thePortuguese word barroco (Spanish barrueco), (Italian barocco) used to describe an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl, and this usage still survives in the jewelers term baroque pearl. In informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is "elaborate", with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumph, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.
Baroque Music is a style of European Classical Music between 1600 to 1750. The baroque period is notable for the development of counterpoint, a period in which harmonic complexity grew alongside emphasis on contrast. In opera, interest was transferred from recitative to aria, and in church music the contrasts of solo voices, chorus, and orchestra were developed to a high degree. In instrumental music the period saw the emergence of the sonata, the suite, and particularly the concerto grosso, as in the music of Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach. Most baroque music uses continuo. Note that 18th century writers used 'baroque' in a pejorative sense to mean 'coarse' or 'old-fashioned in taste'.
There are several well-known composers of baroque music, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, and many more.
Counterpoint describes two or more independent lines of music played simultaneously, in other words "note against note. Counterpoint reached a high level of development in the baroque era, especially the music of J.S. Bach. Instrumental forms such as Concerto Grosso; Fugue; Suite (often containing Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, Gavotte, Minuet); Sonata (such as Sonata da camera, Sonata di chiesa, and Trio Sonata); Partita; Canzona; Sinfonia; Fantasia; Ricercar; Toccata; Prelude; Passacaglia; Chaconne; Stylus Fantasticus. sVocal forms such as Opera (Opera seria, Opera comique, and Opera-ballet); Oratorio; Passion; Mass; Cantata; Chorale. String instruments such as the lute, violin, viola, cello and double bass. Brass instruments like the trumpet, horn and sackbut were used. Popular wind instruments included the recorder, flute, oboe and bassoon. Baroque keyboard music was often composed for the organ or harpsichord. Occasionally, baroque composers utilized other unique and lesser-known instruments which have since become obscure. The Baroque trumpet is a lot different from the modern day trumpet which is equipped with valves. The Baroque trumpet is very limited in its range. It is sometimes referred to as the natural trumpet Harpsichord (Italian cembalo; French clavecin), stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked to produce sound. It was developed in Europe in the 14th or 15th century and was widely used from the 16th to the early 19th century, when it was superseded by the piano. One of the string instruments used during the Baroque period is the Lute. It has a flat fir belly, or soundboard, and a deep, extremely lightweight, pear-shaped body made by bending narrow strips of wood (ribs) and gluing them side by side. The Viol looks like a Cello with frets and six strings. It was made in three principal sizes (treble, tenor, and bass), it has a deep body and sloped shoulders; a violin-like bridge; C-shaped sound holes; and tied-on gut frets that contribute to its clear, penetrating sound. The baroque flute was wooden with holes as opposed to the more recent ones made of metal and are fitted with keys. The word flute was used indiscriminately to denote both types during medieval times, but in the baroque period flute or flauto specifically meant the end-blown recorder.