Baroque Music Essay Example

In Music, each eras showcase unique characteristic that distinguishes them from each other. In Baroque Music, introduces grandiosity (living up to its name), it introduces complex and extravagant musical pieces. The simplicity in harmonic textures was replaced with complexity. The era also introduced the use of counterpoint or the playing of two or three melodies played at the same time. Frequent harmony changes were also observed. The concept of Polyphony was further enhanced, the concept is well known as “imitative polyphony”, the sound picked up by each musical instrument in the orchestra. The major musical contribution of the period is the concertos that were written in contrasting movements.
The classical period, on the other hand, is characterized by the introduction of new musical forms like the minuets, rondos, symphonies, and sonatas. The harmonies in the era continued the utilization of polyphony, but imitative polyphony was deleted. Single-line melody with accompaniment was a harmony form became more prominent. The use of cadences was also introduced. The composition styles in the era were more dynamic through the use of soft and loud passages in the same movement.
Unlike the classical period that was defined by its balance and refinement, the romantic period was more expressive in terms of compositions. The typical regulations regarding length, instrumentation and number of movements were removed and composers were free to express their musicality. The freedom in composition led to the introduction of new forms including the etudes, variations and character pieces. Musical textures became richer and full chords became more popular. Complexity in rhythms was also popularized. Melodies became more expressive and song like, often using varied phase lengths, additional dynamic volume and tempos.