Page 101 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 5.12
Detail of an orchestra playing for a Baroque opera, as seen in Pietro Domenico Olivero’s Interior of the Teatro Regio, Turin (1740). From left to right are a bassoon, two horns, a cello, a double bass, a harpsichord, and then violins, violas, and oboes.
sometimes added a pair of hunting horns (we now call them “French” horns) to the orchestra to give it more sonic resonance. Supporting the entire ensem- ble was the ever-present basso continuo, usually consisting of a harpsichord to provide chords and a low string instrument to play the bass line (Figure 5.12). The orchestra for Western classical music, then, can be said to be an ensemble of musicians, organized around a core of strings, with added woodwinds and brasses, playing under a leader.
Most Baroque orchestras were small, usually with no more than twen- ty performers, and none of the parts was doubled—that is, no more than one instrumentalist was assigned to a single written line. Yet while the typical Baroque orchestra had no more than twenty players, there were exceptions, especially toward the end of the sev- enteenth century. At some of the more splendid courts around Europe, the or- chestra might swell to more than eighty instrumentalists for special occasions. Foremost among these was the court of French king Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715; Figure 5.13) and his great- grandson, Louis XV (1715–1774).
Mouret and Trumpet Music for the French Court
Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682–1738) was a minor figure in the history of music. In- deed, he would be totally forgotten today were it not for one small twist of fate: in 1971, PBS’s Masterpiece Theater chose the Rondeau from Mouret’s Suite de symphonies (Succession of Harmonious Pieces; 1729) to be its theme. Masterpiece Theater (now Masterpiece) went on to become the longest-running drama series
Figure 5.13
This view of the front of Versailles gives a sense of the grandeur of the palace that King Louis XIV began there in 1669. Versailles was both a court and a small city, full of courtiers
and their servants, as well as court functionaries, including musicians.
middle baroque instrumental music: three favorites 79 Copyright 201 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
56797_ch05_ptg01.indd 79 29/08/14 3:33 PM
© The Gallery Collection/CORBIS
© Scala/Art Resource, NY
<
<