Baroque originated in the early 16th century in Italy as a natural extension of the previous style - the Renaissance. The etymology of the term Barocco has not yet been fully clarified. Being a word of Italian origin, it means "strange", "pretentious" in Russian. In various forms of the Baroque art form, it is uniquely changed the cultural and moral atmosphere of the Renaissance. During the Baroque period, Rome became the center of Italian art in general and Catholic art in particular. A wide variety of artistic tastes are born here.
The uniqueness and originality of this style consist of the combination of opposing, at first glance, incompatible elements: the riots of fiction and sober rationalism, mysticism and pragmatism, exaltation and cold calculation. The magnificent solemnity, simplicity, and clarity of the Renaissance give way to the rapid dynamics, free flight, contrasts, asymmetry, gravitation to grandeur, intricate decorativeness, but at the same time, the independence of each type of art, characteristic of the previous era is violated.
Thus, in monumental painting and sculpture, there is a tendency to subordinate architecture, to merge with it into one harmonious whole. Architecture, in turn, no longer seeks a strict and accurate form of appearance, on the contrary, it acquires new plasticity and flexibility. It influences both the exterior and interior, giving them new expressive features.
In a single ensemble with architecture is now located and garden and park culture, which creates the impression of its integral element of the architectural ensemble, acting as a kind of scenery. Painters now seek to make their creations decorative, and the picturesque elements have spread to the pieces of furniture. Decorating walls, domes, plafonds, painting contributes to the creation of an illusion of infinite and indivisible space.
The aim of Baroque architecture is to create a single space. Whatever you turn to country villas, city squares, garden terraces, fountains, etc. - All of them are the embodiment of an organic and holistic architectural concept.
All these manifestations are not accidental. Baroque was a reflection of the ideological features of the society of the XVI century. During this period, the top of the fate, who was at the top of the government and secular and church, sought by all means available to indicate their own power, including through art, emphasizing the bizarre picturesque details and immense architectural ensembles, not only its strength, but also the divine origin. Therefore, artists of the Baroque era show excessive emotionally, drama, naturalism, saturate their works with an abundance of secondary details.
Temples and churches in the Baroque style, which are really able to amaze the imagination, glorified not only God and His omnipotence but also ministers of religion, which directly influenced the inner world of man. Thus, in the Baroque aesthetics such manifestations as mysticism, exaltation, irrationalism, representatives, monumentally, multi-dimensional, the desire for materialization, the dramatic intensity of feelings, and tragedy were fixed. They were necessary for society to become familiar with transcendental existence,
So, the main features of the Baroque should be considered: splendor, monumentally, quirkiness, richness of decoration, ornamentation, the rejection of flat lines and flatforms, the trend towards complexity. Baroque music also had its own peculiarities, which will be discussed below.
Distinctive features of music in the Baroque era.
Baroque music is unique in its specificity. It is not only the birth of new genres and forms (opera, concert, cantata, partita, suite, toccata, prelude, fugue, concerto grosso), but also the renewal of musical language. A homo phonic style of musical writing emerges, the essence of which was to divide the sound into the main voice and the side sounds accompanying it.
Baroque music in instrumental music gave rise to improvisation (although the prerequisites existed in the previous era). The basis for this was the practice of using obstinate (permanent) bass, against which it was easy for talented performers to play the main melody and compose new moves. Other features of Baroque vocal art affect, rhetorical figures. Rhetoric - eloquence in the word - has also refracted the music. This is how musical eloquence appeared. During the Baroque period, the main position was occupied by the figures of speech, the appearance of which was determined by the content of what was written. Hence, the trend towards drama, melodeclamation, and various effects.
Creators of the Baroque epoch demonstrate to a man his smallness in the vast world as if pointing to his transience. The easiest way to demonstrate this was through scale, so their works are grandiose and great.
Each musician was obliged to vary the music in different ways.