Baroque Music Adalah

Early Baroque Music (1580–1630)

Claudio Monteverdi in 1640

The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of CountGiovanni de’ Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. In reference to music, they based their ideals on a perception of Classical (especially ancient Greek) musical drama that valued discourse and oration. As such, they rejected their contemporaries’ use of polyphony and instrumental music, and discussed such ancient Greek music devices as monody, which consisted of a solo singing accompanied by a kithara. The early realizations of these ideas, including Jacopo Peri’s Dafne and L’Euridice, marked the beginning of opera, which in turn was somewhat of a catalyst for baroque music.

Concerning music theory, the more widespread use of figured bass (also known as thorough bass) represents the developing importance of harmony as the linear underpinnings of polyphony. Harmony is the end result of counterpoint, and figured bass is a visual representation of those harmonies commonly employed in musical performance. Composers began concerning themselves with harmonic progressions, and also employed the tritone, perceived as an unstable interval, to create dissonance. Investment in harmony had also existed among certain composers in the Renaissance, notably Carlo Gesualdo. However, the use of harmony directed towards tonality, rather than modality, marks the shift from the Renaissance into the baroque period. This led to the idea that chords, rather than notes, could provide a sense of closure—one of the fundamental ideas that became known as tonality.

By incorporating these new aspects of composition, Claudio Monteverdi furthered the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the heritage of Renaissance polyphony (prima pratica) and the new basso continuo technique of the baroque (seconda pratica). With the writing of the operas L’Orfeo and L’incoronazione di Poppea among others, Monteverdi brought considerable attention to the new genre of opera.

What was it like to attend a concert in the baroque era?

In modern times, going to a concert is an event. We hear an ad on the radio or see a listing in the newspaper; we purchase tickets; we go to a concert hall and sit quietly until it is time to applaud. In the baroque era, this kind of public concert was rare. Many of the most famous baroque compositions were performed in churches for a service, or as part of a private concert or celebration in the home of a wealthy patron. During the course of the baroque, however, public performances became more common, particularly in the genres of opera and oratorio, and our modern concert tradition began to coalesce in many European cities. As Roger North described a performance in one of the earliest concert series, organized in London in the 1670s:

The first attempt was low: a project of old [John] Banister, who was a good violin, and a theatrical composer. He opened an obscure room in a public house in White friars; filled it with tables and seats, and made a side box with curtains for the music. Sometimes consort, sometimes solos, of the violin, flageolet, bass viol, lute and song all’Italiana, and such varieties diverted the company, who paid at coming in. One shilling a piece, call for what you please, pay the reckoning, and Welcome gentlemen.

The advent of the public concert made the growing middle class an important source of income for musicians. By the end of the baroque, this social subset had become a musical patron almost as powerful as the church or court.

What is Baroque Music?

What is the philosophy of Baroque music?

Although a single philosophy cannot describe 150 years of music from all over Europe, several concepts are important in the Baroque period.

A belief in music as a potent tool of communication One of the major philosophical currents in Baroque music comes from the Renaissance interest in ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. The Greeks and Romans believed that music was a powerful tool of communication and could arouse any emotion in its listeners. As a result of the revival of these ideas, composers became increasingly aware of music’s potential power, and cultivated the belief that their own compositions could have similar effects if they correctly emulated ancient music. As French humanist scholar Artus Thomas described a performance in the late sixteenth century,

I have ofttimes heard it said of Sieur Claudin Le Jeune (who has, without wishing to slight anyone, far surpassed the musicians of ages past in his understanding of these matters) that he had sung an air (which he had composed in parts)…and that when this air was rehearsed at a private concert it caused a gentleman there to put hand to arms and begin swearing out loud, so that it seemed impossible to prevent him from attacking someone: whereupon Claudin began singing another air…which rendered the gentleman as calm as before. This has been confirmed to me since by several who were there. Such is the power and force of melody, rhythm and harmony over the mind.

In 1605, the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi actually defined a “first” and “second” practice: in the first, harmony and counterpoint took precedence over the text; in the second, the need to express the meaning of the words surpassed any other concern. In the baroque, it is the spirit of the second practice—using the power of music to communicate—that came to dominate the era.

The realities of patronage Any discussion of a Baroque composer’s artistic philosophy should be tempered, at least slightly, by the reality of their lives. In modern times, artists frequently earn a living producing exactly the kind of art they are moved to create. Accordingly, we often think of the artist—and the degree of his or her artistic inspiration—as the starting point for a work of art. Throughout much of the Baroque era, however, composers only earned a living writing music if they were fortunate enough to be on the payroll of a political or religious institution. The musical needs of that institution, therefore, dictated the music the composer produced. Bach wrote the number of cantatas he did, for example, not necessarily because he found the form inspirational, but because of the liturgical demands of the Leipzig church that employed him. When viewed in this light, Baroque music can provide a fascinating window into history.

Late Baroque Music (1680–1730)

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748

The work of George Frederic Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach and their contemporaries, including Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Georg Philipp Telemann, and others advanced the baroque era to its climax.

Through the work of Johann Fux, the Renaissance style of polyphony was made the basis for the study of composition.

A continuous worker, Handel borrowed from others and often recycled his own material. He was also known for reworking pieces such as the famous Messiah, which premiered in 1742, for available singers and musicians.

Baroque instruments, including the hurdy gurdy, harpsichord, bass viol, lute, violin, and guitar

A characteristic baroque form was the dance suite. Some Dance suites by Bach are called partitas, although this term is also used for other collections of pieces. The dance suite often consists of the following movements:

These four dance types (allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue) make up the majority of 17th-century suites; later suites interpolate one or more additional dances between the sarabande and gigue:

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The multiplicity of sizes found in recorders at the beginning of the baroque era gradually gave way to a focus on a smaller number and a parallel tendency towards solo and chamber music instead of consort music. In the early baroque, a soprano instrument in C or a treble instrument in G seem to have been favored in the solo repertoire. Late division pieces from Italy and the Netherlands fit well on one or the other of these sizes. The main acoustical difference of the baroque recorder is that the bore tapers virtually to the end of the instrument, rather than “choking” the bore near the last fingerhole and widening to the bottom as in the Renaissance recorder. The result is a clearer sound and an upward expansion of the range.

Soprano recorder player. The Music Party (detail, 1663) by Pieter de Hooch (1629-84). Cleveland Museum of Art 1951.355.

Soprano recorder. Portrait of a Young Girl with a Flute by Dirck van Santvoort (1610/11-80). Cleveland Museum of Art 1975.81.

Soprano recorder. Silvester inde Morgenstern (excerpt), by Jacob van Eyck, performed by Marion Verbruggen. Harmonia Mundi HMU 907170 (1996). Trk 6.

The outline of the instrument gradually changed also from the smooth and graceful curve of the Renaissance recorder to the turnery associated with other baroque woodwinds towards the end of the 17th century. At the same time, the alto in F emerged as the solo instrument of choice, although a few solo works were written for soprano and even sopranino, and bass recorders continued to be manufactured as soft and presumably rarely used continuo instruments. Some baroque recorders have double holes for the last two fingerholes. This facilitates the playing of some chromatics which otherwise must be played by partially covering the single holes.

Alto recorder made of ivory (Leipzig, 18th century). Brussels, Musée Instrumental 436.

Alto recorder in playing position. Engraving from Principes de la flute traversiere by Hotteterre-le-Romain (Paris, 1707).

Alto recorder. Couplets de folies (excerpt) by Marin Marais, performed by Marion Verbruggen. ASV Gaudeamus 113 (1989). Trk 4.

In France especially, besides the F alto, another size of recorder became popular as well _ a kind of tenor in D. This was known as the “voice flute” (probably from “voiced flute”) since it had the same bottom note as the transverse flute but the voicing (i.e., whistle-like sound producing mechanism) of a recorder. It functioned as an alternative to the transverse flute since it had the same range. Gradually, however, the recorder dropped out of use as less suited to both the volume of sound and nuances of dynamics required for repertoire towards the middle of the 18th century. Its sweet tone and potential for expressiveness through articulation in the hands of expert players have fueled its modern revival.

Voice flute. Fantasia in B minor (excerpt) by George Philipp Telemann, performed by Marion Verbruggen. Telemann: Solo Works. Harmonia Mundi HMU 907158 (1997). Trk 3.

Voice flute. Dutch recorder virtuoso Frans Br?üggen with his P.I. Bressan voice flute (London, ca.1720).

Baroque music, a style of music that prevailed during the period from about 1600 to about 1750, known for its grandiose, dramatic, and energetic spirit but also for its stylistic diversity.

One of the most dramatic turning points in the history of music occurred at the beginning of the 17th century, with Italy leading the way. While the stile antico, the universal polyphonic style of the 16th century, continued, it was henceforth reserved for sacred music, while the stile moderno, or nuove musiche—with its emphasis on solo voice, polarity of the melody and the bass line, and interest in expressive harmony—developed for secular usage. The expanded vocabulary allowed for a clearer distinction between sacred and secular music as well as between vocal and instrumental idioms, and national differences became more pronounced.

The opera, oratorio, and cantata were the most important new vocal forms, while the sonata, concerto, and overture were created for instrumental music. Claudio Monteverdi was the first great composer of the “new music.” He was followed in Italy by Alessandro Scarlatti and Giovanni Pergolesi. The instrumental tradition in Italy found its great Baroque composers in Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, and Giuseppe Tartini. Jean-Baptiste Lully, a major composer of opera, and Jean Philippe Rameau were the masters of Baroque music in France. In England the total theatrical experience of the Stuart masques was followed by the achievements in vocal music of the German-born, Italian-trained George Frideric Handel, while his countryman Johann Sebastian Bach developed Baroque sacred music in Germany. Other notable German Baroque composers include Heinrich Schütz, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Georg Philipp Telemann. For a detailed treatment of Baroque music, see Western music: The Baroque era.

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

As with most genres of music, there is a selection of key individuals who lived & composed through the Baroque period who are widely regarded as the best examples of music of this kind.

One of the most prolific, and perhaps the most important, of those composers was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750). Bach lived and worked predominantly in Germany and was widely regarded as an exceptional organist during his life, also composing much of his music in a religious context. Examples of Bach's most famous works include The Well-Tempered Clavier, The Brandenburg Concertos, The Goldberg Variations, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and the St Matthew Passion.

Another prolific & important composer is the German-British composer, George Friederich Handel (1685 - 1759). Handel is well known for his operas, oratorios & organ concertos and, like Bach, much of Handel's music output has a religious context. This is typified by his most famous work, the oratorio The Messiah (which includes most popularly the "Hallelujah" chorus). Other popular examples of Handel's work include Zadok the Priest, Water Music and Lascia ch'io pianga (from the opera Rinaldo).

Our final example of a Key Composer during the Baroque period is Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741), who lived & worked throughout many of the major courts of 18th Century Italy. Vivaldi is widely credited with the development of the Concerto, helping it to become established as a musical form, and almost 500 of his concertos survive. The most famous is a 4-concerto cycle entitled The Four Seasons. Whilst Vivaldi wrote a wide catalogue of music, it is these 4 concertos which give Vivaldi his place amongst the greatest composers of the Baroque period.

What came after the baroque period?

By the middle of the eighteenth century, the baroque idea of music as a form of rhetoric was under attack. Music had a marvelously potent power to express even the most difficult concepts—but only in its most “natural” form, which the baroque era had ostensibly muddled. As Johann Adolph Scheibe said of J. S. Bach in 1737,

This great man would be the admiration of whole nations if he made more amenity, if he did not take away the natural element in his pieces by giving them a turgid and confused style, and if he did not darken their beauty by an excess of art. Since he judges according to his own fingers, his pieces are extremely difficult to play; for he demands that singers and instrumentalists should be able to do with their throats and instruments whatever he can play on the clavier, but this is impossible… Turgidity has led [him] from the natural to the artificial, and from the lofty to the somber; and…one admires the onerous labor and uncommon effort—which, however, are vainly employed, since they conflict with Nature.

Scheibe’s insistence on clarity and ease of performance hints at a major change in musical aesthetics: throughout his diatribe, the final arbiter of taste is not Plato or Aristotle, but ultimately the listeners and performers themselves. This new emphasis on direct melodic expression and clear musical architecture points the way to the classical period, the age of Mozart and Haydn.

Etymology and definition

The etymology of baroque is likely via the French baroque (which originally meant a pearl of irregular shape), and from the Portuguese barroco ("irregular pearl"); also related are the Spanish barrueco and the Italian barocco. The term is of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly from Latin verrūca ("wart") or possibly from Baroco, a technical term from scholastic logic.[3]

The term "baroque" is generally used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a period of about 150 years. Though 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 première 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.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was a musician and composer as well as philosopher, wrote in 1768 in the Encyclopédie: "Baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, and loaded with modulations and dissonances. The singing is harsh and unnatural, the intonation difficult, and the movement limited. It appears that term comes from the word 'baroco' used by logicians".[5] Rousseau was referring to the philosophical term baroco, in use since the 13th century to describe a type of elaborate and, for some, unnecessarily complicated academic argument.[6][7]

The systematic application by historians of the term "baroque" to music of this period is a relatively recent development. In 1919, Curt Sachs became the first to apply the five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin's theory of the Baroque systematically to music. Critics were quick to question the attempt to transpose Wölfflin's categories to music, however, and in the second quarter of the 20th century independent attempts were made by Manfred Bukofzer (in Germany and, after his immigration, in America) and by Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune (in Belgium) to use autonomous, technical analysis rather than comparative abstractions, in order to avoid the adaptation of theories based on the plastic arts and literature to music. All of these efforts resulted in appreciable disagreement about time boundaries of the period, especially concerning when it began. In English the term acquired currency only in the 1940s, in the writings of Bukofzer and Paul Henry Lang.

As late as 1960, there was still considerable dispute in academic circles, particularly in France and Britain, whether it was meaningful to lump together music as diverse as that of Jacopo Peri, Domenico Scarlatti, and Johann Sebastian Bach under a single rubric. Nevertheless, the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music. It may be helpful to distinguish the Baroque from both the preceding (Renaissance) and following (Classical) periods of musical history.

Throughout the Baroque era, new developments in music originated in Italy, after which it took up to 20 years before they were broadly adopted in rest of the Western classical music practice. For instance, Italian composers switched to the galant style around 1730, while German composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach largely continued to write in the baroque style up to 1750.

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Baroque theatre in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic.

Baroque music is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era followed the Renaissance, and was followed in turn by the Classical era. The word “baroque” comes from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning misshapen pearl, a negative description of the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this period. Later, the name came to apply also to the architecture of the same period.

During the baroque era, instrumental music became as important as vocal music.

Baroque music forms a major portion of the “classical music” canon, being widely studied, performed, and listened to. Composers of the baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Vivaldi, Henry Purcell, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Arcangelo Corelli, Tomaso Albinoni, François Couperin, Denis Gaultier, Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and Johann Pachelbel.

The baroque period saw the creation of tonality. During the period, composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation, made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques. Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto, and sonata as musical genres. Many musical terms and concepts from this era are still in use today.

The term “baroque” is generally used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a period of approximately 150 years.

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 première 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.

The systematic application by historians of the term “baroque” to music of this period is a relatively recent development. In 1919, Curt Sachs became the first to apply the five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflin’s theory of the baroque systematically to music. Critics were quick to question the attempt to transpose Wölfflin’s categories to music, however, and in the second quarter of the 20th century independent attempts were made byManfred Bukofzer (in Germany and, after his immigration, in America) and by Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune (in Belgium) to use autonomous, technical analysis rather than comparative abstractions, in order to avoid the adaptation of theories based on the plastic arts and literature to music. All of these efforts resulted in appreciable disagreement about time boundaries of the period, especially concerning when it began. In English the term acquired currency only in the 1940s, in the writings of Bukofzer and Paul Henry Lang.

As late as 1960 there was still considerable dispute in academic circles, particularly in France and Britain, whether it was meaningful to lump together music as diverse as that of Jacopo Peri, Domenico Scarlatti, and J.S. Bach under a single rubric. Nevertheless, the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music. It may be helpful to distinguish the baroque from both the preceding (Renaissance) and following (Classical) periods of musical history.

The baroque period is divided into three major phases: early, middle, and late. Although they overlap in time, they are conventionally dated from 1580 to 1630, from 1630 to 1680, and from 1680 to 1730.

Middle Baroque Music (1630–1680)

The rise of the centralized court is one of the economic and political features of what is often labelled the Age of Absolutism, personified by Louis XIV of France. The style of palace, and the court system of manners and arts he fostered became the model for the rest of Europe. The realities of rising church and state patronage created the demand for organized public music, as the increasing availability of instruments created the demand for chamber music.

The middle baroque period in Italy is defined by the emergence of the cantata, oratorio, and opera during the 1630s, and a new concept of melody and harmony that elevated the status of the music to one of equality with the words, which formerly had been regarded as pre-eminent. The florid, coloratura monody of the early baroque gave way to a simpler, more polished melodic style. These melodies were built from short, cadentially delimited ideas often based on stylized dance patterns drawn from the sarabande or the courante. The harmonies, too, might be simpler than in the early baroque monody, and the accompanying bass lines were more integrated with the melody, producing a contrapuntal equivalence of the parts that later led to the device of an initial bass anticipation of the aria melody. This harmonic simplification also led to a new formal device of the differentiation of recitative and aria. The most important innovators of this style were the Romans Luigi Rossi and Giacomo Carissimi, who were primarily composers of cantatas and oratorios, respectively, and the Venetian Francesco Cavalli, who was principally an opera composer. Later important practitioners of this style include Antonio Cesti, Giovanni Legrenzi, andAlessandro Stradella.

The middle baroque had absolutely no bearing at all on the theoretical work of Johann Fux, who systematized the strict counterpoint characteristic of earlier ages in his Gradus ad Paranassum (1725).

One pre-eminent example of a court style composer is Jean-Baptiste Lully. He purchased patents from the monarchy to be the sole composer of operas for the king and to prevent others from having operas staged. He completed 15 lyric tragedies and left unfinished Achille et Polyxène.

Musically, he did not establish the string-dominated norm for orchestras, which was inherited from the Italian opera, and the characteristically French five-part disposition (violins, violas—in hautes-contre, tailles and quintes sizes—and bass violins) had been used in the ballet from the time of Louis XIII. He did, however, introduce this ensemble to the lyric theatre, with the upper parts often doubled by recorders, flutes, and oboes, and the bass by bassoons. Trumpets and kettledrums were frequently added for heroic scenes.

Arcangelo Corelli is remembered as influential for his achievements on the other side of musical technique—as a violinist who organized violin technique and pedagogy—and in purely instrumental music, particularly his advocacy and development of the concerto grosso. Whereas Lully was ensconced at court, Corelli was one of the first composers to publish widely and have his music performed all over Europe. As with Lully’s stylization and organization of the opera, the concerto grosso is built on strong contrasts—sections alternate between those played by the full orchestra, and those played by a smaller group. Dynamics were “terraced”, that is with a sharp transition from loud to soft and back again. Fast sections and slow sections were juxtaposed against each other. Numbered among his students is Antonio Vivaldi, who later composed hundreds of works based on the principles in Corelli’s trio sonatas and concerti.

In contrast to these composers, Dieterich Buxtehude was not a creature of court but instead was church musician, holding the posts of organist and Werkmeister at the Marienkirche at Lübeck. His duties as Werkmeister involved acting as the secretary, treasurer, and business manager of the church, while his position as organist included playing for all the main services, sometimes in collaboration with other instrumentalists or vocalists, who were also paid by the church. Entirely outside of his official church duties, he organised and directed a concert series known as the Abendmusiken, which included performances of sacred dramatic works regarded by his contemporaries as the equivalent of operas.

Timeline of composers

A characteristic of the Baroque form was the dance suite. Some dance suites by Bach are called partitas, although this term is also used for other collections of pieces. While the pieces in a dance suite were inspired by actual dance music, dance suites were intended for listening, not for accompanying dancers. Composers used a variety of different movements in their dance suites. A dance suite commonly has these movements:

The four dance types (allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue) make up the majority of 17th-century suites. Later suites interpolate one or more additional dances between the sarabande and gigue:

There are many other dance forms as well as other pieces that could be included in a suite, such as Polonaise, Loure, Scherzo, Air, etc.

The period of baroque music dates back to the 17th century, lasting roughly from 1600 to 1750, although some claim the era already began to blossom in 1580. The term baroque most likely stems from French baroque and Portuguese barroco, both of which refer to ‘a pearl of irregular shape’. The era was preceded by the Renaissance era and originated in Italy, where it reportedly developed for up to 20 years before moving into the broad Western classical music practice.

Overall, Baroque music is further divided into three sub-periods:

Early Baroque — 1580–1650,

Middle Baroque — 1630–1700, and

Late Baroque — 1680–1750.

As previously mentioned, Baroque music bloomed in Italy, where it first centered around Italian composers who were primarily based in Rome and its surroundings. These artists drew inspiration and tradition from Renaissance music while gradually attaching greater significance to harmony and tonality. One of the key figures of early Baroque was Claudio Monteverdi, an Italian composer and a pioneer in the development of opera, who was praised for furthering the transition from Renaissance- to Baroque-styled music.

Monteverdi was responsible for establishing two essential types of compositions. One was derived from Renaissance polyphony (featuring two or more prominent simultaneous lines of independent melody), which was dictated by the harmonic content (not the text or melody) and was termed ‘prima prattica.’ Meanwhile, the other type, so-called ‘seconda prattica,’ was guided by the principle that words should rule the music, and melody can be broken should the drama, emotion, or text demand it. In other words, ‘seconda prattica,’ unlike ‘prima prattica,’ allowed for more freedom to make the music more dissonant (inconsistent, incompatible, tensile, and, in a way, ugly-sounding) if desired.

Once Baroque music spread across Europe, composers of various origins and cultures enhanced the style with new elements. While the influence of French and British composers, such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Henry Purcell, was considerable, the German school of baroque music also left its mark.

Composers like Goerg Philipp Teleman, George Frideric Handel, Michael Praetorius, Samuel Scheidt, and, most importantly, Johann Sebastian Bach were truly formative for the high Baroque period. In fact, it was Bach’s death in 1750 that ultimately brought the Baroque era to its end, passing the baton to the Classical period.

It’s also essential to note that, like other eras, the Baroque period was not limited to music only. The era was further celebrated for its captivating paintings (including works by Peter Raul Rubens, Michelangelo Carravagio, and Rembrandt van Rijn), melodramatic sculptures (dominated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini), and glorious architecture (most notably in the catholic church).