18th century blog

I must say, that Vivaldi (1678-1741) and J.S Bach (1685-1750) are my grand favourites from this period, and also J.S Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) and I musn’t forget Händel (1685-1759)(and Jean-Philippe Rameau!). Unfortunately I’m not very familiar with the operas, but I love the Baroque ones (for example, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), and Gluck has also some great ones, those I have heard.

Oh–I love 18th century music– :D

OK, first of all you have to understand that this era spanned the Baroque (1600-1750) and Classical (1750-1825).

As the above commenter mentioned, Vivaldi and Handel are among the best, try also Mozart, Haydn, Gluck.

Opera can be a bit hard to get into–but I’ll try to recommend a few selections (found on youtube). If you’re curious, you can try listening to samples to see what you like at Amazon, iTunes, or go to http://www.last.fm/ which is free :D ! :

Rondeau des Indes Galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, the composer mentioned above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKvd4tMkFHc&fmt=18

“Da Tempeste”, an aria to be sung by the character of Cleopatra in George Frederick Handel’s opera “Giulio Cesare”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX8GwluqlHw&fmt=18

More from the same opera, (warning: bizarre staging! ), this is a bit “odd” because of the trouser roles, but I’ve always found it pretty nonetheless once you start listening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlTTcooIR84&fmt=18

This is from Vivaldi’s opera “Montezuma”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPK19wbHBA&fmt=18

Gorgeous bravura-type aria from Gluck, found in “Orpheus and Eurydice”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCdFoKg-tNk&fmt=18

And then there’s the stuff by Mozart, like
“Hai già vinta la causa” from “The Marriage of Figaro (note–odd not wholly modern but not wholly 18th century bizarre staging again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l6Owvlib2s&fmt=18

“Non Piu Andrai” from the same opera–you might recognize this melody as appearing briefly in the film “Amadeus”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsZ-6x18e44&featur…

Then there’s the memorable “La Ci Darem La Mano” from the famous “Don Giovanni”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVgmbhV2tYM&fmt=18

There are lots of lesser known but still cool composers, like Pergolesi, Hasse, Porpora too !

From Johann Adolf Hasse’s ‘Cleopatra’ in 1725, sweet and haunting :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgndaf99gW0&fmt=18

Taken from the popular, oft revived and translated (throughout much of the 18th century) “La Serva Padrona” by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi–“A Serpina penserete”–a little slow at first, but short and relatively sweet, with somewhat less clashing set and costume design than some others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1MDbrv2zVE&fmt=18

“Dolci freschi aurette”–by Nicolo Porpora, from his opera “Polifemo”, though most famous for being written for the great Farinelli, this is good enough in its own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jasDDpVZ8&fmt=18

Now, for some more instrumental stuff! :

Vivaldi–from “Summer” of ‘The Four Seasons’, really famous, so you’ve probably heard it before, but still timeless!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvVQL_o48c&fmt=18

Mozart–Piano Concerto No. 21 - Andante “Elvira Madigan” , another famous one you’ve probably heard bits of, but it has such a sweet and tragic sound it’s worth sitting quietly and listening to the entire piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-eLzao63I&fmt=18

Mozart–
Piano Concerto No. 9 “Jeunehomme”-2nd mov: Andantino, gorgeous, if yet again a bit sad, and one that you don’t hear quite as often, very moving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFb7lJ38cXw&featur…

I know it’s extremely stereotypical, but I love Mozart!
Hehe, I’m noticing you’ve gotten a bunch of tips already, but I want to add that there are some free internet radio stations out there broadcasting classical music. I once found a channel with only 18th century music, I lost the adress though… =/ Why not have a look at radio stations in iTunes if you have that - I haven’t explored the stations there yet… =)

I have a great disc called “Le salon de musique de Marie-Antoinette”. I love it! It has musics from the Classical Period. You can check the list of tracks and a description of the disc in my blog:

http://coresdopassado.blogspot.com/

Good 18th century day!!! :-D :-)

If you want to hear “real” baroque music, be shure to get records of good orchestras, there are a lot of ensembles today that play authentically, on historical instruments (or at least on reproductions), these sound dramatically different from modern instruments and authentically performed baroque music is much more rocking than that boring, lame stuff recorded in the 1950s or 60s.

J.Ph. Rameau is my favourite composer, I love his operas!
Here is a dance from one of his operas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQDy5lWH7o

The most popular opera of 18th century was “La caravane de caire” by Gretry (1784), it was performed about 500 times and many melodys from it were used for marches and chansons.

This is form this opera, but not typically for him becaus this was composed in italian style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25n_8jan1U4&featur…

Ah, by the way, the aria sung in “Marie Antoinette” was from “Castor & Pollux” by M. Rameau and the recording was from “Les arts florissants”:

Hello!
I am very fond of Bach, particularly his organ work and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor in particular.
Off topic, does anyone know where one can get good 18th century (third quarter in style) clothing for boys? I am hopeless at making mens clothing but I want to outfit my boyfriend and brothers.

What a great century for music was the 18th! You have baroque and classic styles:

The Baroque Period encompasses the use of basso continuo, degrees of ornamentation, self-expression, open forms, and the formation of counterpoint. You will find that, although the music of the Baroque Period shares the same genre title, the difference between pieces can be quite astounding.

The classical period is defined by structure, most notably sonata form. These new forms required a simpler texture than the older styles.

Recommendations:
baroque: Bach, Gluck, Vivaldi
Classic: Mozart, Haydn, Salieri, Clementi

Au revoir!

Jag älskar Vivaldi, men favoriten är utan tvekan Henry Purcell!!!

: )

We’re really lucky here in Toronto to have both a world-class period orchestra (Tafelmusik) as well as a period opera company, Opera Atelier. Their productions really help provide a better understanding of what the Classical opera experience was like, with dialogue and dance tossed in as well as singing; much more like musical theatre than Wagnerian opera. For instance, I hadn’t understood before watching one of their productions that the ‘ballet’ in opera wasn’t so much ballet as we know it now, but simply interludes of the same dances being done in the ballrooms of the period. Tafelmusik have lots of CD’s, and I think Opera Atelier may have released a couple of their performances on DVD. If you can find them, or those of any other period group, I think it would be very useful to you.

I suppose we’ve covered a lot but you can also go to soundtracks from period movies for 18th century(-ish) music. Some of my favorites are:
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
The Duchess
Amadeus (but you probably have that :-)
And so on. J.P. Rameau has been mentioned several times and I completely agree with everything said. One opera by him that I love is La Naissance D’Osiris.

Two Dancing-Videos with music of different composers…enjoy it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THiStujzGTU&eurl=h…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKdYshLEmP8&eurl=h…

Nice, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJcL-dSn5zo&eurl=h…

Other version of Non piu Andrai, even with Bryn Terfel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsmvqPOB3QA

Kind regards from Germany,

Udo

Personally, I love the sound of harpsichord. I like very much Bach, in my blog you can find a video with one of my favourite songs, if you are curious ^^

Ciao, I recommend Domenico Scarlatti for some “hardcore” harpsichord :)
hope you’ll enjoy , love your art and your blog !
azzurra

I must recommend André Ernest Modeste Grétry and François-Joseph Gossec
there are some terrific period instrument recordings with Guy van Waas and the orchestra Les Agrémens as well as one re-release of a recording from 1991 -the 250th anniversary of his birth -of Grétry’s “La Caravane de Caire” (1783) with Marc Minkowski and Ricercar Academy all on Ricercar records…there’s also a dvd titled “la petite musique de Marie-Antoinette” of a concert in M-A’s little theatre at Petite Trianon with Les Agrémens and Guy van Waas, with music and arias by both Grétry and Gossec, they were two Walloon or Belgian composers who were both giants in their own time, Grétry is probably most famous for his operas “Richard coeur de lion” and “Zémire et Azor” but sadly the only existing recordings are awful and inauthentic.

I must also recommend Le salon de musique de Marie-Antoinette with Sandrine Chatron, recently released on Naïve…with music by Gluck, Grétry, Krumpholz as well as a composition by M-A herself!

And “Tragédiennes” and “Tragédiennes 2” with Véronique Gens, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, on Virgin….they’re awsome!!!

ooops, i didn’t read the other comments properly before posting…but they’re great suggestions still!

Hi Johanna,

I just love your site, I always come back to it month by month. I realized I should post something about this topic, since I am a baroque violinist and my boyfriend is a harpsichordist.
One very interesting thing we are discovering as we both reenact the late 18th century and recreate the music of the era are “catches and glees”.
These for the most part are english, but I’m pretty sure the french did it too. Apparently after hours at ale houses, private parties, and any time a leisurely occasion commenced, there would be drinking, and singing, in parts, by both men and women. These were very complicated pieces at times (most people it seems, knew how to harmonize back then, maybe because of church choir and such). They are usually 3 to 5 parts for each song, and would be sung round the table, at times going back and forth (like the tune row row row your boat). There would even be parts that made drinking a game, like instructions in the music for the singers at certain points of the song to cut out and fill their glasses.
This is a forgotten cultural practice, in the western world, singing with company, while drinking.

Also, another thing you will be interested in is the Lewis Walpole digital collection. http://lwlimages.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/
if you type in the call number query 775, 776 (for 1775, or 1776), you will come upon a myriad of lovely prints which give great examples of 18th century life.

Thanks again for this website. If your ever on facebook, I also have some good reenacting photos to share as well.

Take care,
Melanie

Just another recomandation from me: I just discovered the ensemble “Red Priest” they are specialized on the work of Vivaldi (The red priest was his nickname because he had red hair and was a clergyman)
They are really rockin’ the baroque, I like their style very much!

Swedish music: Funeral sinfonia for Gustaf III by Joseph Martin Kraus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elWMISeB2p4

What a beautiful site! I’m very glad to find such people like you! I love 18th century; I love all obout it; the music, the fashion, the literature…all. So I hope that we’ll be friends sharing our love of the Age of Enlightenments. please visit my Youtube chanel about 18th century music in rococo style:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Harmonieuniverselle
you’ll find Rameau, Vivaldi and others. For me, Rameau is the most amblematic composer of the 18th century raffinement.

Baroque music, I think, is the most representative among 18th century arts of that 18th century. It’s like no other music, with it’s own instruments (harpsichord, viols…), it’s ornementation, it’s structure, it’s inspirations (greek mythology), it’s melodic expressions which are among the most touching of all music works…and so. We can easily imagine our-selfs in the Verasailles chateau or Fontainebleau when listening Rameau or Francoeur’s music. Most of 18th century people were playing music, on at least one instrument, parents were used to pay harpsichord teachers for their children, that would provide them some culture and some rafinement which could help them in that, indeed, very cruel time, when a great importance was given to apperances. Every leady and gentelmen at that time should know how to play music and have a good taste, and music was played all the time in every occasion. Nobel persones had their own composers and their own orchestras…that’s why beroque music Baroque music reached the tops of the beauty.
…excuse my english, i’m a french men…greatings from Paris. :-)

oh thanks alot my dear!

Hi,
My names Abbie and I am currently writing my dissertation on the topic of 18th century fashion and what the main influences of it were. The section I am currently writing is on how the arts influenced this, such as the art movements, literature and music of the time. I would be really grateful of any comments or guidance you could give me. Thankyou