The Baroque Age

Baroque era covers the period between 1600 and 1750 beginning with Monteverdi (birth of opera) and ending with the deaths of Bach and Handel. The term Baroque music is borrowed from the art history. It follows the Renaissance era (1400 to 1600). It was initially considered to be a Ð''corrupt dialect of Renaissance' by conservatives.

The dominant trends in Baroque music correspond to those in Baroque art and literature. Among the general characteristics of Baroque art is a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow enhance the dramatic effects of many paintings and sculptures. In music, the Baroque era is the era of style-consciousness. The means of verbal representation in Baroque music were indirect -intellectual and pictorial-. In Baroque music, representation of extreme affections called for a richer vocabulary. Opera is one of the foremost innovations of the Baroque era which allowed the realization of extreme affections in music. It represents melodic freedom. In early Baroque era, no tonal direction existed, but experiments in pre-tonal harmony led to the creation of tonality.

The philosophy of Baroque music is that music represents the emotions (affections) of real life and, in so doing, excites the listener's emotions. Music must express emotions and it must move the listener. It is generally agreed that Italian Baroque music expressed the emotions (passions or affections) best. Baroque music was the end-result of a search for new modes of expression. During this process, a concern for formal organisation resulted in the development of tonal system (replacing the modal system).

Renaissance music (stile antico) was so rigid and structured and learnt by academic training. The new concept (stile moderno) was a vehicle of spontaneous expression. Both practices existed side by side. Some composers used both styles; stile antico in church music and stile moderno in secular vocal music. One of the most important creations of Baroque was the concept of contrast as in Baroque art (like loud and soft, solo and tutti, high and low, fast and slow). Numerous composers used the concerto or concertanto style (meaning a style with a marked contrasting element). The term Baroque denotes the inner stylistic unity of the period. The most important unifying feature of all Baroque music is the characteristic accompanying part, the basso continuo (Baroque era is usually referred to as the Ð''thorough-bass period'). A bass line is followed by a continuo player(s) above which a figure is written to indicate what additional notes should be played to fill in the harmony (figured bass). A typical Baroque piece consists of a melodic line for a voice (more typically two melodic lines as in trio sonata), a bass line for a continuo instrument such as cello or bassoon playing the written line, and a plucked (chitarrone) or keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) playing the figured chords (mainly improvising) to fill the intervening space between the two poles. The result is the polarity of outer parts.

Baroque music has unique idioms (specific style/character) and it is an idiomatic form. Composers began to write music specifically for a particular medium, such as the