STYLE IN THE BAROQUE ERA

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• The basso continuo is ever-present in Baroque music.
  
• Textures are primarily melody and accompaniment or contrapuntal.
  
• Voices and instruments were freely mixed.
  
• Newly developed instruments provided a rich palette of tone color.
  
• Rhythms are often derived from dance rhythms.
  
• Melodies are ornate and often make use of dramatic leaps
  
• Harmony is based on major/minor tonality, and dissonances become more common.
  
• Repetition and simple binary and ternary forms provide the basis for musical structure.