Rise of Baroque music

Baroque music is the style of Western art music that flourished in Europe roughly between 1600 and the middle of the eighteenth century. It grew out of experiments in Italy, where composers such as Claudio Monteverdi created opera and sought to express emotion more directly through melody and text. Features of the style include a continuous bass line known as basso continuo, ornamented melodies, and strong contrasts of loud and soft or solo and ensemble. Composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel created concertos, cantatas, oratorios and fugues. The era is often said to end with Bach's death in 1750, when lighter classical styles had begun to take over.

Open on the timeline