How should the Baroque musical style affect your interpretation of Baroque music?

During the Baroque Period, for the first time in the history of western European music, two distinct styles of music existed side by side and some composers wrote in both styles.

1. The Renaissance style known as the stilo antico and
2. The new Baroque style often called the stilo moderno.

Perhaps one of the most dramatic changes of style came in the concept of harmony. There was a distinct change from the older modal system of the Renaissance to the gradual evolution and acceptance of the major-minor system of tonal relationships or the relationship governed by dominant to tonic chordal relationships. The bass part often featured a system of numbers under the bass line. This system was commonly known as figured bass. The chord symbols provided for the guitarist or keyboard player in today's scores may be thought of in a similar manner, e.g. Dm7 and C9.
In your wish to intelligently interpret a piece of Baroque music, how can you tell if a composer of this period is writing in the old style (Renaissance) or the then modern style (Baroque)? Looking at the dynamics is a helpful first step. From the Miller Ensemble Series, Baroque Music book let's examine "Once More the Flowers Bloom" by Johann H. Schein.

The first six measures reveal a parallel phrase structure i.e., the first phrase is played forte (f) and repeated piano (p). The concept of playing suddenly loud followed by the same music played suddenly soft is known as terraced dynamics and is characteristic of the Baroque period in general. This technique seems to have evolved from the Baroque organ. The Baroque organ did not have a swell pedal as later organs do, and therefore could not produce gradual dynamics as in a crescendo, so the dynamic was either suddenly loud or suddenly soft.

I would like to suggest a wonderful book for the further study of Baroque technique and style: Music in the Baroque Era by Manfred Bukofzer, published by W. W. Norton, 1947. According to Bukofzer, another good example of Baroque style is that,

"In homophonic style, the upper melodic line tends to be dominant and there exists a kind of polarity between the melody and the bass line."

Handel's Largo is an excellent example of this concept. Notice that the melody stands out predominately in the Gtr. 1 part. The lower three parts move vertically in the same rhythm producing homophonic style. Think how radically different this piece is in style compared with "I'll Est Bel et Bon" from the Renaissance period.

And one last point regarding Baroque style: Look at the polarity between the Gtr. 1 and Gtr. 4 parts. There is a rather large space between the upper and lower parts. Virtually all church hymns are written in homophonic style with the melody in the upper part and the lower parts moving in essentially the same rhythm.

The Baroque Era offers many exciting and stimulating works for the guitar repertoire. Our next session will explore style characteristics as shown through representative composers in the Classical Period.

Until next time,
Don Miller