Gillespie

Five Centuries of Keyboard Music

Part II

3. Harpsichord Music: Its Forms and Characteristics

Renaissance vs Baroque

-In contrast to the sophisticated linear style of the Reaissance, Baroque music is bolder, more realistic in

expression.

-Major and minor tonalities arise =>science of harmony, modulation, dissonances.

-Melodically, the basically vocal lines of the Renaissance music were transformed into instrumental themes.

-Repeated motives and phrases become particularly popular.

-"Terrace Dynamics": if a phrase is played on one manual and repeated on another one with a softer dynamic

level.

-Use of ornamentation.

-Rococo music is applied to certain composers and compositions written during the late Baroque and Pre-classic

eras:

~characterized by profuse ornamentation, light texture, and occasional superficialty

~used primarily by French and Italian composers and is also known as the style galant.

Keyboard Forms

-Three important compositional forms:

~suite (and the closely related sonata)

~variation

~fugue(frequently preceded by a prelude, toccata, or fantasie)

The Suite

-German: Partie, Partita, Ouverture, Suite

-Italian: Partita, Sonata da camera

-French: Ordre, Suite

-English: Lessons

-The suite usually denotes a cycle (series) of dance pieces (different in meter and tempo, but in the same key).

-Each section (except an optional introductory movement) is constructed in bipartite form (two parts with

repetition, the first part modulates to the dominantand the second back to the tonic).

-Origins of the suite are paired dances written for the lute, beginning about the fourteenth century in France,

Germany, and Italy.

-Lamento di Tristan, a fourteenth century dance, has a section in triple time followed immediately by a section in

duple time.

-The Glogauer Liederbuch (1460) contains many dances in quadruple meter, each followed by a dance in triple

meter.

-Bassadanza (basse danse):

~a dance that probably descended from the estampie and that is in duple time

~slow and stately in character

-Saltarello:

~a leaping dance in triple meter

~often served as a coupling- or after-dance with the bassadanza

-The Pavane replaced the bassadanza in the early sixteenth century.

-At the same time, the passamezzo appeared- like the pavane, yet faster and lighter.

-Galliard:

~a dance in triple meter, came to be coupled with the pavane

~first appeared in Lombardy at the end of the fifteenth century

-Allemande:

~the beginnings are in France and the Netherlands

~Sebastien de Brossard defined the allemande in the early eighteenth century as a "grave symphony, usually in duple time, often in quadruple: it has two sections, each of which is played twice."

-Minuet:

~gradually evolved in France during the sixteenth century

~it was popular as an instrumental ensemble piece during the reign of Louis XIV and consisted of three

sections: Minuet I, Minuet II or Minuet in Trio (written for three instruments only), and Minuet I; later

the term Minuet II was dropped and replaced by trio (although it could be played by just one

keyboard instrument)

-Courante:

~French origin, very much in vogue from 1660 to 1700

~after 1700 it was no longer danced but continued to be a favorite form of the harpsichord schools

~existed in two types, the French courante (moderate tempo in ternary meter; usually based on a 3/2

scheme which could be accented in different ways [1 2 3 4 5 6 or 1 2 3 4 5 6]) and the Italian

corrente (less restrained in character and shows more rhythmic stability; it utilizes a running melodic

line supported by a chordal accompaiment)

-Sarabande:

~the sarabande was popular dance in Spain before 1600

~it is a dance of noble character

~it is usually written with notes of long value, although considerable ornamentation is in evidence

~it is written in ternary measure, begins on a strong beat, and often presents a prolongation of the

second beat

~typically, there are two sectios of eight measures each

-Gigue (or jig):

~ternary meter

~first appeared in virginal music in England (about 1603)

~triple time, full of dotted syncopated notes

~the continental type is characterized by a fugal entry for each of its two sections

-Bouree:

~gay, rapid dance in duple meter

~it was discovered in Auvergne at the end of the sixteenth century

-The unmeasured prelude that arose at the beginning of the seventeenth century in France, probably goes back to

the stylistic processes of the early-sixteenth-century Italian school..

-The measured prelude was also used, but mostly in Germany.

-Other dances that did ot become integral part of the suites include the chaconne, passacaglia, canaris, gigue

d'Angleterre, etc.

-During the late seventeenth century and through the eighteenth, many Italian and Spanish keyboard composers

produced individual pieces in bipartite form, which they called "sonatas".

-The term sonata is an abbreviation of two forms common to Italy:

~sonata da camera or "chamber sonata" (series of dance movements using a common or nearly

related tonality)

~sonata da chiesa or "church sonata" (a group of pieces contrasting in texture and tempo, each piece

retaining the bipartite form)

-Early French clavecin composers grouped their Pieces de Clavecin into suites (could have more than one

allemande, courante, etc.).

-Johann Froberger used in his early suites only three dances: allemande, courante, and sarabande. Later he used

four dancesas standard for his suites: allemande, gigue (or courante), courante (or gigue), and sarabande

-By the eighteenth century, the German suite had become more or less standardized as follows:

introductory optional movement (prelude [measured], overture, fantasia, etc), allemande, courante, sarabande,

optional dances (gavotte, bouree, passepied, etc), gigue

The Variation

-There are several types of variation procedures which may be used singly or in combination:

-Recurring bass line: a melodic phrase of four to eight measures is designed (frequently in triple meter and

minor tonality) and this bass melody remains constant (this method is used in compositions such as

ground, basso ostinato, chaconne, and passacaglia)

-Chaconne and passacaglia also apply to variation based on a recurring harmonic pattern.

-Another form is the recurring binary melody, a theme which is sixteen to thirty-two measures long and which is

usually sustained by a comparatively simple accompaniment. The accompaniment undergoes no radical change,

but the melodic line is ornamented, changed rhythmically, and otherwise paraphrased.

-The English virginal composers also applied variation treatment to individual dances, such as the pavane.

-Some composers, such as Froberger, combined variation technique with the suite, producing a hybrid form

called the variation suite. In this event, the courante, sarabande, and gigue become variations on the initial

material presented in the allemande.

The Fugue

-The fugue developed from the Renaissance ricercar and organ canzona.

-The ricercar (derived from the motet) was made up of several sections, each section being a fugal exposition.

-The organ canzona is a contrapuntual form similar to the ricercar but less rigid and more lively.

-A piece in contrasting style usually preceded the fugue, and for this the Baroque composer could select from

several quasi-improvisatory types, such as the prelude, toccata, fantasy, overture, etc.