Music Theory Friday: Counterpoint and Contrapuntal Masterpieces

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! And welcome to our first Music Theory Friday of the season! I am your host, Dr. Maeve Berry! Get ready for today’s episode, because we are going to spend some time dissecting the forms of several different instrumental pieces that were being composed in the 17th century! We’re going to explore three major musical forms that defined Baroque instrumental music: the ricercar, the fugue, and the dance suite. We’ve heard some of these terms thrown around earlier in this season, but I wanted to take a chance to explain each of them and break them down a little bit for you to understand better!Music mentioned in episode:Frescobaldi Ricercare after the Credo from Mass for the Madonna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acjguX1mBOQBach Prelude and Fugue in f minor WTC II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHlE0AwhtY