University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Literature and Styles in Music I

Church Music and Oratorio in the Middle Baroque

I Conservative composers continue "Strict" Contrapuntal Style of Renaissance

A. Older techniques and genres (e.g., the "Parody" or Imitation Mass, use of complex canons etc.) continue in some works, sometimes combined with the "newer" elements of the "concerted" style, e.g., the concertato opposition of instru

B. Bologna emerges as one of the important centers of Catholic Church music in the middle Baroque

Major composers: Maurizo Cazzati (120-77), Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1637-95), Giacomo Antonio Perti

C. Catholic centers in southern Germany known for conservative approach

J. J. Fux's Missa Canonica (1716) is a late example of the strict Renaissance sacred style
Other music composed in southern Germany combined Italian and German characteristics

II Church Music in Vienna

A. Masses of Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) influenced by operatic style

contains arias, duets, orchestral ritornellos in operatic style as well as more traditional contrapuntal choral movements
Caldara also known for "sentimental" use of chromaticism (influenced by A. Scarlatti and others)
- this type of chromaticism influences later composers such as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-36), Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) and others

III Oratorio, Motet and Related Sacred Forms

A. Italy

As Latin Oratorio is replaced by "Oratorio Volgare," oratorio becomes increasing identical to opera, i.e., solo arias and duet dominate with chorus assuming a less significant role

B. France

Charpentier synthesizes both Italian and French elements in the French oratorio
- choral writing closer to traditional French style
- aria style combined qualities of Italian Bel Canto with traditional French vocal ornaments
- Motet emerges as favorite of French Court composers (e.g., Lully, Charpentier, Henri Dumont (1610-84)
  - some motets for solo voices with continuo are similar in style to the secular cantata
  - But French "Grands Motets" by composers such as Lully, Charpentier, and Henri Dumont (1610-84) are much more elaborate, featuring multiple soloists, double chorus and full orchestra
    - Performed by the Chapelle Royale with 83 singers and full orchestral resources
    - Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) is most prominent composer in court of Louis XIV
      - His works employ a wide range of styles from fugal chorus to opera-like arias and duets

C. England: Anglican Church Music

Anthems and Services continue as most important forms
- Also "Canticles," i.e., name for psalms and hymns sung for Morning and Evening Prayer service
- Major composers: Blow, Purcell

D. Germany

Hymns of Paul Gerhardt (1607-76) set to music by Johann Cruger (1598-1662) in "Practice of Piety in Song," most important Lutheran song book of the middle Baroque

Clash of two religious movements, "Pietism" and "Orthodoxy" has important musical implications
- Orthodox members believed that elaborate art music was appropriate to the worship service
- most musical developments occur in centers where the Orthodox perspective was held
Pietists were general hostile to elaborate art music, preferring a simpler, more direct and sentimental approach

E. Concerted Church Music

Sacred Concertos (sometimes called Cantatas) continue to be composed through the middle Baroque
- Principal composers: Matthias Weckmann (1619-74), Franz Tunder (1614-67), Andreas Hammerschmidt (1612-1675)
- Also Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
  - composes in free concertato style and employs "Chorale Variations" in which each stanza of a chorale is given a new elaboration for voices and instruments
  - much of his church music composed for Abendmusiken, public concerts following afternoon church services at Lubeck during the Advent season
    - these attract musicians from all over Germany (including J. S. Bach)
  - Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
    - known for free concertato style (without use of chorales) and antiphonal writing reminiscent of the the Venetian School
Lutheran Church Cantata
- Church cantata flourishes as Erdmann Neumeister (Orthodox theologian but a poet with Pietist tendencies) introduces a new type of sacred poetry which he designates a "cantata"
- Neumeister's new "cantata" quotes from Biblical passages and Lutheran chorales as previous texts for Lutheran compositions had, but he adds original poetic insertions of a subjective or emotional character which are set by composers as expressive arias
- This approach gained widespread popularity because it reconciled the opposing tendencies of the Orthodox and Pietist movements
- Major composers of the new type of cantatas:
  - Philipp Kreiger (1649-1725), Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722), Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712)
  - Later generation of cantata composers: Christopher Graupner (1683-1760), Johann Mattheson (1681-1764), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), and J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Lutheran Passion
- Musical settings of some biblical narrative referred to as "Historia" in Germany
- Most important type of Historia was the Passion, settings of the biblical account of the suffering and death of Christ
- Johann Walther was first Lutheran composer to set the text in German ("St. Matthew Passion," 1550); later composers include Schutz and others
- Passion text sometimes set in a series of motets, i.e., Motet Passion
- Motet text sometimes set with solo recitatives and arias, ensembles and instrumental pieces, i.e., the Oratorio Passion, composed by Schutz and others

Last Update 6/21/06

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