Baroque

put on your wig everyone, here we go...

In a way I'm almost disappointed to be at the stage where I am familiar with most of the music, I enjoyed listening to new and modal things...


Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) - Trio Sonata #2 in D major

Corelli made a name for himself as a working musician in Rome. He got good gigs as a violinist,  I assume he performed many of his own works.
There is development in this piece in several regards:\

Instrumentation -
Written for 2 violins and continuo - which is usually cello and some type of chordal instrument. This is a new development - a small chamber ensemble. Although it informally existed when various instruments were substituting or supporting part vocal music in the past, this is officially written for a small number of specific instruments and for their specific timbres and capabilities.

Form -
A sonata da chiesa, a collection of 4 movements with specific tempo and mood designation. This is also new since so far we've only seen multi-movement pieces in the church.
Although there are 4 distinct movement they are short and sweet. It obvious they were written more for entertainment then to fully explore the composer's artistry.

Imitation, counterpoint and harmonic progressions are the focus here, as well as a metric steady pulse.

Out of our key words, the one that comes to mind here is control. Corelli wrote the music he performed, as well as working basically as a gigging freelancer.



Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Prelude and Fugue in A minor

The big kahuna. We all know about his prolific writing, genius, and contribution to the development of counterpoint, theory, rhythm, motivic development and music in general.

A few notes about this piece and development through it:

Instrumentation -
Solo organ. The instrument allows a large amount of sound combinations, and with 10 fingers and 2 feet Bach milks it to its fullest potential. The instrument is part of the church (literally), bringing solo instrumental music to be part of the religious service. Although this piece among many other are more about intellectual exploration then the function they serve in the church. The sound of the organ is intimidating, maybe that's enough in a religious service...

Form-
2 parts, with especially the fugue dedicated exploring complex motivic, contrapunctal, and harmonic development while maintaining a metric steady rhythm.

Technique -
We are past 8th notes now! Similarly to Corelli, Bach played his own compositions and expand on keyboard technique and fast passages we haven't seen until now. The fact he would also improvise this stuff is baffling. Control is present here as well, not only over a large number of musical concepts but also physically with being able to execute yourself what you have written.
The affect here is awe, which is achieved by the sound of the instrument and fast, constant rhythm.


George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) - Excerpts from Massiah.

Hallelujah!

Sometimes I forget Handel and Bach are complete contemporaries, history likes to list Bach as first...

Instrumentation -
4 part choir, 4 part strings and a chordal instrument realizing chords. This is now brought to a church, although we already saw similar instrumentation in the opera.It is also easy to forget Handel wrote this piece for a fairly small ensemble and the bombastic version we are familiar with is an orchestration.

Form -
An oratotio, the religious answer to opera. Multi-movement piece consisting of a plot, choral movements, solo arias and instrumentals. No recitatives however.

Technique -
This piece is a huge push forward from the Italian opera as far as complicated part writing and counterpoint.
It is also technically more demanding from the performers with fast passages in the instruments and vocal parts. Wikipedia brings an anecdote of Corelli refusing to play in Handel's orchestra because the violin part went too high, only to be shamed by Handel who produced the note.
 The focus here is on Handel's ability to handle (pun intended) all the different musical elements and complexities.


In the spirit of bringing contemporary artists' interpretation of our weekly material I offer these selections:

This is my colleague, NYC cellist Jessie Reagen Mann who worked with a DJ to create beats to Bach's cello suites. The beats drop around 5:00.



and this guy, beatboxing the Badinerie:



a gospel version of "Hallelujah". it's cheesy as hell.  I sang it Carnegie Hall... it was pretty bad there too...

Early Opera

I love having the perspective of approaching this historically, seeing the musical evolution that led to opera.

The courts are becoming the main patrons of not only music but arts and theater. It would make sense for the court's employees to start collaborating, especially when musicians have already been playing during intermissions.

Composers have become well versed and sophisticated with different genres of secular music; song, dance, instrumental and choral settings it is logical that those skills can lead to one body of work that showcase and explore all of those abilities and style. This also brings in the attention to words and emoting that has become so prominent.

This medium can bring together the common and cerebral music traditions, different moods, techniques and genres under one roof. It also significantly longer in length then any previous works.
There is a emphasis on entertainment as well as well musical sophistication. I assume the target audience for this was the rich and educated who wanted to be intellectually entertained.

This medium certainly shows both appropriation and complete control of all these various elements. This undertaking and masterful execution is no doubt a mark of genius.

The one drawback that opera can have is that the music is often perceived as supporting to the show and is not listened to for its own merit.



Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) - Excerpts from Orfeo

Orfeo, the first opera that is still regularly performed.

The emotional range of the music orfeo is vast, from happy dances, to depiction of death and hell.



Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) - Armide

Lully, a court musician to the king of France (although "to his great distress the king was not able to attend any performances of Armide"). This seems to be a new symbol of status, such as being the musician for the Notre Dame would have been 3 centuries earlier.
This is almost 3 hours long and the harmonic language has shifted to the Baroque we all know.

I stumbled upon this very entertaining production from 2008:




Henry Purcell (1659-1695) - Dido and Aeneas

I am actually very familiar with the opera since I sang in the production in the chorus when I was younger. The parts must have been written for a more amateur production since us chorus members where quite young...
The opera was more popular privately probably so amateurs can act it.

Dido's lament of course is that famous aria with a bass ostinato.
It is very popular not only with classical musicians. Here's a version I love by 90s indie rock artist Jeff Buckley, even more powerful since he died very young.
(I was fortunate to work as his producer's assistant during my time in NYC)

16th Century

There is a strong shift from French composers to the Italian/Flemish school. Most of this week's listening is in Italian.

Giovanni Perluigi de Palestrina (1595-1594) - Missa Papae Marcelli

I love this balance of modal and tonal. With out modern ears this music feels free from the constrictions of later tonal harmony while feeling a stronger tonal center and and a more familiar harmonic progression. The cadences are now dominant, and in triads, this is getting closer to that traditional harmony we all know and love. 

Contemporary composers are coming back to this exact sensibility, making music sounds pretty and familiar while freeing themselves from strict tonal harmony. 

There is a strong emphasis on words and the vocal parts are crafted around the words. There is play with harmonic progression and development of counterpoint in great balance between the voices.

It is possible the words are audible in reaction to the church's objection that liturgical music was losing the words and isn't focusing on devotion. I think that's a good point there.

Carlo Gesualdo de Venosa (1560-1613) - "Il parto e non piu dissi"

(why is Gesualdo known by his last name and not by "Venosa"?)

There is a coloration of the text. The mood of the text changes often dramatically based on the words sung.

I love Gesualdo, probably because of that modal/tonal/chromatic balance. He jumps around to chords that we are not used to hearing together, and yet make it all work. My goal! The first time I heard Gesualdo I contemplated quitting composing... I regained my composure and figured I have some other elements in my sleeve and not all is lost,  but his music had quite an effect on me.

There is a darkness, moodiness, emotion and expressivity about his writing, perhaps that is why he evokes emotion in me as a listener. This is the first time I'm getting an emotional response since the beginning of our history timeline. 

I'm sure part of that darkness came from his life story that sounds straight out of Hollywood: 

A young Italian nobleman marries his cousin, she begins a long affair that is known to everyone but him. He tricks her into thinking he has left, catches her and her lover in action and kills them both. He displays their mutilated bodies in front of the palace and is immune to persecution since he is a nobleman.

He remarries, is abusive, depressed, asks servants to beat him daily, loses his children and dies in isolation.

fun.

I love this one. It's dark, chromatic, and beautiful.

Giovanni Gabrielli (1554-1612) - Canzon Septimi Toni a 8

How exciting, instrumental music! Although instrumental music isn't new and instruments were used to double or replace vocalists, it is the first time that we see formal written music for instruments only. 

The properties of the music sound like "typical renaissance". The meter is steady, virtuosic soloists, music that is getting to sound very similar to baroque but still modal. This music is fun and enjoyable, and the purpose here is to entertain while still keeping a high sophistication or counterpoint, voice leading and harmony.

Humanism

John Dunstaple (1390-1453) -  “Quam pulchra es”

Rhythmically this is such a contrast to Machaut. Simple long notes with some ornaments on the cadence. The emphasis here is on harmonic progression. There is a clear top melody and the bottom voices are supporting it to create clear triads. The cadences still remain as perfect intervals.
There is thought to counterpoint but the lines remain balanced - one voice moves when others sustain.
 There is definitely pleasure involved in writing and listening to this lush, gentle and "pretty" sound.
This is a motet, but it is a startling difference from 14c. It is cohesive, with language, melody, part writing, harmony and form.
At first, the text baffled me - it is earthly, even a bit raunchy, and then ends with an "Alleluia" (?)
Is this a biblical poem? Yes indeed! It is from Song of Songs. The first part belongs to a male, the second to a female. I'm still not sure why it requires an Alleluia though.

Here's a translation:

How beautiful and fair you are, my beloved,
most sweet in your delights.
Your stature is like a palm-tree,
and your breasts are like fruit.
Your head is like Mount Carmel
and your neck is like a tower of ivory.

Come, my beloved, let us go into the fields
and see if the blossoms have born fruit,
and if the pomegranates have flowered.
There will I give my breasts to you.

Alleluia.


Gillaume Du Fay (1397-1474) - Kyrie from Missa L'homme Arme.

L'homme Arme (the armed man) is a folk song. It is used as a cantus firmus here. 



Appropriation! It's surprising that a folk song is appropriated as a cantus firmus by the church, instead of chant.
I'm enjoying the new balance found in the counterpoint, where activity is not simultaneous.  There is also a stronger harmonic progression and triadic harmony.


Josquin De Prez (1450-1521) - Missa de L'homme Arme

Wow, 6 voices. The emphasis on harmony is apparent since he is working with richer sounds, broader ranges and triadic structures. 
I am witnessing the incorporation of imitation, theme development and counterpoint writing that resembles baroque practices. The Agnus Dei is gorgeous!
There is a careful balance between sustaining notes and moving notes. De Prez's biography shows that he was a choir singer, which sheds light on his careful and innovative writing. The control of the different parts and components is evident.
The cantus firmus here is also L'homme Arme, as the title suggests.



I also sang a version of L'homme Arme, a setting by Robert Dennis along with 5 other folk songs in his series "The Golden Peacock".
As I tried to find a recording of his setting, the only one I found is of the performance I was in! Sadly the camera only shows our (fabulous) conductor Phillip Cheah, but you can still listen to a different setting of the piece, if you're interested of course.

Ars Nova

Philippe de Vitry

"In Arboris/Tuba..." and "Garrit gallus/In Nova..."

These are motets for 3 voices, with a different text for each voice.

One can absolutely hear the development of rhythmic notation, pulse and smaller subdivisions. The writing is very intricate, with emphasis on rhythmic variation and development. The voices sound very independent yet work very well together even to our contemporary ears, although the text is basically incomprehensible. The use of triads the way we hear them today is noticed, although the coda still remains a 5th.

The music is lively, and does not relay a heavy, religious, praying sentiment.


Gillaume de Machaut

"Kyrie" from the Mass of Notre Dame

The first recording of this I heard by "ensemble organum" was very surprising to me because of the tone and ornamentation used my the singers. I am familiar with this type of ornamentation from eastern music and found it surprising that it was acceptable in classical western music. I am interested to find out more about this tone and ornamentation in medieval music.

here it is:


I also found a rendition with brass doubling the voices. This just tells me how flexible instrumentation was back then and how much we impose a formal classical tone to something we're not sure actually sounded that way.

now, back to musical observations:

Triadic harmonies are used more frequently. There is great thought given to harmonic progression, development and voicings. The shift is apparent and stands out from the modal and more "diatonic" writing of the past.
While the rhythm sounded metric and more even with de Vitry, with Machaut the rhythmic modes overlap to create overlapping rhythmic patterns - something that I hear as "syncopation" or "3 over 2" with my modern ears...
Part of it probably has to do with the extension of range from the bottom part to the top, it sounds richer and chordal.

While the "Kyrie" is more stoic, the "Christe" has fast, ornate rhythms.

It is apparent that Machaut innovated both in harmonic and rhythmic development.




"Sumer Is Icomen In" - Anonymous

A 6 voice Rondellus - in old English and Latin.

A secular piece, light.

The bottom two parts hold down a steady accompaniment, while the upper four voices sing in canon. Rhythmically and harmonically it is on the simple side, using only a few rhythmic notes but the mastery here is envisioning how all 6 voices would sound together during the repetitions. The sound is lush, full, rhythmically busy, and very enjoyable.

Early Polyphony - Viderunt Omnes

For this week's listening I wanted to focus on the development of Viderunt Omnes.


Viderunt Omnes - Leonin (1163-1190)

A few developments from the Viderunt Omnes plainchant:

1. Polyphony - 2 parts are now present. The bottom holds out long notes taken from the original chant (cantus firmus) and a higher voice embellishes. I was able to follow along with the lower part because I was looking at the "score" while listening, but I probably wouldn't be able to recognize the cantus firmus because it is lengthened significantly.

2. Effect on the listener - the words are no longer the most important thing in the listening experience, the melisma is so long that the words are hardly understood.  The intention seems to me is either to impress the listeners with the higher voice part, or to put them in a more meditative state.

3. Sections - the chant has been stretched to such an extent that every few words of the original chant start a new section.

4. The plainchants do come back in between the sections, probably to get back to the original intention.

5. The purpose of the chant now seems to be more artistic then functional.


Viderunt Omnes - Perotin (1180-1225)

(I am actually very familiar with this piece since I wrote an expansion on it, transforming the parts to be played by woodwinds and adding another part to it. I called it "Viderunt Omnes and Friends")

Here are some further developments:

1. Polyphony - 4 parts. The lower holds the original cantus firmus notes while the upper three voices embellish in counterpoint.

which brings me to...

2. Counterpoint - there is a more complex thought in terms of how all 4 parts are sounding together and a real mastery in part writing is coming though.

3. Pulse - there is a sense of pulse and beat, it is easy to translate it to modern notation and feel a more even sense of phrase.

4. Imitation - the 3 upper parts use patterns that repeat as is, in variation and expansion. As more complex rhythms are introduced they are developed as imitation by the other voices and rhythmic patterns old and new mix together to create an evolving and lush sound.

5. Length - If Leonin expanded a few words into its own section that lasts about 2 minutes, Perotin is taking this farther by expanding 2 words to last as long at 5 minutes.

6. Effect on the listener - I am left impressed at the part writing technique and enjoying the lush sound and development of material. This is not a meditative, or a praying experience. It may still a religious experience to those who find it listening to music, but it is not a religious experience through text.

7. The plainchant does make an appearance in between the sections probably to bring the listener to the original intent.

In case you are interested in my expansion, here it is. Unfortunately I don't have a good recording of it. I dropped the low cantus firmus line because it is not a fun part for woodwinds and I didn't find it necessary for my purposes. I used the original upper 3 voices as an accompaniment that reminded me a lot of minimalist texture. I often displaced octaves to create a more rangy sound. The flute melody is added on.