Baroque Case

The years 1600 through 1750 marked a period in music know as the Baroque Era. The baroque can be broken down into three sub-eras; early baroque (1600-1640), middle baroque (1640-1690), and late baroque (1690-1750) (Kamien 102). The Baroque Period gave the world many great composers and compositions. Some of the best known composers of this period include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Henry Purcell, and Claudio Monteverdi.

Like most musical eras, baroque music has many characteristics that make it unique. Pieces of the baroque expressed one basic mood; if the music starts joyful it will continue in a joyful manner, if the music starts sad it continues sad. Dynamics, rhythm, and melody in baroque music were rather unified and created a feeling of continuity; keeping a consistent timing throughout the composition, repeating the opening melody over and over during the song, etc. Chords became increasingly popular in baroque music along with one of the most characteristic parts of baroque music, the emphasis of the basso continuo. Also, baroque music was predominantly polyphonic in texture (Kamien 103).

Many styles of orchestral, instrumental, and vocal music were invented or perfected in the baroque era. Some popular styles of this period include operas, fugues, sonatas, suites, concerto grossos, chorales, and cantatas. One of these styles, cantata, was designed to be played at Lutheran church services. Cantatas are compositions in several movements, usually written for a chorus, one or more vocal soloists, and an instrumental ensemble. Cantatas written during this time period for Lutheran church services often included chorales (Kamien 407). The lyrics to the church cantata went along with the passage of scripture read that week. One major work from the late baroque that encompasses the essence of the baroque Lutheran church cantata is Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Cantata No. 140) by legendary composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, or Awake, a Voice Is Calling Us in English, (Cantata No. 140) was written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1731. At the time, Bach was the cantor for the great church of St. Thomas in the city of Leipzig in Germany ("Johann Sebastian Bach"). While he lived in Leipzig, Bach was producing many cantatas at an average of three a month; he wrote about 295 overall and about 195 are still in existence (Kamien 136). The reason he wrote so many was because his job required one for every Sunday and holiday. The words in Cantata No. 140 follow the parable of the ten virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13.

Cantata No. 140 is one of Bach's best known cantatas and is based on a chorale which was then about one-hundred thirty years old and widely familiar (Kamien 137). Bach's Cantata is in AAB form for the melody. Polyphonic texture is very evident in this composition and one can easy discern the different timbres of the orchestral