Composing in the Baroque style
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Leslie Sanford Leslie Sanford https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=131095
- KVRAF
- 1640 posts since 4 Dec, 2006
I'm looking for texts that deal with the elements of the Baroque style. I have scores by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti and others, so from studying them I have some sense of what is entailed in this style. But I was wondering if there is a book that distills it down to a few common elements.
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- KVRian
- 1314 posts since 7 Aug, 2009 from Baltimore, MD
To be honest, you will waste LOTS of money on the various books that (more or less) "cover" this topic. (I know I sure did! 
)
Baroque music is more about performance practice than "compositional theory." You must remember that these composers were also very accomplished musicians, and their compositions grew more from actual playing than theoretical exercises or demonstrations. In our current "compositional" world (which is dominated by academia), much more emphasis is placed on abstract concepts than performance pragmatics, but trying to "learn" Baroque styles through common elements is best achieved by playing their works (and, of course, ornamenting/improvising around them!).
(Think about it: this is exactly the reason why they left no lengthy theoretical treatises! They were all too busy making music -- and, thus, sustaining their livelihoods.
)
I recommend the keyboard music of Frescobaldi, Trabaci, and Sweelinck (as well as Pachelbel and Telemann) as better "starting points" for understanding the counterpoint which underlies the music of Vivaldi, Buxtehude, and JSBach.
Domenico Scarlatti is perhaps an even better "starting point," because he's never as "thick" as Buxtehude or JSBach (though his keyboard works are fiendishly-difficult in places) and is always fun! (And sometimes downright gorgeous.) His "invention" through composition is undoubtedly first-class, too.
A good exercise: play a few selections from JSBach's "Art Of Fugue" in the style of Vivaldi! (So many people take these pieces as funeral dirges, but they can be absolutely thrilling in the hands of someone who's willing to breathe a little life into 'em!)
Here's a book I own which will teach you MUCH more about Baroque music than many of the other tomes purporting to do the same -- it's a bit dry (and often dense), but it's worth your time & attention, IMHumO.
)Baroque music is more about performance practice than "compositional theory." You must remember that these composers were also very accomplished musicians, and their compositions grew more from actual playing than theoretical exercises or demonstrations. In our current "compositional" world (which is dominated by academia), much more emphasis is placed on abstract concepts than performance pragmatics, but trying to "learn" Baroque styles through common elements is best achieved by playing their works (and, of course, ornamenting/improvising around them!).
(Think about it: this is exactly the reason why they left no lengthy theoretical treatises! They were all too busy making music -- and, thus, sustaining their livelihoods.
)I recommend the keyboard music of Frescobaldi, Trabaci, and Sweelinck (as well as Pachelbel and Telemann) as better "starting points" for understanding the counterpoint which underlies the music of Vivaldi, Buxtehude, and JSBach.
Domenico Scarlatti is perhaps an even better "starting point," because he's never as "thick" as Buxtehude or JSBach (though his keyboard works are fiendishly-difficult in places
) and is always fun! (And sometimes downright gorgeous.) His "invention" through composition is undoubtedly first-class, too.A good exercise: play a few selections from JSBach's "Art Of Fugue" in the style of Vivaldi! (So many people take these pieces as funeral dirges, but they can be absolutely thrilling in the hands of someone who's willing to breathe a little life into 'em!)
Here's a book I own which will teach you MUCH more about Baroque music than many of the other tomes purporting to do the same -- it's a bit dry (and often dense), but it's worth your time & attention, IMHumO.
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- KVRAF
- 2118 posts since 1 Apr, 2004 from Athens, Greece
I have Walter Piston's "Counterpoint" and at Berklee we used Robert Gauldin's "A practical approach to Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint".
I'm not sure how "few common elements" you expect them to be though. It's a pretty tricky subject.
Nevertheless, Gauldin's book is excellent.
I'm not sure how "few common elements" you expect them to be though. It's a pretty tricky subject.
Nevertheless, Gauldin's book is excellent.
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
If one hasn't studied the principles of voice-leading and counterpoint that apply to the period in detail, one isn't going to suss this period or get anywhere in the ballpark.
As far as it's more about the performance practice than 'the theory', it isn't. It was crucial to know what's what to be a performer at the time, as there were certain 'common practices' that were a given and some leeway allowed for moments of sxtemporaneity inside the interpretation, but that's a settled matter except for people who wish to delve into that, performance area. There is a suggestion here that playing these works enough times will get you an understanding of the mechanics, the devices, enough to 'compose music in baroque style' (that is the topic title) and this just isn't so, unless one is an absolute musical genius, and I mean the 'savant' type really.
Even to just play it right, it's de rigeur to understand it formally, IMO. This isn't done without serious study.
As far as it's more about the performance practice than 'the theory', it isn't. It was crucial to know what's what to be a performer at the time, as there were certain 'common practices' that were a given and some leeway allowed for moments of sxtemporaneity inside the interpretation, but that's a settled matter except for people who wish to delve into that, performance area. There is a suggestion here that playing these works enough times will get you an understanding of the mechanics, the devices, enough to 'compose music in baroque style' (that is the topic title) and this just isn't so, unless one is an absolute musical genius, and I mean the 'savant' type really.
Even to just play it right, it's de rigeur to understand it formally, IMO. This isn't done without serious study.
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Leslie Sanford Leslie Sanford https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=131095
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1640 posts since 4 Dec, 2006
Thanks to everyone who have responded so far. It's appreciated. I will check out the sources that have been listed.
A little background: A couple of decades ago I became obsessed with Baroque music. It was all I listened to. I bought many music scores of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and others. I'd read these scores as I'd listen to performances of them on CD. Also, I would program them into my Atari ST using Notator software. It was a thrill to finish programming in an entire concerto grosso by Handel, hitting play on my Atari, and hearing the results. Then the challenge would be to edit the entered notes to make them sound more expressive and idiomatic. I have a wonderful old book on the performance of Baroque music that helped in this regard; I should really dig it out.
Anyway, while this was a satisfying exercise, what I really wanted to do was to be able to write something in the same style as these great composers. I had a pretty good command of theory and entering the scores into my computer brought me pretty close to how the music was constructed. Regardless, my attempts at even a modest Baroque style piece didn't get very far.
Going through some old files has rekindled my interest in this area. I purchased some music by Corelli tonight on iTunes and found a matching score online. Following along with the score as I listened to the music has brought back that same sense of appreciation I experienced years ago.
That desire to write something of a Baroque flavor has been rekindled, too. I guess what I'm looking for is something equivalent for Baroque music to the Design Patterns book in computer programming. Something that documents common patterns, things like chord progressions, and ways they're joined together, some basics on counterpoint, and so forth.
I will definitely check out the sources that have been mentioned so far.
A little background: A couple of decades ago I became obsessed with Baroque music. It was all I listened to. I bought many music scores of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, and others. I'd read these scores as I'd listen to performances of them on CD. Also, I would program them into my Atari ST using Notator software. It was a thrill to finish programming in an entire concerto grosso by Handel, hitting play on my Atari, and hearing the results. Then the challenge would be to edit the entered notes to make them sound more expressive and idiomatic. I have a wonderful old book on the performance of Baroque music that helped in this regard; I should really dig it out.
Anyway, while this was a satisfying exercise, what I really wanted to do was to be able to write something in the same style as these great composers. I had a pretty good command of theory and entering the scores into my computer brought me pretty close to how the music was constructed. Regardless, my attempts at even a modest Baroque style piece didn't get very far.
Going through some old files has rekindled my interest in this area. I purchased some music by Corelli tonight on iTunes and found a matching score online. Following along with the score as I listened to the music has brought back that same sense of appreciation I experienced years ago.
That desire to write something of a Baroque flavor has been rekindled, too. I guess what I'm looking for is something equivalent for Baroque music to the Design Patterns book in computer programming. Something that documents common patterns, things like chord progressions, and ways they're joined together, some basics on counterpoint, and so forth.
I will definitely check out the sources that have been mentioned so far.
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- KVRAF
- 6383 posts since 8 Jun, 2009
Given what you want to do, it may be worth stepping back a bit in time and investigating the music of Palestrina and John Joseph Fux, as well as doing the lessons from Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum, as that's where a number of later composers started. Fux occupies the position between old church-mode counterpoint and the new world of tonal harmony. I've seen arguments that contend that Fux didn't much care for the new fangled baroque his contemporaries came up with and wanted to argue for stuff that followed Palestrina more closely, although two centuries divide them.
Alfred Mann's translation of the first half of GaP has a bunch of useful footnotes which go some way to explaining why counterpoint developed the way it did, particularly with the emphasis on contrary motion - it was essential for dealing with the florid style of singing that Palestrina was familiar with. Mann wrote a second book, The Study of Fugue, which builds on the half of GaP that you don't get in the modern translation and which includes material more relevant to Bach etc.
The rules for counterpoint are relatively straightforward, but I don't think it's feasible to compose it effectively without getting a hold on how music got to that point. Later works on counterpoint etc tend to assume that you are mainly aiming at doing much more recent common-practice music.
Also, try checking out books or section of books on figured bass or continuo as that method of writing and performing is a major influence on what we know now as baroque. As an example, Handel wrote a bunch of exercises which have been reprinted in recent editions - Google Books search turns up a 1990 edition, at least.
Alfred Mann's translation of the first half of GaP has a bunch of useful footnotes which go some way to explaining why counterpoint developed the way it did, particularly with the emphasis on contrary motion - it was essential for dealing with the florid style of singing that Palestrina was familiar with. Mann wrote a second book, The Study of Fugue, which builds on the half of GaP that you don't get in the modern translation and which includes material more relevant to Bach etc.
The rules for counterpoint are relatively straightforward, but I don't think it's feasible to compose it effectively without getting a hold on how music got to that point. Later works on counterpoint etc tend to assume that you are mainly aiming at doing much more recent common-practice music.
Also, try checking out books or section of books on figured bass or continuo as that method of writing and performing is a major influence on what we know now as baroque. As an example, Handel wrote a bunch of exercises which have been reprinted in recent editions - Google Books search turns up a 1990 edition, at least.