Baroque Music Research Paper

742 Words2 Pages

Solo Concerto & Concerto Grosso
The Baroque period of European musical history falls between the late Renaissance and early Classical periods, roughly between 1600-1750. The era of Baroque music was an age of spectacular process of knowledge, this was the age of the scientific discoveries of Galileo and Newton; a new era of intellect, art and music, which shaped modern day Europe. Music from the Baroque period is the earliest European music which is still recognized by many today. Most of the musical instruments which were introduced during the Baroque period are still around and in use today. In this particular period of time, music was commonly an orchestral desire as not many solo artists, like today, were around. Baroque music was such …show more content…

Vivaldi created a piece of music in 1723 called 'The Four Seasons' which still remains today as one of the most amazing pieces of music ever created. Handel and Bach also created spectacular pieces of music for orchestras. Baroque music was usually very religious, but with this came such a beautiful combination of instruments which played together to create somewhat mind-blowing pieces of music. Baroque music tends to have a few stylistic elements, two of them being continuo and ornamentation. Both of these concepts consisted of the difference between what the composer wrote down and what the performer played. Continuo is also found within Baroque music. Continuo consisted of a harpsichord and a cello, providing the rythmic and harmonic foundation of the Baroque ensemble. A concerto is a "large-scale compsition" between a soloist (or group of soloists) and an orchestra, found in Baroque music. The soloists alternate, playing along with or alongside the larger ensemble to create opposition and contrast. Solo-concertos often have brilliant and technically demanding passages for the soloist to play. Ritornello is often found in solo …show more content…

Concerto Grossos are also found in Baroque music. They were characterised by contrast between a small group of soloists and the full orchestra. A concerto grosso is very similar to that of a solo concerto as it may contain a ripieno, although concerto grossos do not have to stick to a strict amount of movements, as you do in a solo concerto. However, although very alike, both concepts have differences. For example, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, solo concertos tend to stick to what is known as

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