Compare those features shared by baroque art and music

What will be an ideal response?


The baroque style developed as a way to increase the dramatic expressiveness of religious subject matter. This emphasis on drama made its way both into the visual arts and music. Baroque artists sought to increase the dramatic expressiveness of subject matter in order to give viewers the sense that they were participating in the action of the scene. Further, paintings were meant to appeal to the senses rather than to the intellect. Increasing drama, stark contrasts of light and dark were a hallmark feature of the baroque style. Explosive action was common, often resulting in violent depictions of events.
In music, too, composers sought to heighten dramatic effect. Gabrieli's use of polychoral textures (the use of two or more choruses) and larger ensembles illustrates this grandness.Baroque composers often used a wide range of musical dynamics (degrees of loudness and softness) to achieve rich, dramatic effects not unlike those achieved by the contrasts of light and shadow found in baroque painting. Echo effects created by alternating voices and the use of unseen (offstage) voices achieved a degree of musical illusionism comparable to the pictorial illusionism of baroque art. The emphasis on tonality provided baroque composers with a way of achieving dramatic focus in a piece of music—much in the way that light allowed baroque painters to achieve dramatic focus in their compositions. Further, the birth of opera reveals the most dramatic musical form of all, a composition that incorporates music, drama, costumes, and text, becoming the ideal expression of the baroque.

Art & Culture

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