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Why is it called baroque?
The period from about 1600 to 1750 forms a
stylistic period in music history called the baroque, a
term taken from art history. Other names for this period
are the bassocontinuo period (Riemann  ) or the period of
the concertante style (Handschin).
After 1750, Baroque
(Portuguese, meaning misshapen pearl) refers, in a
pejorative sense to the pathetic excesses of the "old style".
At this time, baroque music was considered harmonically
confused, rich in dissonances, melodically complicated,
unnatural, not flowing, in other words baroque (Rousseau,
1767; Koch 1802). Only in the 19th century did
the baroque period come to be valued again.
The beginnings...
Around 1600, the change in style from the renaissance to the
baroque was felt very strongly.
However, the "old" polyphonic
style was still in practice, and for a time there were
two distinct styles in operation: stile antico,and stil moderno. Also, opera, the most
important baroque form, came into being around 1600.
The end...
The changes around 1750 (J.S. Bach's death) are less clear. The new
simplicity, naturalness and Empfindsamkeit developed
around 1730 and came to a climax around 1780 which was the
high point of the classical era.
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