This
month, Clef Notes is exploring various periods in art and music that overlap in
style characteristics. This week, we’re looking at the Baroque period. Last
time we looked at Baroque art as ornate, emphasizing drama, action, and
lighting. During the 20th century, music historians began to notice
that some of these style characteristics map onto music from the period as well
(roughly 1600–1750).
When
we look at Baroque music, we often see the rebellion from the polophony that
was prevalent during the Renaissance. Polophony is music that contains
multiple, independent voices. Instead, Baroque composers would often use
homophony, or a melody line with a basso continuo accompaniment. They would
then leave the harmonies up to the performer to fill in. Because of this,
performers often had the opportunity to improvise and ornament during
performance. This reflects the ornamented architecture of the time that we
discussed last time. Listen below to an excerpt from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Can you hear that the vocal
line is ornamented?
Last
time we also talked about Baroque art emphasizing drama. In the Monteverdi
excerpt below, take note of how the composer uses dissonances on words such as
“Cruda” (cruel) to better convey the text.
There
are, of course, many other characteristics found in Baroque music. Can you
think of more?
