Baroque Music
The era of monody, basso continuo, opera, and the great contrapuntal achievements of Bach and Handel.
Definition
The music of the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750), characterized by basso continuo, the doctrine of the affections, the new genres of opera and concerto, and the establishment of functional tonality.
Scope
Covers Western music from roughly 1600 to 1750: the rise of monody and the basso continuo, the birth of opera and oratorio, the consolidation of major-minor tonality, the development of instrumental genres (concerto, suite, fugue), and the culminating works of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and their contemporaries. Excludes the galant turn to the Classical style, treated separately.
Core questions
- How did monody and the basso continuo transform texture around 1600?
- How did opera and oratorio originate and develop?
- How did functional major-minor tonality consolidate in this period?
- What were the principal instrumental genres of the Baroque?
- How do the styles of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi exemplify the era?
Key concepts
- Monody and basso continuo
- Doctrine of the affections
- Opera and oratorio
- Concerto and concerto grosso
- Fugue
- Suite
- Functional tonality
- Terraced dynamics
History
Around 1600 the Florentine experiments with monody and the new genre of opera broke with Renaissance polyphony; the seventeenth century saw tonality and instrumental genres mature, and the era culminated in the contrapuntal mastery of Bach and the dramatic vocal works of Handel before the galant style supplanted it.
Key figures
- Claudio Monteverdi
- Antonio Vivaldi
- George Frideric Handel
- Johann Sebastian Bach
Related topics
Seminal works
- burkholder2019
- bukofzer1947
- palisca1991
Frequently asked questions
- What is basso continuo?
- A continuous bass line played by a low instrument together with a chord-playing instrument that improvises harmonies from figured-bass shorthand; it underpins almost all Baroque ensemble music.
- Why is the Baroque era important for tonality?
- It is the period in which the major-minor key system and functional harmony became the standard organizing framework of Western music, a framework that endured into the twentieth century.