Classical | Baroque (Period: 1600 - 1750)

Classical music from the period of 1600 to 1750. In the arts the word "Baroque" often implies elaborated decoration. This is certainly true of some of the music of the period, but there were also many fundamental changes in its structure. The church's influence continued to decrease, and some composers of the day had a degree of freedom beyond their normal duties of composing for religious and secular occasions. In terms of style, further advances were made in turning the earlier "organum" into the modern harmony of today. Harmony was often indicated by the use of a "figured bass" to accompany a melody. A figured bass is a baseline with harmonies stated but not fully written out, giving scope for a degree of improvisation.

All of these separate developments made this a time of rapid change which laid the foundation for the Classical period to come. Key composers of the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederic Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Georg Phillip Telemann, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, Allesandro Scarlatti, Tomaso Albinoni, Claudio Monteverdi and Francois Couperin.