University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Literature and Styles in
Music
Instrumental Music
in the Early 17th Century
I Ricercare-type
A. Features continuous (non-sectional) imitative counterpoint
B. By Baroque period, thematic material has been reduced to one main theme which is continuously developed in imitative counterpoint
- Other titles used for works in continuous imitation
- Fantasia or Fancy
- Capriccio, Fuga, Verset
C. Example: Ricercare dopo il Credo, from collection "Fiori Musicali" by Girolamo Frescobaldi (organist at St. Peter's in Rome)
D. Ricercare eventually replaced by fugue in Baroque period
II Fantasia
A. Baroque fantasia is on a larger scale and more formally complex than Renaissance Fantasia
B. Principal composers: Jan Pierterzoon Sweelinck, and his German students Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), and Heinrich Scheidemann (ca. 1596-1663)
C. Fantasias ("Fancies") also composed for viol consorts (with or without continuo part)
- Principal composers: Alfonso Ferrabosco (1578?-1628), John Coprario (Cooper) (d. 1626), John Jenkins (1592-1678); also Middle Baroque composers such as Matthew Locke (1621-77), Henry Purcell (1659-95)
III Canzona-type
A. Sectional piece, using some imitative counterpoint and more distinctive rhythm patterns
B. Canzonas composed for both ensembles and keyboard
C. Variation Canzona: single theme is used but each section employs a contrasting variation of that theme
D. Principal composers: Sweelinck, Frescobaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-67); ensemble canzonas by Tarquinio Merula (ca. 1594-65)
- This is replaced in the Baroque period by the multi-movement Sonata da Chiesa
E. Sonata
- title sometimes given to canzona-style pieces for 2 parts and a continuo part
- known for idiomatic writing for a specific instrument
IV Variations
A. Basic techniques
- Cantus Firmus Variation
- melody repeated with little or no change (although may switch voices)
- each variation surrounds it with a new web of counterpoint
- typical of works in Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (e.g., Byrd, Bull, etc.); also examples by Scheidt, Sweelinck
- Ornamentation Variation
- Melody (usually in top voice) is ornamented differently for each variation, although supporting harmonies unchanged
- Example: Jan Reinken (1632-1722)
- Ostinato Variation
- Constant element is the underlying harmony or bass pattern (e.g., Chaconnes or Passacaglias)
B. Variations and fantasias on chorales increasingly
important in Middle and Northern Germany (leading to the Chorale Prelude and the Chorale Partita)
- Principal composers: Sweelinck, Scheidt
V Dance Music
A. English virginalists often use dance music as a basis for their variations
B. Dance Suites for ensembles become popular
- Example: Schein's Banchetto Musicale (1617) contains 25 suites in 5 parts, usually with the following movements:
- Intrada (optional)
- Padovana
- Gagliarda
- Courante
- Allemande
F Also Michael Praetorius' collection Terpsichore, 1612)
- Different movements usually linked by melodic similarities between the themes used
VI French Lute Music
A. Lute and Keyboard Suites in France
- distinctive new idiomatic style of composition for the lute emerges: Style Brise ("Broken Style")
- "Pseudo-polyphony" in which contrapuntal lines are suggested in different voices: implied continuity filled in by the ear
- Example: Ennemond Gaultier (1575-1651) &
Dennis Gaultier (1603-72)
- Keyboard suite also influenced by lute style
- Examples: Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres (1602-72), Louis Couperin (1626-61), Jean Henri d'Anglebert (1635-91)
VII Improvisatory Compositions
A. Toccata
- characterized by unusual harmonic experimentation, sharp contrasts of mood between sections (e.g., slow moving sustained chords followed by passages of virtuoso scale runs, turns and trills)
- sometimes contains sections of imitative counterpoint
- Principal composers: Claudio Merulo (1533-1604), Frescobaldi, Sweelinck, Froberger
Last Update 6/21/06
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