The musical art of Western Europe began to develop in the XIth century, especially actively in connection with the invention of musical script https://order-essay.org/  Writing musical text allowed composers to keep their names in history. Baroque music is a period in the development of European academic music between about 1600 and 1750. Baroque music led to development of a wide range of different genres, which resulted in a more emotional complexity in the music performance. Baroque music appeared at the end of the Renaissance period and preceded classical one. Presumably, the word "Baroque" comes from the Portuguese "perola barroca" - a pearl or a whimsical seashell. Indeed, very fanciful forms, complexity, pomp, and dynamics characterized the visual arts and architecture of this period. Later the same word began to be applied to the music of that time. The composition and performing techniques of the Baroque period became a considerable and integral part of the musical classical canon (Palisca, 1990.) The art creations of that time are widely performed and studied in the modern world. Moreover, such performances were born as Johann Sebastian Bach’s fugues, Hallelujah choir from the Messiah oratorio by George Friedrich Handel, The Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, and Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi in the Baroque era. The musical ornament had become quite sophisticated, the musical notation had changed a lot, and methods of playing instruments had evolved. Furthermore, the scope of genres had expanded, the complexity of the performance of musical works had increased, and a kind of composition had appeared, such as opera. A large number of musical terms and concepts of the Baroque era are still used today.

Music is an art form that has "suffered" the least from baroque jewelry and overloading. All sorts of trills, melodies, and other melodic decorations were a feature of baroque music. Music is recognizable, for example, the vibrant concerts of Antonio Vivaldi (Seasons.) One of the indicators of the Baroque style was the search for innovations. The search for composers was a combination of a wide variety of timbres; a full-fledged orchestra had not yet been formed. The rules and norms of harmony have not yet been established (it was the merit of a later period - Viennese classicism.) The now-famous genres had not yet been created and honed; the Baroque era became the dawn of existence for some of them.

Baroque composers worked in various musical genres. The opera, which appeared during the Late Renaissance, became one of the main baroque musical forms (Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725,) Handel, Claudio Monteverdi, and others). The oratorio genre reached its peak in the compositions of J.S. Bach and Handel; operas and oratorio often used similar musical forms (for example, arias da capo, which had a wide distribution). Since such forms of sacred music as mass and motet became less popular, many Protestant composers, including Johann Bach, paid attention to the cantata form. Such virtuoso compositions’ forms as Toccata and Fugue were developed during the Baroque.

Instrumental sonatas and suites were composed for both individual instruments and chamber orchestras. A concert genre appeared in both of its forms: for a single instrument with an orchestra and as a concert (Heller, 2014.) Compositions in the form of a French overture, with their contrasting fast and slow parts, added pomp and splendor to many royal courts.

The organ became the main baroque musical instrument in sacred and chamber secular music. Harpsichord plucked and bowed strings (violas, baroque guitar, baroque violin, cello, double bass), as well as woodwind instruments (various flutes, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon,) that became widespread in the Baroque period. In this epoch, the functions of such a common plucked stringed instrument like the lute, were reduced to the accompaniment of basso continuo largely; gradually, it turned out to be superseded by keyboards in this incarnation. The wheel lira received a second birth, although it lost its popularity and became a tool for beggars and vagrants in the previous Renaissance era; until the end of the XVIII century, the wheel lira remained a fashionable toy of French aristocrats who were fond of rural life. Moreover, Keyboard compositions were often written by composers for own entertainment or as a teaching material. Such music is in matured writings of JS Bach, the generally accepted intellectual masterpieces of the Baroque era.

Taking into consideration that baroque music yearned for brimming emotionality, the use of musical decorations was almost mandatory during this period. Baroque music is an age in the development of European academic music between about 1600 and 1750. Baroque music appeared at the end of the Renaissance and preceded the era of classicism.