Print this page Music of the Baroque Period

Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons - the Baroque period has given us some of the most dramatic and beautiful compositions of music history. This study day unravels the rich complexity of Baroque music, providing insight into the works of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi and their contemporaries, in their social and historical context. Learn what makes Baroque music sound Baroque, and what the great composers were striving to achieve. No prior musical knowledge is necessary.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face to face

COURSE OUTLINE

• What makes Baroque music sound Baroque? Misshapen pearls: the origins of the term ‘Baroque’
• Social and historical background: Europe, 1600–1750; musical genres of the Baroque period
• Vivaldi, Bach and Handel
• Compositional techniques: what Baroque composers were trying to achieve, and how they achieved it
• Musical characteristics: what to listen for, and how to get more out of music of the Baroque period
• Polyphony and counterpoint: polyphonic listening; what is a fugue?; continuo and figured bass
• Baroque instrumental forms: the Baroque Suite; the Baroque Concerto; Variations on a Ground Bass
• Major works: Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Cello Suites, Orchestral Suites and Brandenburg Concertos; Pachelbel’s Canon; Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons; Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Concerto Grosso
• Choral music and sacred forms: Handel’s Messiah; Bach’s choral music
• The birth of opera: Handel’s Julius Caesar

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course students should be able to:

1. List some of the main composers of the Baroque period
2. List some music from the Baroque period
3. Describe some of the musical characteristics of the Baroque period