Baroque Era Vs Classical Era

The transition between the Baroque and Classical eras was characterized by dramatic changes in style and performing abilities. Instruments are changing and improving; modal is being replaced by tonal, where the tonic and dominant are emphasized. The ability to crescendo radically changes the way music is written and is a defining force that catapults the music of the Baroque into the Classical era. In the following pieces by J. S. Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, these differences are evident. In the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, Bach writes for two horns, three oboes, bassoon, violino piccolo, strings, and harpsichord. This is a very typical instrumentation for the Baroque era, as “stringed instruments became the bulwark of the orchestra, with wind and percussion parts often scored ad libitum” (Orchestration). The continuo, harpsichord and cello, was also a instrument duo well used during the Baroque era. The cello, in this case acting much like a bass, “provided harmonic underpinning” (Orchestration) in orchestral music.

S. Bach. Two years earlier he had heard Bach play in Berlin and was so overcome by his music that he commissioned him to compose a few pieces for him. Bach, being the thrifty man he was, chose six of his best pieces and compiled them for the Marquis instead of composing entirely new ones (J.S.). Ironically, the Margrave never had them performed, so for years they only touched the ears of listeners in pieces as they had been before Bach collated them for the