The baroque violin essays

The baroque violin essays The Baroque Violin and its Repertoire. The Baroque period clearly began around 1600 and was ended with the death of Bach in 1750. During this period of music, after a revolution from the renaissance period, many new techniques and styles of musical composition and performance emerged. This started with the implementation and growing affection towards homophony, where a solo instrument is backed by one or more accompanists. The number of accompanists could vary from one to a whole orchestra. Such music saw the emergence of the musical style, Opera. This came about when the music was written as an accompaniment for the solo/s coming from the voice/s. The coming of baroque homophony saw the beginning of the new age of music. Another compositional technique that emerged during the baroque period was the figured bass, and the basso continuo, which is the section comprising of the lower stringed instruments, mainly the double bass, cello, or harpsichord. The word baroque means to many people, extravagance or flamboyance. Some people would argue that the baroque period saw music without emotion, but I believe that it was quite the opposite after listening to and playing some of Bachs concertos. In this essay I will explain and describe the differences and the development of the baroque violin. I will also describe some techniques used during the times when the baroque violin was used, and the composers who implemented these techniques. Master craftsmen such as Stradivarius and others determined the baroque violin familys original condition. Information as to what that condition was comes from instruments that have survived unaltered. Few instruments still remain. Baroque violins lasted and were used through to the second half of the 18th century, during the classical period. In the 19th century articulation and sonority changed the structure of the violin. The violin top and back serve as an amplifier of the sound...