Music; Listening and Appraising - AOS1; Western Classical Music (1600-1899) - Baroque

A mind map of the music listening exam's AOS1 Baroque section (inc. And the Glory of the Lord). Hope it helps! The rest is coming soon. All information from  Edexcell GCSE Music REVISION GUIDE by Alan Charlton.

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  • AOS1; Western Classical Music (1600-1899) - Baroque
    • Handel: 'And the Glory of the Lord'
      • Tonality and Harmony
        • Piece in A major.
        • Modulates the two related keys; E major (dominant) and B major (supertonic).
        • Ends with plagal cadence in A major.
        • Harmony is diatonic.
      • Performing Forces
        • Choir made up of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.
        • Choir accompanied by strings and continuo (for cello and harpsichord or organ).
        • Orchestra often doubles vocal lines.
      • Structure
        • Work starts with orchestral introduction (ritornello).
        • Based on different combinations of the four motifs.
        • Shortened versions of this music return later in two different places.
        • No set form to the movement.
      • Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
        • Maintains fast tempo (Allegro) almost until end.
          • There is bar of total silence (general pause).
            • Then three bars in slower tempo (Adagio) to create drawn-out ending.
        • There are a number of hemiolas in the peice.
          • Bars 9-10: The music feels as if it is in 2||4 rather than 3||4.
      • Texture
        • The number of parts varies
          • Sometimes it's just one (such as altos in bars 43-46
        • Uses imitation (overlapped by a copy of the same melody but at a different pitch)
          • eg. bar 17 the tenors sing "shall be revealed" and this is then imitated by bases and sopranos.
        • Very short monophonic passage in bars 108-109
        • Most of piece alternates between homophonic and contrapuntal.
          • First passage sung by is homophonic (bars 14-17).
            • Followed by contrapuntal section that introduces phrase "shall be revealed" (bars 17-33)
      • Word Setting
        • Mixture of  syllabic and melismatic word setting.
          • Eg. "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" is syllabic. Whereas the word "revealed" is melismatic.
        • Different phrases of text are repeated many times, helping to make the words as clear as possible
    • Key Features
      • Simple, mainly diatonic harmonies
      • Movements that usually keep to the same mood throughout
      • Teraced dynamics - changes in volume are sudden rather than gradual
      • Ornamentation - melodies are often highly decorated
      • Complex contrapuntal writing in some pieces
      • Orchestras made up largely of string instruments
      • The use of continuo - a group of instruments that provides a bass line and harmonic accompaniment.
        • Usually consists of a keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ), with one or more bass instruments (such as cello or double bass).

Comments

Samuel Richardson

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This mindmap covers an impressive variety of information on the Baroque period in good detail. The piece of music refered to here is Handel's 'And the Glory of the Lord'. 

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