Baroque music

is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to

1750.[1] This era followed the Renaissance, and was followed in turn
by the Classical era. The word "baroque" comes from the Portuguese
word barroco, meaning misshapen pearl,[2] a negative description of
the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this period. Later, the
name came to apply also to the architecture of the same period.
Baroque music forms a major portion of the "classical music" canon,
being widely studied, performed, and listened to. Composers of the
Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric
Handel, Alessandro
Scarlatti, Domenico
Scarlatti, Antonio
Vivaldi, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Arcangelo
Corelli, Tomaso Albinoni, Franois Couperin, Denis Gaultier, Claudio
Monteverdi, Heinrich Schtz,Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jan Dismas
Zelenka, Johann Pachelbel, and Henry Purcell.
The Baroque period saw the creation of tonality. During the period,
composers and performers used more elaborate musical
ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed
new instrumental playing techniques. Baroque music expanded the
size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also
established opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto, and sonata as musical
genres. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use
today.
Derived from the Portuguese barroco, or oddly shaped pearl, the
term baroque has been widely used since the nineteenth century to
describe the period in Western European art music from about 1600
to 1750. Comparing some of music historys greatest masterpieces to
a misshapen pearl might seem strange to us today, but to the
nineteenth century critics who applied the term, the music of Bach and
Handels era sounded overly ornamented and exaggerated. Having
long since shed its derogatory connotations, baroque is now simply

a convenient catch-all for one of the richest and most diverse periods
in music history.
Basso continuo
(in baroque music) an accompanying part that includes a bass line
and harmonies, typically played on a keyboard instrument and with
other instruments such as cello or bass viol.
concerto grosso
a musical composition for a group of solo instruments accompanied
by an orchestra. The term is used mainly of baroque works.
Oratorio
a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically a
narrative on a religious theme, performed without the use of
costumes, scenery, or action. Well-known examples include
Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Handel's Messiah, and Haydn's The
Creation.
Cantata
a medium-length narrative piece of music for voices with instrumental
accompaniment, typically with solos, chorus, and orchestra.
Madrigal
a part-song for several voices, esp. one of the Renaissance period,
typically arranged in elaborate counterpoint and without instrumental
accompaniment. Originally used of a genre of 14th-century Italian
songs, the term now usually refers to English or Italian songs of the
late 16th and early 17th c., in a free style strongly influenced by the
text.
Motet
a short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and
unaccompanied.

Harpsichord
a keyboard instrument with horizontal strings that run perpendicular to
the keyboard in a long tapering case and are plucked by points of
quill, leather, or plastic operated by depressing the keys. It is used
chiefly in European classical music of the 16th to 18th centuries.

including theOrgelbchlein, as well as some of his cantatas. While in

Piano
a large keyboard musical instrument with a wooden case enclosing a
soundboard and metal strings, which are struck by hammers when the
keys are depressed. The strings' vibration is stopped by dampers
when the keys are released, and it can be regulated for length and
volume by two or three pedals.

Bach embarked on the next phase of his career in 1717, when he

Organ
a large musical instrument having rows of tuned pipes sounded by
compressed air, and played using one or more keyboards to produce
a wide range of musical effects. The pipes are generally arranged in
ranks of a particular type, each controlled by a stop, and often into
larger sets linked to separate keyboards.

violin, the first volume of Das wohltemperirte Clavier (The Well-

Weimar, Bach also came into contact with a great deal of Italian
music, and was particularly influenced by Vivaldis concertos.

became the Music Director for the Prince Leopold of Cthen (1717
1723). Since the court chapel was Calvinist (a religion that did not use
elaborate music in its services), Bach composed a great deal of
instrumental music during this time, including the Brandenburg
Concertos, the Suites for solo cello, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo
Tempered Clavier) and the Orchestral Suites. While there was no
need for sacred vocal music, Bach also composed a few cantatas to
commemorate special events at court.

In 1723, Bach was appointed music director and cantor at the

Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750):

Thomaskirche in Leipzig, a position he was to hold for the rest of his

career. (Bach was actually the second choice for the position, as the
more famous Telemann had already refused the job). His official
duties were immense, requiring him to oversee the music in the citys

Like many composers born into a musical family, Johann Sebastian

four main churches, teach and provide music for municipal occasions.

Bach received his earliest instruction from his father in Eisenach. After

During his first six years in Leipzig, Bach composed four cycles of

his fathers death in 1695, Bach studied in Ohrdruf with his brother,

cantatas and the St. John and St. Matthew Passions. By 1729, Bach

Johann Christoph, and also attended schools in Eisenach, Ohrdruf,

had amassed a large repertoire of music for services in Leipzig, and

and Lneburg. In 1703, Bach attained his first post as organist in

was able to turn his attentions elsewhere. From 1729 to 1737 (and

Arnstadt, where he stayed until 1707, followed by a year as organist in

again from 1739 to 1741), Bach served as the director of the Leipzig

Mhlhausen. From 1708 to 1717 Bach worked for Duke Wilhelm Ernst

Collegium Musicum, a group of professional musicians and university

of Weimar, first as court organist, and after 1714, asKapellmeister.

students founded by Telemann in 1704. In addition to reviving many

Many of his organ compositions were written during this period,

compositions from Cthen for the Collegiums weekly concerts, many

of Bachs secular cantatas from this time were probably composed for

of musical promise during his childhood in Halle, but was initially

the group. Bach also published a number of more abstract, erudite

encouraged to study law instead. Although he entered the University

works for publication, particuarly the four volumes entitled Clavier-

of Halle in 1702, he left a year later to become a violinist in the opera

bung

house at Hamburg. It was in this city that his first two

(Keyboard

Practice),

which

hold

the Six

Partitas

for

Keyboard (Vol. I), the Italian Concerto, theFrench Overture (Vol. II)

operas, Almira and Nero,

were

and the Goldberg Variations (Vol. IV); another late work along similar

by Daphne and Florindo in 1708. Handel then traveled to Italy,

lines is the unfinished Die Kunst der Fuge ( The Art of Fugue).

premiering Rodrigo (1707)

in

produced
Florence

in

1705,

followed

and Agrippina (1708)

in

Venice, where he may also have met Vivaldi. In Rome he studied with
Corelli, and performed La Resurrezione (1709) and Il Trionfo del
Although he was famous during his lifetime, Bachs contemporaries

Tempo (1710).

had all but dismissed him as old-fashioned by the time of his death in

become Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover, George Louis, who

1750. According to anecdotal evidence, his music was still respected;

became King George I of England in 1714. Handel moved to London

Mozart and Beethoven both reportedly studied his compositions. The

in 1712, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Early

in

1710,

Handel

left

Italy

to

true revival of Bachs works began in 1829, however, when Felix

Mendelssohn conducted a famous performance of the St. Matthew
Passion in Berlin. After hearing the performance, Hegel called Bach a

Handel arrived in London as a famous opera composer, but English

grand, truly Protestant, robust and, so to speak, erudite genius which

audiences proved resistant to the genres charms. By the early 1730s,

we have only recently learned again to appreciate at its full value.

the assaults of critics and the notoriously lascivious lifestyles of the

Mendelssohns efforts to promote Bachs music continued, and

singers had worn down London audiences, and Handel needed to find

eventually led to the founding of the Bach Gesellschaft (Bach

a new medium for his art. The oratorio was the perfect solution.

Society), an organization devoted exclusively to promoting his works.

English oratorios were similar to opera in their use of recitative and

aria, but were rarely staged, and were based on stories from the Bible
in the vernacular. Handels addition of the chorus also resonated with
London audiences, who were steeped in the English tradition of
anthem-singing. Ultimately, the English oratorio cemented Handels

George Frideric Handel (16851759):

Like his friend Telemann, George Frideric Handel showed a great deal

reputation

foreverand

works

such

as Messiah, Judas

Maccabeus and Israel in Egypt are still tremendously popular today.

In addition to his operas, oratorios and well known Coronation

Anthems, written for the coronation of George II, Handel composed a

great deal of instrumental music still performed today. Some of the

the Op. 6 Concerti Grossi, based on the Op. 6 collection of Corelli.

most famous were composed for royal occasions, includingWater

After becoming blind in 1751, Handel died eight years later in London.

Music, written for concerts on the Thames, and Music for Royal

He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Fireworks. Others were published for purchase by subscription, like