WELCOME to the wonderful world of BAROQUE MUSIC What is baroque music? Why it is so rewarding A Baroque Music Sampler Baroque Composers' Portraits Rare Baroque Instruments NOTE: to enlarge/decrease TYPE SIZE, click VIEW on your browser's top menu.

Bach at age 35 Biography  |  Bach CD list Arcangelo Corelli Biography  |  CD Tomaso Albinoni Biography  |  CD Domenico Scarlatti Biography  |  CD Antonio Vivaldi Biography  |  CD Georg Philipp Telemann Biography  |  CD Willem van Wassenaer Biography  |  CD Johann Josef Fux Biography  |  CD Alessandro Scarlatti Biography  |  CD George Frideric Handel Biography  |  CD Henry Purcell Biography  |  CD Bach on Silbermann organs CD A Special CD Double Album Sampler for Baroque-Music-Lovers A Special CD Double Album sampling Bach's varied output. Decoration on the 1714 Silbermann Organ, Freiberg Check the CD BAROQUE MUSIC GUIDE Everything you need to know about Baroque Music. Articles on the different national influences, performance and baroque instruments, concise biographies of all the major baroque composers. Copious contemporary b/w and line drawing illustrations. Click image for full details.

What is the essence of baroque music? Baroque music expresses order, the fundamental order of the universe. Yet it is always lively and tuneful. Music reflects the mood of the times, then as now as always. Follow the development of music through this brief outline, from the earliest times to the present day, with baroque music in historical context. BAROQUE MUSIC DEFINED Music and its performance has its fashions, like everything else. There are currently two schools of thought in the performance of baroque music: the "modern" and the "authentic" - though both names are misleading. A little knowledge of these alternatives will guide you in your subsequent choice of recordings. BAROQUE MUSIC PERFORMANCE Over two hours of baroque music for you to listen to. Examples of the works of major baroque composers, and of course, Johann Sebastian Bach. A BAROQUE MUSIC BANQUET Biographical notes on some of the better-known baroque composers - Albinoni, JS Bach, Corelli, Geminiani, Handel, Scarlatti, Telemann and others - plus notes on influential musical centers and developments in different countries, illustrating the origins of "baroque", and the breadth of baroque musical "globalisation"! BAROQUE COMPOSERS & MUSICIANS biographies and notes Get to know the major baroque composers better through their portraits. Check the BAROQUE COMPOSERS' PORTRAIT GALLERY Why not delve yet further into the world of baroque performance? Read about one of Bach's favorite keyboard instruments, custom-built to his own specifications, yet now almost impossible to hear on record. Or discover the difference between the Italian violin bow which we know today, and the German baroque bow which is never seen nor heard today, though popular in baroque Germany (check the accompanying illustration from 1732). The vital difference: the German bow can play chords - which makes Bach's pieces for solo violin infinitely more interesting, not to mention accurate! The Lute-harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art Contemporary with, and a personal friend of JS Bach was one of the two leading baroque organ-builders: Gottfried Silbermann. There are still some 30 of Silbermann's organs extant in Saxony, southern Germany, many in near-original condition, from the small village organs in which he excelled, to the 3-Manual, 44-Stop organ in Freiberg Cathedral. This site offers a group of pages, together giving you an illustrated tour and all the information you need for a visit! We prepared this site for, and in conjunction with the Silbermann Museum in Frauenstein, Saxony. GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque. Here is a complete reference listing of our Baroque Music pages: Baroque Music Defined Baroque Music Performance: "Authentic" versus "Traditional" A talk on Authentic Performance by George Malcolm Violins Old and New A blind test between four instruments, by two violinists and a violin dealer. The Baroque German Harpsichord - an illustrated in-depth historical analysis. The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument Tempo Indications in Baroque Music and interpretation today A Baroque Music Banquet Courtesy Baroque Music Collection Over two hours of music samples, Bach, and major baroque composers. Baroque Composers and Musicians - An Overall Survey Johann Sebastian Bach - a complete biography Bach's Life in Pictures - contemporary colour illustrations Bach's Employment in Weimar - Bach's ducal employers Bach's Leipzig in pictures: 1725-50 contemporary engravings The Royal Visit to Leipzig, 1733 contemporary engravings Travel by Post Coach 1730-40 illustrations and timings The Siege of Leipzig, 1745 contemporary engraving Bach's Cantatas - a brief orientation Full notes on Bach's B-minor Mass, his last great choral work The Trauerode - Mourning Ode for Queen Christiana illustrated story, full cantata text, and music samples. The Royal Palace, Potsdam where Bach's Musical Offering was born J.S. Bach: Portrait in Old Age Tomaso Albinoni Giovanni Battista Bononcini Arcangelo Corelli François Couperin (Le Grand) Johann Friedrich Fasch Johann Joseph Fux Francesco Geminiani George Frideric Handel A Detailed Biography Handel at Adlington Hall Handel's "Home from Home" in the English Midlands The Rise and Fall of the Duke of Chandos for whom Handel composed the Chandos Anthems Mr. Jefferson's Music Henry Purcell Jean-Philippe Rameau Alessandro Scarlatti (father) Domenico Scarlatti (son) John Stanley Georg Philipp Telemann Antonio Vivaldi A Detailed Biography Antonio Vivaldi His life and work in Venice Vivaldi "Rediscovered" A typical Venetian Ospedale during Vivaldi's time The Sonnets on which the Four Seasons Concertos are based Unico Willem van Wassenaer: the mystery composer Jan Dismas Zelenka Count Anton von Sporck, for whom Bach composed his Four Shorter Masses Antonio Stradivari Italian Baroque Violin-Maker. Baroque Europe's music-publishing scene John Walsh (London) and Estienne Roger (Amsterdam) Baroque Composers' Portrait Gallery portraits of leading baroque composers. Musician Biographies: Malcolm Hamilton, Harpsichordist Extraordinary. Isolde Ahlgrimm, Fortepiano and Pedal-harpsichord Pioneer. Isolde Ahlgrimm's detailed notes on keyboard performance of the Art of the Fugue. Sylvia Marlowe: Grande Dame of the Harpsichord. Professor Denis Stevens Eminent Musicologist with a great sense of humour. Accademia Monteverdiana Musical Society founded by Denis Stevens. Thomas Goff, Harpsichord Builder. George ENESCO and Céliny CHAILLEY- RICHEZ their work together through thirty years, photos, Bach Clavier Concertos session in Decca studios, Paris. Günther Ramin 1898-1956. Thomaskantor 1940-1956 George Malcolm, Harpsichordist GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque. List of Gottfried Silbermann Organs (English/Deutsch) Planning your Silbermann Organ Tour The Great Silbermann Organ, Freiberg Cathedral, 1714 The Silbermann Organ in Nassau Village Church CD recordings on Gottfried Silbermann Organs The Gottfried Silbermann Legacy Gottfried Silbermann Museum, Frauenstein GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Orgelbaumeister der deutschen Barockzeit Organ Terminology German-English Iberian Baroque Composers List compiled by Luis Roberto. Includes discography. Monsignor Reggio - Sicilian composer of the late baroque. A little-known composer currently subject of research, possibly linked with Scarlatti. BACH & FRIENDS - DVD The editors of the BAROQUE MUSIC have been recording, producing, researching and writing about Bach and Baroque since the 1960s, and we have no hesitation in recommending the 2-DVD set "BACH & friends" as essential viewing/listening for all Bach-lovers and music students. Please, check our review - you won't regret it! In this on-going series, Lyrichord Discs CEO Nick Fritsch interviews baroque music specialist performers on subjects ranging through: the counter-tenor voice, the lute, recorder, the wooden transverse flute, the history and development of keyboard instruments, and the exploration of Baroque Music from all over Europe. Check Lyrichord Podcast Listing. A VITAL RESOURCE for BAROQUE MUSIC LOVERS and STUDENTS 100+ CD titles ready to download direct to your PC. Just Bach and Baroque! ONLY from the BAROQUE MUSIC LIBRARY Click the picture to visit the Baroque Music Library Selected by the Teachers Learning Program of Hong Kong University for inclusion in their MusicWeb Resource CDROM. Included in the Britannica Internet Guide "for quality, accuracy, and presentation"

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