Music and Baroque Period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Music and Baroque Period - Essay Example The advancement of music and its various genres found competent handling from the likes of great musical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friederic Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Jean-Baptiste Lully. In their works, can be found the different kinds of music. In the work of Bach and Handel, the Oratorio flourished, and the Opera became popular due to Handel's compositions. The music of the Church also changed, with greater emphasis laid on the cantata, as well as toccatas, and fugue. This was the period, when court life was at its peak and the master of court-style composing was attributed to Jean-Baptiste Lully, while the Concerto grosso, found great meaning in the hands of Antonio Vivaldi its master. Baroque music can be divided into three periods - early, middle and late characterized by different styles. The early period was entrenched in religion while the middle period was characterized by music played in the court. This was the age of ‘absolutism’ when the power of the Church and the state created the need for organized public music and Chamber music. Music began to be treated as an art to be taught under the auspices of a formal structure. Jean-Baptiste Lully’s works during that period is marked by acquiescence to the demands made by the court and thus we have in collaborating with Molià ¨re in comà ©die-ballets, i.e. plays with dancing. He composed operas for the King, creating the tragà ©die lyrique based on libretti where the main focus was on the conflict.