Colossal Baroque

The Colossal Baroque style is a name which has been coined to describe a number of compositions from the 17th and 18th centuries composed in an opulent, magnificent and large-scaled style. Such works frequently make use of polychoral techniques and often feature instrumental forces considerably larger than the norm for the Baroque period. The Colossal Baroque had its roots in Italy, in the resplendent multiple polychoral music of the Venetian School, in the sumptuous, extravagant productions of the Medici court, for example the 40- and 60-voice Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno by Alessandro Striggio, and in the large polychoral works of the Roman School, many of which were written long after the Venetian School had vanished. An impetus for this music was the Council of Trent [Counter-Reformation]. Some attendees of the Council held the unofficial point of view that music should be subservient to text, as both exemplified as well as idealized in the choral music of Palestrina. Some critics held that this was not as achievable in larger choral textures.

Some of the roots of the Colossal Baroque style were in the opulent Florentine Intermedii of the 16th century, commissioned and attended by the powerful Medici family. La Pellegrina, performed for the wedding of Ferdinand de' Medici to the French princess, Christine of Lorraine, in 1589, featured music for up to seven choirs, by Cristofano Malvezzi in Intermedio VI.

Yet another city that cultivated large sonorities was Rome. Composers there were not as adventurous with harmony and rhythm as the Venetians, but they had spacious churches with elaborate interiors which demanded music to match. Composers such as Orazio Benevoli, who began his career in Rome, helped spread the style elsewhere, especially across the Brenner Pass into the Austrian lands.

In the Austrian area, multi-part pieces were written for special occasions but not always published. There is a long list of missing and incomplete works by Giovanni Valentini, (some in 17 choirs), Priuli, Bernadi, (the mass for consecration of Salzburg Cathedral used 16 choirs), and others. Some of Valentini's trumpet parts survive; they have few changes of note, and many rests. It is possible that the brass may have made dovetailed mass volume answering phrases in a multichoir texture similar to the effects exploited by Giovanni Gabrieli and the other composers of the Venetian School.

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