Music in Baroque Society - Essay Example

What were some important characteristics of the social, cultural, and political background of the baroque period? Describe at least three characteristics. As regards a political aspect, the baroque era is known to have witnessed a state of religious affairs at the height of their tumult. The political nature of conflict existing between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation had much to do with clerical indulgences as expressed through the life of luxury attached to papacy and church authorities in general at the time.

This is one of the several grounds why a culture of radical thinkers and philosophers like Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal created schools of thoughts characterizing a revolution which highly involved elements dealing with religion and sciences in their discourse. A third characteristic of the baroque age was significantly manifested through social living in Europe; the prevailing class structure had widely demonstrated the attitude and opinion on extravagance in the society via architecture, music, arts, and literature which had been promoted, in part, by the lavish life of King Louis XIV. 2. What were some general characteristics of baroque music?

Describe at least three characteristics, using appropriate terms from the course readings. Music of the period – 1600-1750 – projects an essential attribute of the baroque style as perceived through its grandiosity, irregularity, and strangeness. Compared to the music of the preceding Renaissance age, baroque music is found rich in various textures, levels of intensity, and melodies that seemed to form more embellished or intricate sound. To normal listeners, the characteristics of the original musical pieces of this era appeal to the senses not only emotionally but also experimentally.

In either approach, a genius baroque musician had a particular unity of mood, form or style, and selection of instruments. By unity of mood, composers followed a specific kind of affection in generating rhythmic and melodic patterns, and this affection unified the mood in music, enabling the audience to recognize a theme or subject that is consistent all throughout the piece. When it comes to musical style, baroque is identified with the recitative manner of singing compositions or with speech rhythms designated for sung texts, which later evolved to arias or expressive melodies of a different order and instrumentation.

Equivalently, the use of harpsichord featured the distinction of baroque music in conveying homophonic and developing polyphonic elements with the support of bass instruments in garnishing melodic lines with harmonic effects. 3. What is the piece you have selected? In what ways is that piece representative of baroque music? Describe at least three ways, connecting this answer to your response to the second question. The chosen piece is Johann Sebastian Bach’s hymn for “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, which was an adaptation of an original work by Martin Luther, a German priest and a chief proponent of the Protestant Reformation.

As Bach’s remarkable chorale cantata which depicts a religious theme based on the substance of the Scripture’s book of Psalms, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” embodies baroque music due to its flexible melodic variations that allude to sacred or godly exultations typically resembling the church’s operatic chants. It may be classified as baroque in nature due to its potential in unifying senses to a certain mood that could engage a protestant listener in a recollection of Lutheran customs.

Moreover, Bach’s influence on the baroque style in music is quite signified in the monophonic texture and volume of the hymn shaped out of its initially severe complex rhythmic structure. Just as how a harpsichord was intended to establish the identity that is uniquely baroque for musical creations, the organ was similarly used to yield to the common objective of bringing a grotesque form in “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” 4. How did this piece reflect, shape, and/or critique baroque society?

This piece shaped the baroque society by being the “Battle Hymn of the Reformation”, which even during the early part of the 16th century had been sung upon entry to the Imperial Diet of the Worms when Luther defended his theses and critical beliefs against Catholic misdeeds. In a way, J.S. Bach’s rendition of the hymn (Ein’ Feste Burg ist unser Gott) reflected the erudite traits present in the opposing major religions that were tested in the midst of extravagant progress and by high philosophical intellects within the baroque society after the Age of Enlightenment in Europe.