Baroque Era Review

Baroque Era

Publisher: Intellego Unit Studies

Authors: Michele Wolf

Price: $15.95 download, $19.00 CD

Available at: Intellego Unit Studies, PO Box 832, East Longmeadow, MA 01028-0832; Phone: 413.348.2634

Other Notes: 248 color pages

If it’s not baroque, don’t fix it… kids giggle at the play on words. The Baroque Period of art, music and architecture blends disciplines into an interdisciplinary understanding of European history, art, music, culture and science.

Intellego's unit study, The Baroque Era: Art, Architecture and Music presents information on this historical movement in the arts that nearly explodes from the page with vibrant colors, multimedia links and a wealth of activities as exhilarating as this time in history you'll be exploring. You'll see how the movement of the arts represented the cultural changes motivated by the protestant reformation and the Catholic renaissance period.

Representative of the Baroque period are names recognizable even today: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Bernini, Velazquez, Caravaggio, Rubens and Rembrandt among others. Often the students of Renaissance masters such as Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, these masters of the Baroque period moved European society forward to a new future incorporating the dynamics of the tumultuous times into architectural form, music and art.

Intellego Unit Studies has produced a 248-page unit study that invites students to learn through activities that include reading and researching, filling out graphic organizers, writing, timeline and mapwork, art and craft projects, cooking, keeping a vocabulary journal, watching videos, discussing questions, and more. The study comes in PDF format, complete with easy navigation within the document, and Internet links. You'll find all Intellego Unit Studies organized along the same lines, with teacher helps at the beginning of the document ("How to use," course objectives, troubleshooting, vocabulary building, and other notes), plus an answer key for each chapter at the end. Course material is divided into chapters. For each chapter there is a materials list and introduction to the chapter topic, followed by activities. At the end of the study you're encouraged to organize your student's work into a portfolio. Some of the activities are laid out step-by-step, others are given as suggestions for further study or links to online activities.

The unit study begins with a definition of the Baroque period, life in the period which spans the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, moving across the European continent with diplomats and merchants who instigated cultural transferences. The basic understanding of the period is explained well, for example, a Baroque protestant piece is clearly identifiable and different from a Baroque Catholic piece. Artists and musicians are shown within the context of their culture and contemporary historical events. Here are some of these:

Carracci frescos are among the introduction to the Baroque period. Examination of Carracci as an artist, his work, is then juxtaposed with Jamestown.

Caravaggio’s exciting and chaotic life is the backdrop to exploration of some of the standard Baroque techniques in art. Painting a subject as it looks in life with all the warts and scars made for new thought about truth and beauty. Referenced at the same time is Galileo whose new thoughts about the universe moved the Earth from the center of the universe to the third planet from the Sun, a radical concept that got him excommunicated.

Velazquez was a true Spanish courtier painting representations of Spanish court which can be seen as snapshots into the inner working of Baroque court life. While Velazquez painted princesses, the pilgrims sailed the Mayflower to America, learning to live in an inhospitable environment to escape the religious persecution of their homelands. Rembrandt van Rijn included himself in more collective portraits than most artists of the time, although that was a favorite lark of artists. He married into a family of art dealers which helped his commercial appeal through the typically struggling years of an artist’s career. Today, Rembrandt’s commissioned paintings are as desirable as the ones painted for his pleasure.

Architect Wren’s work lives on in the City of London as he designed it to replace the former city burned in the fire of 1666. His crowning glory is St Paul’s Cathedral built in 1710, still used today.

The melodic music of Vivaldi lives on through the interpretations of pianist around the world. The composer’s work is truly sublime.

Bach was Kapellmeister (choir master) and instructor to many court and church musicians of his time. He wrote some of the most brilliant and challenging pieces for exercise and performance of the Baroque period. If you’re playing Bach, you’re playing Baroque.

Handel’s Messiah, a Christian favorite compares with few compositions before or since. The composer’s dedication to musical form set new standards, to which few composers near. Even Beethoven said that Handel was the greatest composer.

Exploration of the Baroque period leads to greater understanding of music, art and architecture in grand fashion. While guiding exploration of this time in history, The Baroque Era: Art, Architecture and Music showcases the levels reached by masters when allowed to explore their talents, and the workmanship of a society striving to make all life better.

Review by: Kate O'Mara
Kate O'Mara writes about history and other fascinating tidbits from a place she lovingly calls "the dungeon." When Kate Blogs