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The Baroque 1600-1700’s
The term Baroque was first applied as a negative critique of art, architecture, and music from the 1580’s-1780’s, and was defined as extravagance and irregularity in form that lacked the harmonious proportions of the Renaissance. Since that time, it is no longer any worse to call something a Baroque or Renaissance style.
The beginning of the 1700’s marked a turning point in music history and many composers were aware they were changing music forever. Despite the changes, emotional content in music continued to increase. Italy was yet again the beginning of the most dramatic changes. These soon spread throughout Europe.
Music of the Baroque period was typically highly structured and featured a
florid (lots of notes) melody, clear harmony, and a
basso continuo
bass line. Instrumentalists and vocalists both were expected to improvise
ornaments and decorations to the
melody while performing. Probably the single-most important development was what
we call “equal temperament,” which means that every pitch is the same distance
apart. Think of the chromatic scale—all the half-steps are exactly the same
distance apart, right? That’s equal temperament. This is the beginning of
Intonation
(being in-tune).
Opera
was the other major musical development from Italy. Opera is a sung drama or
comedy play accompanied by continuous music.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) premiered one of the first successful operas,
L'Orfeo
in Mantua, Italy in 1607. Through the next centuries Opera would become the most
popular form of music in England, France, Italy, and Germany. Another type of
vocal music that arose was
Oratorio.
This is a dramatic composition similar to opera, but oratorios had
religious themes and were not acted, just sung.
During the 1600’s, the growing importance of instrumental music was due to the
invention of the violin and the
Sonata
form of composition. Sonatas could be for any small group from solos to
quintets. These were most often dance suites played in the royal courts.
France, Germany, and Italy each made different significant contributions during the 1700’s. The following are the most important of these.
France: Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) wrote the first “Treatise on Harmony” or music theory textbook. He was the first person to define a triad and major and minor scales.
Italy: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote over 500 concertos for solo instruments (several for flute) and full orchestra. He established the standard order of movements in a concerto—fast-slow-fast.
Germany: Born four weeks apart, Bach and Handel were the finest of all Baroque composers. Bach remained in Germany all his life and wrote mostly sacred organ music, but he did produce hundreds of pieces for piano, choir, soloists, and instrumentalists. Widely considered the greatest musical genius of all times, Bach’s use of harmony, counterpoint, and fugue are still unrivaled. Handel moved from Germany to London where he composed mostly music for the royalty and general public. His operas (Alcina) and oratorios (The Messiah) and orchestral scores (Water Music) were immediately famous. Handel also helped found the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Meet Johann Joachim Quantz by Cameo Wanninger
Johann Joachim Quantz was born on January 30, 1697, in Oberscheden, Germany. The son of a blacksmith, he began his musical training in 1708 with his uncle, Justus Quantz, a town musician in Merseburg. After Justus’s death three months later, Quantz continued his apprenticeship with his uncle’s successor and son-in-law, J.A. Fleischhack, whom he served as a journeyman after the completion of the apprenticeship in 1713. During his apprenticeship, Quantz achieved proficiency on most of the principal string instruments, the oboe and the trumpet. Taking advantage of a period of mourning for the reigning duke’s brother in 1714, he visited Pirna where he came across some of Vivaldi’s violin concertos, which were to have a decisive influence on his artistic development. In 1716, he is nineteen and becomes a member of the Orchestra of Dresden, the most famous orchestra of all 17th century Europe.
Always eager to improve his musical skills, Quantz spent part of 1717 in Vienna studying counterpoint with Fux’s pupil J.D. Zelenka. In 1718 he became oboist in the Polish chapel of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, accompanying him on official visits to Warsaw but remaining in Dresden for substantial periods. Because Quantz found little opportunity for advancement as an oboist, he turned to the transverse flute in 1719, studying briefly with the noted French player P.G. Buffardin, an advocate of the French taste. However, he credited J.G. Pisendel, the leading violinist and representative of the ‘mixed taste’ (French and Italian), with the greatest influence on his development as a performer and composer. His interest in composition, particularly in works for the flute, continued to grow, stimulated by a wide range of Italian and French works then performed in Dresden. In the Saxon court’s repertory, however, influenced by opera seria and the instrumental compositions of Corelli, Torelli and Vivaldi, the Italian musical style gradually superseded the French.
Between 1724 and 1727 Quantz completed his training with a period of study in Italy and shorter stays in France and England. From August 1726 to March 1727 he visited Paris, and although he found the French vocal style disagreeable, he enjoyed the performances of many instrumentalists, among them the flautist Michel Blavet. While in Paris he for the first time had a second key added to his flutes to improve their intonation. After a ten-week stay in England, where he met Handel, Quantz returned to Dresden in July 1727. After this world tour, Quantz became the solo flute in the Orchestra of the Royal Chapel of Dresden. In 1727, he had became, according to his biographers, the most famous virtuoso of the flute in Europe. In May 1728 Quantz, Pisendel, Buffardin and others accompanied Augustus II on a state visit to Berlin. Quantz made a particularly deep impression on Prince Frederick, and returned to the Prussian court twice a year to teach him the flute. When Frederic became king in 1741, Quantz was invited to the royal residence of Potsdam, where the new monarch is surrounded by musicians Quantz then became composer of the court, chief of the orchestra, professor of the King and flute maker.
Quantz was not only one excellent musician, but also an advised observer of the musical scene of his time. In 1752, it published his famous treaty "The art of playing the flute " which offers a considerable interest not only for the practice of the flute, but also for that of many other instruments; this book is still used today. Thus, Quantz was one of the first professional flute players in 18th-century Europe. Quantz is also responsible for many innovations in the flute design and sound, including the addition of keys to improve intonation and the invention of a new tuner (the pump of lengthening for the higher part). Quantz began making flutes in 1739, and built as many as eighteen instruments for Frederick the Great during his employment. Due to Frederick's habit of giving these flutes away as a mark of special favor, many of them survived as heirlooms in Prussian noble families, and are today preserved in museums in Germany, the US, and Japan. Quantz's flutes are unlike other baroque flutes in a number of interesting ways. In 1726 he invented a second key, for D#, to the one for Eb already present on all flutes. Making a distinction between these and other enharmonic pairs was important to Quantz's idea of playing in tune.
Ouantz's ideas about music remained influential until the end of the 18th century due to the wide distribution of his book. His name, at least, was not forgotten in the 19th century because of his association with Frederick the Great of Prussia, considered by many at that time as the founder of the German state.
