Baroque Titans post

– Main posting:

Create a main posting with two track urls. Your posting will compare two similar works by any two of the following composers:
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• George Friedrich Handel
• Antonio Vivaldi

Since most works you find by these composers contain more than one movement, isolate similar movements to compare. Your choice of music is a chance to demonstrate your understanding of the material we’ve covered so far this term. You must understand what a movement is, how to find music by these composers, be able to select similar types of pieces (Concerto? Orchestral suite? Trio Sonata? Organ fugue? Cantata? Oratorio?).

Some examples of logical choices for this posting:

J.S.Bach: one movement of a violin concerto ( a fast movement) + Vivaldi: one movement of a violin concerto (a fast movement)

Or – same thing but choose a slow movement from each to compare.
Handel: a soprano aria from an Oratorio + Vivaldi: a soprano aria from a sacred choral work (cantata, oratorio, mass)

Or – compare choral movements for each, or bass arias….
You can start research for this in a number of ways. For instance, if you like Handel’s Messiah, then choose a large scale sacred choral work by Bach or Vivaldi for comparison. A good comparison piece would be Bach’s Weinachts Oratorium (Christmas Oratorio). Then narrow it down. Are you going to choose arias, or choruses, to compare? Though not quite the same genre, comparing a movement of Vivaldi’s Gloria to Bach’s Magnificat would work well for this assignment.

All three of these composers wrote concertos for various instruments plus orchestra. If you like a particular instrument, by all means look for two pieces composed for it. Just be sure that the featured instrument is the same in both pieces. Also, don’t confuse concerto (which uses orchestra) with sonata (usually just the solo instrument, plus basso continuo accompaniment, no orchestra).

Absolutely required for your main post to get credit:

Two working Naxos static urls, one for each track. Your url must go directly to the track, which is likely just one movement of a longer multi-movement work. Supply the composer name, piece title, and movement number or name for each of your tracks. There must be two composers represented out of the three on the list – Bach, Handel, Vivaldi – and the tracks chosen should be of similar kinds of pieces. The more similar, the better your comparison will be.

The body of your posting should include some background info about each piece, and why you choose them. Supply at least one musical observation for each, with track timing, as part of your comparison. How are they alike, and how do they differ? Do you prefer one over the other, and why?

No other composers are allowed for this assignment. Only Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. Poorly chosen music results in 0 credit.

Cite the websites you use in your research which means provide an accurate url that other students can access quickly on the internet. Limit your research exclusively to internet resources that others can explore when reading your posting.
– More thoughts/suggestions/cautions:

*The Music Research Concepts reading in the ebook, plus the Fun With Naxos tutorial in D2L might be helpful to review.

There are multiple spellings of some composer’s names – Handel’s first and middle names are found in various spellings, and there are other composers who may share the same last name. Be careful you select music by J. S. Bach (Johann Sebastian Bach) and not his son, J. C.

*Movements are identified within a larger piece either by number, or tempo marking (allegro, largo, presto) or in the case of vocal music, by a specific title for that aria or chorus.

*Opera is not an easy choice since of these three composers, only Handel wrote much specifically in opera. There is plenty of vocal music to choose from by all three composers, just not in the genre of opera. Part of the challenge of this assignment is correctly identifying the kind of pieces you plan to listen to and write about. Opera, oratorio, cantata, mass are separate genres. It is easy to find out which, since that is part of the track information in Naxos, and part of the title of the piece.

*Please do not supply lengthy biographies of these composers in your post. The other students have already read about them in the ebook reading and in their own research. Instead, devote your research and writing to more specific background info such as about how each piece fits into that composer’s career, when it was written, or any other special circumstance or feature of the piece itself that other students will not have gotten from the reading. .

* Choose one movement each by two of the listed composers. Do not choose two movements by the same composer. The idea is : compare similar music by Bach and Handel, or similar music by Handel and Vivaldi, or similar music by Bach and Vivaldi……