European cultural contributions to music in the Baroque era Based on Mark Evan Bonds' A History of Music in Western Culture, 4th edition

1. THE BAROQUE
ERA
1600-1750

2. Baroque Prelude
◦ Louis XIV advocated the divine right of kings—rulers derive their authority not only through their ancestors but from God
Himself—and quashed the claims of the aristocracy aspiring to their share of power—”I AM the State”
◦ Absolutism was a great time for the arts! Rulers vied the follow the lead of Louis XIV to cultivate a comparably brilliant cultural
life at their own courts, however humble
◦ Wars, revolutions, and colonial expansions – Thirty Years’ War (Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and other
former Holy Roman Empire nations—beginning as a religious conflict, soon became indistinguishable from the struggle for
territory among competing nations
◦ Protestants left Catholic France by the boatload—more than 500,000 emigrated to Holland, Prussia, and North America, depriving
France of skilled laborers
◦ In England, civil war resulted in the Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell—which forced the arts into finding alternative
funding and patronage—a PAYING public emerged as opposed to a PRIVATE ruler’s domain
◦ Scientific revolution—Age of Enlightenment—Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Descartes (calculus), Newton (physics), national
academies of science sprang up across Europe

4. Musical Baroque
Demand for the new
Publishers of music marketed to amateurs
due to Europe’s expanding economy
Music engraving made printing music
more efficient
Improvisation was still the biggest game in
popular (street) music – only music for
church, court, or opera was published – it
was a very musical time!
Still searching for the secrets of ancient
Greek music to large extent