Comparison/contrast Renaisssance and Baroque

The baroque and renaissance periods are two different periods. The renaissance period rolled into the baroque era. There were changes made over the years from the baroque to the renaissance period. Differences in style accumulated along with views of art and music.

Baroque era covers the period between 1600 and 1750 beginning with Monte Verdi (birth of opera) and ended with deaths of Bach and Handel. The term baroque music is borrowed from the art history. It follows the Renaissance era (1400-1600). It was initially considered to be a corrupt way of Renaissance by conservatives. The dominant trends in Baroque music correspond to those in Baroque art and literature. Some features of Baroque art included a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow enhance the effects of paintings and sculptures. Opera is one of the types of music in the Baroque era. It represented melodic freedom. Baroque era was usually referred to as the thorough-bass period. In early Baroque era no tonal direction existed, but experiments in pre-tonal harmony led to the creation of tonality. [1] Baroque genre included instrumental suite, ritornello, Concerto grosso and chant. There were important composers of the Baroque period such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi William Byrd Henry Purcell and George Phillip Telemann. Starting in northern Italy, the hierarchical state -- led by either the urban bourgeoisie or despotic nobles -- replaced the fluid and chaotic feudal system of the middle Ages. [2] For this reason, some historians refer to the Renaissance as the Early Modern Era. Sculptors, building on the techniques of artists such as Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680), found ways to create the illusion of energetic and even violent movement in their works. Painters created larger and more crowded canvases. Virtuosity was used in all the arts. The arts became an important measure of learning and culture. Music moved from the science of number to an expressive art viewed as an equal to rhetoric.

The Renaissance means the rebirth of ancient learning. The renaissance can be divided into two parts Early Renaissance (1420-1500) and High Renaissance (1500-1520). The Renaissance era was one of the most productive time periods in history as far as the advancement of music goes. At first it was rigid, structured and learnt by academic training. The new concept of renaissance music became much more expressive, and the sound and quality of the instruments became more refined and more pleasant to listen to. Instruments such as the harpsichord, the spinet, and the lute became more than just accompaniment for singers; they became a way of expressing emotions. A modern listener can almost picture what the Renaissance composer or musician was feeling when he or she was writing a piece of music. The music of the Elizabethan era had a large influence on the advancement of all music. Humanism was the basic concept of the Italian Renaissance. It is the term used to define that philosophical movement in Italy at the end of the 14th century and during the 15th and 16th centuries which asserted the right of the individual to the use of his own reason and belief, and stressed the importance and potential of man as an individual. [3] This concept can be identified with a belief in the power of learning and science to produce "the complete man". This was the way of their world and the basis of their modern civilization. Modern Humanism originated in the Renaissance when scholars, writers, poets, artists, philosophers and scientists sought regeneration in the free intellectual spirit of Classical times. [4] Art during the Renaissance period stylized religious themes. Artist during the renaissance period had his or her own way of painting. They did not practice the system of geometric perspective, but nonetheless created a convincing appearance of reality.