The Era of Baroque Music

Amazingly, most of the instruments used during the period, remain in use today. The Baroque period in music obviously played a tremendous role in the growth of music through its numerous successful composers and various types of instruments. The Baroque period in music began 1600 and ended around 1750. The unique instruments and styles defined the Baroque period as composers began to withdraw new and unknown sounds by tweaking different instruments. The name Baroque came from the Portuguese barroco, which means oddly shaped pearl.

This period started around 1600 and ended around 1750. The Baroque time period was particularly important as it was a foundation for classical music to develop and grow. Many musical forms were created and developed as well. Some examples are the sonata, the concerto, and the fugue. There were many well know composers who lived in this time period as well, including Vivaldi, Handel, Telemann, Lully, Corelli, and the arguably most important Johann Sebastian Bach.

Two styles that were a part of the Baroque era were known as the prima prattica stemming from the Renaissance era and the newer seconda prattica. “The rise of the seconda prattica and monody marked the beginning of a s... ... middle of paper ... ...al era differ greatly in regards to style and structure but both succeeded at impacting musical history. The greats that we acknowledge today stemmed from these very eras. The Baroque era ushered in the genre of Opera, while the Classical era introduced a new outline for structuring musical compositions. The Baroque and Robinson 6 Classical eras were powerful, influential, and musically stimulating to the masses, forever engraving themselves in history and time.

Antonio Vivaldi is an Italian composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music. Vivaldi's music, although written almost 300 years ago, has inspired the majority of the songs we hear today. He achieved great success with his sacred vocal music. Born on March 4, 1678, the Venetian composer and violinist Vivaldi considered as one of the big and best composers throughout the Baroque period. During

From the string quartet, to the modernization of the symphony, there are many different innovations that we owe to the Classical Period of music, which started in 1775 and ended in 1825. Although it was based on the humanistic principles of the Age of Enlightenment, it would still ultimately produce such amazing innovations as adding the choir to symphony pieces, and other advancements. Finally, it produced such amazing artists such as Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven, whose music is today revered and enjoyed all over the world. The Classical era in the history of classical music lasted from approximately 1775-1825. This title was given because during this era, many people were reading the classical works from Greco-Roman culture, such as books by Plato or Aristotle (Kansas University).

However, during the last quarter of the Seventeenth Century, the concerto signified purely instrumental music, unless the title of the piece specified otherwise. However, by 1680, there were a few ground rules that were being set up. The first generation of the concerto grosso was typically for violins. Arthur Hutchins, about Corelli and Vivaldi, says “the violin was a wordless voice of super-human compass and range of expression, with clearer attack and greater agility than a human voice, and free from the strain of human fatigue.” This belief that violins could emulate the human voice led to a golden age for string ensembles. Concertos normally consisted of between six and twenty strings, with an organ, harpsichord and archlute.

Introduction Over time, the world has seen many outstanding musicians, and so much fantastic music. Each highly remembered composer or musician changed the way we think and see the world. They give us new ideas, and music is a wonderful way to convey moods and emotions. Each also slightly changed music itself. Handel was one of the greatest of these people.

The Sarabande uses a chromatic scale with dissonant harmonies, which we hear a lot of in the Baroque era. Next came a French minuet, cast in triple meter. Later on in the Classical period, every symphony and string quartet would include a minuet as the moderate third movement. The fourth and final movement of the Partita was an exhilarating gigue in which Bach creatively inverted the subject. Although this was a particularly long piece, Bach’s rhythmic vitality and creativity made this work very festive and enjoyable to listen

The piece begins with a solo and consists of much more choral and instrumental material. In the whole piece, Mozart relies on the orchestra to provide life to the text and mostly uses the strings and woodwinds to present this piece, while relying on the percussions and the timpani to provide effect for forceful motions. Overall, influence can be noticed from artists such as Bach and Handel. This piece, even though left unfinished made a mark in history as one of the most beautiful pieces ever written during the Baroque/Classical era.

The Baroque Period was a very unique time period when the arts flourished, especially music. New techniques and ideas began to become more prominent during this time and changed the rules of how music was being written. Also, new composers appeared and gave their own input and style to Baroque music. However, one of the most prolific and well known composer during this time was Johann Sebastian Bach. It is also no surprise that he was an excellent musician and composer.