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"The end of all good music is to affect the soul." —CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

Key Points

  • The Baroque era marks the introduction of a new style—monody, featuring solo song with instrumental accompaniment.
  • Monody was developed by groups of writers and musicians (such as the Florentine Camerata) to recreate the musical-dramatic art of ancient Greece.
  • Harmony was notated with figured bass, a shorthand that allowed the performer to supply the chords through improvisation. The bass part, or basso continuo, was often played by two instruments (harpsichord and cello, for example).
  • The major-minor tonality system was established in the Baroque era, as was the equal temperament tuning system.
  • While early Baroque music moved more freely, later Baroque style is characterized by regular rhythms and continuous melodic expansion.
  • As musical instruments developed technically, the level of virtuosity and playing techniques rose.
  • The union of text and music was expressed in the Baroque doctrine of the affections.
  • Women musicians figured among the professional singers and instrumentalists of the Baroque era.

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