Aristocratic Culture
Music and Art of the Political Elite

Absolute Monarchy

• Ruling power of the king without limits
• Society of elites passed through inherited titles
• Louis XIV the Monarch of France
  • Palace of Versailles
  • Ostentatious and grandiose - Hall of mirrors
  • Overdone ornamentation
  • The grandeur of the king is reflected in the grandiose presentation of the arts
    

Aristocratic Visual Arts

• Painting and sculpture for the palace advancing the status of the elites
• Large scale - paintings measured in feet not inches
• Popular subject matter:
  • Roman history and mythology
  • Portraits of aristocracy
    

Aristocratic Musical Arts

• Birth of opera
  • Drama set to music performed in magnificent opera halls
  • Coronation of Poppea by Monteverdi (Watch)
    • Nero - roman emperor who seeks to divorce his wife to make Poppea the Empress
    • Ottavia - the wife of Nero who will be forced to kill herself as a result of Nero's actions
    • Poppea - the mistress of Nero who conspires to become Empress of Rome
  • Castrati - A male singer who due to a surgical procedure sings in the highest range normally attributed to woman singers
• Concerto
  • An orchestral piece which features a solo instrument (flute, oboe, violin, etc) with orchestra
  • Vivaldi the greatest composer of concertos (Watch)
    

Full-sized art works may be seen under Lecture Images

Humanities Resource of Mark Hunter