Key Baroque Performance Practices

Why This Matters

Understanding Baroque performance practices isn't just about historical trivia—it's about grasping how musicians in the 17th and 18th centuries thought about music fundamentally differently than we do today. You're being tested on concepts like improvisation as expectation, affect theory, historical authenticity, and the relationship between notation and performance. These practices reveal that Baroque scores were blueprints, not finished products, and performers were co-creators rather than mere executors.

When you encounter questions about Baroque music, examiners want to see that you understand why musicians ornamented, how basso continuo functioned as a collaborative framework, and what aesthetic principles drove choices about dynamics, rhythm, and instrumentation. Don't just memorize that harpsichordists improvised chords—know that this reflects a fundamentally different relationship between composer, performer, and notation than what emerged in later periods.

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Harmonic Foundation and Collaboration

The Baroque era developed a unique system where harmony was both structured and spontaneous. Basso continuo created a framework that invited real-time musical decision-making, distinguishing Baroque texture from both Renaissance polyphony and Classical-era fully notated scores.

Basso Continuo

• The foundational texture of Baroque music—a bass line played by a low instrument (cello, bassoon, viola da gamba) combined with a chordal instrument (harpsichord, organ, lute) that fills in harmonies
• Improvised realization meant no two performances sounded identical; the keyboard player created chords and voice-leading on the spot based on the bass line
• Enabled ensemble flexibility—from intimate chamber works to large sacred pieces, continuo adapted to any context while maintaining harmonic coherence

Figured Bass Realization

• A shorthand notation system using numbers and symbols below the bass line to indicate chord structures and intervals
• Required extensive training in harmony, counterpoint, and style; performers "realized" these figures by improvising appropriate chords, inversions, and even melodic embellishments
• Reflects the collaborative nature of Baroque performance—the composer provided a skeleton, and the performer brought it to life

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Expressive Embellishment

Baroque musicians viewed the written note as a starting point, not a destination. Ornamentation and rhythmic flexibility were expected skills that demonstrated a performer's mastery and taste, not optional additions.

Ornamentation and Improvisation

• Essential, not optional—performers were expected to add trills, mordents, turns, appoggiaturas, and other ornaments to enhance melodic lines and cadences
• Regional variation shaped ornament style: French music favored elaborate agréments with specific symbols, while Italian practice encouraged freer melodic improvisation
• Demonstrated performer skill—the ability to ornament tastefully showed musical education and understanding of affect (emotional content)

Rhythmic Flexibility and Notes Inégales

• Notes inégales (unequal notes)—a French practice where evenly written notes are performed with a lilting, long-short pattern, adding swing and elegance
• Rubato before Romantic rubato—Baroque performers adjusted timing for expressive phrasing, though within a steady underlying pulse
• Context-dependent application—not all music received this treatment; performers needed stylistic knowledge to know when flexibility was appropriate

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Dynamics and Emotional Expression

Baroque composers and performers operated under affect theory—the belief that music should move listeners to specific emotional states. Every musical choice, from dynamics to rhetoric, served this expressive goal.

Terraced Dynamics

• Abrupt, block-like volume changes rather than gradual crescendos and decrescendos—reflecting both aesthetic preference and instrument capabilities
• Structural function—dynamic shifts often marked formal sections, echo effects, or contrasts between solo and tutti passages
• Instrument-driven—harpsichords couldn't vary dynamics through touch, so composers built contrast into the music through texture and registration changes

Emphasis on Affect and Rhetoric

• Affect theory held that each piece (or section) should convey a single, unified emotion—joy, sorrow, rage, tenderness
• Musical rhetoric borrowed from classical oratory: composers used devices like anabasis (ascending lines for rising ideas), catabasis (descending for falling), and suspiratio (sighing figures)
• Performer's responsibility—musicians were trained to identify and project the intended affect through tempo, articulation, dynamics, and ornamentation choices

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Historical Sound and Instrumentation

Authentic Baroque performance requires understanding that instruments, tuning systems, and ensemble sizes all differed significantly from modern practice. These aren't arbitrary historical details—they fundamentally shaped how the music sounded and functioned.

Use of Period Instruments

• Different construction, different sound—gut strings, wooden flutes, natural brass (no valves), and harpsichords produced a lighter, more transparent tone than modern equivalents
• Technical implications—natural trumpets could only play certain notes, recorders had limited dynamic range, and violin bows produced a different articulation style
• Historically Informed Performance (HIP) movement uses period instruments or replicas to recreate authentic Baroque sonorities

Historically Informed Tuning Systems

• Mean-tone temperament favored pure thirds in commonly used keys but made remote keys sound harsh or unusable
• Well temperament (not equal temperament) allowed all keys to be playable while giving each key a distinct character or color
• Pitch standards varied—$A = 415$ Hz was common (roughly a half-step lower than modern $A = 440$ Hz), affecting vocal ranges and instrument construction

Smaller Ensembles and One-Per-Part Performances

• Chamber-scale forces—most Baroque music was performed by small groups, creating transparency and allowing individual lines to be heard
• One-per-part means one player per written line, even in orchestral contexts—contrasting sharply with later Romantic orchestras doubling parts extensively
• Intimacy and clarity were aesthetic values; Baroque listeners expected to hear distinct voices in the texture

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Notation and Performance Practice

Baroque musicians worked from different materials than modern performers, and this shaped how they interacted with the music. The absence of full scores encouraged individual interpretation and collective listening.

Performance from Partbooks Rather Than Full Scores

• Individual partbooks contained only one performer's line—no one except possibly the director saw all parts together
• Encouraged active listening—musicians had to hear and respond to colleagues rather than following a visual roadmap
• Reflects ensemble collaboration—performers made real-time decisions about balance, timing, and ornamentation based on what they heard

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Compare and contrast basso continuo and figured bass realization. How are they related, and what distinct aspects of Baroque practice does each represent?

2. Which two practices both involve departing from what's literally written in the score, but in different musical dimensions (pitch vs. rhythm)?

3. If an FRQ asks you to explain why Baroque music sounds different on period instruments versus modern ones, what three factors beyond the instruments themselves would you discuss?

4. A student claims that Baroque performers "just played what was written." Using two specific practices from this guide, explain why this fundamentally misunderstands Baroque performance.

5. How do terraced dynamics and affect theory work together to achieve Baroque expressive goals? Why couldn't Baroque keyboard players use gradual dynamic changes the way pianists do?