Key Characteristics Of The Baroque Era

Marc Sokolovs
Mr. Hamilton
BAROQUE ESSAY
Starting in the year 1600 and ending in 1750 the baroque era is one of Western music’s finest time periods. Key characteristics that the baroque era consisted of were emotion, complexity, ornamentation and embellishment at its prime. Most commonly, baroque music had a homophonic texture, one melody with a single high voice or instrument, combined with bass chords or an accompaniment. A feature that is widely known is the basso continuo; the bass lines are performed by voices or instruments such as cellos or bassoons. The continuo sometimes consists of and can be performed by an organ or a harpsichord. Composers during this time period wrote music in clear and defined major and minor modes, as well as
Opera had become an iconic artistic genre of the baroque era; full of glamor, adventure, and not to mention influential. Opera is categorized as drama that is presented in music; with characters singing instead of speaking. It combined a vast array of arts, including: music, poetry, drama, acting, scene design, set and costume design, and choreography. In operas, they tend to have series which consisted of recitatives and arias. Recitative is a type of vocal music that is tailored to the rhythms of speech; the purpose was to present information and to advance the plot. The accompaniment was usually kept quiet; mostly the cello and harpsichord were playing the basso continuo. In accompanied recitative, the second form of recitatives, it uses a full orchestra for dramatic/ tense scenes. An aria is very complex, to say the least, being a melodic and lyrical piece for a solo voice with an instrumental accompaniment. Arias were very vocally demanding and are one of the most important and powerful feature in an opera. The singer-actor expresses his or her thoughts and feelings instead of reacting moment by moment as done in a
He was able to study music through the Duke of Saxe-Weussenfeld, in which he was given organ lessons from early childhood. Later he played the second violin in the opera orchestra. Handel wrote his first Italian opera in his 20, and all together he composed 40 operas, as well as oratorios and instrumental pieces. Handel realized his talent for music and joined the orchestra at Hamburg, Germany; where he became an accomplished organist and violinist. He held a position as a court musician, for a little while, with the elector of Hanover, but wanted a career in London. After leaving Hanover, Handel arrived in London and found his love for Italian operas. Secondly, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was one of the three of the greatest and most famous composers of the late Baroque period. He had lessons in music since early childhood. Then he started his career as a violin teacher and conductor, later he recognized as a violinist with an incredible ability. For almost 30 years he was in-house composer of a conservatory. His concertos were written primarily for strings with continuo, which solo instruments or groups of instruments were added. Lastly, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Born into a large musical family with a long history of musicians, He received lessons in music by his older brother. Early in his life, he made a career as an organist. He was then given the chance to be