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Period: 1550 to
Emilio de'Cavalieri
Roman nobleman who is one of the founders of opera. The first to publish a figured bass. This organist and teacher composed the first surviving play set entirely to music: Rappresentatione di Anima.. Cantando (Rome, 1600). -
Period: 1551 to
Giulio Caccini
Italian composer who is one of the founders of opera who gave a description of the new singing style in his book of songs of 1602, "Le Nuove musiche". Composed 4 stage works and more than 75 songs/arias. -
Period: 1567 to
Claudio Monteverdi
The most important composer of the early Baroque who is one of the inventors of the new second pratica. He composed 8 books of madrigals, 13 operas, vespers. Not all survived. -
Period: 1570 to
Florentine Camerata
Part of a group of intellectuals that met to discuss art. This began in the 1570s. -
Period: 1570 to
Salamone Rossi
Italian composer/violinist of Jewish descent who worked in Mantua. He was among the earliest composers to use trio sonata texture. He composed 4 books of sonatas and dances for string ensemble, madrigals, dramatic music, and Jewish Psalms. -
Period: to
Giulio Strozzi
Italian dramatist, librettist, and poet. His opera librettos were set to music from the 1620s and on. -
Period: to
Orlando Gibbons
English composer of Anglican Church anthems. A leading composer in the 17th century in England. Composed sacred choral music, anthems, and consort music. -
Period: to
Girolamo Frescobaldi
First modern keyboard virtuoso and composer who was the most influential keyboard composer of the early Baroque. He was the first European composer to focus on instrumental music. He composed instrumental works, sacred and secular vocal works. -
Period: to
Heinrich Schutz
Most important German composer of the Middle Baroque who reportedly composed the first German opera (which we lost). He composed madrigals and hundreds of choral works. -
Period: to
Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres
French composer, harpischordist, and dancer who is one of the greatest composers of the early Baroque French Harpsichord music. -
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company (VOC), started off as a spice trader. In the same year, the VOC undertook the world's first recorded IPO. -
Period: to
Francesco Cavalli
Italian composer who was the leading composer in Venice after Monteverdi. He was VERY famous back in his day. He composed at least 34 operas, cantatas, arias, and sacred vocal works. -
Period: to
Giacomo Carissimi
A leading composer of Roman cantatas and oratorios. He composed maybe 1 mass, motets, oratorios, and more than 150 cantatas. -
Period: to
The Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War was mostly fought in Central Europe. Estimated total number of military and civilian deaths resulted from a range between 4.5 to 8 million, the majority from disease or starvation. -
Period: to
Barbara Strozzi
Virtuoso singer and most prolific composer of cantatas in the 17th century. She composed madrigals, cantatas, and arias. -
Period: to
Giovanni Legrenzi
Italian composer and organist who was influential in he middle Baroque, He used many short arias in his operas. He composed 19 operas, 7 oratorios, sacred and secular vocal works. -
Period: to
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Establisher of French opera and ballet. He composed 16 operas, more than 30 ballets, motets, and instrumental works. -
Venice Opera House
Venice opened their first public opera house in the world. This created a new venue for entertainment. -
Period: to
Dieterich Buxtehude
German organist and composer who was the most important organ composer before J.S. Bach. He composed more than 100 sacred vocal works, more than 100 works for organ, and instrumental works. -
Period: to
English Civil War
The war targeted supporters of the Parliament against supporters of the king, and at stake were both political power and control of English economics. The war also targeted Puritans, known as "roundheads," against Anglicans, or "cavaliers." The supporters of Parliament were led by Oliver Cromwell. -
Period: to
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Composer of French opera who was the pupil of Carissimi. He composed 11 masses, Magnificat's, motets, antiphons, psalms, oratorios, airs, operas, cantatas, incidental music, and instrumental music. -
Period: to
John Blow
English composer of odes. Teacher of Purcell. He composed instrumental anthems, many other sacred works, over 100 songs, and duets/trios. -
Period: to
Arcangelo Corelli
Most important Italian composer of sonatas and concertos. He is the most influential violinist of the Baroque. He composed 6 published collections. -
Period: to
Johann Pachelbel
German composer and organist who was the leading composer in his time. He composed liturgical organ music, Protestant church music, other keyboard works, and 2 masses. -
Period: to
Giuseppe Torelli
He contributed the most to the development of the concerto around 1700. This virtuoso violinist wrote for trumpet and strings. He composed 5 collections of chamber works (sonatas, sinfonias, and concertos.) -
Period: to
Henry Purcell
Most important English composer in the 17th century. He composed songs, anthems, sacred music, 6 stage works, keyboard works, and incidental music. -
End of Commonwealth
Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660. It marked the return of Charles II as king and it followed the period of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The bishops were restored to Parliament, which established a strict Anglican orthodoxy. -
Period: to
Alessandro Scarlatti
Important Italian composer whose death ends the Baroque opera. He was the teacher of many elegant composers to come. He composed many operas, serenatas, oratorios, 10 masses, motets, madrigals, keyboard works, concertos, theoretical and pedagogical works. -
Period: to
Francois Couperin
French composer who was also a keyboardist. He composed sacred and secular vocal works, chamber music, 27 ordres of keyboard works. -
Period: to
Antonio Caldara
Italian composer who was one of the most prolific composers in his day. He paid particular attention to his orchestration. He composed 90 stage works, oratorios, vocal works, and a few sonatas. -
Period: to
Antonio Vivaldi
Italian composer who laid the foundations for the late baroque instrumental music. He was a pioneer of orchestral music, but virtually forgotten by his contemporaries at his death. He composed 425 concerti grossi, 350 solo concerti, 60 ripieni concerti, 45 double concerti, sonatas, masses, psalms, motets, cantatas, oratorios, 45 operas, and serenatas. -
Period: to
Georg Friedrich Handel
German musician who lived in England and invented the English oratorio. Beethoven respected him above all others. He composed 46 dramatic works, oratorios, odes, Latin and English church trios with basso continuo, songs, concertos, suites, overtures, sonatas, overtures, sonatas, and keyboard works. -
Period: to
Domenico Scarlatti
Son of Alessandro who was a keyboard composer and virtuoso. He had a progressive style and was personally aware of it. He composed more than 550 sonatas for harpsichord, vocal works, keyboard exercises, operas, and cantatas. -
Period: to
Johann Sebastian Bach
He is considered to be the Baroque Master. Also known to be the master of counterpoint. He became an icon for future generations and still one of the most revered composer today. He composed more than 205 cantatas (mostly Lutheran), masses, Magnificat, motets, suites, oratorios, Passions, fugues, concertos, sonatas, keyboard works, and chorales. -
Period: to
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. More than 200 people were accused. 30 were found guilty and 19 of whom were executed by hanging -
Period: to
Johann Joachim Quantz
German composer who was a flutist and flute teacher for Frederick the Great in Berlin. He composed 204 sonatas, more than 300 concertos, duets, capriccios, vocal works, and published treatise "On Playing the Flute" (1752). -
Tonality
In the early Baroque era, there was a shift from modality to tonality. Tonality was dominated by the diatonic scale and the 24 major and minor leys. -
Period: to
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Galant Neapolitan composer who died young, but his achievements were romanticized after his death. His intermezzo, "La Serva Padrona", sparked the war of the bouffons in Paris in 1752. He composed more than 10 dramatic works, sacred vocal works, arias, chamber cantatas, and instrumental works. -
Modern diatonic system
The modern diatonic system, of 24 major and minor keys was finally firmly established. -
Symphony in Milan
Giovanni Battista Sammartini invented the symphony in Milan. The new genre is considered to be classical, but had its roots in the Baroque era. It was originally performed with a basso continuo.