# Baroque vocal music research topic?



## Joris (Jan 13, 2013)

Hello TC,

This is not a 'do-my-homework-thread' to be sure But I'm going to write a longer paper (at least 30 pages), and I don't trust myself on choosing a research question; furthermore, you TC'ers have a lot of knowledge.

I already 'delineated' it for myself to vocal baroque music, religiously themed. Actually I want to seize the opportunity to analyze a repertory/piece which is deemed "aesthetically strong" e.g., and see if I learn to appreciate it more---also from a 'composer's stance'.

It would be cool to apply a proper due method on a work, compare pieces etc. (word painting, style for example) in an hopefully untrodden, but most importantly, fruitful way.

So is there a modest, yet fruitful problem to work on? Maybe you know a baroque piece that is much neglected by the academy, but worthy of attention? Any inspiration would be totally awesome. 
It's just that I can't oversee what interesting things there are; it's not that I have no interests my own.

As for personal taste, I really like that "dignified" aesthetic: 



Also psalm settings by Schütz would be my things to analyse, but I'm afraid that I'll pick the wrong focus in my research question in that case etc.

Thanks infinitely!


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I have a good candidate for a neglected piece that is from a very deserving composer. Georg Muffat is a very high quality composer of the early high-baroque, around the time of Corelli, but he remains fairly obscure. He wrote a mass, _Missa, "In labor requies"_

You would be breaking ground by analyzing this work. And you would have my *eternal gratitude*. Give this video a little attention and see if the work suits your purposes: 




This music is of a more antiquated style than Handel, but you said you liked Schutz and it is indeed more modern than that. You could also try his Concerti Grossi and the Florilegium suites(Primum is the only one available in recording entirely) to put this style into some perspective.

He is a fascinating figure, having been a student of Lully, and having travelled around and interacted with many of the major composers of his time(1680s-1700s is when this activity took place), and being one himself. So his style, though informed by french tutelage and fortified with a certain Germanic formal cohesion, is very cosmopolitan and draws a lot from the extraverted and polished nature of the best Italian composers of the time.


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## Joris (Jan 13, 2013)

Thanks! Yes that kind of intense music is perfect, thanks for the rec. Hadn't heard him before. Btw, my sister lives near that venue.
Yes I would have to focus on one influence/style/trope if I'm going to analyse something like this. Thanks for the tip. I will take it in consideration.

Oh, are you aware of this source? E. Hintermaier: ‘Georg Muffats Missa in labore requies’, De editione musices: Festschrift Gerhard Croll, ed. W. Gratzer and A. Lindmayr (Laaber, 1992), 261–84


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

This may be a bit more keyboard oriented than what you're looking for but you never know. 

One thing I think would be interesting is the organ mass, there are examples by Grigny, A. Gabrieli, F Couperin, Lebègue and many others. I think it would be interesting to trace its evolution, it's use. Some of them -- Grigny for example -- are real major masterpieces.

Another thing that would be interesting is the magnificat. There's a whole world of magnificat settings well worth exploring. They go back as early as Titelouze, and there are some magnificent examples from Scheidermann and Buxtehude. Pachelbel seems to have really focused on them, I think he wrote about 90 fugues based on the maginificat -- there's a recording which puts some of them in the context of the sung music and it's quite a revelation.

Another thing, but this I suspect a well explored topic, is the text music relation in Bach choral preludes. Also the use of the choral preludes. Maybe less explored, but I suspect promising, is the text music relation in Buxtehude's choral preludes.


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## Joris (Jan 13, 2013)

Thanks Mandryka, great suggestions 

The influence (better: the role/function) of a particular style in a particular composition is also something that raises interesting discussions, and gives a great focus. So I think that would be a further demarcation for me


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Joris said:


> Thanks Mandryka, great suggestions
> 
> The influence (better: the role/function) of a particular style in a particular composition is also something that raises interesting discussions, and gives a great focus. So I think that would be a further demarcation for me


One good one to think about in that regard is the B minor mass -- which doesn't seem to have had a liturgical function. I don't know if there are other examples from vocal music, I bet there are loads.

Sometimes the function of early music seems to be almost like psychological research -- things like Dowland's Lachrimae.


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## Joris (Jan 13, 2013)

Dear Mandryka. Indeed, one fellow student last year wrote the paper on _stile antico_ in the B minor mass. I used the term function here somewhat interchangeable with influence, but the idea is that it would be nice to measure the usage of a certain style - e.g. Italian - in a composition. Influence sounds just a bit vague.

So I'm looking for a 'neglected' piece, where there's something to say about stylistic influence.
It's surprising how many great pieces haven't got much written about them.


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