Mawuli Bossiade Music Appreciation Research Paper Johann Sebastian Bach life during the Baroque period Introduction The Baroque is an artistic period, which began around 1600 in Rome, Italy. It spread all over Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The term baroque originated from the Italian word “barocco” which describe an obstacle in logic according to the middle age philosophers. The qualities associated with the baroque style were clear detail to produce drama and grandeur in painting, music, dance, literature and architecture. Another source of origin of the baroque word is the Portuguese word “barroco” which describe an irregular shaped pearl (Britanica, 2015). During this period, there were a lot of great musicians. …show more content…
The Greeks and Romans believed that music could awaken the listeners’ emotion. They also believed, it is a tool of communication. As a result of those ideas, composers started to cultivated the belief that their music will awaken the listener emotion if they recreated that ancient music (Music of the Baroque). The baroque era was divided in three major phase, which were the early, the middle and the late baroque era. The early period started from 1580 to 1630. During that period, intellectual, musician and poet gathered to talk about the future of art. Their ideal perception of art or music was the one from the ancient Greek or Roman civilization. As a result, they started using the monody, an ancient Greek music device, which consisted of a solo singing accompanied with a kithara. Also, composer started the practice of basso continuo which is a method of musical notation were melody and bass are written out. The middle period, which started from 1630 to 1680, was defined by the emergence of cantatas, Oratorio and operas. Also, composers begin to choose the instrument to the performer instead of let them choose by themselves. The late period started from 1680 to 1750. That period was defined as the era of composition that focused on the practice of basso continuo (Mandry). During that period there were an enormous legacy of opera and cantata left by great composers such as Johann Sebastian