Baroque music

Claude V. Palisca

This book invites the reader to study with ear and eye some typical examples of the music of the baroque period. Is is not a comprehensive survey or a gallery of the most famous composers and their works. Certain important figures are hardly named, while others lesser known are treated at length, and this goes also for the various categories of composition. The emphasis is upon giving the reader an entry into the most significant manners of composition through concrete examples. The reader will gain a method of approaching the principle styles and genres, keys to intimate understanding and further exploration. The approach to analysis is based as much as possible on criteria and terminology common in the baroque period. -- from Preface.