Spinoza in philos
ophy were milestones in the intellectual history of Europe. The English physician William Harvey explain
ed the circulation of the blood, and Sir Isaac Newton formulated the theory of gravity. Empires clashed f
or control of the globe.

There was appalling poverty and wasteful luxury, magnificent idealism and savage oppression. Baroque
art—with its vigor, elaborate decoration, and grandeur—
projected the pomp and splendor of the era. Indeed, the term “baroque”
(applied in retrospect by later writers who saw this period as excessively extravagant) derives from a Por
tuguese word that originally meant “misshapen” or “distorted.”

A comparison between the two depictions of the biblical figure David (right), one by Renaissance artist
Michelangelo (1475–1564) and the other by Bernini (1598–
1680), clearly reveals the Baroque love of the dramatic. The earlier sculpture is balanced, calm, reflectiv
e; on his shoulder is the sling with which he has just slain the giant Goliath, but the overall effect is static
, poised. The Baroque David shows the young man in motion, every muscle in his body tensed in the act
that will save his people. In like fashion, the Venetian school of painters and Northern masters such as Fl
emish artist Peter Paul Rubens captured the dynamic spirit of the new age, producing canvases ablaze in
color and movement (see illustration opposite).

The Baroque was an era of absolute monarchy. Rulers throughout Europe modeled their courts on Versa
illes, a sumptuous palace on the outskirts of Paris. Louis XIV’s famous declaration “I am the State” summ
ed up a way of life in which all art and culture served the ruler. Courts large and small maintained elabor
ate musical establishments, including opera troupes, chapel choirs, and orchestras. Baroque opera, the f
avorite diversion of the aristocracy, told stories of the gods and heroes of antiquity, in whom the nobility
and courtiers saw flattering likenesses of themselves.

The middle classes, excluded from the salons of the aristocracy, created a culture of their own. Their mu
sic-
making took place in the home. It was for the middle classes that the comic opera and the novel, both g
enres filled with keen and witty observations on life, came into being. For them, painting abandoned its
grandiose themes and turned to intimate scenes of bourgeois life. The Dutch School, embodying the vita
lity of a new middle-
class art, reached its high point with Rembrandt and Jan Vermeer (see illustration on p. 92).
The Baroque was also an intensely devout period, with religion a rallying cry on some of the bloodiest ba
ttlefields in history. Protestants were centered in England, Scandinavia, Holland, and northern Germany,
all strongholds of the rising middle class. On the Catholic side were two powerful dynasties: the French
Bourbons and the Austrian-
Spanish Hapsburgs, who fought one another as fiercely as they did their Protestant foes. Religion was an
equally important part of life in the New World as well, both in the colonies of Protestant refugees who
settled on the East Coast of North America and in the fervently Catholic Spanish and French colonies (Sp
anish in what is now Mexico, Central America, and the southwestern United States; French in Canada, th
e Mississippi valley, and the Gulf Coast).

In His Own Words

Music must be supported by the King and the princes.”

—Martin Luther

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Creative artists played a variety of roles in Baroque society. Rubens was not only a famous painter but al
so an ambassador and friend of princes. The composer Antonio Vivaldi was also a priest, and George Frid
eric Handel an opera impresario. Artists usually functioned under royal or princely patronage, or, like Jo
hann Sebastian Bach, they might be employed by a church or city administration. In all cases, artists wer
e in direct contact with their public. Many musical works were created for specific occasions—
an opera for a royal wedding, a dance suite for a court festivity, a cantata for a religious service—
and for immediate use.

MAIN CURRENTS IN BAROQUE MUSIC

“The end of all good music is to affect the soul.”
—CLAUDIO MONT EVERDI

One of the most significant characteristics of the early Baroque style was a shift from
a texture of several independent parts (polyphony) to one in which a single melody sto
od out (homophony).
Jan Vermeer is well known for his painting of bourgeois (middle-
class) Dutch women playing keyboard instruments. A Young Lady Seated at a Virginal, c. 1670.

A group of Florentine writers, artists, and musicians known as the Camerata (a nam
e derived from the Italian word for ―salon‖) first cultivated what they called ―the new
style‖ around 1600. The members of the Camerata were aristocratic humanists who ai
med to resurrect the musical-
dramatic art of ancient Greece. Although little was known of ancient music, the Came
rata deduced that it must have heightened the emotional power of the text. Thus their ―
new style‖ consisted of a melody that moved freely over a foundation of simple chord
s.
A new kind of notation accompanied the ―new style‖: since musicians were familiar
with the basic harmonies, the composer put a numeral above or below the bass note, i
ndicating the chord required (a kind of notation called figured bass), and the perform
er filled in the necessary harmony. This system, known as basso continuo, provided a
foundation over which a vocal or instrumental melody could unfold. It led to one of t
he most significant changes in all music history: the establishment of major-
minor tonality (see Chapter 4). With this development, the thrust to the key note, or t
onic, became the most powerful force in music. Each chord could assume its function
in relation to the key center; and the movement between keys, governed by tonality, h
elped shape a musical structure. Composers were able to develop forms of instrument
al music larger than had ever before been known.
The Camerata’s members engaged in excited discussions about their new homopho
nic music, which they also proudly named the ―expressive style.‖ The group soon real
ized that their approach could be applied not only to a short poem but also to an entire
drama, fostering the most notable Baroque innovation:
―drama through music,‖ or what we now call opera.
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The Hall of Mirrors in the French Royal Palace of Versailles exemplifies the Baroque love for elaborate decorations.

The elaborate scrollwork of Baroque architecture found its musical equivalent in the
principle of continuous expansion of melody. A movement might start with a striking
musical figure that would then be repeated and varied with seemingly infinite modific
ations, driven by rhythms that helped capture the movement of this dynamic age. In v
ocal music, wide leaps and chromatic tones helped create melodies that were highly e
xpressive of the text.
 Baroque musicians used dissonant chords more freely, for emotional intensity and c
olor. In setting poetry, for example, a composer might choose a dissonance to heighte
n the impact of a particularly meaningful word. The dynamic contrasts achieved in Re
naissance music through varied imitative voicings gave way to a more nuanced treatm
ent in the Baroque, allowing for a more precise expression of emotions, especially of t
he text. Dramatic forte/piano contrasts and echo effects were also typical of the era.

The Rise of the Virtuoso Musician

As the great musical instrument builders in Italy and Germany improved and refined t
heir instruments, Baroque performers responded with more virtuosic (remarkably skill
ed) playing. Composers in turn wrote works demanding even more advanced playing t
echniques. Out of these developments came the virtuosic violin works of Antonio Viv
aldi (see Chapter 23).
The emotional intensity, irregular patterns, and striking color contrasts of El Greco’s (1541−1614) View of Toledo r
eflect the expressive goals of early Baroque musicians.

Instrumental virtuosity had its counterpart in the vocal sphere. The rise of opera bro
ught with it the development of a phenomenal vocal technique, exemplified in the earl
y eighteenth century by the castrato, a male singer who was castrated during boyhood
in order to preserve the soprano or alto register of his voice
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for the rest of his life. What resulted, after years of training, was an incredibly agile voice of enormous ra
nge, powered by breath control unrivaled by most singers today. The castrato’s voice combined the lung
power of the male with the brilliance of the female upper register. Strange as it may seem to us, Baroqu
e audiences associated this voice with heroic male roles. When castrato roles are performed today, they
are usually sung in a lower register by a tenor or baritone, or in the original register by a countertenor or
a woman singer in male costume.

Women, particularly singers, began to expand their role in music. Two early sevent
eenth-
century Italian singers, Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi, were among the earlies
t female composers to publish their works. Caccini stands out as the first woman to wr
ite an opera, and Strozzi was a prolific composer of both secular and sacred music. So
me opera singers reached the level of superstars, such as the Italian sopranos Faustina
Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, who engaged in a bitter rivalry.
Improvisation played a significant role in Baroque music. In addition to elaboratin
g on the simple harmonic foundation that was part of almost every musical work, mus
icians were expected to be able to improvise and add embellishments to what was writ
ten on the score, much like jazz or pop musicians today. Baroque music sounded quite
different in performance from what was on the page.

An All-European Art

As great voyages of exploration opened up unknown regions of the globe, exoticism b

ecame a discernible element of Baroque music. A number of operas looked to faraway
lands for their settings—
Persia, India, Turkey, the Near East, Peru, and the Americas—
offering picturesque scenes and dances that may not have been authentic but that delig
hted audiences through their appeal to the imagination.

In His Own Words

I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a
boy playing on the seashore … whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.‖
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727)

Paradoxically, alongside the interest in exotic locales and regional traditions, the Ba
roque was a period in which there was significant exchange among national cultures.
The sensuous beauty of Italian melody, the pointed precision of French dance rhythm,
the luxuriance of German polyphony, the freshness of English choral song—
these characteristic local traditions eventually blended into an all-
European art that absorbed the best of each national style. For example, we will see ho
w Handel, a German, wrote Italian opera for English audiences and gave England the
oratorio. And it was precisely through this internationalization that, in the end, the Bar
oque gave way to a new set of stylistic priorities. An era of discovery and experimenta
tion in which diversity and variety of musical expression was the ultimate goal eventu
ally resulted in commonality of purpose and style, as Europeans became more and mo
re interested in the elements that made humans equal rather than different.
The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–
1640) instills his paintings with high energy and drama. His voluptuous nudes, as in Diana and Her Nymp
hs, established the seventeenth-century ideal of feminine beauty.

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CHAPTER

Performing Grief: Purcell and Ear

1 ly Opera
 8
Opera is the delight of Princes.”
—Marco da Gagliano (1582–1643)

First, listen …
to the aria known as Dido’s Lament, from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. At the begin
ning, you will hear a prominent bass-
line melody that is introduced alone and then repeats throughout the aria. How doe
s Purcell help you hear the repeats?

D ramatists and musicians who developed the tradition of sung drama—

what we now call opera—

understood music’s power to intensify events; their aim was not realistic depiction but
―hyper-
reality.‖ Both then and now, audiences knew that people don’t sing to each other in re
al life. But characters in opera could convey strong emotions through music, making t
he experience of those emotions all the more compelling for the listener. The intense h
yper-
reality of sung drama has guaranteed its appeal and staying power for more than four
centuries, and accounts for the use of music to enhance narrative multimedia (musical
theater, film, video games) up to the present day.
 KEY POINTS

 The most important new genre of the Baroque era was opera, a large-
scale music drama that combines poetry, acting, scenery, and costumes with singing and instrumental
music.
 The principal components of opera include the orchestral overture, solo arias (lyrical songs) and rec
itatives (speechlike declamations of the text), and ensemble numbers, including choruses.
 The text of an opera is called a libretto. The earliest opera libretti were based on mythology, epic po
etry, and ancient history.
 Henry Purcell wrote Dido and Aeneas, based on The Aeneid, a Roman epic by Virgil. The closing La
ment by Dido is a powerful expression of grief that reflects contemporary ideals about womanhood.

THE COMPONENTS OF OPERA

An opera is a large-
scale drama that is sung. It combines the resources of vocal and instrumental music—
soloists, ensembles, chorus, orchestra, and sometimes ballet—
with poetry and drama, acting and pantomime, scenery and costumes. To unify these d
iverse elements is a challenge that has attracted some of the most creative minds in the
history of music. The plot and action are generally advanced through a kind of music
al declamation, or speech, known as recitative. This vocal
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style is designed to imitate and emphasize the natural inflections of speech; its movement is shaped to t
he rhythm of the language.
An opera performance at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, 1729, as portrayed by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691–
1765).
 Recitative gives way from time to time to the aria (Italian for ―air‖ or ―tune‖), whic
h releases through melody the tension accumulated in the course of the action. The ari
a is a song, usually of a highly emotional nature. It is what audiences wait for, what th
ey cheer, what they remember. An aria, because of its tunefulness, can be effective ev
en when sung out of context—
for example, in a concert or on a recording. Arias can be ―detached‖ in this way becau
se they take place in ―stop time‖—
the action is frozen and the character has the opportunity to dwell on a particular inten
se emotion. Words or groups of words, as well as musical phrases or even whole secti
ons, are often repeated, as if the character were mulling them over in her or his mind.
Once the aria ends, the action ―un-
freezes‖ and the drama returns to the ―clock time‖ of recitative.
An opera may contain ensemble numbers—duets, trios, quartets, and so on—
in which the characters pour out their respective feelings. The chorus may be used to b
ack up the solo voices or may function independently. Sometimes it comments on the
action, like the chorus of a Greek tragedy, and at other times is integrated into the acti
on.
The orchestra sets the appropriate mood for the different scenes. It also performs the
overture, heard at the beginning of most operas, which may introduce melodies from
the arias. Each act of the opera normally opens with an orchestral introduction, and b
etween scenes we may find interludes, or sinfonias.
The composer works with a librettist, who creates the characters and the story line,
with its main threads and subplots. The libretto, the text or script of the opera, must b
e devised to give the composer an opportunity to write music for the diverse numbers
—recitatives and arias, ensembles, choruses, interludes—
that have become the traditional features of this art form.

EARLY OPERA IN ITALY

An outgrowth of Renaissance theatrical traditions, early opera lent itself to the lavish s
pectacles and scenic displays that graced royal weddings and similar ceremonial occas
ions. A striking example of this tradition that is still performed and recorded to this da
y is Orfeo (1607), composed by Claudio Monteverdi, who even in his own day was re
cognized for having solidified early experiments with drama-through-
music (as it was called) into a mature and powerful new genre.
By the time of Monteverdi’s last opera, The Coronation of Poppea (1642), the first
public opera houses had opened in Venice; opera was moving out of the palace and be
coming a public and widespread entertainment. The accompanying orchestra, a string
group with wind or brass instruments occasionally added for variety in timbre, becam
e standard as Italian-style opera spread throughout Europe.
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By the turn of the eighteenth century, Italian opera had gained wide popularity in the rest of Western Eu
rope. Only in France was the Italian genre rejected; here, composers set out to fashion a French national
style, in keeping with their strong traditions of court ballet and classical tragedy.

OPERA IN ENGLAND
In early seventeenth-
century England, the masque, a type of entertainment that combined vocal and instru
mental music with poetry and dance, became popular among the aristocracy. Later, in
the period of the Commonwealth (1649–
60), stage plays were forbidden because the Puritans regarded the theater as an inventi
on of the devil. A play set to music, however, could be passed off as a ―concert,‖ and t
his is the tradition behind one of the earliest English operas (and certainly the most fa
mous), Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (LG 7).

Dido and Aeneas

Purcell’s opera, first performed at the girls’ school in London where he taught, is base
d on an episode in Virgil’s Aeneid, the ancient Roman epic that traces the adventures o
f the hero Aeneas after the fall of Troy. Since his contemporary audiences knew this V
irgil classic, librettist Nahum Tate could compress the plot and suggest rather than fill
in the details. Aeneas and his men are shipwrecked at Carthage on the northern shore
of Africa. Dido, the Carthaginian queen, falls in love with him, and he returns her affe
ction. But Aeneas cannot forget that the gods have commanded him to continue his jo
urney until he reaches Italy, since he is destined to be the founder of Rome. Much as h
e hates to hurt the queen, he knows that he must depart.
Dido stabs herself with Aeneas’s sword as he and his men sail out of the harbor. The Death of Dido, by Andrea Sac
chi (1599–1661).

In the last act, the crew is ready to leave Carthage, although Aeneas has not yet told
Dido of his imminent departure. Underlying the crew’s festive mood
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is a growing chromaticism in the bass line that foreshadows Dido’s Lament. Upon hearing of Aeneas’s mi
ssion, a grief-stricken Dido decides her fate—death—
in the moving recitative “Thy hand, Belinda,” and the heartrending Lament that is the culminating point
of the opera,
“When I am laid in earth.” In Virgil’s poem, Dido mounts the funeral pyre, whose flames light the way for
Aeneas’s ships as they sail out of the harbor.

Dido’s Lament unfolds over a five-

measure ground bass, a repeated phrase that descends along the chromatic scale, ofte
n symbolic of grief in Baroque music. The repetitions of the text and music encourage
the listener to dwell in the timelessness of the emotions performed through this scene.
The scene also provides a powerful model for female grief, one considered appropriat
e by Purcell’s society; but keep in mind that this was a model created by men based o
n male notions of suitable female behavior. This is another feature of opera, in commo
n with all popular multimedia: it provides a reflection of what the librettist and compo
ser wished their society to think about human character and interaction.

Henry Purcell (1659–1695)

Purcell’s standing as a composer gave England a leading position in the world of Baro
que music. The London-
born composer’s career began at the court of Charles II (r. 1660–
85) and extended through the turbulent reign of James II (r. 1685–88)—
both Stuart kings—and into the period of William and Mary (r. 1689–
1702). At these courts, Purcell held various posts as singer, organist, and composer. H
e wrote masques and operas for several venues, including the boarding school where
Dido and Aeneas was performed. His incidental music for plays includes Abdelazar (The
Moor’s Revenge), from which Benjamin Britten borrowed a dance as the basis for his Y
oung Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (see Chapter 11).
 A truly international figure, Purcell wrote in many genres, assimilating the Italian o
peratic style along with the majesty of French music, all while applying his own lyrica
l gift to setting the English language to music.

MAJOR WORKS: Dramatic music, including Dido and Aeneas (1689), The Fairy Quee
n (1692), and incidental music for plays (including Abdelazar, 1695)
• Sacred and secular vocal music • Instrumental music, including fantasias, suites, and
overtures.

Reflect
Now that you know more about the story of Dido and Aeneas, how do you think th
e Lament’s ground bass helps to dramatize the emotions of that final scene?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Consider an example of one of your favorite ―hyper-real‖ forms of narrative entertainment—

science fiction/fantasy movie, TV show, video game. How is the more-than-
real aspect conveyed? What role does music play in making the emotions more intense than ―ordinar
y‖? How does the music reinforce images and models of ―ideal‖ (or ―bad‖) behavior?
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
LISTENING GUIDE 7 HI DE L H 4:05

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Act III, Dido’s Lament

DATE: 1689
GENRE: Opera, English
BASIS: Virgil’s Aeneid
CHARAC Dido, queen of Carthage (soprano) Aeneas Belinda, Dido’s serving maid (soprano) Sor
TERS: , adventuring hero (baritone) ceress, Spirit, Witches, Sailors

What to Listen For

 Recitative with half-
Melody step movement; more lyrical aria.
Free recitative; slow aria in triple m
Rhythm/meter eter.
Aria is based on a repeated chromat
Harmony ic ground bass.
Aria is in two sections, each repeate
Form d (A-A-B-B), over ground bass.
Baroque-
Performing forces period instruments with solo voice.
Recitative:
0:57
“Thy hand, Belinda,” sung by Dido (accompanied b
y basso continuo only)
0:00 Thy hand, Belinda; darkness shades me.
On thy bosom let me rest;
More I would, but Death invades me;
Death is now a welcome guest.
Aria: “When I am laid in earth,” Dido’s Lament 3:03
Basis: Ground bass, five-
measure pattern in slow triple meter, descending chromatic scale, repeated eleven times:

GROUND BASS
SECTION STATEMENT NO.
0:57 Instrumental introduction. 1
1:09 When I am laid in earth, may my wrongs create A 2
no trouble in thy breast. 3
When I am laid … A 4
no trouble … 5
2:17 Remember me, remember me, but ah, forget B 6
my fate, remember me, but ah, forget my fate. 7
Remember me … B 8
forget my fate … 9
Instrumental closing. 10
11

page100

CHAPTER

Musical Sermons: Bach and the L

1 utheran Cantata
9
I wish to mak e German psalms f or the people, that is to say sacred hymn s, so that th
e word of God may dwell among the people also by means of son g.”
—Martin Luther

First, listen …
to the fourth movement of Bach’s Cantata No. 140, and consider the roles of the in
struments and voices. Which do you think has the main melody and which is a cou
ntermelody (secondary tune) in this movement?
 Bach worked for many years at Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church and its famous choir school, seen in the background. C
olored engraving from c. 1749.

O ne of the most important and lasting contributions that Martin Luther

made to Western culture was the idea that musical worship belongs to the congregatio
n. Both he and his fellow reformer John Calvin, as noted in Chapter 17, believed that t
he faithful should sing their praise collectively during the church service, rather than l
eaving song entirely to the priest and the choir. Unlike Calvin, however, Luther also b
elieved that professional musicians—both singers and instrumentalists—
had an important role in creating beautiful polyphony for the congregation to hear and
reflect upon, much as the leader of the congregation played an important role in helpi
ng the faithful understand Scripture through sermons. As a sermon is an elaboration of
a reading from the Bible, updating it for the congregation’s contemporary concerns, t
he Lutheran cantata was an elaboration of the weekly hymn, allowing the congregatio
n to understand the hymn from a new perspective.

KEY POINTS

 Lutheran musical worship is structured around congregational hymns, known as chorales, which are
specific to each Sunday service.
 The church cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach were mostly written for the Lutheran church service;
they are multimovement works with solo arias, recitatives, and choruses, all with orchestral accompa
niment.
 Bach’s cantata Wachet auf (Sleepers, Awake) is based on a well-known Lutheran chorale tune.

THE LUTHERAN CHORALE AND CANTATA

Luther and his followers created weekly hymns (known as chorales) for their congreg
ations to sing by composing (or sometimes recycling) simple and memorable melodie
s, and then writing German poetry in multiple stanzas that translated and/or interprete
d passages in the Bible. Congregational singing of a specific chorale
page101

was (and still is) integrated into each weekly Lutheran service, along with the Gospel reading, prayers, a
nd a sermon.

In these hymns, sung in unison by the congregation and in four-

part harmony by the professional choir, the melody was in the soprano, where all coul
d hear it and join in the singing. In this way, the chorales greatly strengthened the tren
d toward clear-cut melody supported by chords (homophonic texture).
Arrangements of chorales gradually expanded, so that instead of using every stanza
of the chorale the same way, musicians and poets began to substitute some inner stanz
as with new poetry, further elaborating their message. The resulting elaboration-of-
chorale, a sort of musical sermon on the original hymn, is what we now call the Luthe
ran cantata.

BACH AND THE LUTHERAN CANTATA

In His Own Words

As Cantor of the St. Thomas School … I shall set the boys a shining example … serve the s
chool industriously … bring the music in both the principal churches of this town into good estate …
faithfully instruct the boys not only in vocal but also in instrumental music … arrange the music so th
at it shall not last too long, and shall … not make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listener
s to devotion.‖
—J. S. Bach

Raised to serve Lutheran worship in his role as a professional musician, Johann Sebast
ian Bach was deeply familiar both with chorales and with the ways they could be elab
orated. In his time, the cantata was an integral part of the church service, related, alon
g with the sermon and prayers that followed it, to the Gospel reading
page102

for the day. Most Sundays of the church year required their own cantata, as did holidays and special occ
asions. Bach composed four or five such yearly cycles, from which only about two hundred works surviv
e.

Bach’s cantatas typically include five to eight movements, of which the first, last, a
nd usually one middle movement are full-ensemble numbers—
normally fashioned from the chorale tune—
ranging from simple hymnlike settings to intricate fugues. Interspersed with the ensem
bles are solo or duet arias and recitatives, some of which may also retain the chorale
melody or its text, or set new poetry that expands on the theme of the chorale.

Johann Sebastian Bach (168 5 –1750)

Bach is the culminating figure of the Baroque style and one of the giants in the history
of music. Born at Eisenach, Germany, he was raised a Lutheran and followed the fam
ily vocation of organist. At the age of twenty-
three, he was appointed to his first important position: court organist and chamber mu
sician to the duke of Weimar. During his Weimar period (1708–
17), Bach’s fame as organ virtuoso spread, and he wrote many of his most important
works for that instrument.
From 1717 to 1723, he served as composer for the prince of Anhalt-
Cöthen, where he produced suites, concertos, sonatas for various instruments, and a w
ealth of keyboard music. Bach’s two marriages produced at least nineteen offspring,
many of whom did not survive infancy; four of his sons became leading composers of
the next generation.
Bach was thirty-
eight when he was appointed to one of the most important music positions in German
y: cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. His duties were formidable (see quote on p
. 102). He supervised the music for the city’s four main churches, selected and trained
their choristers, and wrote music for the daily services. He also served as director of th
e collegium musicum, a group of university students and musicians that gave regular
concerts. In the midst of all this activity, Bach managed to produce truly magnificent
works during his twenty-seven years in Leipzig (1723–50).
Two hundred or so church cantatas, the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and the
epic Mass in B Minor form the centerpiece of Bach’s religious music, constituting a p
ersonal document of spirituality. Best known in his lifetime as an organist, Bach wrote
organ compositions in both improvisatory and strict forms. His most important keybo
ard works are The Well-Tempered Clavier, forty-
eight preludes and fugues in two volumes, and his last masterwork, The Art of Fugue (
Chapter 24). His orchestral music includes four suites of dance movements and the oft
en-
performed Brandenburg Concertos. Bach raised existing forms to the highest level rat
her than originating new forms. His mastery of contrapuntal composition, especially f
ugal writing, has never been equaled.

MAJOR WORKS: Sacred vocal music (over 200 church cantatas, four Passions, and
the Mass in B Minor, 1749) • Orchestral music (four suites)
• Concertos (including six Brandenburg Concertos)
• Solo sonatas and keyboard music (The Well-Tempered Clavier, The Art of Fugue)
• Organ works, including the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Wachet auf (Sleepers, Awake)

Bach wrote his cantata Wachet auf (LG 8) in 1731, for the end of the church year. The
reading of the Gospel for this church feast is the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virg
ins, in which the watchmen sound a call on the city wall above Jerusalem to the wise v
irgins to meet the arriving bridegroom (Christ). The biblical text (Matthew 25:1–
3) clearly urges all Lutherans to prepare themselves spiritually for the second coming
of Christ.
Bach builds his ―musical sermon‖ on a hymn by Philipp Nicolai (1599), using its tu
ne in three of the cantata’s seven movements. The chorale is in a standard three-
part structure known as bar form (A-A-
B), in which the first section (A) is repeated with new words, and the second section (
B) is rounded off with the same closing phrase as the first. The first movement is a gra
nd chorale fantasia that features a majestic, marchlike motive signaling the arrival of
Christ and an instrumental refrain that recurs between the vocal statements of the chor
ale. The fourth movement presents a unison chorale sung by the tenors against the wat
chman’s memorable countermelody.
The whole cantata reveals Bach’s deep-
rooted faith and his ability to communicate a meaningful spiritual message. The tune
would still be resonating in the ears of the congregation as they sang the unison hymn
later in the service, thereby deepening their appreciation for the words of the day’s ser
mon.
 Reflect
How do you hear the two simultaneous melodies in the fourth movement now, afte
r reading about Bach’s plan in this cantata and his use of a well-
known chorale tune? How would the Lutheran congregation of Bach’s day have un
derstood these two melodies? On which tune do you think they might have focused
their attention?
page103

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Find recordings of a sacred song or hymn that has been reused/elaborated by musicians from differe
nt traditions (African American spirituals might be a good resource; for example, Motherless Child,
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, or Amazing Grace). How are different meanings of the song highlighted
through different performances? Which ones do you think are more effective, and why?

LISTENING GUIDE 8 HI DE L H 10:19

Bach: Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf (Sleepers, Awake), Nos.

1 and 4
DATE: 1731, performed in Leipzig
BASIS: Chorale (three stanzas) by Philipp Nicolai, in movements 1, 4, and 7
OVERVIEW: 1. Chorale fantasia (stanza 1), E-flat major
2. Tenor recitative (freely composed), C minor
3. Aria: Soprano/bass duet (freely composed), C minor
4. Unison chorale (stanza 2), E-flat major
5. Bass recitative (freely composed), E-flat to B-flat major
6. Aria: Soprano/bass duet (freely composed), B-flat major
7. Chorale (stanza 3), E-flat major
Chorale tune (A section)


1. Chorale fantasia (chorus and orchestra) 6:06


What to Listen For

Sopranos have slow-
Melody moving chorale melody; opening rising line = watchmen’s motive; long melism
 a on ―Alleluja.‖
L Rhythm/meter Insistent dotted rhythm in orchestra, begun in ritornello 1.
Uplifting major key (E-flat).
Harmony

H Form
Texture
Three-part bar form (A-A-B), based on the chorale tune structure.
Alternation between instrument groups; complex, imitative polyphony in lower
voices.
Four-
Performing for part choir (SATB), with strings, double reeds, horn, bassoon, organ, violino pic
ces colo.
Text Music depicts the text (watchmen, wake-up call), by Philipp Nicolai.
page104 Ritornello 1, march-
like dotted rhythm, alternating between violins and oboes:
0:00

A section
0:29 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme Awake! The voice of the
der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne, watchmen calls us from high
auf der Zinne, on the tower,
wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem! Awake, town of Jerusalem!
1:32 Ritornello 2.
A section repeated (new text)
2:00 Mitternacht heisst diese Stunde, Midnight is this very hour;
sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde: they call to us with bright voices:
Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen? where are you, wise virgins?
3:04 Ritornello 3.
B section
3:24 Wohl auf, der Bräut’gam kommt, Take cheer, the bridegroom comes,
steht auf, die Lampen nehmt! Arise, take up your lamps!
Alleluja! Alleluia!
Macht euch bereit, Prepare yourselves
zu der Hochzeit, for the wedding,
Ihr müsset ihm entgegengehn! You must go forth to meet him.
5:32 Ritornello 4.

4. Unison chorale 4:13


What to Listen For

Melody Tenors sing chorale melody in unison, set against moving countermelody in strings.

L Harmony
Form
Bright major key (E-flat).
Three-part bar form (A-A-B), with instrumental ritornellos between vocal sections.
Slow-moving vocal line; faster strings and ―walking‖ bass line.
H Texture
0:00 Ritornello 1.
0:41 A section
Zion hört die Wächter singen, Zion hears the watchmen singing,
das Herz tut ihr vor Freuden springen, for joy her very heart is springing,
sie wachet und steht eilend auf. she wakes and rises hastily.
1:11 Ritornello 2.
page105 A section (new text)
1:50

Ihr Freund kommt vom Himmel prächtig, From resplendent heaven comes her friend,
von Gnaden stark, von Wahrheit mächtig, strong in grace, mighty in truth,
ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf. her light shines bright, her star ascends.
2:20 Ritornello 3.
2:47 B section
Nun komm du werte Kron, Now come, you worthy crown,
Herr Jesu, Gottes Sohn. Lord Jesus, God’s own son.
Hosiana! Hosanna!
3:08 Ritornello 4 (in minor).
3:29 B section (continues)
Wir folgen all We follow all
zum Freudensaal to the joyful hall
und halten mit das Abendmahl. and share the Lord’s supper.
Chorale tune in tenors set against countermelody in strings:

page106

CHAPTER

2
0 Textures of Worship: Handel and
the English Oratorio

What the English lik e is something they can beat time to, something that hits them st
raight on the drum of the ea r.”
 —George Frideric Handel

First, listen …
to the famous chorus ―Hallelujah!‖ from Handel’s Messiah, focusing on how the v
oices interact with each other and with the instruments. How does the composer e
mphasize the words through the musical texture, and how does he vary the way the
y are delivered?
 Saint Philip Neri (1515–1595) promoted congregational singing in the oratory (prayer room) of the church.

M ost of the music composed in Europe before the later 1700s enjoyed

only a short arc of success: even the most highly esteemed works and composers fell i
nto obscurity within one or two generations. George Frideric Handel’s oratorios, and i
n particular Messiah, broke that trend: from their beginnings more than two and a half
centuries ago, they have been performed continuously. Today, even small North Amer
ican towns will feature a performance of Messiah every year as a staple of Christmasti
me celebrations; and larger urban centers often offer several performances, some incor
porating audience sing-along during the most-
loved choruses. The success of these works comes in part from their fitting the nationa
l mood during a time of British self-
confidence, and in part from Handel’s ingenuity in combining some of the most effect
ive musical resources of his day as he invented an entirely new genre, the English orat
orio. From their beginnings, Handel’s oratorios have marked the meeting place of com
munity worship with the grandeur and glory of power—political, sacred, and musical.

KEY POINTS

 The oratorio is a large-

scale dramatic genre with a sacred text performed by solo voices, chorus, and orchestra; it is not stag
ed or costumed.
 Originally conceived to put forth the message of the Catholic Church, the oratorio bears many similar
ities to opera.
 George Frideric Handel built his career as a composer of Italian-
style opera; later in life, he invented the English oratorio, combining elements of Italian and English
musical style.
 Handel’s oratorios (including Messiah) have remained popular ever since the composer’s day.
THE ORATORIO
The oratorio, one of the great Baroque sacred vocal forms, descended from the religi
ous play-with-music of the Counter-
Reformation. It took its name from the Italian word for ―place of prayer,‖ and early or
atorios were sponsored by the
page107
Catholic Church in public meeting places as ways to convey its messages about faith to as wide a
n audience as possible. A large-
scale musical work for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, the oratorio was generally based on a b
iblical story and performed without scenery, costumes, or acting. The action was sometimes depi
cted with the help of a narrator, but in other ways oratorio was very much like opera on a religiou
s theme—
on purpose, since the Catholic Church wanted to propose oratorio as a more moral alternative to
opera. Like operas, oratorios unfolded as a series of recitatives and arias, with duets, trios, and ch
oruses.

In His Own Words

My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better.‖
—Remark made by Handel after a performance of Messiah

Handel had become familiar with the Catholic oratorio during his musical study in I
taly. After successfully becoming the leading producer of Italian opera in England, he
decided to diversify his musical efforts. Unlike most musical genres, the first English
oratorios can actually be determined, since Handel invented the genre by combining el
ements of Italian opera (and Catholic oratorio) with a grand choral style that had been
associated with the English monarchy. And unlike the Catholic oratorio, the text (calle
d libretto, as in opera) was written by trusted poets rather than by religious leaders. Ju
st as important, English oratorios were not sponsored officially by the church: they we
re an entrepreneurial venture by Handel and his collaborators, designed to turn a profit
.
Handel’s oratorios quickly became popular: not only was the music grand and inspir
ing while still being memorable and singable, but the religious stories about a ―chosen
people‖ (most Handel oratorios tell Old Testament stories) were very
 page108
appealing to an English public that saw economic expansion into its colonies as an indication of
divine blessing. By a few decades after Handel’s death, oratorio performances featuring hundred
s of singers and instrumentalists (see illustration at left)—
many times more than the composer would ever have envisioned—
had become common. As the British Empire grew, and with it an increasing interest in choral sin
ging throughout the English-
speaking world, Handel’s oratorios followed the empire’s expansion.

George Frideric Handel (1685 –1759)

If Bach represents the spirituality of the late Baroque, Handel embodies its worldlines
s. Born in the same year, the two giants of the age never met.
Handel was born in Halle, Germany, and attended the University of Halle. He then
moved to Hamburg, where he played violin in the opera house orchestra and absorbed
the Italian operatic style popular at the time. In 1706, he traveled to Italy, where he co
mposed his first sacred works and Italian operas. Six years later, he settled permanentl
y in London, where his opera Rinaldo had conquered the English public the year befor
e.
Handel’s great opportunity came in 1720 with the founding of the Royal Academy
of Music, launched for the purpose of presenting Italian opera. For the next eight year
s, he was active in producing and directing his operas as well as writing them. When t
he Italian style fell out of favor, he turned from opera to oratorio, quickly realizing the
advantages offered by a genre that dispensed with costly foreign singers and lavish sc
enery. Among his greatest achievements in this new genre were Messiah and Judas M
accabaeus. Shortly after his seventy-
fourth birthday, Handel collapsed in the theater at the end of a performance of Messia
h and died some days later. The nation he had served for half a century accorded him i
ts highest honor: a burial at Westminster Abbey.
Handel’s rhythm has the powerful drive of the late Baroque. His melodies, rich in e
xpression, rise and fall in great majestic arches. And with his roots in the world of the
theater, Handel knew how to use tone color for atmosphere and dramatic expression.
His more than forty operas tell stories of heroes and adventurers in ingenious musical
settings, with arias that run the gamut from brilliant virtuosic displays to poignant love
songs. His most important instrumental works are the concertos and two memorable o
rchestral suites, the Water Music (1717; see Chapter 22) and Music for the Royal Fire
works (1749).

MAJOR WORKS: Over 40 Italian operas (including Rinaldo and Julius Caesar)
• English oratorios (including Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabeus, and Messiah)
• Other vocal music • Orchestral suites, including Music for the Royal Fireworks and
Water Music • Keyboard and chamber music.

Messiah
London’s Westminster Abbey is packed for this Handel performance on the centenary of his birth, as depicted by Ed
ward Edwards (1738–1806).

In the spring of 1742, the city of Dublin witnessed the premiere of what became one o
f the English-speaking world’s best-
loved works, Handel’s Messiah (LG 9). The composer was reputed to have written the
oratorio in only twenty-
four days, working as if possessed. The story circulated of his servant finding him, aft
er the completion of the ―Hallelujah Chorus,‖ with tears in his eyes.
―I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the Great God Himself!‖ he reportedl
y said. Such stories about divine inspiration and the genius composer’s ability to creat
e in an almost superhuman fashion helped to build the reputation of Messiah and orato
rios like it.
The libretto is a compilation of biblical verses from the Old and New Testaments, s
et in three parts. The first part (the Christmas section) relates the prophecy of the comi
ng of Christ and his birth; the second (the Easter section), his suffering, death, and the
spread of his doctrine; and the third, the redemption of the world through faith. The or
chestration features mainly strings; oboes and bassoons strengthen the choral parts, an
d trumpets and drums are reserved for special numbers.
The lovely soprano aria ―Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion‖ is in three-part, or A-
B-
A′, form. In this type of da capo aria, the composer usually did not write out the third
part (A′), since it duplicated the first, allowing the star singer the opportunity to orna
ment or elaborate the third part on the fly, a crowd-
pleasing device in both opera and oratorio. For ―Rejoice greatly,‖ though, Handel did
write out the last section, varying it considerably from the first. This may have been p
artly because he liked having as much control as possible over the expressive shape of
the music, rather than leaving too many choices up to his performers. It may also hav
e had to do with the fact that some of the first English oratorio performers were less sk
illed (especially in improvisation) than their Italian operatic counterparts, so Handel m
ay have thought it prudent to give his singer as detailed a set of instructions as possibl
e.
At the beginning of this aria, violins introduce an energetic figure that will soon be t
aken up by the voice. Notable are the melismatic passages on the word ―rejoice.‖ Thro
ughout, the instruments exchange motives with the voice and help provide an element
of unity with the ritornellos, or instrumental refrains, that bring back certain passages
.
The climax of Messiah comes at the close of the second part, the Easter section, wit
h the familiar ―Hallelujah Chorus.‖ In this movement, we hear shifting textures in whi
ch the voices and text overlap and then come together to clearly declaim the text. Han
del’s extraordinary ability to combine tuneful melodies and intriguing textures with str
iking homorhythmic passages is most evident in this beloved chorus.
pa ge 109

Reflect
How do the homorhythmic and imitative textures in this chorus affect how you hea
r the words? Do you always know which voice part is dominant? How does Handel
use texture as an expressive device?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Find a recording of a contemporary setting of a sacred text. How have the composer and performers
chosen to use texture and other musical devices to bring out the spiritual aspects of the words that th
ey, or their communities, find most important? Is the music designed to encourage participation by t
he community for which it has been designed, or is the expressive power left up to trained specialist
s?

LISTENING GUIDE 9 HI DE
L H 7:48

Handel: Messiah, Nos. 18 and 44

 DATE: 1742
GENRE: Oratorio, in three parts
PARTS: I: Christmas section
II: Easter section
III: Redemption section

Part I: Christmas Section / 18. Soprano aria, “Rejoice greatly” 4:1

5
What to Listen For
Melod Lyrical lines, with a long melisma on ―rejoice‖; slower second part begins in a min
y or key.
Three part (da capo, A-B-
Form
L A′), with shortened last section; instrumental introduction (ritornello).

H
0:00 Instrumental ritornello. Vocal theme presented in violins in B-flat major.
A section
0:16 Rejoice greatly, Disjunct rising line, melismas on ―rejoice‖;
O daughter of Zion melody exchanged between soprano and violin.
shout, O daughter of Jerusalem,
behold, thy King cometh unto thee. Syncopated, choppy melody, ends in F major.
Instrumental ritornello.
B section
1:30 He is the righteous Saviour and he shall Begins in G minor, slower and lyrical;
speak peace unto the heathen. modulates to B-flat major.
page110
A′ section
2:33 Rejoice greatly … After an abridged ritornello, new melodic elaborations;
longer melismas on ―rejoice.‖
Extended melisma on ―rejoice‖ from the A′ section:


Part II: Easter Section / 44. “Hallelujah Chorus” 3:3

3
What to Listen For
Varies from homorhythmic (all voices together) to imitative polyphony; fugal tr
Texture eatment, with overlapping voices.
Expression Varied dynamics for dramatic effect.

L Performing
forces
SATB chorus, with voices in alternation, accompanied by orchestra.
H
0:00 Short instrumental introduction.
Hallelujah! Four voices, homorhythmic at the opening.
0:24 For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Textural reductions, leading to imitation and overlapping of text; build
1:12 The kingdom of this world Homorhythmic treatment, simple accompaniment.
is become the Kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ;
1:29 and He shall reign for ever and ever. Imitative polyphony, voices build from lowest to highest.
1:51 King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Women’s voices introduce the text, punctuated by ―Hallelujah‖;
Hallelujah! closes in homorhythmic setting with trumpets and timpani.
Opening of chorus, in homorhythmic style:

page111

CHAPTE
R

2 Independent Study: Billings and th

1 e North American Sacred Traditio

n

I do n’t think myself confined to any Rules f or Composition laid down by any that we
nt bef ore me … in f act I think it best f or every composer to be his own carver.”
—William Billings

First, listen …
 to the first minute of David’s Lamentation, by William Billings. Try singing along
with the melody. How easy or hard is it to match the tune? Can you tell where in t
he four-voice texture (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) the melody lies?

E ven as we’ve come to rely more and more on sound recordings rather tha

n live performance for our musical entertainment, the opportunities and resources for
studying music have multiplied. Most towns have at least one community music scho
ol, hundreds of books and CDs are available to provide music lessons, and thousands
of YouTube videos offer demonstrations (some more skillful than others) of performa
nce on every imaginable instrument. Basic musical literacy in North America is comp
aratively high, thanks to a long tradition of both formal and informal music teaching (
especially self-study).

KEY POINTS

 Colonists in New England took part in congregational hymn singing, which often involved a call-
and-response practice called lining-out.
 Some congregations later fostered choirs that developed more elaborate, notation-
based singing traditions.
 By the end of the 1700s, a tradition of singing schools had developed in North America: William Bill
ings’s anthem David’s Lamentation is an example of a work composed for congregational singing.

FROM ―LINING-
OUT‖ TO SINGING SCHOOLS
The Calvinist-inspired Pilgrims and Puritans in seventeenth-
century New England used a system called lining-
out for their psalm singing in church: a leader sang each line of a psalm, and the congr
egation repeated it in turn. In communities that could not afford a psalm book for each
church member, everyone could learn the melody and text this way, and could partici
pate equally in the musical worship. The intent of lining-
out was to create monophonic, unison singing by the repeating congregation; more oft
en than not, however, individuals modified the melody slightly when singing it back, t
o suit their interpretation of the text. This resulted in a complex
page112
texture, with many people singing slight variants of the same melody simultaneously.
The frontispiece to Billings’s New England Psalm-
Singer (1770), depicting singers around a table performing a canon for six voices, with a ground-bass part.
 Church leaders, unhappy with the rather ―sloppy‖ musical effects of this oral traditi
on, also complained that the practice had discouraged congregants from learning to re
ad music, which they considered to be an important part of literacy for a good Christia
n. By the 1720s, leaders were encouraging people to read actual music notation rather
than repeat a leader’s melodies. While many congregations continued the practice of li
ning-
out, others sponsored ―singing schools‖ that were designed to teach a congregation the
basics of notation and theory. Along with these schools came the need for both printe
d instructional materials and local individuals able to lead them. Thus, the first opport
unities arose for musicians born in North America to teach music at least semi-
professionally. And a growing musically literate public began to express an interest in
singing music that was more complex than monophonic psalms, which meant that so
me choirs embraced polyphonic singing in church—
a move considered scandalous by more conservative Puritan leaders. By the time of th
e Revolutionary War, some of the polyphonic repertory was composed by American c
omposers—the most famous of which was a friend of Paul Revere, William Billings.

Billings and The New England Psalm-Singer

Billings’s New England Psalm-

Singer (1770) was a collection of his own compositions, a significant departure from t
he reliance on British arrangements previously published in the colonies. In the introd
uction to the book, Billings discussed the basics of music notation and theory (especia
lly useful for singing schools) and his own method of composition—
which was original and not bound by the rules of the European tradition he had inherit
ed (see the quote that begins this chapter). This style consisted mostly of simple homo
phonic textures, often with the melody in the tenor line rather than the soprano, and an
occasional simple passage of imitation to give the singers an opportunity to interact in
a slightly more complex way.
William Billings (1746 –1800)

Billings, likely a self-

taught musician, practiced a number of other trades, especially leather tanning; he also
held some minor public posts in the city of Boston. He taught at singing schools in th
e Boston area for most of his life, and his musical publications quickly became popula
r partly because they rode the wave of the movement for independence from England:
a number of his songs mixed sacred texts with political references. Billings had close
connections to the radical elements of the independence movement in Boston: not onl
y did Paul Revere engrave the frontispiece for the composer’s New England Psalm-
Singer (see illustration above), but one of the movement’s foremost leaders, Samuel A
dams, was a good friend. While Billings was less financially successful in his later yea
rs and died in poverty, he was viewed in his own lifetime and in the early years of the
Republic as an iconic figure, embodying in his music the scrappy self-
sufficiency of an emerging nation.

MAJOR WORKS: Over 340 works for use in singing schools and churches • Six pri
mary collections: The New England Psalm-
Singer (Boston, 1770); The Singing Master’s Assistant (Boston, 1778); Music in Mini
ature (Boston, 1779); The Psalm-
Singer’s Amusement (Boston, 1781); The Suffolk Harmony (Boston, 1786); The Conti
nental Harmony (Boston, 1794).
page113


LISTENING GUIDE 10 HI DE L 
H 1:48

Billings: David’s Lamentation

DATE: Published 1778
GENRE: Anthem

What to Listen For

Melody Mostly stepwise, moving through various voices.
Rhythm/meter Duple meter, regular rhythmic patterns.
Harmony Consonant.
Texture Homorhythmic, four- part chorus, with solos and duets.
Form A-B-B.
Expression Simple declamation of spiritualism.
Performing forces SATB voices.
Text Paraphrase of 2 Samuel 18:33.
TEXT DESCRIPTION
0:00 David, the king, was grieved an Homorhythmic, four voices, mostly syllabic, a littl
d moved, e text repetition.
0:09 He went to his chamber and we
pt;
0:18 And as he went, he wept, and s Bass solo, monophonic, syllabic.
aid:
0:26 ―O my son! O my son! Homorhythmic, four voices.
0:36 Would to God I had died Text repeated three times: tenor-
bass duet, soprano-bass duet,
four voices in homorhythm.
0:49 For thee, O Absalom, my son!‖ Ending is homorhythmic.
1:01 And as he went … Choir repeats text.
Opening of the soprano part, with shape-note notation (for easy music reading):

David’s Lamentation

In His Own Words

[My new compositions have] more than twenty times the power of the old slow tunes.‖
—William Billings

One of Billings’s most famous works is David’s Lamentation (LG 10), first published
in 1778. The text is a paraphrase of the biblical passage describing the sorrow of King
David when he discovered that his son Absalom had been killed (2 Samuel 18:33). It
is a poignant moment—
Absalom had rebelled against his father, and yet David could not bring himself to puni
sh him. This anthem was designed for
page114
sacred congregational singing; its text is a single stanza, though the second section is repeated, re
sulting in an A-B-
B form. The first section features homophony in all voices; the second begins with a short solo b
y the bass before a return to the full ensemble in homophony; and then a quasi-
imitative passage passes a short musical idea among voice pairs before a final homophonic close.
There is enough variety in this short setting to make things interesting for each voice part, but no
t so much textural complexity that amateur singers would be overly challenged.
Billings’s music helped to cement a nationwide commitment to musical literacy that
made it possible for the North American music industry to find a steady market as it b
lossomed in the 1800s. We have him to thank, in part, for the institutional importance
of music in our lives today, as well as for the model of musical self-
reliance that we can find in every town and every corner of the Internet.

Reflect
Consider how the circumstances and purpose of Billings’s vocal music might help
account for its ―singer-
friendly‖ nature. How would you compare the ease of singing and expressive effec
t of this anthem’s melody with other sacred music we’ve encountered?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Consider how a person might learn to read music today. Look online for free sites that offer basic m
usic-
reading lessons, and choose a couple to compare. If you can already read music, consider the differe
nces between online methods and the way you learned. Are there aspects of notation that you think t
hey discuss more or less clearly? If you don’t yet read music, try a couple of basic lessons from each
site. How are the approaches similar and different, what makes them more or less helpful?

page115
Grace and Grandeur: The Baroqu
CHAPTER e Dance Suite
 2
2
To enj oy the effects of music f ully, we must completely lose ourselves in it.”
—Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)

First, listen …
to the hornpipe movement from Handel’s Water Music, and pay special attention t
o the meter. Can you determine the pattern of the beats? Does the quick tempo ma
ke it easier or more difficult to follow the meter? What about the change in instru
mentation?

T echnology has always played a crucial role in the development of music.

We have already encountered notational technologies (handwriting and print) that wer
e essential to preserving and transmitting musical ideas. We now consider more closel
y the technologies of sound production: how musicians and craftspeople collaborated t
o imagine and manufacture increasingly sophisticated musical instruments.
 KEY POINTS

 In the Baroque era, instruments were greatly improved and featured in several large-
scale genres, including the suite (a collection of dances).
 Dances in a suite, usually all in the same key, are in binary form (A-A-B-B) or ternary form (A-B-A).
 Handel’s best-known orchestral suites are Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Though humans have been involved in this creative practice since before recorded h
istory, it was during the Baroque era that the Western tradition developed a remarkabl
e focus on instruments and music written for them—
a focus that eventually became the central feature of Western concert music in the foll
owing century. This flowering of instrumental music was encouraged by wealthy patr
ons who were eager to invest money and resources in magnificent displays. Since that
time, elaborate instrumental music has often been used to convey grandeur on special
occasions; most likely every time you have witnessed a grand celebration, it has been
enhanced by graceful and powerful soundscapes made possible by the evolving techn
ology of musical instruments.

BAROQUE INSTRUMENTS
St. Cecilia, patroness of musicians, plays a Baroque violin in this painting by Guido Reni (1575–
1642). There is no chin rest, so she plays it braced against her shoulder; her grip on the bow also differs from that of
modern players.

The seventeenth century saw a dramatic improvement in the construction of string inst
ruments. Some of the finest violins ever built came from the North Italian
page116

workshops of Stradivarius, Guarneri, and Amati: to this day musicians seek them out, and pay millions of
dollars for the best-
made exemplars. The strings were made of gut rather than the steel used today. Gut, produced from ani
mal intestines, yielded a softer yet more penetrating sound. In general, the string instruments of the Bar
oque resemble their modern descendants except for certain details of construction. Playing techniques,
though, have changed somewhat, especially bowing.

While woodwind instruments were used primarily for loud outdoor events through t
he 1600s, in the late Baroque composers prized such instruments increasingly for colo
r as builders expanded their range and subtlety. The penetrating timbres of the recorde
r, flute, and oboe, all made of wood at the time, were especially effective in suggestin
g pastoral scenes, while the bassoon cast a somber tone.
The trumpet developed from an instrument used for military signals to one with a so
lo role in the orchestra. It was still a ―natural instrument‖—
that is, without the valves that would enable it to play in all keys—
demanding real virtuosity on the part of the player. Trumpets contributed a bright son
ority to the orchestral palette, to which the French horns, also natural instruments, add
ed a mellow, huntlike sound. Timpani were occasionally added, furnishing a bass to th
e trumpets.
In recent years, a new drive for authenticity has made the sounds of eighteenth-
century instruments familiar to us. Recorders and wooden flutes, restored violins with
gut strings, and mellow-
toned, valveless brass instruments are being played again, so that the Baroque orchestr
a has recovered not only its smaller scale but also its transparent tone quality.

THE BAROQUE SUITE

One of the most important instrumental genres of the Baroque was the suite, a group o
f short dances performed by the diverse array of instruments just described. It was a n
atural outgrowth of earlier traditions, which paired dances of contrasting tempos and c
haracter.
The suite’s galaxy of dance types, providing contrasting moods but all in the same k
ey, could include the German allemande, the French courante, the Spanish saraband
e, and the English jig (gigue), as well as a minuet, gavotte, lively bourrée or passepi
ed, or jaunty hornpipe. Some dances were of peasant origin, bringing a touch of earth
iness to their more formal surroundings. The suite sometimes opened with an overture
, and might include other brief pieces with descriptive titles reflecting their origin in c
horeographed theatrical dance.
Each piece in the Baroque suite was set either in binary form, consisting of two sec
tions of approximately equal length, each rounded off by a cadence and each repeated
(A-A-B-B); or in ternary form (A-B-
A), which we will hear in the selection from Handel’s Water Music. In both structures
, the A part usually moves from
page117
the home key (tonic) to a contrasting key (dominant), while the B part makes the corresponding
move back. The two sections often share closely related melodic material. The form is easy to he
ar because of the modulation and the full stop at the end of each part.
The principle of combining dances into a suite could be applied to solo instrumental
music (notably for harpsichord or solo violin) and to chamber ensembles, as well as t
o orchestral forces. It was an important precedent to the multimovement cycle that late
r became standard in Classical instrumental music.

Handel and the Orchestral Suite

Two orchestral suites by Handel, the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks,
are memorable contributions to the genre. The Water Music was played (although pro
bably not first composed) for a royal party on the Thames River in London on July 17,
1717. Two days later, the Daily Courant reported:
On Wednesday Evening, at about 8, the King took Water at Whitehall in an open B
arge,
… and went up the River towards Chelsea. Many other Barges with Persons of Qua
lity attended, and so great a Number of Boats, that the whole River in a manner was
cover’d; a City Company’s Barge was employ’d for the Musick, wherein were 50 I
nstruments of all sorts, who play’d all the Way from Lambeth … the finest Sympho
nies, compos’d express for this Occasion, by Mr. Handel; which his Majesty liked s
o well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times in going and returning.
A royal sortie on the Thames River in London, similar to the Water Music party, as depicted by Giovanni Antonio
Canal (Canaletto) (1697–1768).

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
LISTENING GUIDE 11 HI DE L 
H 2:50

Handel: Water Music, Suite in D Major, Alla hornpipe

DATE: 1717 (first performance)
 GENRE: Dance suite
MOVEMENTS: Allegro Lentement
Alla hornpipe Bourrée
Minuet
Second movement: Alla hornpipe, D major

What to Listen For

Ascending line with leaps and trills; the second section has a descending minor-
Melody scale melody.
Rhythm/ Triple meter in a quick tempo.
meter
Form Three-part (A-B-A).
Timbre Instrument groups exchange motivic ideas.
0:00 A section—
disjunct theme in strings and double reeds, with trills, later answered by trumpets and Fre
nch horns; in D major, at a moderate, spritely tempo:

Continued alternation of motives between brass and strings.

0:55 B section—strings and woodwinds only (no brass); fast-
moving string part with syncopated winds; in B minor:

1:46 A section—repeat of entire first section; ends in D major.

The conditions of an outdoor performance, in which the music would have to contend
with the breeze on the river, birdcalls, and similar noises, prompted Handel to create
music that was marked by lively rhythms and catchy melodies.
page119
Detail of a 1740 orchestra concert, with natural horns (left), strings, and harpsichord.

The Water Music’s Suite in D Major opens with a majestic three-

part Allegro that sounds a fanfare in the trumpets, answered by the French horns and s
trings. One of the most recognized dances from the Water Music is the hornpipe from
this suite (LG 11). Its sprightly opening theme features decorative trills in the strings
and woodwinds, answered by regal brass and timpani; this is followed by a more refle
ctive B section set in a minor key. The return of A completes the ternary form.
More than two and a half centuries after it was written, Handel’s Water Music is stil
l a favorite with the public, indoors or out. We need to hear only a few measures to un
derstand why, since it is a perfect example of using technology (the latest instruments)
for the most marvelous result possible.

Reflect
Based on Handel’s movement, what would you say is the character of a hornpipe d
ance? How does it differ from other types of dances you know? How does Handel
vary the expression while keeping a constant meter and tempo?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Find a performance of a band playing a march—
the marches by John Philip Sousa are a great example of the genre. How do the changing timbres of
the various instrument combinations compare with the timbres of Handel’s hornpipe? How does the
structure of the march resemble and differ from the ternary form of the hornpipe? Why do you think
these similarities and differences exist?
page120

CHAPTER

2
3 Sounding Spring: Vivaldi and the
Baroque Concerto

[His playin g] terrified me … he came with his f ingers within a mere grass-
stalk ’s breadth of the bridge, so that the bow had no roo m—
and this on all f our strings with imitations and at incredible speed.”
—A contemporary musician describing Vivaldi’s violin technique

First, listen …
to the first movement from Vivaldi’s Spring concerto from The Four Seasons, focu
sing on the music that returns throughout. How does this repetitive device help yo
u follow the movement? How does Vivaldi provide contrast and variety?
 H ow can sound mean something independently of words? Many of us to

day automatically refer to musical works as ―songs,‖ but as we know, the term is reall
y only accurate when lyrics are involved. And one of the characteristics of the Wester
n tradition is the complexity of its independent instrumental music. Separated from th
e need to follow the meanings and patterns of text, instrumental music can create mea
ning just through patterns of sound. However, even as they explored purely musical w
ays of fashioning ―sound stories,‖ composers frequently called on written language to
help them, as well as their listeners, explore the possibilities for what music could mea
n. These explorations played out in especially interesting ways through the genre of th
e concerto.

KEY POINTS

 Baroque musicians developed the concerto, a genre that generally featured either a solo instrument o
r a small group of soloists set against a larger ensemble.
 First and last movements of concertos tended to follow a refrain-
based structure known as ritornello form.
 Antonio Vivaldi, a virtuoso violinist, composed The Four Seasons, a well-
loved set of solo violin concertos that exemplify program music.

THE BAROQUE CONCERTO

A concert by the girls of one of Venice’s famous ospedali, or orphanages, by Gabriele Bella (1730–
1799). Vivaldi taught music at the most prestigious of these institutions.

Contrast was as basic an element of Baroque music as unity. This twofold principle fo
und expression in the concerto, an instrumental genre based on the opposition betwee
n two dissimilar bodies of sound. The concerto contrasted one or more ―featured‖ instr
uments with a larger orchestral ensemble, an approach that lent itself to experiments i
n sonority and virtuoso playing. A concerto usually consisted of three movements, in t
he sequence Allegro–Adagio–
Allegro. The first and last movements tended to follow a loosely structured form base
d on the
page121
alternation between orchestral refrains and virtuosic outbursts by the soloist(s), which has taken
on the Italian name for ―refrain,‖ ritornello form. This flexible form prepared the way for the m
ore systematic structures in the concerto of the Classical and Romantic periods.
The concerto was first developed in the Italian peninsula in the late 1600s, but quick
ly spread north and was eagerly embraced by performers and patrons alike. J. S. Bach
took the concerto to a new and almost encyclopedic level in his six Brandenburg Con
certos. But of all the composers in the Baroque concerto tradition, Antonio Vivaldi wa
s the most famous and the most prolific.

Program Music: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

Vivaldi is in fact best remembered for his more than 500 concertos, about 230 of whic
h are for solo violin, some with descriptive titles. He was active during a period that w
as crucially important to a new style in which instruments were liberated from their ea
rlier dependence on vocal music. His novel use of rapid scale passages, extended arpe
ggios, and contrasting registers contributed decisively to the development of violin sty
le and technique. And he played a leading part in the history of the concerto, effectivel
y exploiting the contrast in sonority between large and small groups of players.
Vivaldi’s best-
known work is The Four Seasons, a group of four solo violin concertos, each named f
or a season. We have observed the fondness for word-
painting in Renaissance and Baroque vocal works, where the music is meant to portra
y the action and emotion described by the text. In The Four Seasons, Vivaldi applies t
his principle to instrumental music. While each concerto has an independent musical
page122
logic, it is also accompanied by a poem, describing the joys of that particular season. Each line of
the poem is printed above a certain passage in the score; the music at that point mirrors graphica
lly the action described. This literary link is called program music.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 –1741)

The son of a violinist, Vivaldi grew up in his native Venice. He was ordained in the ch
urch while in his twenties and became known as ―the red priest,‖ a reference to the col
or of his hair. For the greater part of his career, Vivaldi was maestro de’ concerti, or
music master, at the most important of the four music schools for which Venice was f
amous, the Conservatorio dell’Ospedale della Pietà. These schools were attached to ch
aritable institutions established for the upbringing of orphaned children—
mostly girls—
and played a vital role in the musical life of Venetians. Much of Vivaldi’s output was
written for concerts at the school, which attracted visitors from all over Europe.
One of the most prolific composers of his era, Vivaldi also wrote, in addition to his
many concertos, chamber music and operas as well as cantatas, an oratorio, and an ext
ended setting of the Gloria, which is today one of his most performed works. His life
came to a mysterious end: a contemporary Venetian account notes that the composer,
who had once earned 50,000 ducats in his day (about $4 million today), died in povert
y as a result of his extravagance.
MAJOR WORKS: Over 230 violin concertos, including Le quattro stagioni (The Fo
ur Seasons, c. 1725)
• Other solo, double, triple, and orchestral concertos • Sinfonias • Vocal music, includi
ng operas and oratorios, Mass movements, and a Magnificat.
In A Concert, by Leonello Spada (1576–1622), musicians play the theorbo (a long-
necked lute) and Baroque violin. A guitar sits on the table.

In the first movement of Spring (La primavera; LG 12), an Allegro in E major, both
poem and music evoke the birds’ joyous welcome to spring and the gentle murmur of
streams, followed by thunder and lightning. The image of birdcalls takes shape in stac
cato notes, trills, and running scales; a storm is portrayed by agitated repeated notes an
swered by quickly ascending minor-
key scales. Throughout, an orchestral ritornello (refrain) returns again and again (repr
esenting the general mood of spring) in alternation with the episodes, which often feat
ure the solo violin. Ultimately,
―the little birds take up again their melodious song‖ as we return to the home key. A fl
orid passage for the violin soloist leads to the final ritornello.
In the second movement, a Largo in 3/4, Vivaldi evokes the poetic image of a goath
erd who sleeps in a ―pleasant, flowery meadow‖ with his faithful dog by his side. Ove
r the bass line played by the violas, which sound an ostinato rhythm, he writes,
―The dog who barks.‖ In the finale, an Allegro marked ―Rustic Dance,‖ we can visuali
ze nymphs and shepherds cavorting in the fields as the music suggests the drone of ba
gpipes. Ritornellos and solo passages alternate in bringing the work to a happy conclu
sion.
Like Bach, Vivaldi was renowned in his day as a performer rather than a composer.
Today, he is recognized both as the ―father of the concerto,‖ having established ritorn
ello form as its basic procedure, and as a herald of musical Romanticism in his use of
pictorial imagery. In his compositions, we encounter an early attempt to empower inst
rumental music to create independent meanings apart from words and beyond the enh
ancement of dance.

Reflect
 How do the ritornellos (refrains) help you follow the story (the program) of Vivald
i’s concerto? If there were no story provided, could you make up your own to fit th
is music?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

With a classmate or two, find an example of instrumental music with a title that describes some plac
e or mood or activity. What specific elements of the music do you think were designed to convey tha
t image? Did you and your classmate come up with the same imagery? What might account for simil
arities and differences in your interpretation? Can you think of ways that the composer or performer
s might have made the image even more compelling or clear?
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
LISTENING GUIDE 12 HI DE L 
H 3:33

Vivaldi: Spring, from The Four Seasons (La primavera, fro

m Le quattro stagioni), I
DATE: Published 1725 (Op. 8, No. 1)
GENRE: Programmatic concerto for solo violin, based on an Italian sonnet:
No. 1: Spring (La primavera) No. 3: Autumn (L’autunno)
No. 2: Summer (L’estate) No. 4: Winter (L’inverno)
I. Allegro II. Largo
Joyful spring has arrived, And in the pleasant, flowery meadow,
the birds greet it with their cheerful song, to the gentle murmur of bushes and trees,
and the brooks in the gentle breezes the goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog at his side.
flow with a sweet murmur.
III. Allegro (Rustic Dance)
The sky is covered with a black mantle, To the festive sounds of a rustic bagpipe
and thunder and lightning announce a storm. nymphs and shepherds dance in their favorite spot
When they fall silent, the little birds when spring appears in its brilliance.
take up again their melodious song.
I: Allegro, E major

What to Listen For

Melody Flashy solo violin; fast scales and trills.
Form Ritornello acts as a unifying theme; alternates with contrasting episodes.
Timbre Distinctive sound of Baroque instruments.
Performing forces Solo violin with string orchestra and basso continuo (keyboard).
Expression Musical images from the poem (birds, brooks, breeze, storm).
Ritornello theme:

DESCRIPTION PROGRAM
0:00 Ritornello 1, in E major. Spring
0:32 Episode 1; solo violin with birdlike trills and high running scales, accompanied by violins. Birds
1:07 Ritornello 2. Spring
1:15 Episode 2; whispering figures like water flowing, played by orchestra. Murmuring brooks
1:39 Ritornello 3. Spring
1:47 Episode 3 modulates; solo violin with repeated notes, fast ascending minor-key scales, Thunder, lightning
accompanied by orchestra.
2:15 Ritornello 4, in the relative minor (C-sharp). Spring
2:24 Episode 4; trills and repeated notes in solo violin. Birds
2:43 Ritornello 5, returns to E major; brief solo passage interrupts.
3:12 Closing tutti (whole ensemble).

page124

CHAPTER

2
4 Process as Meaning: Bach and th
e Fugue

He, who possessed the most profound k nowledge of all the contrapuntal arts, unders
tood how to make art subservient to beauty.”
—Carl P hilipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), about his father, J. S. Bach
 First, listen …
to the first forty seconds of Bach’s Contrapunctus 1, a fugue; you’ll hear the main
theme of the fugue four times. How is it recognizably the same each time, and how
is it different? (Consider range as a primary difference.)

I nstrumental music, in several contemporary traditions, often includes a compo

nent of improvisation: musicians will elaborate counterpoint on the spot, drawing on e

stablished conventions as well as their own creative imagination. Without the distracti
on of words, the listener’s ear can focus on the shape and interaction of musical lines:
this interaction provides the music’s expressive resources and meaning. Thus, while s
ome counterpoint-based music can be understood as individual ―pieces‖
(which are always played the same way), counterpoint is also a process. And just like
today’s rock and jazz stars, the great composers of the past frequently improvised their
polyphonic processes, so that the performer-
composer and listener were more equal participants in the unfolding of meaning throu
gh sound.

KEY POINTS

 The organ and harpsichord were the main keyboard instruments of the Baroque era.
 Keyboard players improvised and created free-
form pieces called preludes or toccatas, followed by more structured works, such as fugues.
 The Art of Fugue is J. S. Bach’s last and most comprehensive example of contrapuntal writing.

KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS IN THE BARO

QUE ERA
Keyboard instruments, which are inherently suited to polyphonic performance, have b
een featured in Western music since the Middle Ages; in the 1600s, however, instrum
ents such as the organ and harpsichord reached a new level of refinement. These tec
hnological advances encouraged musicians to broaden their technique, and musicians’
experiments likewise spurred instrument builders to new heights.
A spectacular Baroque organ (1738) in St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Haarlem, The Netherlands.

The harpsichord differs from the modern piano in two important ways. First, its stri
ngs are plucked by quills rather than struck with hammers, and its tone
page125

cannot be sustained like that of the piano, a product of the early Classical era. Second, the pressure of th
e fingers on the keys can produce subtle dynamic nuances but not the piano’s extremes of loud and soft
(see illustration on p. 127).

German builders of the 1600s and 1700s created organs with various sets of pipes, e
ach with a sharply contrasting tone color, so that the ear could pick out the separate lin
es of counterpoint. The organ’s multiple keyboards made it possible to achieve terrace
d levels of soft and loud. J. S. Bach was a sought-after consultant to church-
organ builders, since he was renowned as an outstanding keyboard player. He was als
o famous for his ability to improvise at the organ or harpsichord—
and his improvisations ranged from relatively free-
form, with highly contrasting musical ideas and tempos (in what was often called a to
ccata or prelude), to a much more systematic working-
out of a single musical thought (generally labeled fugue). Bach wrote out a number of
his most successful improvisations, usually to serve as models for his students.
The toccata and prelude were designed to showcase the performer’s dexterity and w
ere often paired/contrasted with more systematically organized forms—
you may know Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which was the opening
music for Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia and has been heard in many films since. We
will focus on the more tightly structured form, the fugue, since it illustrates the Baroq
ue ideal of systematic elaboration of short musical ideas.

THE FUGUE AND ITS DEVICES

A fugue is a contrapuntal composition in which a single theme pervades the entire fab
ric, entering in one voice (or instrumental line) and then in another. The fugue, then, is
 based on the principle of imitation. Its main theme, the subject, constitutes the unifyi
ng idea, the focal point of interest in the contrapuntal web.
We have already encountered the fugue or fugal style in a number of works: in The
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, by Britten; in Handel’s choruses in Messiah;
and in the opening movement of Bach’s cantata Wachet auf. Though a fugue may be
written for a group of instruments or voices, as in these works, Bach was most renown
ed for writing—and improvising—fugues for a solo keyboard instrument.
The subject of the fugue is stated alone at the beginning in one of the voices—
referred to by the range in which it sounds: soprano, alto, tenor, or bass. It is then imit
ated in another voice—this is the answer—
while the first can continue with a countersubject (a different theme heard against the
subject) or new material. When the subject has been presented in each voice once, the
first section of the fugue, the exposition, is at an end. From then on, the fugue alterna
tes between sections that feature entrances of the subject and episodes—
interludes (lacking the subject) that serve as areas of relaxation.
Contrapuntal writing is marked by a number of devices used since the earliest days
of polyphony. A subject can be presented in longer time values, often twice as slow as
the original, called augmentation (see box above), or in shorter time values that go b
y faster, called diminution. The pitches can be stated backward (starting from the last
note and preceding to the first), known as retrograde, or turned upside down (in mirr
or image), moving by the same intervals but in the opposite direction, a technique call
ed inversion. Overlapping statements of the subject, called stretto, heighten the tensi
on.
page126

Contrapuntal Devices

Subject and answer (answer begins five notes higher, with intervals changed), from The Art of Fugue:



 Other contrapuntal devices:

 
 

 
 

 
 

B
BACH’S KEYBOARD FUGUES
Bach worked his entire life to refine his fugal technique, combining mastery of craft w
ith creativity and beauty. Although every fugue follows the same principle, with an ex
position that presents the subject in at least two (and usually three or more) voices, an
d then an alternation between returns of the subject and contrasting musical ideas, no t
wo fugues are alike in detail. Indeed, the process of combining predictable material wi
th fresh ideas is at the core of musical composition, and Bach
page127
was a master. The Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of forty-
eight preludes and fugues issued in two volumes and demonstrating a new system for tuning key
board instruments that approaches our contemporary equal-
semitone norm, is a testament to his skill. Bach intended the collection as a teaching aid, with eac
h individual prelude and fugue demonstrating a different set of expressive and technical challeng
es for the aspiring keyboard player.

Contrapunctus I, from The Art of Fugue

This two-manual harpsichord was built by the Flemish maker Jan Couchet (c. 1650).

Bach’s last demonstration of contrapuntal mastery was The Art of Fugue, a collection
of fourteen fugues and four canons that systematically explores all the wizardry of fug
al devices. Because it is unclear for which instrument(s) Bach intended this work, it ha
s been recorded by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and even brass groups—
among them the well-
known Canadian Brass. The collection is viewed today as keyboard music, probably
meant for organ or harpsichord.
We will consider the opening fugue, called Contrapunctus I. Its four voices introduc
e the subject successively, in the order alto-soprano-bass-
tenor; this constitutes the exposition.
(See chart below and LG 13.) After the first episode, a contrasting set of musical ideas
, the extended middle section features several false entries and an overlapping of subje
cts (in stretto). At the end, the tonic (D minor) is reestablished by a bold statement of t
he answer in the bass, heard on the organ pedals. The final chord, a major triad, jolts u
s from the contemplative minor-
key setting; this practice of shifting from minor to major at the end was a common fea
ture in Baroque keyboard music.
Bach increases the complexity of the counterpoint with each fugue in this collection
, as if he were challenging his performer to ever greater dexterity and mental engagem
ent. Since all of his keyboard music was designed to teach prospective students to refi
ne their technique, this ―capstone‖ work can be understood as the ultimate achieveme
nt for both fingers and brain. Bach would have expected his advanced students to go o
n to improvise these kinds of processes on their own, as they demonstrated their profe
ssional independence.
pa ge 128

Reflect
How does Bach help you recognize the subject each time he introduces it? What ar
e some of the ways he changes it? What do you think Bach’s goal was in writing th
is fugue?

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Seek out a recording (or better yet, a live performance) of an improvisation-

oriented musician such as a rock guitarist or a jazz pianist. Listen for how the melody/harmony of ea
ch ―standard tune‖ is first presented relatively straightforwardly, and then varied through several rep
etitions. How does the performer weave aspects of a recognizable melody through the texture as he/s
he improvises? Are there particular portions of the melody that are featured more prominently, and i
f so, why do you think this is?


LISTENING GUIDE 13 HI DE L 
H 3:12

Bach: Contrapunctus 1, from The Art of Fugue

DATE: 1749, published 1751
GENRE: Fugue (from a collection of canons and fugues on a single theme)
What to Listen For
Melody Tune (the subject) outlines a minor chord.
Minor throughout, but closes on a major chord; last fugue statem
Harmony ent is over a sustained pitch.
Imitative entries of same melody: subject (on D) alternates with
Texture answer (on A).
Four-
Form voice fugue, with exposition, middle, and closing sections; episo
des separate fugue statements.
Performing forces Solo keyboard (organ or harpsichord).
EXPOSITION (see cha MIDDLE ENTRIES
rt on p. 127)
Four entries of the subj Subject stated two ti
ect (answer) in alternati mes:
on:
0:52 Alto.
1:05 Soprano (transpose
d to A).
1:12 Answer in bass (ove
rlaps soprano in stret
to).
0:00 Alto (subject). 1:21 Episode 2 (four mea
sures).
0:10 Soprano (answer). 1:30 Answer in tenor.
0:19 Bass (subject). 1:40 Episode 3 (five mea
sures).
0:28 Tenor (answer). 1:52 Answer anticipated i
n alto, then full state
ment
0:38 Episode 1 (six measure in soprano.
s) ends the exposition.
page129 2:44 Rhetorical pauses.
CLOSING SECTION
2:10 Subject in bass (but ant 2:52 Answer—
icipated in soprano). final statement over
sustained pedal
2:19 Episode 4. on the tonic.
2:26 Pedal point in bass. Ends with a major c
hord.
A Comparison of Baroque and Classical Styles
Baroque (c. 1600–1750)
Composers Monteverdi, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Billings.

Melody Continuous melody with wide leaps, chromatic tones for emotional effect; speechlike melody

Rhythm Single rhythm predominant; steady, energetic pulse; freer in vocal music.

Harmony Chromatic harmony for expressive effect; major-

minor system established with brief excursions from the tonic to other keys.

Texture Homophonic texture (early Baroque); polyphonic texture (late Baroque); linear-horizontal dim

Instrumental genres Trio sonata, concerto, suite, prelude, fugue.

Vocal genres Opera, Mass, oratorio, cantata, anthem.

Form Binary and ternary forms predominant.

Dynamics Subtle dynamic nuances; forte/piano contrasts; echo effects.

Timbre Continuous tone color throughout one movement.

Performing forces String orchestra, with added woodwinds; organ and harpsichord prevalent.

Improvisation Improvisation expected; harmonies realized from figured bass.

Emotion Emotional exuberance and theatricality.