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Blogs about: Baroque Music Theory

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A performance of music by Carissimi described in 1659

An eye witness account of a performance of music by Carissimi in Rome in 1659.  The three extracts are taken from the Travels of Francis Mortoft, an English traveller who visited Rome in 1659.  1.  It… more →

Theory of Music

A performance of music by Carissimi described in 1659

Barry Mitchell wrote 3 days ago: An eye witness account of a performance of music by Carissimi in Rome in 1659.  The three extracts a … more →

Tags: 17th century traveller's diaries, counterreformation religious music, great patrons of religious music, history of the oratorio, lay preaching in 17th century Rome, religious music in the baroque era, the baroque italian oratorio, the music of Carissimi, the origins of the oratorio

Text of Monteverdi's Beatus vir with an English translation

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 week ago: The text of Monteverdi’s Beatus vir with an English translation.  The text is from the Latin Vulgate … more →

Tags: bible texts set to music, biblical texts popular with composers, counterreformation religious music, monteverdi's religious music, religious music in the baroque era, texts set by Monteverdi

Heinrich Schütz by Manfred Bukofzer (1947) — 2 comments

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 month ago: Extracts from Manfred F Bukofzer’s account of the career of Heinrich Schütz, from Music in the Baroq … more →

Tags: history and theory of music, German religious music before Bach, history of the oratorio, Music in the Baroque Era Heinrich Schutz, religious music in the baroque era, the career of baroque composer H. Schutz, the history of German religious music, the history of settings of the Passion, the influence of Italian music on Germany

Sources for the early history of the oratorio

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 month ago: Extracts from translations of four primary sources relating to the early history of the oratorio.  T … more →

Tags: a revival of the practices of the first Christians, lay preaching in 17th century Rome, music and religion in baroque Rome, music used in the roman catholic mass, music used in the service of religion, the catholic reform movement of the 17th century, the life and works of Philip Neri, the origins of the oratorio, the policy of the popes regarding music

Essential themes of the baroque — 1 comment

Barry Mitchell wrote 8 months ago: Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This discussion of the nature of baroque culture by Barbara Borngäss … more →

Tags: art religion and the baroque, attitudes to baroque art, baroque art and its patrons, concetto in baroque art explained, essentials of the baroque, ideas of Jacob Burckhardt, the baroque explained, the baroque synthesis of the arts, the idea of the world as theatre

Tovey on playing Bach's 48

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This extract deals with general principles in the interpretation of JS Bach’s keyboard music.  … more →

Tags: advice on playing Bach's 48, classics of Bach scholarship, DF Tovey on how to play Bach, writings of Donald Francis Tovey, playing Bach in the early 20th century, how to interpret Bach's keyboard music, the instruments of Bach's 48, approaches to playing early music, how to play Bach on the piano

A list of Cavalli's operas

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This is a list of all the known operas of Pietro Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) giving the date, the … more →

Tags: opera in the 17th century, the operas of Cavalli, opera in baroque Venice, important composers of early Italian opera, the first commercial operas, opera composers after Monteverdi

J Mattheson discusses expression in Baroque music (1713)

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: In this extract from Neu-Eröffnete Orchester (The New Orchestra) written in 1713 Johann Mattheson (1 … more →

Tags: eighteenth-century music theory, baroque theories of musical expression, the doctrine of the affections, Affekt theory in Baroque music, key ideas in baroque music, important German music theorists, the expressive power of music, musical expression in opera, the emotions of baroque music

JS Bach's sacred music

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This reminiscence of JS Bach is from a letter by CPE Bach to JN Forkel, probably from December 1774. … more →

Tags: eighteenth-century music theory, how Bach composed sacred music, how Bach played figured bass, sources for the study of JS Bach, how JS Bach set words to music, an account of JS Bach improvising, the organ music of JS Bach, the biography of JS Bach, anecdotes about JS Bach

Pierre Perrin and the first French operas

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: These two extracts are from Pierre Perrin’s Recueil de Paroles de Musique. Operas What will se … more →

Tags: eighteenth-century music theory, birth of French opera, French baroque opera, opera and Louis XIV, French vs Italian opera, opera and rules of art, elements in French opera, opera before Lully, origins of French opera

Rameau on the art of composition

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: Jean-Philippe Rameau – Letter to Houdar de La Motte, 1727 October 25: 1727 Whatever reasons yo … more →

Tags: JP Rameau's theories of music, eighteenth-century music theory, baroque music aesthetics, expression in music, self-expression in music, French music theory, defence of baroque aesthetics, Rameau's patrons, baroque patrons of opera

Richard Fleckno writes about English and opera, 1654

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This extract is from Richard Fleckno’s Preface to his opera Ariadne Deserted by Theseus, and F … more →

Tags: birth of English opera, English language and opera, English baroque opera, languages suitable for opera, Italian influence on English opera, myth in English opera, setting English to music, aesthetics of opera, Ariadne and Theseus in opera

Rameau on the resonant body and the one principle (1760)

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This extract is from the Introduction to “Nouvelles réflexions sur le principe sonore” i … more →

Tags: JP Rameau's theories of music, music and philosophy, music theory in ancient greece, a unifying theory of music, High Baroque music theory, laws of harmony, Nouvelles reflexions sur le principe sonore, origins of modern music, the music theories of Pythagoras

Matthew Locke's preface to Psyche (1675)

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: From the Preface to Matthew Locke’s opera Psyche, 1675. The first (stumbling block) may be the … more →

Tags: birth of English opera, Matthew Locke's operas, opera in the 17th century, elements of baroque opera, baroque opera singers, opera in England, English baroque opera, defining baroque opera, the constituent parts of opera

John Evelyn describes a Venetian opera (1645)

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This extract is taken from the diaries of John Evelyn, an Englishman who toured Italy in the middle … more →

Tags: women in opera, baroque theatre, women in theatre, castrati in opera, baroque Venice, Venetian baroque, Cavalli's contemporaries, the Venetian aristocracy, documents from the Grand Tour

John Dryden defines opera (1685)

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: This discussion of opera is from John Dryden’s Preface to the opera Albion and Albanius (1685) … more →

Tags: early dramatic music, defining opera, English music theatre, baroque English opera, opera before Handel, birth of English opera, Dryden and opera, Dryden the librettist, Venus and Adonis in opera

A translation of Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda — 1 comment

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: Monteverdi composed Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda in 1624. The text is taken from Torquato … more →

Tags: birth of opera, il combattimento di tancredi e clorinda, il combattimento translation, famous love stories in music, Tasso Jerusalem Delivered and Monteverdi, early history of opera, renaissance poetry set to music, the story of Tancredi and Clorinda, famous poems by Tasso

CPE Bach’s alternative to Rameau’s theory of the Fundamental Bass

Barry Mitchell wrote 1 year ago: An extract from: William Mitchell, Introduction to Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instrum … more →

Tags: pre-classical music theory, art of playing the keyboard, controversies in music theory, debates about the nature of harmony, great keyboard players, history of 18th century German music, ideas about harmony, music in 18th century Hamburg, music theories of Rameau

A London opera-goer in 1728

Barry Mitchell wrote 2 years ago: This extract is from Handel by D Burrows. Comments by Winton Dean are bracketed [like this]. My comm … more →

Tags: singers' earnings in the 18th century, opera in England, subject matter of baroque opera, women opera singers in the 18th century, the opera orchestra in the 18th century, royal patronage of opera in the 18th century, famous singers of the 18th century, performance practice in 18th century opera, opera in 18th century London


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