Essay On The Baroque Era

The Baroque Era lasted from 1600 to 1750. It incorporated bold, powerful statements and the music was written for specific instruments, which was different from the Renaissance Era up to 1600. Also, the Baroque Era developed figured bass (basso continuo) and included improvisation which allowed for contrasting sections. One influential composer during the Baroque Era was J.S Bach. Bach was an involved musician who composed mainly to meet the needs of the positions he held. For example, as a church organist, he wrote works mainly for organ but also harpsichord, as well as cantatas for church, chorales, concertos, and chamber works. His compositions contained ornamentation that was typical in music during the Baroque Era, such as trills and
Much of his compositional activeness is identified by a blending of differing components and styles, such as French and Italian. This idea wasn’t just limited to a few styles; he used them all simultaneously without favoritism. Because his music was so flexible and composed of multiple styles, the ornamentation within his music became flexible and broad as well. Bach’s notated music is covered with ornamentation. It seems as if he viewed the ornaments belonging to the performer’s style, which in his notated suggestions do not appear to be the product of serious thought. “In short, the very subtlety of Bach’s music may lie in the notion that everything can be ornamental and structural simultaneously” (Boyd 350). Specifically, in terms of sonatas, Bach’s technical commands are daunting as well as precise, and in his cantatas he added ornaments to instrumental as well as vocal parts. Also, his concertos and sonatas contained florid embellishments. “Whatever the national origin or the ornaments adopted by Bach, we can assume that he made them his own, giving in performance free rein to the impulse of the moment” (Neumann 8). This meant that some performers added even more ornamentation to his