ORCHESTRAL

Chamber Concerto

15'

fl, ob, clar, bsn
tpt, horn, tbn
drums
vln 1&2, vla, cello, cb
 

Opening Chapters

11'

3 Fl/picc 3 ob/ca 3 clar/bass cl 3 bsn
4 tpt 4 horn 3 trombone, 1 tuba
3 percussionists
Strings

Symphony of Joys and of Sorrows

17'

2 fl, 2 ob, 2 clar, 2 bsn,
2 tpt, 2 hn, 2 tbn, timp
vln 1&2, vla, cello, cb

du barocque...

6'

2 clar, 2 bsn, 2 tpt, trbne, timp, piano

'du barocque...'
 

2004

2 clar, 2 bsn / 2 tpt, trbn, timps / piano

First performance by Newbury Baroque Players in St Nicolas' Church, Newbury, November 2004

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...it lacked coherent melody, was unsparing in dissonances, constantly changed key and metre, and speedily ran through every compositional device.
Anonymous letter to a French jourmal in 1734 complaining of music by Rameau which was described as 'du barocque'.

[Baroque music is] ‘rough’music - which aims to surprise by the boldness of its sounds and passes for song while pulsating with speed and noise.
English journal of 1738

A baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, charged with modulations and dissonances, the melody is harsh and little natural, the intonation difficult, and the movement constrained.
Rousseau 1768

According to Grove Music, the term ‘Baroque’ is derived from the Portuguese barroco, meaning a pearl of irregular or bulbous shape. In describing a style of art it was therefore originally intended as a term of abuse. Apparently the 1733 première of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie in Paris prompted a satirical letter in which an anonymous author wrote that what was new in the opera was ‘du barocque’ and complained that the music lacked coherent melody, was unsparing in dissonances, constantly changed key and metre, and speedily ran through every compositional device. In another article published in an English magazine the term was translated as ‘rough’music - which aims to surprise by the boldness of its sounds and passes for song while pulsating with speed and noise. Rousseau in 1768 wrote ‘A baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, charged with modulations and dissonances, the melody is harsh and little natural, the intonation difficult, and the movement constrained’.

This piece was written for this evening’s concert with the sole purpose of preventing our wind players from leaving in the interval. It had to form a companion piece for the Bach (Brandenburg Concerto no 3) but be capable of being rehearsed in less than an hour. While writing it, I wondered what it was that the above commentators of the eighteenth century were complaining of, and set about to explore some characteristics of baroque music: such as (1) a continuo part for the piano but one which provides a rhythmic continuum rather than an harmonic one; nevertheless in tandem with the timpani, it launches out and does its own thing from time to time; (2) ideas that are elaborated and ornamented, but not developed in a dramatic way, (a later development); (3) use of repetition to form a structure - saving on precious rehearsal time, too!