BAROQUE MUSIC

What does
Baroque
literally
mean?
 The word “baroque”

comes from the Portuguese word

“barroco” meaning misshapen pearl.
• ornate and heavily ornamented music of

this period.
• forms a major portion of the “classical

music” canon
• The Baroque period saw the creation
of tonality.
• Baroque music expanded the size,
range, and complexity of instrumental
performance.
 History of
European Art
Music
• The term “Baroque” is generally used by
music historians to describe a broad range
of styles from a wide geographic region,
mostly in Europe, composed over a period
of approximately 150 years.
• The critic implied that the novelty in this
opera was “du barocque,”.
• The systematic application by historians of
the term “baroque” to music of this period is
a relatively recent development.
• In 1919, Curt Sachs became the first to apply the
five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin’s theory
of the Baroque systematically to music. 

• Critics were quick to question the attempt to transpose

Wölfflin’s categories to music, however, and in the
second quarter of the 20th century independent attempts
were made by in Germany and, after immigration, in
America and by in Belgium to use autonomous,
technical analysis rather than comparative abstractions,
in order to avoid the adaptation of theories based on the
plastic arts and literature to music.
 HISTORY

three major phases:

early,
middle, and
late
 Early baroque music (1580
Early baroque music (1580–
1630)
Claudio Monteverdi in 1640
 
The Florentine Camerata was a
group of humanists, musicians,
poets and intellectuals in late
Renaissance Florence who
gathered under the patronage of
Count Giovanni de’ Bardi to Claudio Monteverdi in 1640
discuss and guide trends in the
arts, especially music and drama.
Middle baroque music (1630–1680)
Jean-Baptiste Lully

The rise of the centralized court is one of the

economic and political features of what is often
labelled the Age of Absolutism, personified by Louis
XIV of France. The style of palace, and the court
system of manners and arts he fostered became the
model for the rest of Europe. The realities of rising
church and state patronage created the demand for
organized public music, as the increasing availability
of instruments created the demand for chamber
music.
Arcangelo Corelli

remembered as influential for his

achievements on the other side of musical
technique—as a violinist who organized
violin technique and pedagogy—and in
purely instrumental music, particularly his
advocacy and development of the concerto
grosso.  
Late baroque music (1680–1730)
Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748A

continuous worker, Handel borrowed from others and often recycled his own
material. He was also known for reworking pieces such as the famous Messiah,
which premiered in 1742, for available singers and musicians.
Baroque instruments

Strings
Woodwinds
Brasses
Keyboards
Percussion
 Styles and forms

• Overture • Gavotte
• Allemande • Bourrée
• Courante • Minuet
• Sarabande • Passepied
• Gigue  • Rigaudon
References:

• Christensen, Thomas Street, and Peter Dejans. Towards Tonality

Aspects of Baroque Music Theory. Leuven: Leuven University Press,
2007. ISBN 978-90-5867-587-3
• Cyr, Mary. Essays on the Performance of Baroque Music Opera and
Chamber Music in France and England. Variorum collected studies
series, 899. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2008. ISBN 978-0-
7546-5926-6
• Foreman, Edward. A Bel Canto Method, or, How to Sing Italian
Baroque Music Correctly Based on the Primary Sources. Twentieth
century masterworks on singing, v. 12. Minneapolis, Minn: Pro Musica
Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-887117-18-0
 END
OF
PRESENTATION