1. Baroque style

The Baroque period of music is generally considered to be roughly from 1600 to 1750, that is, starting from Monteverde and ending with Bach and Handel. In 1750, the death of counterpoint master Johann Sebastian Bach marked the end of counterpoint music at its peak, and also marked the end of the Baroque era. The reason why this period is called Baroque is because the techniques and methods of musical expression in this period basically have a certain degree of similarity, so using this term to mark it has no special meaning. The word Baroque comes from French, and its origin is the Portuguese barroco, which means a pearl that is not round in shape. It was first used by critics in the late Baroque period when commenting on the music of this period, and generally had a derogatory meaning, referring to crude music, strange, and exaggerated music. Musicians in the classical period after the Baroque tended to simplify and standardize the musical language. In their view, Baroque music was too exaggerated and not standardized enough. Therefore, the term Baroque is used by critics to refer to the artistic and musical works of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Now, with the passage of time, we can look at the music of this period from a more in-depth and detailed historical perspective. Baroque no longer has the connotation of being rough and rough, but compared with the music before and after Baroque As a musical work, it does have exaggerated and somewhat irregular characteristics. Renaissance art is about clarity, unity and coordination. But by the end of the sixteenth century, the emotional element in art was increasing day by day, and clear, clear, and perfect forms were outweighed by the need to express emotion. It can be seen in fine art in the intensely colored, dramatic paintings of Caravaggio (1573-1610). In music, we have already seen the clues from the madrigals of Marenzio and Gesualdo and the ancient songs of Daolunde, and their next generation has developed further. To create these powerful effects, a new musical style had to be developed. Generally speaking, the smooth polyphonic music of the Renaissance is no longer suitable for the characteristics required by the new era.

The most important creation of the Baroque period is the concept of "contrast". Renaissance music has a smooth progression, with the various voices (usually four or five voices) intertwined and synchronized. After 1600, this texture became less and less used and can only be seen in church music. This is because church music is bound by tradition and fixed liturgy, and therefore is the most conservative. "Contrast" can be expressed in various aspects: high or low pitch; fast or slow speed (contrast between fast and slow passages or contrast between fast and slow parts); strong or weak intensity; different timbres; solo ( Singing) and full playing (chorus), etc. All of these exist within the musical structure of the Baroque period and each has its place. Many musicians of the Baroque period used the concerto or polyconcerto form (the word itself means a clear contrasting element), the basic characteristic of which is the transformation of textures, sometimes with one voice (solo) or several voices, Sometimes larger group ensembles are used. The most obvious and strong contrast is a new genre that emerged at that time called "monody", which is a kind of solo song, roughly with a smooth vocal part on top, accompanied by a lute. Or harpsichord accompaniment, the accompaniment is slower, the representative (and to some extent the creator) of this genre is the composer and singer Caccini (ca. 1545-1618). In the songbook of the epoch-making work "Le nuove musiche", the vocal melody follows the meaning of the lyrics and changes greatly. In terms of rhythm and texture, it can range from very simple to very decorative; and it is almost constant. The accompaniment parts of the altered pitch form contrast. Caccini was a member of the Camerata Society in Florence (a group composed of musicians, poets, and nobles). In the 1670s and 1680s, he came into contact with the idea of ??expressing emotions in ancient Greek music. To reinvent the concept, the group followed this concept by adopting the form of a "monophonic song". The word "accompaniment" mentioned above is almost unnecessary to consider in Renaissance music. As a concept, it belongs to the Baroque period, and it means that the status of the instrument parts is different.

In fact, the most important feature of Baroque music is its accompaniment, the continuo. The continuo player plays the bass part on the harpsichord or organ (or lute or guitar), with numbers indicating the fill chords he should play. Bass continuo is often played by two people, one playing the bass part using an extended sounding instrument such as a cello (or viol or bassoon), and the other playing the fill chords. The texture of this kind of continuo is: a melody part of a human voice or an instrument on the top, a bass instrument on the bottom, and harmony in the middle. This is a typical style of Baroque music. The above part is also often written with two voices, sometimes written for two singers, sometimes for two violins (called a trio sonata at this time). This structure is also typical in Baroque music, especially continuo. It is indispensable and illustrates how important the concept of harmony produced by the bass is to Baroque music and is central to it.

The emergence of this concept is not sudden. In the sixteenth century, the bass part was already distinguished from the other upper part lines in polyphonic music, but it was only in the Baroque period that this style was clearly determined. Together with, and related to, the above changes was the abandonment of polyphony (more precisely, polyphony became an old-fashioned method used almost exclusively in a certain category of music in the church).

Paying attention to harmony will inevitably lead to the emergence of several ending points of the harmonic progression in a piece of music. These ending points are called terminations or convergences and are formed due to a series of harmonic progressions of a certain standard. . Related to this is the progression of rhythm. In vocal music, if the melody wants to express the emotion of the lyrics, it must follow (or even exaggerate) the natural rhythm of the language; in instrumental music (including some vocal music, especially chorus songs), dance rhythms are used. Because the bass uses the rhythm of dance music, it accelerates the development of tonal feeling and the tendency to progress to a specific tone. At the same time, the emergence of new musical instrument types accelerated this process, the most important of which was the violin family. At that time, the sound of the viol was suitable for the clarity of polyphonic music but lacked the dynamic sense of rhythm, while the clean and bright bowing of the violin and its ability to play brilliant technical music were suitable for playing music with dance rhythms, compared with monophonic songs. More ability to use skills.

The alternation of vocal style and instrumental style is a typical Baroque technique. The alternation of two different styles in Baroque music is for novelty and effect. The important music forms of the early Baroque were monophonic songs (compared to the polyphonic music of the previous period) and the related operas and oratorios, which emphasized the close combination of voice and music, and in operas there were scenes effect. Counterpoint is not used in single melody music, and its form is developed from the combination of melody and bass, such as segmented song form, Hui song structure, and variations on the recurring bass part. There have also been corresponding developments in musical instruments, such as instruments suitable for playing continuo bass combinations, and violins that have replaced the violin family. The violin family of instruments is more flexible and can play a higher vocal range.

2. Music in European countries during the Baroque period

During the Baroque period, music art developed unprecedentedly rapidly. And contributed to the rise of the later Rococo art. The music of this period is most representative of Germany, Italy, France and other countries.

1. German music in the Baroque era

German music in the Baroque era was represented by Schütz, Bach and Handel. If polyphonic music since the Middle Ages is compared to a pyramid, their music can be likened to the top of the tower, because they not only absorbed the new Italian music since the Renaissance, but also opened up a new path. When Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672) was 24 years old, he went to Italy to study under Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612), a great master of the Venetian school of music. After returning to China, he published his first German opera "Daphne" and later composed many Passions. Schütz was exactly one hundred years away from Bach and Handel, and his style had an important influence on the creation of these two Baroque music masters. The musical works of Handel and Bach radiate brilliance in the history of music, both in terms of the synthesis of traditional music and in terms of following new trends of thought. Handel's works are mostly opera and oratorio music, and his instrumental works also contain strong vocal elements, which are obviously influenced by Italy; Bach's music contains strong instrumental elements in his vocal works, which is a classic example of classical music. The advent of the socialist era laid a solid foundation.

2. Italian music in the Baroque era

Opera, a great art form, was born in Italy, the "cradle of music", the ancient European civilization. In Florence at that time, there were many great artists and a group of nobles who were very interested in ancient Greek art. These nobles were determined to give Greek drama new life, so they began to compose music for ancient Greek stories, and the chorus put on costumes to sing the whole story. This was the prototype of opera. Later on, the roles in the story were played by singers; between choral performances, male and female singers sang solos respectively. When the character's words are soft, the lines are processed into half-singing and half-speaking. This kind of singing is very like a hymn and is called a recitative; while strong emotions are expressed by real melody, which is called an aria. Later, arias were used specifically to show off the singer's beautiful voice. At that time, whether an opera was performed in Italy, England or Germany, the arias were always sung in Italian and the recitative part was sung in the native language. In Italian Baroque music, strings are comparable to early operas. The ancient overtures and concertos of operas at that time were all dominated by strings.

Italy during this period was rich in violinists, such as Giuseppe Torelli (1650-1708), Arcagello Corelli (1653-1713), T. Antonio Vitali (1665-1735), Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1743), Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770), etc., all preceded Bach. These musicians are not only famous violinists, but also composers of violin music. Among the people of Cremona in the Alps of northern Italy, there are an endless stream of violin makers, such as Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari. Their carefully crafted violins are still active on the stage, showing their Showing endless artistic charm. The overture of an opera must be divided into three parts: a fast beginning, a slow middle part, and a fast end. This form later became the basic form of concertos and symphonies. String instruments such as violin, viola, cello and double bass are still indispensable instruments in orchestras and are also extremely important chamber music and solo instruments. It can be seen that the influence of Italian music in the Baroque era was extremely profound.

3. French music in the Baroque era

In Paris, France at that time, opera and fortepiano music were extremely popular in the residences of princes and nobles. French opera during this period grew independently from the tradition of Italian opera and was close to the form of dance drama. In the Baroque era, France's most representative opera composer was Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). His operas were concise, clear, beautiful in melody, and at the same time highly danceable; their contents were spicy and humorous. ,penetrating. At the same time as opera, clavichord music became popular. The harpsichord is often decorated with decorations that represent Baroque culture. It and the harpsichord are the predecessors of the modern piano. The masters of the fortepiano at that time included Francois Couperin (1668-1733) and J.P.Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). They composed many suites for the fortepiano, many of which are still widely circulated today. . "Introduction to Harmony" (written by Rameau) published in 1722 is the earliest theoretical work on harmony in the history of music.