Baroque music
Western art music from roughly 1600 to 1750, marked by elaborate ornamentation, contrasting textures, and the development of tonal harmony.
Basso continuo: A notated bass line with improvised chords, commonly played by a keyboard instrument and a bass instrument. It supplied harmonic support and rhythmic continuity across much Baroque music.
Johann Sebastian Bach: A German composer and organist whose works include cantatas, concertos, suites, and fugues. His music brought counterpoint and tonal organization to exceptional refinement.
Opera: A staged drama in which singing and instrumental music carry much of the action. Baroque opera made expressive solo singing and theatrical contrast central to the era.
Renaissance music: European art music from roughly 1400 to 1600, known for vocal polyphony and modal practice. Its polyphonic traditions formed a foundation that Baroque composers reshaped.
Harpsichord: A keyboard instrument whose strings are plucked by quills when keys are pressed. It was a principal instrument for continuo playing and solo repertoire.
Figured bass: A system of numbers beneath a bass line indicating intervals and chords for a player to realize. Its shorthand guided performers who improvised the continuo harmonies.
George Frideric Handel: A German-born composer who worked chiefly in London and wrote operas, oratorios, and instrumental music. His operas and oratorios exemplify the period’s public musical spectacle.
Oratorio: A large musical work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, usually presenting a religious or dramatic story without staging. It adapted operatic resources for concert performance, often on sacred subjects.
Florentine Camerata: A group of Florentine intellectuals and musicians who discussed music and drama in the late sixteenth century. Their experiments and ideas helped inspire the emergence of opera around 1600.
Baroque violin: A violin configured with historical features associated with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance. Its setup and bowing practices shaped the articulation of period violin music.