The Baroque Era An Era of Elegance

Decoration & Style The Baroque approach exhibited some combination of power, massiveness, or dramatic intensity, filled with pageantry, color, and theatrical adventure. The musicians and artists of the Baroque sought to overawe society by its grandeur. Baroque music can be seen as being highly ornate, lavishly textured, and intense. The music of this time period was characterized by rich counterpoint and a highly decorated melodic line. The doctrine of affections allowed composers to express emotions and feelings in their compositions. In addition, Baroque music broke away from the harshness of the Medieval and early Renaissance style with new emphasis on the use of vocal and instrumental color.

Johann Sebastian Bach J.S. Bach was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments became the foundations of the Baroque period. Bach's life: his dedication to teaching and his love of the chorale as a musical form. Bach was jailed for almost a month before being unfavorably dismissed because of his refusal to conform to the musical standards. Many people thought Bach was demon possessed for his musical fervor. He is now regarded as the greatest composer of the Baroque, and as one of the greatest of all time.

New Inventions in Instruments

George Frideric Handel February 1685 –was a German-born British Baroque composer who was a leading composer of operas and oratorios. Handel dwelt during most of his adult life in England, becoming a subject of the British crown. Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II. His most famous works are Messiah, an oratorio set to texts from the King James Bible, Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

The Beginning of the Opera It is also important to note that opera and the orchestra were both conceived during the Baroque era as well. Around 1600, opera came about because Italian intellectuals wanted to recapture the spirit of ancient Greek drama in which music played a key role.

The Oratorio An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the opera. Their similarities include the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece—though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes.

The highly decorated style of the Baroque Era is shown here:

Decoration of Art Baroque painting originated in Italy and spread north. The Italian influence was evident in the works of Peter Paul Rubens ( ), a well-known Flemish artist who chose themes from pagan and Christian literature, illustrating them with human figures involved in dramatic physical action. While the Baroque style profoundly affected the rest of Europe, the Dutch perfected their own characteristic style, which grew directly from their pride in political and commercial accomplishments and emphasized the beauty of local nature and the solidity of middle class life.

Famous Baroque Artists & Authors ARTISTS El Greco Rembrandt van Rijn Peter Paul Rubens Orazio Gentileschi AUTHORS Ben Jonson René Descartes Molière Samuel Johnson

Baroque Art

The Beginning of the Orchestra During the beginning of the Baroque period, as a companion for operatic and vocal music, the orchestra evolved. By the mid-1600s the orchestra was growing into its own entity and the concerto was one of the most popular forms of music performed

Back to Nature In addition, during the Baroque period composers began exploring music's ability to express the human spirit and to depict natural phenomena. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was the most famous set of concertos that typified this.

What You Should Know What does Baroque mean? Three areas of the Baroque style Three composers of the Baroque Era who represent these important types of music: – Oratorio – Opera – Orchestra