Music During The Baroque Era

The Baroque Era and the Classical Era are two critical time periods in observing music. Some of the most famous composers have written pieces that are popular in the world today. The two periods share many similar characteristics, however new genres and forms developed throughout each period because of new ideas and knowledge spreading. My personal favorite is the Baroque period because of the abundance of new musical knowledge that was introduced, particularly in Vivaldi’s famous piece La Primavera, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 8, No. 1, I.

The dramatic and rhetoric composition of the music gave the possibilities of generating new interests and the creation of a variety of sounds during the Baroque period. Some of the major characteristics of the Baroque music were;

The Classical time period, which spanned a length of seventy years, from 1750 to 1820, was very different in nature from its predecessor, the Baroque time period. The Baroque era featured works that were ornamentally elaborate, where the artists and composers centered their works on a big, bold style that was dramatic in its composition. Artists and composers transferred strong feelings of tension and emotion into their works and it was common for there to be some type of action or movement happening within the work. Those who lived in the Classical time period, valued simplicity and wanted to return to the ideals of the Greeks. Therefore, the Classical time period is characterized by clear structural clarity, simplicity, smoothness, and symmetry. However, though the works took a step back from the grand movement of the Baroque era, the composers and artists of the Classical time period did lay out a tuneful and elegant style in their music and art. Out of the Classical era came many renowned artists and composers, two of those whom are artist Sir Thomas Lawrence and composer Ludwig van Beethoven (“NYU”).

The Baroque period is seen as the birth of “classical” music. It was fairly similar to music of previous years and added to the conformity of the time. When I was toddler, I had no choice in my life, just like every other child. We accept what is given to us, and learn not to misbehave if we want to be rewarded. One common trait of Baroque music is the continuity and repetition of both rhythm and melody.

In order to convey the message of a piece of music, the tonality or the mode of the song must be set. Specifically, in the Baroque era, the music was full of movement and excitement. For example, Antonio Vivaldi in his piece, The Four Seasons "Winter,” 1st movement, shows the listener the winter scene and sets the mode of excitement. Typical of the Baroque era, Vivaldi composed this piece in ritornello form, with the mixture of a string orchestra and one violin soloist (polyphonic texture). The temper of the violin is sharp which helps in conveying the trembling feeling of snow and the coldness of the winter. Also, the chattering sound made by bouncing the bow very rapidly on the string of the violin with a very high pitch suggests the feeling

During the Baroque period, composers tried to convey emotions through contrasts in tonality, idiomatic writing, and ornamentation. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia stated that the baroque period was one of stylistic duality, and it was an era that displayed emotional extremes. Major and minor tonality surfaced, as well as idiomatic writing

One of the most important eras in the history of classical music, was undoubtedly the Baroque Era. This period lasted from 1650 to 1750, and largely stemmed from the musical innovations of both Italy and Germany. Through this era, the arrangements such as the concerto and the sonata were produced, as well as mastery of the organ and other instruments. Two of perhaps the most influential artists of this era were Arcangelo Corelli and George Fridric Handel.

The Baroque chamber orchestra, a type of ensemble today that can vary greatly from group to group, is involved in a type of performance many musicians remain confused about. For a modern musician, the confusion surrounding the Baroque style stems from a notion that spending time learning a style of instrument that is no longer commonplace is something that is not worthwhile or is even detrimental to a modern instrumental career. Much of this stems from the idea that the romantic era of music is the most valid and academic form of music studied and performed. This has to do with the intense exposure that classically trained musicians are given in the field of romantic and modern era music.

The end of the 1600’s and beginning of the 1700’s marked the beginning of stylistic changes in Western music. As time progressed, the popularity of the Baroque styles of music was fading away. European society started to favor more natural and less intense art, which contradicted the typical flashy, over-the-top elements of the Baroque period. During this time of great stylistic change, the concerto, which was developed around 1680, became the most important type of Baroque instrumental music, and also established the orchestra as the leading instrumental ensemble. The instrumental concerto took the idea of the vocal concerto in bringing together two contrasting forces.

The characteristics of the two eras drastically change from one era to the next as a direct result of the composers of the Classical Era trying to be different from the Baroque Era. The mood

Music of any period reflects, in its own way, some of the same influences, tendencies, and generative impulses that are found in the other arts of that time (Donna, 2005). Thus the word "baroque," usually used despairingly by eighteenth-century art critics to describe the art and architecture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, came to be applied also to the music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

The Baroque began around 1600, by which the Roman Catholic Church demanded that sculptures and paintings in the church scene should communicate to the uneducated rather than the well-informed. This style began in around Rome and Italy, and opened out to most of Europe. Baroque is a period of style that used dramatized motion and clear details, to create tension and drama in painting, theatre, sculpture, literature, music, architecture, and dance. In Baroque paintings, the gestures are more expansive than Mannerist gestures. The poses were less arcane and mysterious, portrayed stage gestures of opera, and less ambiguous. Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, symmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders

First of all, the baroque is known by the exaggerated uses of ornamental decorations in their compositions. These ornaments were exposed in all types of art at that time as: painting, architecture, sculpture and music. In addition, baroque music uses a tonal harmony that produces musical contrast in high levels. This contrast is a very important element in the dramatic aspects of the baroque music, and it was reflected through the melody and texture of the compositions. Furthermore, the most important characteristics in the Baroque music style were the basso continuo and a simple melody with chord accompaniment. Those elements provided a variety of compositions with better stability in the harmony. Moreover, the music of this period presented the counterpoint and polyphony, two elements which caused movement in the melody, and also created expectations and captured the attention of those who listened to that music. On the other hand, romantic music is known for his great expressiveness in their compositions. This expressiveness allows to the composers, add their feelings and emotions to their music. Furthermore, the romantic music was showed a depletion of the capacity of tonal music, so it was passed to the trend of atonal music. Moreover, this kind of music presented a great use of melody, which was responsible to capture the beauty of the written music and as well

In 1600 a new style of music began to evolve, this form of music was

Baroque Period, during which a few of the greatest composers on this planet were born, brought classical music onto a whole new level. The word “Baroque”, which came from the Portuguese for “the imperfect pearl”, implies strange, extravagant and overblown. Toccata, fugue, chorale, ortario, and the concerto Grosso, all of these special musical forms were created and represent this period. The six main characteristics: increased emotional expression, contrast, use of basso continuo, continued harmonic development, use of ornament, and the emphasis of improvisation, molded the unique style of music of the Baroque period.