Morivou Posted October 26, 2012 Posted October 26, 2012 The Baroque Suite Competition! :D From November 1-December 31st 2012. Results announced January 15th, 2013. Get excited, because all you oldies composers get to SHOW OFF in the Baroque Suite competition. Premise: Learn to write in the style of older music. Emulate it. Rules: Write a complete Baroque Suite using the Common Movements (Prelude (optional), Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Menuet/Bouree/gavotte/etc. (optional), Gigue) There are only four required movements, but you may include the other two as well. Please do NOT include any of the other optional movements not listed above. Instrumentation can be ANYTHING you want it to be. But, keep in mind that you're writing a TON of music. It might be easier to choose a small ensemble. Remember, Bach wrote suites for solo FLUTE and solo VIOLIN and CELLO among other instruments. But, there are suites for strings and other instrumentations as well. You are not limited. Do what you're comfortable with. The Catch: You should try to use the SAME MUSICAL MOTIVE (melodic, rhythmic, short, long, whatever) in every movement. This is where it gets fun. Check out Handel's Keyboard Suite in D Minor (437) for a good representation of what I mean. THE GIGUE DOES NOT HAVE TO SHARE MELODIC MATERIAL WITH THE REST OF THE SUITE. The OTHER Catch: Your gigue must be a FUGUE! :D Check out Bach's French Suite Number 1 in D minor (Gigue) for an example of this. THE GIGUE DOES NOT HAVE TO SHARE MELODIC MATERIAL WITH THE REST OF THE SUITE. The January-February competition, so you can start preparing for it, will be to write a CANTATA for Baroque Orchestra and Choir with soloists. I suggest finding text and coming up with ideas NOW. :D SCORING: /10 - Score. Please please please make it neat. You SHOULDN'T HAVE DYNAMICS OR EXPRESSIVE MARKINGS IN YOUR SCORE. Keep it Baroque. You get extra points for figuring out how to MAKE your score look Baroque-y (I'm not kidding either: +5). /20 - Form. Did you compose in the forms idiomatically for that form? If so: A+. /20 - Instrumentation. Did you choose a common Baroque instrumentation? Did you use them idiomatically? Btw- Please write at 440, just for all our sakes. /15 - Fugue analysis: For your Gigue, please write a short analysis paper talking about your subject and how you developed it. In other words, talk us through your Fugue and let us know what you did. How were your Episodes formed? Did you use stretto? Where did you modulate to? Etc. /25 - Style. Did you compose in the Baroque STYLE? Were harmonies treated idiomatically? Were melodies written idiomatically? :D Good luck. /10 - Did you use similar melodic themes for every movement? Now remember. Suites don't have to be 20 minutes long. Handel suites are around 8-10 minutes at minimum. Don't freak out, and just do what you're comfortable with. Obsessing with your ideas = better than a million ideas. The Baroqueians were all about economy of musical material. :) That SHOULD be a comfort to you. Quote
Kvothe Posted October 26, 2012 Posted October 26, 2012 Oh my. You took my idea of piano suites and went with it. I am excited for this and I shall judge for this. Quote
Bachian Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 Do we have to wait until November 1st to start writing? Quote
Austenite Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 Tempting, but not yet commited :unsure: ... As for the Jan-Feb13 Competition, I might be interested as well :cool: ... Just a question: does the concept of a Baroque cantata necessarily imply a religious setting? 1 Quote
Morivou Posted October 27, 2012 Author Posted October 27, 2012 Yes, Austenite. And, No, you do not have to wait. 1 Quote
.fseventsd Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 i used to make these all the time. fun stuff. Quote
ChristianPerrotta Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 Two things: 1) By prelude, you exclude the possibility of it being a toccata, ouverture, preambolo, fantasia, "sinfonia" (yes, these are Bach's BWV 825 to 830 suites' first movement). Also, even if I call it "prelude", may I compose it as an ouverture/fantasia/preambolo...? (to the point: be more specific with you prelude, if possible^^). 2) I'm really sorry, I believe I'm an idiot now... but I've just listened to Händel's Dm suite (HWV 428) and... I didn't see the same motivic material throughout the whole work... =/ Do I know what "melodic motive" means? What I saw is a cohesive work, but just like many other baroque suites... allemand-ish allemandes, courante-ish courantes... I see there's a unity, but not necessarily melodic motive in every movement. Please, help us (or at least me) with this... Quote
Morivou Posted October 27, 2012 Author Posted October 27, 2012 1) By prelude, you exclude the possibility of it being a toccata, ouverture, preambolo, fantasia, "sinfonia" (yes, these are Bach's BWV 825 to 830 suites' first movement). Also, even if I call it "prelude", may I compose it as an ouverture/fantasia/preambolo...? (to the point: be more specific with you prelude, if possible^^). You will write a Prelude. :) Excluding the other options, yes. 2) I'm really sorry, I believe I'm an idiot now... but I've just listened to Händel's Dm suite (HWV 428) and... I didn't see the same motivic material throughout the whole work... =/ Do I know what "melodic motive" means? What I saw is a cohesive work, but just like many other baroque suites... allemand-ish allemandes, courante-ish courantes... I see there's a unity, but not necessarily melodic motive in every movement. Please, help us (or at least me) with this... You're not an idiot. I didn't specify the HWV number: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYW0oenhzg try 437 Quote
Austenite Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 Another question regarding the cantata thing: is any specific language required (it's easier for me to get text in Spanish, but German would sound more "Baroque", I think :P )... Quote
Kvothe Posted October 27, 2012 Posted October 27, 2012 As for the source of the canata, http://www.biblegateway.com has numerous of translations of the bible. Start there. Quote
Morivou Posted October 27, 2012 Author Posted October 27, 2012 Another question regarding the cantata thing: is any specific language required (it's easier for me to get text in Spanish, but German would sound more "Baroque", I think :P )... Ooo! You know what, I'll let you set it in ANY language you want. Even a combination of languages is fine. I don't want the text setting to get in the way of the music. If it's easier to write in Spanish, do it. Quote
orchdork02 Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 Does the cantata have to be religious? Quote
Morivou Posted October 28, 2012 Author Posted October 28, 2012 I think so. I know there were secular ones, but I would like it to be religious. Quote
quaoquarx Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 I'd like to participate. Also, I have a question: You mentioned both 'musical motif' and 'melodic motif'. Would it be OK if I used a rhythmic motif, or same harmonical idea instead of strictly melodic? And another question: does really Menuet have to be the optional movement, because if that is so, the suite wil have monotonic 3 - based metre (except for Allemande): Courante 3/2, Sarabande 3/4, Menuet 3/4, Gigue 3/8 or 6/8. If I may, i would suggest a 2-based metre optional movement as a contrast (Bourree, Gavotte) to all the others, if it is OK? Quote
Morivou Posted October 28, 2012 Author Posted October 28, 2012 What religion? Christian, the only religion that the cantata was historically used for. 1 Quote
Morivou Posted October 28, 2012 Author Posted October 28, 2012 I'd like to participate. Also, I have a question: You mentioned both 'musical motif' and 'melodic motif'. Would it be OK if I used a rhythmic motif, or same harmonical idea instead of strictly melodic? And another question: does really Menuet have to be the optional movement, because if that is so, the suite wil have monotonic 3 - based metre (except for Allemande): Courante 3/2, Sarabande 3/4, Menuet 3/4, Gigue 3/8 or 6/8. If I may, i would suggest a 2-based metre optional movement as a contrast (Bourree, Gavotte) to all the others, if it is OK? Rhythmic motif is fine. And, fine, if that bothers you, then use whatever optional movement you want. Quote
ChristianPerrotta Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 And, fine, if that bothers you, then use whatever optional movement you want. In fact, that would be very interesting: to let each composer chose one of the intermezzo movements (menuet, gavotte, passe-pied, loure....). That'd make each piece more disctinc^^ Quote
orchdork02 Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 Aw :( , I was looking forward to writing my Hindu cantata :P 1 Quote
ChristianPerrotta Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 I've just finished my allemande. Put me in!!! Quote
Morivou Posted October 28, 2012 Author Posted October 28, 2012 Awesome! :) I guess you may enter more than ONE Suite if you'd like. Quote
ChristianPerrotta Posted October 28, 2012 Posted October 28, 2012 Another question: by "courante", you mean strictly the french one? Or it can be courante/corrente? Do you want us to specify it (even though many composers use both names interchangeably, without any criteria)? (I've thought about composing more than one suite...) Quote
Morivou Posted October 28, 2012 Author Posted October 28, 2012 Oh I don't particularly care. Do what you'd like. hahah. Quote
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