History of Music Baroque and Classical

1. History of Music Baroque and Classical

2. Music Era’s Up to 1450 Medieval 1450 – 1600 Renaissance 1600 – 1750 Baroque 1750 – 1820 Classical 1820 – 1910 Romantic 1910 – present Modern

3. Baroque Music period • The word itself is from the Italian word barocco, meaning bizarre. • The Baroque Music period was from 1650 until approximately 1750 and is considered to have finished with the death of Bach and Handel. • It used Polyphony, was very ornamented and used contrasting elements. • There were 2 geographical influences: • - Nth Germany/Holland used counterpoint, especially fugues • Europe/Rome used sonatas and concertos. • The Italian violinist Corelli influenced many pieces cadences and melodies. • Many instruments were developed during the Baroque Era. Some of these instruments are still highly prized today such as Stradivarius violins.

4. Brief Timeline of Baroque Music

5. Classical music period The Classical Music period was from 1750 until approximately 1820. Classical melodies were simpler than Baroque. They were built from even phrases with clarity, and balanced structures. People felt that the Baroque music was far too complicated and hard to remember as it had many melodies intertwining. It used the same chord progressions as Baroque, but didn’t change them as often so as to give simpler clearer harmonies. The symphony, concerto, and the sonata evolved through the Baroque into the classical period. The classical form is still used today.

6. Brief Timeline of Classical Music

15. Reference List Kennedy, M & Bourne Kennedy J 2007, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music, University Press, New York. The Great Composers and Their Music, 1991, The Great Composer Series, Week 21, Marshall Cavendish Ltd, London. Baroque –Music.com, Downloaded 21 September 2009, http://baroque- music.com/frames/frames.shtml Michael Sartorius, Baroque Music Pages, downloaded 23 September 2009, http://www.baroquemusic.org/bardefn.html http://cnx.org/content/m15294/latest/