Music During The Baroque Era

Grady Vandenberg
MUS101
9/29/2014
Copeland
These early times of music were very interesting in their ways of coming about. As the days of the Roman Catholic Church saw trials and tribulations, through the reformation in the renaissance era a new style of music was born. This new style that began as renaissance music and slowly morphed into the style of baroque and classical through the work of amazing world renowned composers such as
George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. These composers created a style of music in the
Baroque era that was different than ever observed before. While the classical era was dominated by composers like Ludwig Van Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. How does the early classical music style compare to the music
of its predecessor the baroque era? The Baroque era as a product of the renaissance era has a style that is more wild and untamed in comparison to that of the classical era.
Music of the classical era came about through expert composition with a more conservative, or somber
tone.
The excellent piano work of the classical era is one element that allows this calming vibe to appeal to an audience. While in the baroque era, post renaissance is a very happy and upbeat style using violin and wind instruments to produce music that evokes dance.
During the time period that produced Baroque music the people wanted freedom. Freedom from a church that at the time seemed to need reform. This freedom was effectively portrayed in the style of music. Without using specific examples from the text, the musical forms of the baroque era generated a very up-beat tone. Another factor that effects the differences is that the opera of the baroque era was very large scale. These baroque operas are also very diverse and have many different moving parts. All of these different moving parts make for the sporadic high energy that the baroque era has. More evidence that supports the differences in the two musical eras is that the Baroque era is influenced very heavily by poetry. Poetic motions in music are apparent when hearing Baroque era music. The classical style differs from the Baroque area predominantly because of the time. The classical area came out of time that was approaching the reform of entire governments. The people
of the classical era felt oppressed by their governments and begin wish to revolt. The opera of this time is a lot more uniform than the baroque era. The classical era also speaks more to religious church music.
That church music also supports the differences between baroque and classical as church and religious music generally are a slower due to the elements involved. These elements aid the Classical era in conveying its points while at the same time allowing for some of the Baroque era fluidity and wildness to appear in some of the more loose, comic operas.
These two different styles respectively show their heads in so many ways in music that is produced today. Throughout these readings it becomes so apparent that the music of the time reflects the overall mood of the era. These styles today are showed simply in slow vs fast music. Slow songs that relate to feelings of less appealing emotion have roots in classical music. While some of the more interesting upbeat music is grandfathered by the baroque era. Both genres of music come with

similarities as the baroque era helped to form the classical era, but have their differences due to the times that they were produced.