Evolution of Baroque and Classical Music Styles

Baroque Music Characteristics

Basso Continuo

The prominence of a superior melody implied the appearance of a new low voice. It served as a harmonic support and was called basso continuo.

Basso continuo, sometimes just called continuo, was played by a keyboard and another bass instrument such as:

• Cello
• Violone (an old form of double bass)
• Bassoon

Basso continuo would accompany solo instruments and singers as well as instrumental groups.

Types of Opera

Opera Seria

It makes use of plots based on mythological and heroic topics written in Italian. It was the favorite genre of the aristocracy; the first operas belong to this type, which evolved significantly in Italy.

Main composers include Scarlatti and Handel. Opera Seria made use of castrati; a famous castrato is Farinelli.

Opera Buffa

It makes use of plots based on daily life, with characters closer to the audience, simpler music, and without castrati. This kind of opera became one of the most important genres of the Baroque, and it acquired peculiar characteristics in every nation:

• France: Tragédie lyrique by Lully
• England: Foundations with Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell
• Germany: Singspiel
• Spain: Zarzuela and Nebra

The Castrati

A castrato is a type of male singing voice equivalent to a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by the castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in those who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reach sexual maturity.

The Concerto

It is a compound form made up of a sequence of three contrasting movements (fast/slow/fast). Depending on how the instruments intervene, the concerto can be:

• Concerto Grosso: Bach, Handel
• Solo Concerto: Vivaldi

Classicism in Music

Secular Vocal Music: Classical Opera

It eliminated the excesses of the Baroque and took the plots and characters closer to the new bourgeois audience.

Opera Seria

Christoph Gluck used simpler music and more plausible storylines. His work Orpheus and Eurydice is a good example of this style.

Opera Buffa

Mozart composed many operas such as The Marriage of Figaro (written in Italian) and The Magic Flute (written in German and, therefore, an example of Singspiel).