Baroque music - Anderson Nicholas; Harnoncourt Nikolaus
from Monteverdo to Handel
KORTE INHOUD
The Baroque style - one of the richest traditions in Western music - emerged during the late 16th century and lasted well into the 18th. Italy was the source of this new impulse, which soon spread across Europe, and the period was one of contrasts and innovations. Few other eras witnessed such a profusion of new forms: opera, oratorio, cantata, sonata and concerto. Although Baroque music contained distinct national idioms, fundamental values were shared by all the leading creative figures of the time. All aimed to stir emotions - those emotions appropriate to their two great patrons, the Church and the nobility. Ecclesiastical commissions freed composers to depict suffering, pathos and elation; whilst secular and court patrons gave them the opportunity to evoke splendour and opulence. Nicholas Anderson relates musical history to the cultural milieux of Church and court, as well as to public patronage. He considers major figures such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, and lesser-known artists whose music is now bein...
