Renaissance and Baroque Timeline

Renaissance and Baroque Timeline

1710- Antonio Vivaldi's concertos

1500- Josquin Desprez, text depiction and expression

1680- Corelli’s compositional style, walking bass

1626- Marini’s early example of Sonata

1597- Giovanni Gabrieli

Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op.3, No.6, is an example of Vivaldi’s concerto style that had three movements in ritornello forms. He was the first composer that made the slow movement just as important as well. Vivaldi’s dramatic influence on concertos and ritornello form was adopted by composers.

Josquin Desprez was praised for his use of text depiction and expression to portray meaning through his compositions. An example of this can be seen in his work, Faulte d’argent, where there is a surprising turn of harmony used to depict the meaning of the text. This is important because Josquin was the first to try to depict the meaning through musical means and not just poetic means.

Corelli’s style of compositions contained a very prominent feature, walking bass. Which is the steadily moving pattern of eight notes under imitation. This is seen in Corelli’s work, Trio Sonata in D Major, Op.3, No.2. The Trio sonatas contained four movements, all contrasting, and emphasizing the walking bass technique.

Marini’s composition, Sonata IV per il violino per sonar con due corde, is an early example of the form sonata. This work is also known as “instrumental monody” and like a canzona, with contrasting sections featuring idiomatic violin passages. The sonata and cansona had joined together to form just sonata.

1440- Cantus Firmus Mass

Gabrieli wrote a work in a polychoral motet setting, Canson septimi toni a 8 from Sacrae symphoniae. This composition and others he wrote, shaped the music of the church and he used all resources that were available during his time, including a large instrumental ensemble. This pieces and others were the foundation for independent instrumental works to evolve.

This mass was first introduced in the composition, Missa Caput, by an anonymous composer in 1440. Cantus Firmus Mass is the use of a leading motive that was placed in the tenor voice and written in isorhythmic patterns. These compositional technique was soon adopted by many composers.

1423- Guillaume Du Fay

1689- Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas

1648- Carissimi’s Latin Oratorio

1600- First surviving opera, L’Euridice by Peri

Henry Purcell was one England’s leading composer of his time and is remembered for his dramatic music. He composed, Dido and Aeneas, in 1689, which contained many French and Italian elements and florid passages in the English recitatives. During this time, Purcell wrote many works in the genre of dramatic opera or semi-opera.

Giacomo Carissimi was the leading composer of Latin oratorios and his work, Jephte, is an example of midcentury oratorio based off of Judges 11:29-40. Which is a genre of religious based dramatic music. The oratorio works of Carissimi and other Catholic sacred music used the religious origins to convey the church’s message to their listeners

This year Du Fay’s composition, Resvellies vous, was written. This specific chanson shows Du Fay’s wide range on styles and elements he uses, French and Italian traits. He uses long melismas, syncopations, free dissonances, a ballade form, cross-rhythms, 14th century polyphony, etc. Du Fay is known for his secular songs and church music and considered the greatest composer of his time.

The first surviving opera was by Peri called, L’Euridice. This opera was Rincuccini’s pastoral drama set to music by Peri. It was performed in Florence and this opera and Peri invented the recitative style.

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1690- Scarlatti and da capo aria

1605- Claudio Monteverdi

1660- Two main types of Sonata

The most common form of aria is da capo aria, which is found in many of Scarlatti’s operas. Including the aria Si, si ben mio from Clori vezzosa, e bella. Da capo aria takes the form of ABA and became the standard aria from in the 18th century.

1524- Lutheran Chorales

1425- Binchois and hemiola

Two main types of sonata were invented, sonata da camera and sonata da chiesa. Sonata da camera is a chamber sonata and has a series of stylized dances. Sonata da chiesa is a church sonata and includes mostly abstract movements.

Monteverdi wrote a response to Giovanni Maria Artusi’s criticism, for his ruling breaking of dissonance in counterpoint. Which about the use of prima pratica, which followed strict counterpoint rules, and seconda pratica, where the rules were able to be broken. This distinction made it appropriate for composers to match the style to the music’s purpose.

Binchois was one of the most influential composers of his time and was a composer at the court of Philip the Good. His rondeau, De plus en plus, protrayed a compositional technique called hemiola. Binchois used different rhythms from measure to measure, specifically cross-rhythms called hemiola.

Martin Luther published about four collections of chorales in 1524. These chorales were the most important form of music in the Lutheran Church. Martin Luther’s best known chorale is, Ein feste Burg.

1599- Luca Marenzio and madrigalisms

1460- Busnoy's Chansons

1710-30- Bach’s chorale setting and Harpsichord music

1680-1690- The concerto

1637- Public Opera House

Busnoy is considered to have some of the most “prolific” and most widely praised Chanson’s of his time. They are mostly for three voices, in rondeau form, have arching melodies, syncopated rhythms, and careful consonance and dissonance. These traits are especially evident in his work, Je ne puis vivre.

Luca Marenzio’s composition, Solo e pensoso, is an example of a madrigalisms. This madrigal was a type that brought striking musical images, evoked the text, and used counterpoint and chromaticism. This compositional technique, madrigalisms, was part of the stepping stone into the world of Opera.

In 1637, the first public opera house was built in Venice. This is important because it was the first official and public place Opera was able to performer by professional singers.

Bach wrote over 200 chorale settings for organ, which is a genre for the Lutheran Services. Bach was heavily influenced by the work of Vivaldi, learning to write concise themes and harmonic structure, which can be seen very evidently in Bach’s work, Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543.. His harpsichord music includes music in every current genre of the time and influence of French, Italian, and German models.

The concerto was a new orchestral work created by composers. The concerto had many different forms, including orchestral concerto, concerto grosso, and simply concerto. This practice of using solo instruments was a huge foundational change during the Baroque period.