Well support of the band IS our heritage as the first continuo parts were played by the archlute, a sort of bass lute as seen here, the theorbo. Vivaldi also scored a few works using the lute in continuo, but I can't find a video. Using hand plucked instruments started to fall out of favor as lutes, which were getting unwieldy with as many as 13 strings sometimes, were also proving to be difficult to keep in tune. The new keyboards were a more efficient solution and the lute fell into obsolescence.
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Baroque
- Thread starter Matthew_84
- Start date
I think that Vivaldi was a real BADASS 
And very possibly, Janine Jansen is the current reincarnation of Vivaldi.
Watch as she progressively rocks out harder and harder in this performance of "The Four Seasons"... Enjoy!
And very possibly, Janine Jansen is the current reincarnation of Vivaldi.
Watch as she progressively rocks out harder and harder in this performance of "The Four Seasons"... Enjoy!
If Vivaldi is your cup of tea this will really blow your mind. La folia d'espagne was a favorite theme for variation sets by any number of composers. Vivaldi's is among the really very best.
Growing up in a family of classical guitarists, I hated baroque. Then I started playing Bach parts on the electric bass - mostly keyboard, and violin (and not solo cello!)- and had a transforming experience. The first months were pretty intense. If nothing else, I rethought how to play up and down the neck and tapped into maybe a fraction of the beauty and genius of Bach's music. I pick up Bach stuff regularly. Earlier this week, I got into the parts for the Brandenburg Concerto #3. Good stuff!
I have read several fascinating books on Bach, but i still don't know how he did all that perfect composing on top of everything else he was doing.
When Bach died in 1750, he was already considered a musical has-been and his music almost disappeared (along with the specialized musicians like valveless trumpet to play it). I believe it was Mendelsohn who rescued his music from obscurity. Can you imagine a world without Bach!!
I have read several fascinating books on Bach, but i still don't know how he did all that perfect composing on top of everything else he was doing.
When Bach died in 1750, he was already considered a musical has-been and his music almost disappeared (along with the specialized musicians like valveless trumpet to play it). I believe it was Mendelsohn who rescued his music from obscurity. Can you imagine a world without Bach!!
How could anyone hate this?
I saw this kid live about a year ago and he is the real deal. I've seen every important classical guitarist with the exception of Yamashita is the last 50 years and no one has impressed me more.
I saw this kid live about a year ago and he is the real deal. I've seen every important classical guitarist with the exception of Yamashita is the last 50 years and no one has impressed me more.
You learn to hate classical guitar when you are 10 years old and its the only music you are allowed to listen to.
My friends had a stereo in their house and i heard my first Beatles. Shortly thereafter,
I snuck down to the basement to figure out this new strange music. Bu the time my father discovered this, I had been defiled and my 5 years of compulsory classical guitar ended.
My friends had a stereo in their house and i heard my first Beatles. Shortly thereafter,
I snuck down to the basement to figure out this new strange music. Bu the time my father discovered this, I had been defiled and my 5 years of compulsory classical guitar ended.
Great thread! I get goosebumps listening to Bach's Brandenburg #4 (on period instruments here!) Some of his other pieces do that for me too ... I learned to play Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, in a somewhat simplified arrangement, when I was learning guitar many moons ago. He's deeply etched in my engrams. ^_^
Likewise. My father used to play Bach all over the house when I was really young, then between the ages of 7-10 I had the pleasure of singing the St John and St Matthew Passions in some pretty impressive venues. That was decades ago but some things just never get forgotten, and Bach's music keeps appearing in how I play bass - there is nothing I can do about that, but on the other hand, why would I want to?
My favorite things about the Baroque period:
A) the mindset of playing the music on whatever instruments you had on hand. Trade out organ for harpsichord, viol for recorder, etc. No biggie.
B) these lines and dots are just guidelines. Musicians expected to improvise.
C) All our pop and jazz has a foundation in the music from the 1600s
A) the mindset of playing the music on whatever instruments you had on hand. Trade out organ for harpsichord, viol for recorder, etc. No biggie.
B) these lines and dots are just guidelines. Musicians expected to improvise.
C) All our pop and jazz has a foundation in the music from the 1600s
Yep, Bach For The Win! The cello suites got me hooked. Through them, I discovered the viol da gamba ( IT'S GOT FRETS!) and bought an old German gamba off eBay, joined the VDGSA, and didn't do much else for a while since the old 1951 gamba I bought was a "beater" and needed a lot of work to get playable. THEN happened upon that exact youtube video you posted:
Shortly afterwards I discovered Luciana was doing a viola da gamba masterclass workshop in Milan - so I signed up and booked a flight. Never been to Italy before, and didn't speak a word of Italian. Luciana also speaks fluent Spanish, but not me. Happily, the amazing Dr. Otter was attending, and she kindly intervened and was my translator for the whole workshop. Doc Otter wowed me with her ability to perfectly COLD SIGHTREAD both a vocal line and a gamba line AT THE SAME TIME. The first time I ever hung out with a professor of Medieval literature who spoke German, Spanish, Italian and English fluently. I tell ya, you have to up your game sometimes, after falling in with people like that
View attachment 2976719
( Somebody snapped this photo of my 'final exam' at Maestro Luciana's workshop, with Dr. Otter kindly translating... )
I have now hot-rodded my old German gamba with planetary peg tuners, and as soon as I finish tweaking the bridge a little, it's getting a brand new set of gut strings. (Four hundred buxxorz!)
(a shot from the Gamba surgery in progress...)
Viola da Gambas were a popular instrument of choice in baroque England: many cultured households would have a "chest of gambas" with a range of sizes (pardessus, treble, alto, tenor, and bass) , and the whole family would sit and play Gamba consorts together...
As music-making went from the parlors into the larger public concert halls for the masses, the viola da gamba lost traction to the upstart string "Violin" family: newly developed steel string instruments which were much LOUDER and thus more suitable for concert halls. There is a modern Viola da Gamba resurgence now, especially in Europe, where baroque ensembles are gaining in popularity
Viola da Gamba, a beautiful fretted instrument to see and hear (solo) especially in the hands of a talent like Luciana. Is the number of strings 6 typically? $400 for a set of strings? Wow! Are they natural gut? They must stretch, and I hope they last. Seems to me the gamba has several advantages over the cello as we know it. Was there a bass gamba?
While we are on the subject, Baroque era eventually evolved or gave way to the Rococo era which was a bit more "casual". We can imagine this casual direction continuing to the present and allowed much of the crap that passes for contemporary pop music. No I take that back. The "Music Business" brought us to where we are. We must be ever so selective if high art is to continue.
D
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Being a cello player I am gradually getting through the Bach cello suites although I find it difficult to play them in proper Baroque style... one day I will get a short scale fretless bass so I can play them on bass with the same fingering.
Forgive me if this is a stupid question (I've been a listener for a while, but know little about the theory typical of Baroque), were non-diatonic notes frowned upon in this era, or are there some notable pieces that used them successfully?
I believe the early compositions were mostly diatonic, but I'm not sure what it evolved to near the end of the era.
I believe the early compositions were mostly diatonic, but I'm not sure what it evolved to near the end of the era.
I was thinking of the same thing... Actually, I was thinking of modding the heck out of a 7 string electric guitar, as its scale can be closer to a cello's.
D
Deleted member 165050
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You're right, it would work fine.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was also thinking of tuning up an octave to be in the same range as a cello. I forgot that point when I typed my message.
- Oct 22, 2015
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To me, the most amazing and inspiring composition ever written in any universe on any timeline is Parsifal by Wagner. To be present to it, in full, in a live performance, is transcendent. Even by Wagner standards, it is a difficult piece to appreciate. It's long. Certainly better listening (to my ear) than Schoenberg
That said, I'm always down for another listen to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Often I find myself figuring out aria melodies on my bass by my ear and memory. It's a real delight. If you are able, track down the film version by Ingmar Bergman. It is distinctly a Bergman film. That's his daughter the camera focuses in on in the overture. If you enjoy Ingmar Bergman and if you enjoy Mozart, it's a WIN.
Italian opera is a pleasant evening. Prokofiev's War and Peace is about a long as the book. I take a hard pass on French opera
That said, I'm always down for another listen to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Often I find myself figuring out aria melodies on my bass by my ear and memory. It's a real delight. If you are able, track down the film version by Ingmar Bergman. It is distinctly a Bergman film. That's his daughter the camera focuses in on in the overture. If you enjoy Ingmar Bergman and if you enjoy Mozart, it's a WIN.
Italian opera is a pleasant evening. Prokofiev's War and Peace is about a long as the book. I take a hard pass on French opera
Prefer Meistersinger to Parsifal personally !
But getting back to baroque and thereabouts, another thing to consider, as a point of interest, is the lower pitch that was used in this era..
The period/authentic instrument guys kind of settled on A 415 hz...obviously today we use A 440 hz.
The pitch tended to go up and up gradually thru the 19th century.
Absolute standardization is a fairly recent thing, in the era were discussing there were doubtless many regional variants, A in Milan was probably way off from A in Mannheim for instance.
We've even had this pitch thing in the 20th century ...There was high and low pitch available for Brass and Wind band instruments, low pitch won out, hence you can get very cheap vintage saxophones on ebay that you can't get in tune with anyone else!!
But getting back to baroque and thereabouts, another thing to consider, as a point of interest, is the lower pitch that was used in this era..
The period/authentic instrument guys kind of settled on A 415 hz...obviously today we use A 440 hz.
The pitch tended to go up and up gradually thru the 19th century.
Absolute standardization is a fairly recent thing, in the era were discussing there were doubtless many regional variants, A in Milan was probably way off from A in Mannheim for instance.
We've even had this pitch thing in the 20th century ...There was high and low pitch available for Brass and Wind band instruments, low pitch won out, hence you can get very cheap vintage saxophones on ebay that you can't get in tune with anyone else!!
Are you saying you can get ordinary saxophones in tune with anyone else? I guess it /can/ be done, but ...
- Apr 18, 2008
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Big fan here. I’ve always enjoyed the cool mathematical precision of Bach. Brandenburg is on fairly steady rotation at our house. Did my share of performing it too, in college.
