Aristocratic Music
Concertante Style
- Baroque as a style of contrast
- Multi-keyboard organs and harpsichords, Baroque orchestras,
Dueling choruses
Doctrine of the Affections
- Goal of music is to excite and create emotions
- "The end of all good music is to affect the soul"
- Monteverdi
- Examples: Pain reflected in use of dissonance, or joy as a
ascending major tonality
- Opera created as the best platform for the affections
- Preferences for classical/Roman subjects
- Concertante is a foundation in Baroque opera style
- Monteverdi - Coronation of Poppea
- Nero and Poppea - Love Duet
- Castrati - A male soprano surgically altered at a
youthful age
Instrumental Concerto
- Derived from the concertante concept
- A work for solo instrument contrasted with orchestra
- Violin, flutes, oboe, harpsichord, etc
- Orchestra passages interspersed with passages featuring the solo instrument
- Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Movement I (Spring)
- A concerto attempting to convey the affect of spring
- From a collection of 4 concertos - one dedicated to each season
Lully and the French Court
- Court composer for Louis XIV mostly noted for operas
- Opera begins with an instrumental overture
- The French Overture famously reflects the aesthetic
of the king's regal entry into the hall at the beginning of the opera
- Also a noted director of the Academy of Music
- Traveled with Louis to provide music
Humanities
Resource of Mark Hunter