Baroque Music
tagStarted c. 1600Peak 1650–1750Last big hit c. 1750
Located in 1 route
Baroque Music foregrounds musical rhetoric: clearly profiled affects, motor rhythms, ornamental melody, and harmony driven by a persistent bass foundation. It thrives on contrast between solo and ensemble, line and chord, gravity and dance, with texture often changing faster than in later Classical music.
History
The term covers a broad style rather than one form, encompassing opera, concerto, suite, church music, chamber sonata, fugue, and keyboard repertory. Its evolution was multinational but especially energized by Italian innovation, French court style, and German synthesis, culminating in repertories whose harmonic grammar and formal habits became the backbone of the later common-practice tradition.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 — The English ConcertSpotifyYouTube
- Water Music Alla Hornpipe — Academy of Ancient MusicSpotifyYouTube
- Les Indes galantes Chaconne — Les Arts FlorissantsSpotifyYouTube
- The Four Seasons Spring — Il Giardino ArmonicoSpotifyYouTube
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor — Ton KoopmanSpotifyYouTube
- Les Voix humaines — Jordi SavallSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Baroque music” citeturn1search1
- OpenALG, “Music of the Baroque Period” citeturn0search22
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Basso continuo” citeturn8search0