Throughout
history, we can observe that many movements within the music world often go
hand in hand with what innovative techniques and ideas are simultaneously being
explored within the visual arts. This month, let’s take a look at several of
these movements found in both music and art, discussing how both composers and
artists attempted to express these new ideas within their work. If you are interested
in impressionism, expressionism, cubism, or minimalism, you may want to check
out my Music and Art blogs from September 2014.
Today,
let’s kick things off by looking at the term “Baroque” and what it means to the
art world. Baroque is a French word that comes from the Portuguese “barroco”
meaning a misshapen pearl. It applies to the abnormal or exaggerated and
originally referred to ornate architecture in the mid-eighteenth century. Critics
of the time preferred simpler styles thus, Baroque had a negative connotation.
It wasn’t until the following century that people began to look upon this
“Baroque” art in a positive light.
Though
it is difficult to pin point exact stylistic features of Baroque art and music
since it spans such a long period, it is best to loosely mention common traits
of the time. Art tended to focus on the dramatic, containing deep color and
focusing on light and shadow. The Renaissance period reflected things before an
action takes place while the Baroque period showed the action itself. A great
example is Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Man
Rising from His Chair. This is on display at Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of
Art. Have you seen it?
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| Rembrandt's Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair Courtesy of wikimedia.org |
Next
time we’ll look at how some of the dramatic and ornate features found in
Baroque art map themselves onto Baroque music!
