1. Baroque Music Main Currents in Baroque Music

2. Baroque Music • The transition to the Baroque brought about a shift from several independent lines (polyphony) to one in which a melody stood out (homophony). • Monody: originated in vocal music around the year 1600 and was a new style featuring solo song with instrumental accompaniment • Monody focused on text and its emotional power

3. Baroque Music • Figured bass: shorthand notation for harmony • Chords created through improvisation • Basso continuo: bass part, performed by 2 instruments • Chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ or lute) • and bass instrument (cello or bassoon)

4. Baroque Music • Camerata- group of people (writers, artists, and musicians) engage in discussion about “the new music”. • Members of Camerata were aristocratic humanists who aimed to resurrect the musical-dramatic art of ancient Greece. • Music must heighten the emotional power of the text. • Camerata gave the path to more advance form Opera.

5. Baroque Music • Establishment of the major-minor tonality system was the outcome of this simpler style and less complex harmonies and was the most significant change in all of music history.

6. Baroque Music • Equal temperament: a new tuning system that mathematically equalized the distance between adjacent tones • Made it possible to play in every major and minor key without experiencing unpleasant sounds • J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (2 vols.) each contains 24 preludes and fugues, one in every possible key