The Baroque — Vivaldi, Bach, Handel

The Baroque — 150 Years, 1600–1750

From Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in 1607 (previous article) to Bach’s death in 1750: 150 years. The word “Baroque” comes from Portuguese barroco (an irregular pearl) — a 19th-century term of mockery for an “excessive, ornate style.”

Today it is regarded as one of the richest 150 years in the history of music. Born in this period:

• Continuo (basso continuo) — the characteristic accompaniment of the Baroque
• Opera (from 1607), oratorio, cantata
• The concerto, sonata, suite
• The fugue and the completion of counterpoint
• Equal temperament and tonal harmony

Three Periods of the Baroque

Early Baroque (1600–1650)

• Monteverdi, Schütz
• The emergence of continuo; the birth of opera
• Renaissance polyphony gives way to “solo + accompaniment”

Middle Baroque (1650–1710)

• Lully (France, 1632–1687) — founds French opera
• Purcell (England, 1659–1695) — the genius of English Baroque, dead at 36
• Corelli (Italy, 1653–1713) — standardizes the violin sonata and the concerto grosso

Late Baroque (1710–1750)

• The three great masters: Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel
• Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti were all born in 1685 (a “miraculous year”)
• Bach’s death in 1750 ends the Baroque era

Continuo — The Heart of the Baroque

Continuo (basso continuo) is the defining feature of Baroque music:

• A bass instrument (cello, violone, bassoon) and a chord instrument (harpsichord, lute, organ) share the accompaniment
• The score gives only a bass line with figures (figured bass); the chord player realizes the harmony extemporaneously
• Solo instruments (violin, flute, singer) develop the melody above

“Soloist vs. continuo” runs through every Baroque genre — concerto, sonata, opera, cantata, oratorio.

Antonio Vivaldi — “The Red Priest”

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was a Venice-born priest, composer, and violinist. He wrote over 500 concertos, 50 operas, and much vocal and sacred music.

Life

• 4 March 1678 — Born in Venice; his father was a violinist at St. Mark’s
• 1703 — Ordained as priest (hence “il prete rosso” — the red-haired priest)
• 1703–1740 — Music teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà, Venice, educating and directing performances of orphaned girls
• 28 July 1741 — Dies in poverty in Vienna at 63

The Pietà — A Pioneer of Music Education

The Ospedale della Pietà, where Vivaldi taught for 37 years, was a special institution for orphaned girls, training them as musicians. It produced more than 300 female performers, and its concerts were so famous that European aristocrats traveled to Venice to hear them.

A rare case where women were recognized as professional musicians — an important episode in 18th-century music education.

The Four Seasons — Concerto Masterpieces

Le quattro stagioni are the first four of the twelve concertos of Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione Op. 8 (published 1725):

• Spring — birdsong, a stream, a thunderstorm
• Summer — scorching heat, exhaustion, lightning
• Autumn — harvest festival, sleep, the hunt
• Winter — cold wind, hearth, ice

A pioneer of programme music. Each movement has an accompanying sonnet, and the music depicts concrete scenes. This innovation is a distant ancestor of 19th-century “programme music” (Berlioz, Liszt, R. Strauss).

Today it is one of the most familiar works in classical music. Top of the charts for both sales and performance frequency.

J. S. Bach — The Summit of Counterpoint

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is treated at length in the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series (02, keyboard-focused). This article focuses on the rest of his output.

Church Music

As Cantor at St. Thomas, Leipzig, Bach wrote for 27 years (1723–1750) more than 200 cantatas:

• Church cantatas — for weekly worship (around 200 survive)
• St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 (1727) — a three-hour Passion, Bach’s supreme achievement
• St. John Passion, BWV 245 (1724)
• Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (1734)
• Mass in B minor, BWV 232 (1748–49) — the final testament, “a universe of music”

Instrumental Music

• Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051 (1721) — six concerti grossi, each with a different solo grouping
• Orchestral Suites, BWV 1066–1069 — four suites; the famous “Air on the G string” is a movement of the third
• Unaccompanied Violin Partitas, BWV 1004 — the fifth movement, the Chaconne, is the summit of Baroque instrumental music
• Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012 — rediscovered by Casals in 1889

The Summit of Baroque Counterpoint

Bach is the master of the fugue. Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080 (1745–1750, unfinished) explores the full possibilities of the fugue through 14 fugues and 4 canons on a single theme. Leonhardt, Koopman, and Walcha rediscovered it in the 20th century.

Georg Friedrich Handel — Opera and Oratorio

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) was born in Germany (Halle) and naturalized British. Bach’s rival born the same year, he had incomparably greater international fame in his lifetime.

Life

• 23 February 1685 — Born in Halle, 100 km from Bach’s birthplace of Eisenach
• 1706–1710 — Study in Italy — learns opera in Venice and Rome
• 1710–1712 — Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover (later George I)
• 1712–1759 — Moves to London; the Royal Academy of Music (Royal Opera Company)
• 1727 — Naturalized British
• 1749 — Music for the Royal Fireworks; 60,000 attend
• 14 April 1759 — Dies at 74, buried at Westminster Abbey

Operas (First Half of His Career)

Handel wrote 35 opere serie. Highlights:

• Rinaldo HWV 7 (1711) — a London debut, a great success
• Giulio Cesare HWV 17 (1724) — a masterpiece of heroic opera
• Alcina HWV 34 (1735) — magic opera
• Serse (Xerxes) HWV 40 (1738) — home of the famous “Ombra mai fu”

Frequently revived today thanks to the Baroque opera revival (René Jacobs, Emmanuelle Haïm, Leonhardt).

Oratorios (Second Half of His Career) — Messiah

As opera fell out of fashion, Handel turned to English oratorio:

• Messiah HWV 56 (1741) — a three-part oratorio on Christ the Savior, famous for the Hallelujah Chorus
• Israel in Egypt HWV 54 (1739)
• Judas Maccabaeus HWV 63 (1746)

The Hallelujah Chorus in Messiah

Composed in 24 days between August and September 1741. First performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742. Tradition says King George II stood at the “Hallelujah” chorus, and audiences still rise to their feet for it today.

A staple of the world’s choral societies. Performed at Christmas across the world. With Bach’s Mass in B minor, one of the two greatest works of Baroque vocal music.

“The Three of 1685” — A Miraculous Year

In 1685, three great composers were born:

Composer	Birthplace	Main region
J. S. Bach	Eisenach, Germany	Leipzig, Germany
G. F. Handel	Halle, Germany	London, England
Domenico Scarlatti	Naples, Italy	Iberia (Madrid)

• Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) — 555 keyboard sonatas. He worked in Madrid as teacher to the Spanish princess (later queen) Maria Barbara, and his idiom absorbs Spanish folk-music elements

Three great composers born in the same year, developing distinct idioms in different countries — a symbol of the diversity of Baroque music.

Other Baroque Composers

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)

Italian violinist-composer. Standardized the concerto grosso and trio sonata. Influenced Bach and Handel.

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)

Founder of French opera; Kapellmeister to Louis XIV. Invented the “French overture.” In 1687 he stabbed his own foot with the large staff he used to conduct and died of the infection — a bizarre end.

Henry Purcell (1659–1695)

The genius of English Baroque, dead at 36. Dido and Aeneas (1689) is the peak of English opera; “Dido’s Lament (When I am laid in earth)” is a beloved aria.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)

Bach’s contemporary. Far more popular than Bach in his lifetime, and a prolific composer with over 3000 works.

François Couperin (1668–1733)

Summit of the French clavecin school. Four books of Pièces de clavecin — a masterpiece of descriptive music.

The Evolution of Instruments

The Perfection of the Violin

• Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) — made over 1000 violins in Cremona, still the world’s finest
• Guarneri del Gesù (1698–1744) — another Cremona master
• The Amati family — patriarchs of Cremonese violin making

A Stradivarius today costs hundreds of millions of yen, and is played by the world’s top violinists.

Keyboard Instruments

See the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series. The harpsichord was the central Baroque keyboard; around 1700 Cristofori invented the piano. Bach tested a Silbermann piano in 1747 at the very end of the era.

Winds and Brass

• The Baroque trumpet, horn, oboe, and recorder develop
• Flutes were wooden — the modern metal flute is a 19th-century instrument

The Modern Baroque Revival — “Historical Performance”

From the mid-20th century, the movement to perform Baroque music on original instruments developed:

• Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929–2016) — Austria; founded Concentus Musicus
• Frans Brüggen (1934–2014) — Netherlands; Orchestra of the 18th Century
• John Eliot Gardiner (1943–) — UK; Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists
• William Christie (1944–) — US/France; Les Arts Florissants
• Philippe Herreweghe (1947–) — Belgium; Collegium Vocale Gent

Today both modern-instrument and period-instrument performances coexist. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah are performed frequently in both styles.

The Political and Cultural Background

• 1618–1648 — Thirty Years’ War (Germany devastated)
• 1643–1715 — Louis XIV (French absolutism)
• 1685–1750 — Bach’s life
• 1687 — Newton’s Principia (see the [Lineage of Mathematics] series)
• 1723–1750 — Bach at Leipzig
• 1750–1789 — the Enlightenment (heading into the Classical era)

Amid the aftermath of the scientific revolution, absolutism, and the Reformation, music expands from church and court to civic society and publishing.

From This Article to the Next

We have surveyed 150 years of the Baroque. The next article enters the Classical era (1750–1820). Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven form the Viennese Classical school; the symphony, string quartet, and sonata form are consolidated; music expresses the Enlightenment and civil society; and the French Revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic Wars are the political background. Corresponds to articles 03 (Mozart and Haydn) and 04 (Beethoven) of the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series, seen here from the wider symphonic, chamber, and operatic angle.