Another era of classical music is the Baroque era. This period belongs to 1600 to 1750 and is between two periods of Renaissance music and classical music. In this article, we intend to introduce you to the Baroque music era, its development phases, and its characteristics. A major part of classical music belongs to the Baroque period. Baroque music originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe as the Catholic Church spread.
During this period, the church played a lesser role in music, and secular music grew significantly during the Baroque music period. Opera was created by Italian musicians and important classical music styles such as concerto and sonata flourished. In the following, we will briefly review the development phases of music in the baroque peiod.
Early Baroque music era
In the early Baroque music period, composers’ works were very passionate and emotional. They preferred monophonic music to polyphonic music, although they returned to polyphonic music at the end of the Baroque era. In early Baroque music, melodic lines written for instruments were accompanied by vocal sounds.
The middle of the Baroque music
In the middle of the baroque music era, tuning instruments became more balanced, and minor and major pitches were used instead of church modes. This event led to the creation of new genres and the foundation of harmony in classical music was formed. In fact, harmony is the final result of counterpoint. At this stage, the most popular instruments of the baroque music composers were stringed instruments from the violin family.
Late Baroque period
At the end of the Baroque music period, when harmony was formed, polyphonic music reached its peak again with the works of Bach. It was at this stage that instrumental music became as important as vocal music.
Baroque music era forms
The most popular musical forms of the Baroque period originated in Italy. Among the well-known forms of this era, we can mention the vocal forms of opera, oratorio, and cantata, and the forms of sonata, concerto, and overture.
Opera: It is called a show that is played along with singing and instruments. The songs are played alternately and the characters start to express their feelings in certain parts.
Oratorio: Oratorio is a musical drama with a religious or semi-religious theme, and its text is usually from the Bible. This music is performed by a soloist, choir, or orchestra. Oratorio can be performed in concert halls besides the church.
Cantata: This form first arose in Italy. The songs of Cantata were usually secular and performed individually.
Sonata: In the period of Baroque music, a sonata is a piece that is played with an instrument. These pieces are often played solo by an instrument such as a keyboard.
Concerto: The concerto, which dates back to the late Baroque music period, is a type of composition for instruments. In it, one or more soloists play with the orchestra.
Characteristics of Baroque music
In the Baroque period, music, like architecture and painting, had a very special and unique style. Baroque era composers created a common language to express human emotions and moods.
One of the most important features of baroque music is the unity and uniformity of the piece when playing. This means that if a piece started slowly and gently, this state would be maintained until the end of the piece and its gentle rhythm would not change. The feature of maintaining unity is only for instrumental pieces and does not apply to vocal pieces.
Another characteristic of the Baroque music era is contrast. Contrast is the difference in the loudness or softness of the voice and the solo or group playing the instruments. Baroque music, along with continuity and maintaining rhythm, also has dynamic changes. So that after the melody was performed by the instruments, it was performed again with intensity and slower dynamics.
It was during the Baroque music time period that new harmony rules were written and the two parts of instrumental and vocal music were separated.
Baroque musical instrument
During the Baroque period, keyed instruments such as organ and harpsichord were of special importance. The variety and quantity of keyed instruments was increasing and the lute lost some of its popularity. The pieces written for the lute were mostly played with the harpsichord. The characteristics of the wind organ, such as making sudden changes in dynamics in the sound, made it popular during the time of Baroque music.
Technical innovations led to the invention of new instruments, some of which were developed forms of Renaissance musical instruments. In the Baroque period, string and wind instruments reached the peak of evolution. It was during this era that composers first started writing pieces for a specific instrument.
In the following, we will introduce some popular instruments in baroque era.
Harpsichord
The harpsichord is one of the Baroque musical instruments, which is a stringed instrument and is considered a keyboard instrument. Although the harpsichord is similar to the piano, it is a different instrument and there is no modern version. Although this instrument was very popular in the Baroque period, it was almost abandoned in the classical period.
Clavichord
Another Baroque musical instrument is the clavichord, which has no modern equivalent like the harpsichord. This instrument is rectangular and belongs to the family of keyboard instruments. This instrument has a mellow sound and is mostly used as a practice and auxiliary instrument for composing.
Pipe Organ
The pipe organ is another musical instrument of the Baroque period and a member of the wind instrument family. This instrument is usually played in churches and is made of many wooden and metal tubes through which air passes to produce sound. The sound is guided by these pipes and controlled by the keyboard.
trumpet
The baroque trumpet is longer than the modern trumpet and is completely different from the modern trumpet. The baroque trumpet did not have a valve, but there were holes in it to change the sound.
Baroque music era composers
During the Baroque period, great composers appeared, most of them from France, Italy, Germany, and England. People still listen to most of the works of these musicians. In the following, we introduce three famous composers of the Baroque period.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach is a German musician and composer who lived in the late Baroque period. Bach was an expert organist and his contemporaries admired his expertise in playing the organ. His works include both religious and secular music. Currently, we know him as the most inspiring composer of that time.
Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi was a Venetian composer of the Baroque era who was very skilled in playing the violin. The most famous work of Vivaldi is the Four Seasons. His skill in music was very high and he is the source of inspiration for many composers. His masterpieces are still performed by classical musicians.
George Frideric Handel
Another German composer of the late Baroque period, who was a contemporary of Bach, was Handel. Among Handel’s works, we can mention Blue Music and Rodrigo’s Opera. He spent most of his life years in England and maybe that is the reason why the works of Handel and Bach do not have much in common.
Conclusion
In this article, we tried to introduce you to the period of baroque music and its characteristics. The Baroque music era, which is the third era of classical music, still has many fans. This music served as a foundation for later styles in the classical and romantic eras. This style of music is also taught to those interested. If you are interested in getting information about other eras of music, you can refer to the article on classical music eras on the Chang.education website.
