A Brief History of Western Music
Baroque Keyboard Music
During the Baroque era, keyboard instruments emerged as prominent instruments. Composers began to write music specifically for instruments such as the harpsichord, organ, and clavichord. Baroque keyboard music came in many different forms, such as preludes and fugues, theme and variations, and dance suites. In this article, we will look at two of the most prominent Baroque composers and their keyboard works.
The Works of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) is arguably the most important composer of the Baroque era, and is is one of the most famous and celebrated composers of all time. Bach perfected existing musical forms and styles of the time: his works represent the pinnacle of Baroque music.
A harpischord
Johann Sebastian Bach
In his time, Bach was not well known as a composer. On the contrary, he was widely recognised as a virtuoso organist, and his compositions did not become widely performed until the nineteenth century. Bach's skill with the organ (and keyboard instruments in general) is seen very clearly in his keyboard works; exceptional virtuosity is often required to play a keyboard piece written by Bach.
The best known of Bach's keyboard works is the Well Tempered Clavier, a set of forty-eight preludes and fugues. A prelude and fugue is a musical structure consisting of two parts:
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Prelude: Acts as an "introduction", and is often written in an improvisatory style.
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Fugue: A contrapuntal piece written for several voices, wherein a subject, or theme, is introduced by one voice, and is then repeated throughout the fugue by different voices.
The title of the Well Tempered Clavier refers to the equal temperament tuning system (see Tuning Systems), which allows performers to play in any musical key. Bach took advantage of this new tuning system: for each of the twenty-four existing musical keys, Bach wrote two preludes and fugues. Below, you can listen to two preludes and fugues from the Well Tempered Clavier: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846, and Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 847.
Note that the recording of BWV 846 is played on a piano, an instrument which was not in mainstream use during Bach's time. The piece would mostly likely be played on a harpsichord instead, just like in the above recording of BWV 847.
Another example of keyboard works by Bach is his dance suites. During the middle ages, dance music served as accompaniment for dancing; but, by the Baroque era, composers were writing dance music intended specifically for listening. A dance suite is a set of several dance pieces, for which there was a standard order during the Baroque era:
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Allemande
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Courante
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Sarabande
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Gigue
The Prelude from BWV 846, written in Bach's autograph
Each of these dances has its own character/style. Composers would sometimes add optional dances, such as the minuet. Bach wrote three sets of six dance suites: the six English Suites, the six French Suites, and the six Partitas. In these suites, Bach blended the styles of French, Italian, and German music, showing the international musical influences that affected the composer.
The Works of George Frederick Handel
George Frederic Handel (1685 - 1759) is probably most famous for his oratorio, The Messiah. Handel also wrote many works for keyboard, including dance suites and concertos. One of Handel's popular keyboard works, The Harmonious Blacksmith, is written in a form known as theme and variations. As the name suggests, this form involves an introductory theme, followed by variations which modify certain elements of the theme, such as rhythm, harmony, texture, ornamentation, etc. You can listen to a recording of The Harmonious Blacksmith below:
George Frederic Handel