Just discovering Baroque

[Aria]

I have recently discovered my love for Baroque music and, honestly, classical in general... I had to make a forum account somewhere just so I could talk about it to someone!

It's incredible. When I first listened through Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I was moved to tears. I've never realized how amazing this music is. These composers really write every part, for every instrument? I take it they did so without an orchestra present to try things out... what a testament to man's genius.

So far I've been wholly in love with Vivaldi and have been exploring his work. However, I recently followed a link to some concerti grossi by Hellendaal (who, from my research seems to be much lesser-known) and I'm very moved by his work as well.

I've tried listening to some Bach, mostly the Brandenburg Concertos. It could have been the poor YouTube quality, but I felt it lacked the depth I'm attracted to.
I very much like pieces done by full orchestras because I really love the bass, the deep tones. I love to feel the music. I also particularly enjoy strings. Really, I only shy away from piano, but I don't think Baroque includes a lot of piano.

Well, based on all I've ranted, I would love to discuss and get input from others who enjoy this too. Any suggestions on some other pieces I should look into would be greatly appreciated too

[Aria]

I take what I said about Bach lacking depth - I'm listening to an oboe and violin concerto that has exactly those beautiful bass tones I'm looking for.

So amazing...

[ReinerTorheit]

Welcome to Bright Cecilia!

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are outstanding pieces, and they deserve decent recordings and performances. That may sound like prissiness, but in fact the whole soundworld of these pieces can be radically different according to who the performers are, and with what orchestral forces.

Over the last 30-40 years especially, there has been a tendency to play these pieces on the kinds of instruments Bach would have known in his own time. That means violins with gut strings instead of modern metal strings, and with bows that aren't tensioned by a modern wind-up mechanism. The differences in the wind instruments are even greater, and the old instruments make very different sounds indeed. The whole technique for playing trumpets in Bach's period was entirely different, for example.

If you are looking for a "way in" to some of the Brandenburgs, then I'd recommend seeking out recordings by some of these groups - you may enjoy them more? For example I would always avoid performances by conductors like Karajan in the Bach repertoire - his soupy style suits the music very poorly.

But don't agonise - you'll come around to Bach's other works later, and it gives you something to look forward to!

If you've enjoyed Vivaldi, then come to Bach from that direction - Bach loved Vivaldi's music too, and he even arranged Vivaldi's concerto for four violins as a concerto for four harpsichords - excellent music, too. Then have a listen to Bach's orchestral suites - they inhabit a sound-world closer to The Four Seasons than some of his other pieces, and might win you over Handel wrote some excellent Concerti Grossi in a similar vein, and you might enjoy those also?

There is a huge repertoire of baroque music extant, and more and more of it is being discovered and played these days - so you have years of excellent listening ahead )

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by ReinerTorheit

Welcome to Bright Cecilia!

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are outstanding pieces, and they deserve decent recordings and performances. That may sound like prissiness, but in fact the whole soundworld of these pieces can be radically different according to who the performers are, and with what orchestral forces.

Over the last 30-40 years especially, there has been a tendency to play these pieces on the kinds of instruments Bach would have known in his own time. That means violins with gut strings instead of modern metal strings, and with bows that aren't tensioned by a modern wind-up mechanism. The differences in the wind instruments are even greater, and the old instruments make very different sounds indeed. The whole technique for playing trumpets in Bach's period was entirely different, for example.

good info, thanks. and welcome Aria, to B.C.
i always enjoyed playing Bach on the piano.
After all 'baroque' style means ornate and heavily ornamented -
which is why listeners of modern music are often attracted to
the baroque area.
Hindemith and other modern composers always appreciate Bach.
i'm not a Bach expert, maybe someone could tell me the most
number of voices he used in his fugues -
two-part, three-part, multiple-part. (the maximum multiple is what
i refer to)

[Scott Good]

Hello and welcome - you've come to the right place, as there are many baroque freaks around here...like me!

btw - %100 behind Reiner's comments

Yes, the deep bass! Bach is one of the greatest composers of bass lines in the history of humanity but seriously...he is. Thing about this music compared to what came later, is that the bass was considered to be an important melodic component of the music, not just a support structure (similar in ways to jazz music in this regard)

A few suggestions:

Concerto for Oboe - A. Marcello. A lovely example of what I might call a prototypical baroque concerto. There are some lovely melodies, esp the 2nd movement. It is quite famous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2O_...eature=related

Crucifixus, from Mass in Bmin - JS Bach - I think you might enjoy this video, as it scrolls with the score, and highlights passages. I put this out to display some choral music from the era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ak0y...eature=related

One of the qualities of baroque that I find interesting is that it seems to translate well between different instruments. In this piece...yet another Bach, a fugue is written out for brass instruments - Contrapunctus IX from Die Kunst Der Fugue (The art of fugue)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-MDsO_6-0I

[Tarantella]

The B Minor Mass is just a miracle, IMO. My eyes started to moisten immediately when I listened to this link.

Those are all great comments about baroque music. A man at my music appreciation group yesterday tried to argue with me that Telemann was as great, if not greater, a composer as Bach. I'm afraid he did get somewhere with his argument because he was deaf* and I couldn't be bothered shouting my counter-arguments, instead resorting to a rolling of eyes and general body language which was suggestive of dissent!!!!!

[ReinerTorheit]

Originally Posted by Tarantella

A man at my music appreciation group yesterday tried to argue with me that Telemann was as great, if not greater, a composer as Bach.

I'm unconvinced generally by the value of this kind of "League Division Table" of composers arranged in Order Of Merit. It doesn't achieve anything, and just providers a few cranks with platforms for letting off steam.

There's a further issue, that the composers who were the most successful and highly-paid in their own era are not the baroque composers we most listen to now. Handel or Bach? No, neither of those! In the C18th, among the most admired and popular composers were Graun, Porpora, Lotti, Bononcini, Telemann, Keiser, and Scarlatti.

Telemann is certainly a valuable composer, and he was astoundingly prolific. Most remarkable was the way he kept in touch with musical fashion, and towards the end of his long life was writing in the rococo style - he'd largely abandoned baroque techniques.

He wrote around 50 operas (some are full-length, some one-act comedies, and some incomplete pieces and collaborations with other composers). His German opera ORPHEUS is a masterpiece that deserves more attention He also worked on German productions of operas by Italian composers such as Porpora - adapting them to German versions and adding his own additional music.

[James C. Fretz]

Well, I tell you it was a happy day when I discovered the wealth of baroque music beyond Bach's Greatest Hits. As for the Brandenburgs, I'm sure that they continue to charm....just not myself so much any more.

The operas of Handel, Graun, Keiser, the Handel Concerti Grossi (Opp. 3 and 6), the Bach keyboard music (eg. Goldbergs) and Passions. There is such a wealth of music available.........and I've not even mentioned Monteverdi's music (sacred, secular and operatic).

Why there aren't enough hours in the day.........

Oh, did I mention Francesco Cavalli?

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by James C. Fretz

There is such a wealth of music available.........

Why there aren't enough hours in the day.........

Oh, did I mention Francesco Cavalli?

how true. will have to see how many baroques i can slip in among
the moderns.

[Melanti]

Greetings Aria, I have been smitten with Baroque music for approx 30+Years, and have now settled upon a few Core Composers who each added their individual sparkle to the lengthy chain of Gems up to the Pre-classical Era. From the Baroque itself I keenly, respectfully suggest: Handel's Op3 & Op6 Concerti, Telemann's Musique de Table (Sometimes called Tafelmusik) and some Lully & Rameau Suites to start with! Before getting into the Operatic/Choral Side of things; which some find difficult to approach Linguistically & musically!