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Instrumental Baroque Music

uilt on a specific component, the basso continuo. Described in simple terms, such compositions consist of a melodic line and a continuous accompaniment in a set form, often played by a cello or double bass. This type of composition is quite different from that of the preceding period·the Renaissance·when the emphasis was placed on polyphony; that is, music in which there are several parts of equal importance ("Baroque").

In Renaissance music, there is a fixed structure that was strictly adhered to by composers. This style was often taught in schools, and deviation was not tolerated by audiences or patrons. Baroque music was a reaction to this inflexibility. Many composers eased into the Baroque style by using both the Renaissance style and Baroque styles in their work: the older style was used for the traditional setting of church music while the newer style was used for secular·often vocal·music. Increasingly, audiences became more comfortable with the contrast that Baroque music offered over Renaissance music, however, and the newer style gained in popularity (Hanning).

As the Renaissance drew to a close, one outstanding event dominated the musical world, and later had a far-reaching effect on the development of style in literature, in the pictorial arts, in architecture and even in social life. This was the rise of opera, the logical evolution of the revival of the art of theatre which was ushered in by the Italian courts and was the outcome of the Renaissance desire to recreate classical Antiquity and actualize Hellenistic civilization. Opera originated in Florence, but acquired various characteristics of style and expression in Rome, Venice and Naples. It was the most effective vehicle of the new musical culture in Italy, and rapidly won recognition in other countries, where it almost always retained its original character, except in France, where it developed independently (Dorak).

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Instrumental Baroque Music. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:03, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1699756.html