baroque music

Music of the period following the Renaissance and before the classical period, lasting from about 1600 to the deaths of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel in the 1750s. Baroque music is characterized by the contrapuntal use of voices and instrumental parts, for example in the fugue, which flourished during these years; the development of continuo writing, specifically the figured bass, for accompanying a melody line or orchestral parts; the concertante style of contrasting effects, both instrumental (as in the concerto grosso) and dynamic (for example, from forte (loud) to piano (soft), in the manner of an echo); the importance of melodic ornamentation; the use of tonic and dominant as primary harmonies; and the establishment of four-bar phrases as a compositional norm.

Baroque composers include Johann Pachelbel, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and Claudio Monteverdi's later works.