Musical Forms and Devices: Baroque

Overview

Styles of Composition

The dominant style was contrapuntal music - using multiple, independent melodic lines.
Baroque composers often used ornaments such as trills and mordents to decorate the melodic line.

Instruments and Ensembles

Commonly used instruments included the violin, harpsichord, and organ. There was also increase in the use of brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
The concerto grosso and the solo concerto were two primary forms of ensemble music during the Baroque period.

Key Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and George Frideric Handel were among the most prolific and renowned Baroque composers.

Form

Baroque compositions often followed the binary (AB) or ternary (ABA) form.
The fugue, a particularly complex form, is also found in the Baroque period. A fugue typically begins with a single voice stating a theme, and is then joined by other voices enter and develop it.

Harmonies and Tonality

Harmonic progressions were based on major and minor tonalities, a shift away from the modal scales of the Renaissance period.
The use of seventh chords and the tonic-dominant relationship also became more common in this era.

Melody and Rhythm

Baroque melodies are generally elaborate and complex, often incorporating rapid runs and leaps.
Rhythms were varied and complex, often featuring syncopation or the use of dotted rhythms.

Texture

The main texture of Baroque music is polyphonic or contrapuntal, meaning that it consists of two or more equally important, independent melodic lines.
However, homophonic texture, where one voice is the melodic lead and the others form a background of harmonic accompaniment, is also seen in some works.

Please refer back to these points in order to enhance your understanding and knowledge of Musical Forms and Devices: Baroque.