Baroque

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Baroque (disambiguation).

The Triumph of the Immaculate by

Paolo de Matteis

The Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

The Baroque (US /brok/ or UK /brk/) is often thought of as a period of artistic style that
used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension,
exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, theater, and
music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy, and spread to most of Europe.[1]
The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Catholic Church, which
had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, that
the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement.[2][3] The
aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing
visitors and expressing triumph, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance
of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However,
"baroque" has resonance and application that extend beyond a simple reduction to either style or
period.[4]

Contents

1 Etymology

2 Modern taste and usage

3 Development
o 3.1 Periods

4 Painting

5 Sculpture
o 5.1 Bernini's Cornaro chapel

6 Architecture

7 Theatre
o 7.1 England
o 7.2 Germany
o 7.3 Spain

8 Literature and philosophy

9 Music
o 9.1 Composers and examples

10 See also

11 Notes

12 References

13 Further reading

14 External links

Etymology

Brooch of an African, Walters Art Museum

The French word baroque is derived from the Portuguese word "barroco" or Spanish "barrueco"
both of which refer to a "rough or imperfect pearl", though whether it entered those languages
via Latin, Arabic, or some other source is uncertain.[5] It is also yields the Italian "barocco" and
modern Spanish "barroco", German "Barock", Dutch "Barok", and so on. The 1911
Encyclopdia Britannica 11th edition thought the term was derived from the Spanish barrueco,
a large, irregularly-shaped pearl, and that it had for a time been confined to the craft of the
jeweller.[6] Others derive it from the mnemonic term "Baroco", a supposedly laboured form of
syllogism in logical Scholastica.[7] The Latin root can be found in bis-roca.[8]

In informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is "elaborate", with many
details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The word "Baroque", like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics
rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th and early 18th centuries. It is a French
transliteration of the Portuguese phrase "prola barroca", which means "irregular pearl", and
natural pearls that deviate from the usual, regular forms so they do not have an axis of rotation
are known as "baroque pearls".[9]
The term "Baroque" was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its
emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy
abundance of details, which sharply contrasted the clear and sober rationality of the Renaissance.
Although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in
fact it appears earlier in reference to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the premire in
October 1733 of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, printed in the Mercure de France in
May 1734. The critic implied that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque", complaining that
the music lacked coherent melody, was unsparing with dissonances, constantly changed key and
meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device.[10]

Modern taste and usage

The Swiss-born art historian, Heinrich Wlfflin (18641945), started the rehabilitation of the
word Baroque in his Renaissance und Barock (1888); Wlfflin identified the Baroque as
"movement imported into mass", an art antithetic to Renaissance art. He did not make the
distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later
phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and
architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has largely remained in
critical favour. For example, the often extreme Sicilian Baroque architecture is today recognised
largely due to the work of Sir Sacheverall Sitwell, whose Southern Baroque Art of 1924 was the
first book to appreciate the style, followed by the more academic work of Anthony Blunt. In
painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern
taste.
In art history it has become common to recognise "Baroque" stylistic phases, characterized by
energetic movement and display, in earlier art, so that Sir John Boardman describes the ancient
sculpture Laocon and His Sons as "one of the finest examples of the Hellenistic baroque",[11]
and a later phase of Imperial Roman sculpture is also often called "Baroque". William Watson
describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as
"baroque".[12]
The term "Baroque" may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, or
design that are thought to have excessive ornamentation or complexity of line.

Development
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Aeneas Flees Burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598

The Baroque originated around 1600, several decades after the Council of Trent (154563), by
which the Roman Catholic Church answered many questions of internal reform, addressed the
representational arts by demanding that paintings and sculptures in church contexts should speak
to the illiterate rather than to the well-informed. This turn toward a populist conception of the
function of ecclesiastical art is seen by many art historians as driving the innovations of
Caravaggio and brothers Agostino and Annibale Carracci, all of whom were working (and
competing for commissions) in Rome around 1600.
The appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16thcentury Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that
was direct, simple, obvious, and theatrical (illustration, right). Baroque art drew on certain broad
and heroic tendencies in Annibale Carracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists
like Correggio and Caravaggio and Federico Barocci (illustration, right), nowadays sometimes
termed 'proto-Baroque'. Germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of
Michelangelo. Some general parallels in music make the expression "Baroque music" useful:
there are contrasting phrase lengths, harmony and counterpoint have ousted polyphony, and
orchestral color makes a stronger appearance. Even more generalized parallels perceived by
some experts in philosophy, prose style and poetry, are harder to pinpoint.
Though Baroque was superseded in many centers by the Rococo style, beginning in France in the
late 1720s, especially for interiors, paintings and the decorative arts, the Baroque style continued
to be used in architecture until the advent of Neoclassicism in the later 18th century. See the
Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace (though in a chaste exterior) whose construction
began in 1752.

St. Nicholas Church in Lesser Town in Prague was founded in 1703 under lead of Baroque
architect Christoph Dientzenhofer.
In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures: less ambiguous, less arcane
and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, a major Baroque art form. Baroque poses
depend on contrapposto ("counterpoise"), the tension within the figures that move the planes of
shoulders and hips in counterdirections. See Bernini's David.
The dryer, less dramatic and coloristic, chastened later stages of 18th century Baroque
architectural style are often seen as a separate Late Baroque manifestation, for example in
buildings by Claude Perrault. Academic characteristics in the neo-Palladian style, epitomized by
William Kent, are a parallel development in Britain and the British colonies: within interiors,
Kent's furniture designs are vividly influenced by the Baroque furniture of Rome and Genoa,
hierarchical tectonic sculptural elements, meant never to be moved from their positions,
completed the wall decoration. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail.
The Baroque was defined by Heinrich Wlfflin as the age where the oval replaced the circle as
the center of composition, that centralization replaced balance, and that coloristic and "painterly"
effects began to become more prominent. Art historians, often Protestant ones, have traditionally
emphasized that the Baroque style evolved during a time in which the Roman Catholic Church
had to react against the many revolutionary cultural movements that produced a new science and
new forms of religionReformation. It has been said that the monumental Baroque is a style
that could give the Papacy, like secular absolute monarchies, a formal, imposing way of
expression that could restore its prestige, at the point of becoming somehow symbolic of the
Counter-Reformation.

Whether this is the case or not, it was successfully developed in Rome, where Baroque
architecture widely renewed the central areas with perhaps the most important urbanistic
revision.

Periods
The Baroque era is sometimes divided into roughly three phases for convenience:[13][14][15]

Early Baroque, c. 1590 c. 1625

High Baroque, c. 1625 c. 1660

Late Baroque, c. 1660 c. 1725

Late Baroque is also sometimes used synonymously with the succeeding Rococo movement.

Painting
Main article: Baroque painting

Caravaggio, The Crowning with Thorns

A defining statement of what Baroque signifies in painting is provided by the series of paintings
executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at
the Louvre),[16] in which a Catholic painter satisfied a Catholic patron: Baroque-era conceptions
of monarchy, iconography, handling of paint, and compositions as well as the depiction of space
and movement.
Baroque style featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a
kind of artistic sensationalism". Baroque art did not really depict the life style of the people at
that time; however, "closely tied to the Counter-Reformation, this style melodramatically
reaffirmed the emotional depths of the Catholic faith and glorified both church and monarchy" of
their power and influence.[17]
There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona; both
approaching emotive dynamism with different styles. The most prominent Spanish painter of the
Baroque was Diego Velzquez.[18]
Another frequently cited work of Baroque art is Bernini's Saint Theresa in Ecstasy for the
Cornaro chapel in Saint Maria della Vittoria, which brings together architecture, sculpture, and
theatre into one grand conceit.[19]

Still-life, by Josefa de bidos, c. 1679, Santarm, Portugal, Municipal Library

The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo.
A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th century Dutch Golden
Age painting, which had very little religious art, and little history painting, instead playing a
crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life, genre paintings of everyday scenes,
and landscape painting. While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less
often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in
this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories.
In a similar way the French classical style of painting exemplified by Poussin is often classed as
Baroque, and does share many qualities of the Italian painting of the same period, although the
poise and restraint derived from following classical ideas typically give it a very different overall
mood.

Sculpture
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Main article: Baroque sculpture

Stanislaus Kostka on his deathbed by Pierre Le Gros the Younger

In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance and there was a dynamic
movement and energy of human formsthey spiraled around an empty central vortex, or
reached outwards into the surrounding space. For the first time, Baroque sculpture often had
multiple ideal viewing angles. The characteristic Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural
elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains. Aleijadinho in Brazil was also one
of the great names of baroque sculpture, and his master work is the set of statues of the
Santurio de Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas. The soapstone sculptures of old testament
prophets around the terrace are considered amongst his finest work.
The architecture, sculpture and fountains of Bernini (15981680) give highly charged
characteristics of Baroque style. Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the
Baroque period. He approached Michelangelo in his omnicompetence: Bernini sculpted, worked
as an architect, painted, wrote plays, and staged spectacles. In the late 20th century Bernini was
most valued for his sculpture, both for his virtuosity in carving marble and his ability to create
figures that combine the physical and the spiritual. He was also a fine sculptor of bust portraits in
high demand among the powerful.

Bernini's Cornaro chapel

A good example of Bernini's Baroque work is his St. Theresa in Ecstasy (164552), created for
the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Bernini designed the
entire chapel, a subsidiary space along the side of the church, for the Cornaro family.

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Saint Theresa, the focal point of the chapel, is a soft white marble statue surrounded by a
polychromatic marble architectural framing. This structure conceals a window which lights the
statue from above. Figure-groups of the Cornaro family sculpted in shallow relief inhabit opera
boxes on the two side walls of the chapel. The setting places the viewer as a spectator in front of
the statue with the Cornaro family leaning out of their box seats and craning forward to see the
mystical ecstasy of the saint.
St. Theresa is highly idealized and in an imaginary setting. She was a popular saint of the
Catholic Reformation. She wrote of her mystical experiences for an audience of the nuns of her
Carmelite Order; these writings had become popular reading among lay people interested in
spirituality. In her writings, she described the love of God as piercing her heart like a burning
arrow. Bernini materializes this by placing St. Theresa on a butt while a Cupid figure holds a
golden arrow made of metal and smiles down at her. The angelic figure is not preparing to
plunge the arrow into her heartrather, he has withdrawn it. St. Theresa's face reflects not the
anticipation of ecstasy, but her current fulfillment.
This work is widely considered a masterpiece of the Baroque, although the mix of religious and
erotic imagery (faithful to St Teresa's own written account) may raise modern eyebrows.
However, Bernini was a devout Catholic and was not attempting to satirize the experience of a
chaste nun. Rather, he aimed to portray religious experience as an intensely physical one.
Theresa described her bodily reaction to spiritual enlightenment in a language of ecstasy used by
many mystics, and Bernini's depiction is earnest.
The Cornaro family promotes itself discreetly in this chapel; they are represented visually, but
are placed on the sides of the chapel, witnessing the event from balconies. As in an opera house,
the Cornaro have a privileged position in respect to the viewer, in their private reserve, closer to
the saint; the viewer, however, has a better view from the front. They attach their name to the
chapel, but St. Theresa is the focus. It is a private chapel in the sense that no one could say mass
on the altar beneath the statue (in the 17th century and probably through the 19th) without
permission from the family, but the only thing that divides the viewer from the image is the altar
rail. The spectacle functions both as a demonstration of mysticism and as a piece of family pride.

Architecture

The main altar of St. John's Co-Cathedral, Malta

Main article: Baroque architecture
In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing, colonnades, domes, lightand-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void. In
interiors, Baroque movement around and through a void informed monumental staircases that
had no parallel in previous architecture. The other Baroque innovation in worldly interiors was
the state apartment, a sequence of increasingly rich interiors that culminated in a presence
chamber or throne room or a state bedroom. The sequence of monumental stairs followed by a
state apartment was copied in smaller scale everywhere in aristocratic dwellings of any
pretensions.[citation needed]
Baroque architecture was taken up with enthusiasm in central Germany (see, e.g., Ludwigsburg
Palace and Zwinger, Dresden), Austria and Russia (see, e.g., Peterhof). In England the
culmination of Baroque architecture was embodied in work by Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John
Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, from ca. 1660 to ca. 1725. Many examples of Baroque
architecture and town planning are found in other European towns, and in Latin America. Town
planning of this period featured radiating avenues intersecting in squares, which took cues from
Baroque garden plans. In Sicily, Baroque developed new shapes and themes as in Noto, Ragusa
and Acireale "Basilica di San Sebastiano".[citation needed]
Another example of Baroque architecture is the Cathedral of Morelia, Michoacn in Mexico.
Built in the 17th century by Vincenzo Barrochio, it is one of the many Baroque cathedrals in
Mexico. Baroque churches built during the Spanish period are also seen in other former colonies
of Spain.[citation needed]
Francis Ching described Baroque architecture as "a style of architecture originating in Italy in the
early 17th century and variously prevalent in Europe and the New World for a century and a half,
characterized by free and sculptural use of the classical orders and ornament, dynamic opposition
and interpenetration of spaces, and the dramatic combined effects of architecture, sculpture,
painting, and the decorative arts."[20]

Architecture

Trevi Fountain in Rome

Wilanw Palace in Warsaw

Interior of the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria church, Rome including the
Cornaro portraits, but omitting the lower parts of the chapel.

Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg

Theatre
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18th-century painting of the Royal Theatre of Turin

In theatre, the elaborate conceits, multiplicity of plot turns and a variety of situations
characteristic of Mannerism, in Shakespeare's tragedies for instance, were superseded by opera,
which drew together all the arts into a unified whole.
Theatre evolved in the Baroque era and became a multimedia experience, starting with the actual
architectural space. In fact, much of the technology used in current Broadway or commercial
plays was invented and developed during this era. The stage could change from a romantic
garden to the interior of a palace in a matter of seconds. The entire space became a framed
selected area that only allows the users to see a specific action, hiding all the machinery and
technology mostly ropes and pulleys.
This technology affected the content of the narrated or performed pieces, practicing at its best the
Deus ex Machina solution. Gods were finally able to come down literally from the heavens
and rescue the hero in the most extreme and dangerous, even absurd situations.
The term Theatrum Mundi the world is a stage was also created. The social and political
realm in the real world is manipulated in exactly the same way the actor and the machines are
presenting/limiting what is being presented on stage, hiding selectively all the machinery that
makes the actions happen.
The films Vatel and Farinelli give a good idea of the style of productions of the Baroque period.
The American musician William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have performed extensive
research on all the French Baroque Opera, performing pieces from Charpentier and Lully, among
others that are extremely faithful to the original 17th-century creations.

England

The influence of the Renaissance was also very late in England, and Baroque theatre is only
partly a useful concept here, for example in discussing Restoration comedy. There was an 18year break when the London theatres were closed during the English Civil War and English
Commonwealth until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Germany
German theatre in the 17th century lacked major contributions. The best known playwright was
Andreas Gryphius, who used the Jesuit model of the Dutch Joost van den Vondel and Cornielle.
There was also Johannes Velten who combined the traditions of the English comedians and the
commedia del'arte with the classic theater of Corneille and Moliere. His touring company was
perhaps the most significant and important of the 17th century.

Spain

Lope de Vega
The Baroque had a Catholic and conservative character in Spain, following an Italian literary
models during the Renaissance.[21] The Hispanic Baroque theater aimed for a public content with
an ideal reality that manifested fundamental three sentiments: Catholic religion, monarchist and
national pride and honor originating from the chivalric, knightly world.[22]
Two periods are known in the Barocan Spanish theater. The separation between them was
emphasized in 1630; the first period consists of a principle representant who is Lope de Vega,
and also Tirso de Molina, Gaspar de Aguilar, Guilln de Castro, Antonio Mira de Amescua, Luis
Vlez de Guevara, Juan Ruiz de Alarcn, Diego Jimnez de Enciso, Luis Belmonte Bermdez,
Felipe Godnez, Luis Quiones de Benavente or Juan Prez de Montalbn; and in the second
period Caldern de la Barca and the other play writers Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, lvaro
Cubillo de Aragn, Jernimo de Cncer y Velasco, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, Juan de Matos
Fragoso, Antonio Coello y Ochoa, Agustn Moreto or Francisco de Bances Candamo.[23] It is
possible to speak about a loosely classification, because each author had his own way and could
occasionally adhere himself to the formula established by Lope. Perhaps, the "manner" of Lope
was more liberal and structured than Calderon's.[24]
Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio introduced through his Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este
tiempo (1609) the new comedy. He established a new dramatic formula that broke the three
Aristotle unities of the Italian school of poetry (action, time and place) and a forth unity of
Aristotle which is about style, mixing of tragic and comic elements showing different types of
verses and stanzas upon what is represented.[25] Although Lope has a great knowledge of the
plastic arts, he did not use it during the major part of his career nor in theater or scenography.
The Lope's comedy granted a second role to the visual aspects of the theatrical representation.[26]
Tirso de Molina along with Lope de Vega and Caledron were of the most important play writers
in Spain during the golden era. Their works, known for its subtle intelligence and profound
comprehension of a person's humanity, could be considered a bridge between primitive Lope's
comedy and a more elaborate Calderon's comedy. Although part of the critics argued their
writings showing that Tirso de Molina was known for two flawless works, The convicted
suspicions, The Trickster of Seville, a principal sources of the Don Juan myth.[27]

Upon his arrival to Madrid, Cosimo Lotti brought to the Spanish court the most advanced
theatrical techniques of Europe. His techniques and mechanic knowledge were applied in palace
exhibitions called "Fiestas" and in lavish exhibitions of rivers or artificial fountains called
"Naumaquias". He was in charge of styling the Gardens of Buen Retiro, of Zarzuela and of
Aranjuez and the construction of the theatrical building of Coliseo del Buen Retiro.[28] Lope's
formulas begins with a verse that it unbefitting of the palace theater foundation and the birth of
new concepts that begun the careers of some play writers like Pedro Calderon de la Barca.
Marking the principal innovations of the New Lopesian Comedy, Calderon's style marked many
differences, with a great deal of constructive care and attention to his internal structure.
Calderon's work is in formal perfection and a very lyric and symbolic language. Liberty, vitality
and openness of Lope gave a step to Calderon's intellectual reflection and formal precision. In his
comedy it reflected his ideological and doctrine intentions in above the passion and the action,
the work of Autos sacramentales achieved high ranks.[29] The genre of Comedia is political,
multi-artistic and in a sense hybrid. The poetic text interweaved with Medias and resources
originating from architecture, music and painting freeing the deception that is in the Lopesian
comedy was made up from the lack of scenery and engaging the dialogue of action.[30]

Literature and philosophy

Further information: 17th century in literature, 17th century philosophy, and Early Modern
literature
For German Baroque literature, see German literature of the Baroque period.

Music
Main article: Baroque music

George Frideric Handel, 1733

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748

Antonio Vivaldi, 1723

The term Baroque is also used to designate the style of music composed during a period that
overlaps with that of Baroque art, but usually encompasses a slightly later period.
It is a still-debated question as to what extent Baroque music shares aesthetic principles with the
visual and literary arts of the Baroque period. A fairly clear, shared element is a love of
ornamentation, and it is perhaps significant that the role of ornament was greatly diminished in
both music and architecture as the Baroque gave way to the Classical period.[citation needed]
The application of the term "Baroque" to music is a relatively recent development, although it
has recently been pointed out that the first use of the word "baroque" in criticism of any of the
arts related to music, in an anonymous, satirical review of the premire in October 1733 of
Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, printed in the Mercure de France in May 1734. The critic implied
that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque," complaining that the music lacked coherent
melody, was filled with unremitting dissonances, constantly changed key and meter, and speedily
ran through every compositional device.[31]
However this was an isolated reference,[citation needed] and consistent use of the term as a period
designator was only begun in 1919, by Curt Sachs,[32] and it was not until 1940 that it was first
used in English (in an article published by Manfred Bukofzer).[31]
Many musical forms were born in that era, like the concerto and sinfonia. Forms such as the
sonata, cantata and oratorio flourished. Also, opera was born out of the experimentation of the
Florentine Camerata, the creators of monody, who attempted to recreate the theatrical arts of the
Ancient Greeks. An important technique used in baroque music was the use of ground bass, a
repeated bass line. Dido's Lament by Henry Purcell is a famous example of this technique.[citation
needed]

Composers and examples

Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/15571612) Sonata pian' e forte (1597), In Ecclesiis (from
Symphoniae sacrae book 2, 1615)

Claudio Monteverdi (15671643), L'Orfeo, favola in musica (1610)

Heinrich Schtz (15851672), Musikalische Exequien (1629, 1647, 1650)

Francesco Cavalli (16021676), L'Egisto (1643), Ercole amante (1662), Scipione

affricano (1664)

Jean-Baptiste Lully (16321687), Armide (1686)

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (16431704), Te Deum (16881698)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (16441704), Mystery Sonatas (1681)

John Blow (16491708), Venus and Adonis (16801687)

Johann Pachelbel (16531706), Canon in D (1680)

Arcangelo Corelli (16531713), 12 concerti grossi, Op. 6 (1714)

Marin Marais (16561728), Sonnerie de Ste-Genevive du Mont-de-Paris (1723)

Henry Purcell (16591695), Dido and Aeneas (1688)

Alessandro Scarlatti (16601725), L'honest negli amori (1680), Il Pompeo (1683),

Mitridate Eupatore (1707)

Franois Couperin (16681733), Les barricades mystrieuses (1717)

Tomaso Albinoni (16711751), Didone abbandonata (1724)

Antonio Vivaldi (16781741), The Four Seasons (1723)

Jan Dismas Zelenka (16791745), Il Serpente di Bronzo (1730), Missa Sanctissimae

Trinitatis (1736)

Georg Philipp Telemann (16811767), Der Tag des Gerichts (1762)

Johann David Heinichen (16831729)

Jean-Philippe Rameau (16831764), Dardanus (1739)

George Frideric Handel (16851759), Water Music (1717), Messiah (1741)

Domenico Scarlatti (16851757), Sonatas for harpsichord

Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750), Toccata and Fugue in D minor (17031707),

Brandenburg Concertos (1721), St Matthew Passion (1727)

Nicola Porpora (16861768), Semiramide riconosciuta (1729)

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (17101736), Stabat Mater (1736)