Baroque: Concerto Grosso, Ritornello Form, and The Fugue

Baroque: Concerto Grosso, Ritornello Form, and The Fugue

BY: Celia, Sky and Ellie

Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D Major(about 1721), by Johann Sebastian Bach

1st movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No.5: Allegro

Ritornello form

-In 1718 Bach met the margrave of Brandenburg who asked him for original music

-3 years later Bach sent the margrave 6 Brandenburg Concertos, this one is the fifth.

-Uses a string orchestra and soloists consisting of flute, violin, and harpsichord.

(1st time harpsichord had been given the solo role and not the tutti role)

-Tutti written for violins, violas, cellos, and double bass.

-Opens with the ritornello which is an almost continuous flow of rapid notes

-soloists-brilliant fanciful and personal

-tutti- more vigorous and straightforward.

-Only the harpsichord plays at the end of the final solo section with an incredibly rhythm and dazzling scale passages.

-The 1st and last movements of the concerto grosso are usually in ritornello form, based on alternation between tutti and solo sections.

-In this form, the tutti plays a theme called the ritornello(refrain) which returns through the movement only in different keys and in fragments.

-The complete ritornello returns at the end of the piece in the original key

Concerto Grosso

Tutti vs. Solo in Ritornello form

Ritornello form outline

Tutti- loud repetitive

Solo-not repetitive, a new melodic idea every time the solo part comes in

-softer dynamics

-rapid scales

-broken chords

1a. Tutti, ritornello in home key

b. Solo

2a. Tutti,, ritornello fragment

b. Solo

3a. Tutti, ritornello fragment

b. Solo

4a. Tutti, ritornello in home key

-form of orchestral music in the late baroque period-

-Usually performed by private orchestras in aristocratic palaces

-A small group of soloists is pitted against a larger group of players called the tutti

-Consists of several movements that contrast in tempo and character: most commonly there are 3 movements→ (1) fast, (2)slow, and (3)fast

-The first is vigorous and loud, the second is quieter than the first, and the last is lively

Musical Variations in Fugues

Opening of a Fugue:

-composers would use different musical techniques to add texture and make the fugue sound more interesting

Tutti

Solo

-the larger group in the concerto grosso with 8-20 or more players

-Means “all”

-Consists mainly of string instruments and a harpsichord as part of the basso continuo

-2-4 soloists

-paid higher than tutti players because their parts are more difficult

Retrograde

Inversion

-beginning a new phrase by playing the subject backwards, from the last note to the first

Baroque music

-the melodic opposite of the subject

-if the subject moves up the inversion moves proportionately down and vice versa

Soprano: Subject ...............................................

Alto: Subject .................................

Tenor: Subject ...................

Bass: Subject......

-Known for the contrast of between loud and soft sounds

-Concerto grosso and Ritornello form are two forms of baroque music

Diminution

-the original subject appears with shortened time values

Augmentation

-original time values of the subject are lengthened

Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor

The Fugue

one voice announces the subject and the other voice imitates it

Musical Procedures in a Fugue

Continued...

-Stretto:

The subject is imitated before it is completed, similar to a round

Countersubject: the subject in one voice is constantly accompanied in another voice by a different melody

Fugue @Work

VOCABULARY:

Fugue: a compositional technique where two or more voices, built on a subject (theme), are introduced at the beginning and recur frequently in the course of the composition

Voices: different melodic lines (highest=soprano, lowest=bass)

After all the voices have taken their "turn" presenting the subject the composer can freely choose how often the the subject will be presented

-this fugue is considered one of the most famous out of Bach's shorter works, note the repeated subject and the increasing texture as the piece goes on

Episodes: transitional sections that occur between press of the subject

- Opening: of a melody begins at a certain tone, the other voices will start at a higher or a lower register BUT, the subject is seen in TWO different scales

> 1st time: based on the notes of the tonic scale

> 2nd time: it is in the dominant scale (5 steps higher than the tonic)

-Pedal Point:

A bass tone is sustained while higher voices produce a changing melody

-most fugues are introduces by a separate short phrase called a prelude