M653: Music in the Baroque

Midterm exam

Essays

Please prepare the following topics as 15-minute essays.  The day of the exam, I will choose 3 for you to write about.

1)     Discuss the development of Italian opera from 1600 through the works of Cavalli.

2)     Discuss the transition from the sound ideal of the Renaissance to that of the Baroque: trace changes in instrumentation, compositional techniques, and the use of ornamentation.

3)  Discuss the shift in musical aesthetics that prompted the Artusi-Monteverdi controversy.

4)  Discuss the ways in which tragedie lyrique differs from Italian opera of the 17th century.