Alessandro Marcello’s oboe concerto in D minor is one good example of Baroque art. I think this is a great example of a Baroque concerto (specially Italian Baroque concerto) because it follows the structure of a common Baroque concerto: it is divided in three movements: Allegro-Adagio-Allegro; the first and third movement make use of Ritornello (a theme performed by an orchestra, and then a development performed by the soloist) and the second movement has a rather free structure.
Even though Alessandro Marcello is unfrequently played because Vivaldi’s and Bach’s compositions are the most representative compositions of Baroque music, I consider him a great composer from the Baroque period.
This work is perhaps the most well-known composition of Alessandro Marcello.
“I do not feel obliged to believe
that the same God who has endowed us
with sense, reason and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use”
So all the stars
Will guide us on our way
The Sextant as a leader
Has duration for all days
Look at the amazing skies
In long and profound discoveries
With a strong and a clear mind he’s encrypting
More secrets of astronomy
In endless nights
He entirely observes the skies
His publications will change the world
Galileo Galilei
Only what my eyes will see, I will believe!
Day and night – separated by the light
In Pisa he’s required
To teach the theory
That the stars and all the planets
Revolve around the earth
But he believed
In a different truth
The heliocentric one
Proposed by Kopernikus
A new age has begun
The stolen sun
Makes their fear rise
And man will sacrifice
The moon is the reason why
The amazing skies…
In endless nights..
And all the servants of the cross – they will deny
Will deny the starlight
In Pisa he’s required
To teach the theory
That the stars and all the planets
Revolve around the earth
But he believed
In a different truth
The heliocentric one
Proposed by Kopernikus
A new age has begun
Asis Nasseri, Haggard male lead vocalist and songwriter, was inspired by the life of Galileo Galilei, who was forced to disavow his belief that the Earth moves around the sun by the inquisition. Legend has it that he said: “Eppur si muove” (And yet, it moves) in front of the inquisition when he was told to abandon his beliefs. Haggard took this story as a form of inspiration and made an album called Eppur si mouve because it shows that a person always has to defend their own beliefs.
Witch hunting became a very common practice between 15th and 17th century’s Europe. It began as way of destroying remnants of paganism.People used to believe that witches made pacts with the devil, and celebrated reunions, called Sabbaths were they worshiped the all kinds of daemons. When witch hunting began it was done by the inquisition, but this practice became a way of demonstrating power by the authorities.
As this practice grew, more and more people (specially women) were accused of being witches, and it became a way of getting rid of poor people, ill people, or any person that might represent a problem to the people of the wealthier social classes. Trials were made. Trials where people were tortured to confess that they were something they weren’t. Many ways of proving if someone was a witch were invented: people were burnt, they were tossed into the water, etc.
Witch hunting expanded even into the colonies! An example of this is Salem witch trials. This witch hunt began when two girls began to be afflicted with a very strange illness: they began to fill pain around their body, they couldn’t control their arms and legs, they couldn’t sleep or speak. Since no one knew what had happened, people thought of witchcraft. There are several theories about what caused this kind of affections: Some people think that it was because people were so concerned and feared about what could happen to their souls, but others think that bred poisoning caused by fungus led people to have hallucinations, pains and all this kind of behaviors; however, this theory was refuted because the symptoms were inconsistent. Many people were accused for these events, and several trials were done. many other people started to act as if they were being witched. Many people were accused for these events, and several trials were done, leading 20 persons or so to their death.